Black and White and Read All Over: Press Protection After Branzburg

In 1972, the Supreme Court handed the press an apparent resounding defeat in Branzburg v. Hayes, declaring that the Constitution provided reporters no privilege from testifying about their confidential sources. This Note uses previously unpublished materials from the Justices\u27 personal files to illustrate the behind-the-scenes deliberations as the Court shifted in ideology from the propress posture established by Justice Hugo Black in the Pentagon Papers case to the anti-privilege position established by Justice Byron White one year later in Branzburg. It also examines the curious concurring opinion of Justice Lewis Powell in Branzburg and subsequent efforts to craft a qualified reporter\u27s privilege, arguing against further weakening press protection

Appropriations and Stem Cell Research Arlen Specter’s Senate Legacy

Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter sat at the center of battles over stem cell research. Focusing on Specter’s efforts allows sustained exploration of policy entrepreneurship in the Senate. Building on Fenno’s seminal work on Arlen Specter, which focused mostly on Specter’s first term in office. Specter’s early work on criminal justice policy helped to prepare him for the weighty work involved in the stem cell debate. However, it was his ascendance on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and his position on the Labor, Health, and Human Services subcommittee in particular, that allowed him to become a leader on the stem cell issue. Specter’s work on the Judiciary Committee stereotyped Specter as a “show horse,” his work on stem cell research highlights his “workhorse” qualities. I begin with an overview of agenda setting and policy entrepreneurship in Congress. The purpose of the discussion is to place Senator Arlen Specter’s legislative activities in a theoretical context. I then turn to the politics and policy that shaped the debate surrounding stem cell research. In particular, I demonstrate how the development of stem cell policy necessarily tiptoed through the minefield of abortion politics. I then discuss Senator Specter’s involvement in shaping stem cell research policy by focusing on several vignettes where his involvement illustrates the important role of the political entrepreneur. Despite what sometimes appears as “failure,” we gain insight into the role of Specter as a policy entrepreneur and this role in shaping public policy. This work contributes to the literature on Congress and public policy in several ways. Making extensive use of newly available archival material I contribute to our historical understanding of stem cell policy and its relationship to abortion policy. Focusing on Senator Arlen Specter allows us to examine how policy leaders learn and adapt to political and institutional change to realize their policy goals. It also expands our understanding of policy entrepreneurs. Many students of legislative entrepreneurship focus on legislative accomplishment—success. Specter did not pass any landmark legislation into law related to stem cell research. This study addresses a blind spot in the study of legislative entrepreneurs; the skills policy leaders use to prevent legislation from becoming la

The PHENIX measurement of Heavy Flavor via Single Electrons in pp, d-Au, and Au-Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV

The PHENIX experiment at RHIC has measured single electron spectra in proton-proton, deuteron-gold and gold-gold collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV. The photonic contribution (photon conversions and Daltiz decays) is subtracted from the inclusive spectra resulting in non-photonic electron spectra. The principal source of non-photonic electrons is the semi-leptonic decay of charm and bottom mesons. The implications for heavy flavor production in hot and cold nuclear systems are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, contribution to the proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (Quark Matter 2004

Morphology and Photocatalysis of Titanium Dioxide Aerogels

Pollution of our environment has become one of the most serious problems of this century. Titanium dioxide aerogels is composed of nanocrystallites of TiO2 close-packed in roughly spherical mesospheres, which are agglomerated to form a highly-porous sponge. Aerogel morphology produces porosities of around 80% and surface area that can be as large as 1000 m2/g. The aerogels efficiently adsorb organic materials from the environment and when illuminated with UV light, decompose or oxidize the organic pollutants, ultimately to safe by-products such as CO2 and H 2O. In this work we modify the synthetic conditions to produce aerogels with different morphologies and measure the photocatalytic activity for photodecomposition of salicylic acid, as a function of size of the nanocrystallites. The results show that the quantum efficiency increases monotonically with the surface area and that the quantum efficiency per unit surface area increases linearly with the size of the nanocrystallites. These results are interpreted in terms of a cracking model of fixed size mesospheres and limited penetration of the salicylic acid into the mesospheres. We use non-invasive, non-destructive techniques such as Raman scattering and EXAFS to follow the evolution of the TiO2 structure as it is generated in the sol-gel, as well as changes in the structure after the aerogel is made and modified by annealing. Both techniques reveal structural information in the liquid and solid phases and enable us to monitor the crystallinity in the gelation process in a way that might lead to an ability to control the synthetic process and achieve a desired morphology

A Case Study Examining Teacher Responses to Principal Feedback of Class Observations

Four teachers from each of the four major academic disciplines: Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and English Language from a suburban high school in the Southeastern United States participated in a study which examined teacher responses to principal feedback of class room observations. Each of the 16 teachers were observed on three occasions and provided feedback. Teachers were also interviewed using a semi-structured questioning format and asked to keep a journal during the study. Findings of the study demonstrated that teachers who participated in the study most often responded to principal feedback of class observations by changing behaviors, considering changing behaviors, through written communication, by providing explanations, and by reflecting on their teaching

SEC V. Creditors: Why SEC Civil Enforcement Practice Demonstrates the Need for A Reprioritization of Securities Fraud Claims in Bankruptcy

(Excerpt) This Note examines how this tension has motivated the SEC to use receiverships as a preferred vehicle to maximize recovery for defrauded security holders and, in the process, create what amounts to an SEC-run bankruptcy proceeding. The use of these receiverships has triggered a high-stakes race to the courthouse among the SEC and creditors, where mere hours can be the difference between millions in recovery and nothing at all. To end this costly race, this Note proposes a solution that seeks to harmonize securities fraud enforcement with bankruptcy law, which starts with revisiting Bankruptcy Code § 510(b) to reprioritize securities fraud claims in bankruptcy. Part I explains how securities fraud claims are treated in bankruptcy under § 510(b), illustrating when such claims are subordinated and the rationale for doing so. Part II provides an overview of the SEC’s influence in the bankruptcy context from the Agency’s restricted role in the Code to its empowerment by Sarbanes-Oxley. Next, Part III.A explains how Sarbanes-Oxley empowers the SEC to use fair funds to compensate defrauded security holders in bankruptcy. Similarly, Part III.B explains how the SEC acts alternatively, out of bankruptcy, through equitable receiverships to recover for securities fraud victims. Part IV demonstrates how § 510(b) has motivated the SEC to avoid bankruptcy altogether, and instead utilize equitable receiverships as a primary civil enforcement tool to compensate securities fraud victims of insolvent and near-insolvent entities. Part IV further illustrates the SEC’s influence over this process, culminating in receiver distributions that disadvantage creditors. Accordingly, this use of receiverships has started a race to the courthouse between the SEC and creditors. Finally, Part V proposes a solution to harmonize SEC civil enforcement policies with the Code. This Part offers objectives for Congress to better integrate securities fraud claims back into the bankruptcy process. In addition, it suggests practical means to achieve integration like elevating the United States Trustee to allow for more coordination with the SEC and the creation of a receivership-focused SEC position to benefit all securities fraud victims of insolvent entities—security holders and creditors alike

A Study on the Use of State Government Press Releases in Kentucky Newspapers

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Sean Patrick Kelly on December 6, 1985