Using curriculum-based measures for assessing achievement in children who may have potential risk-factors for reading difficulty

Includes bibliographical references

Attempting to Close the Food Gap: An Evaluation of the 2011 Fair Share Program in Gettysburg, PA

Background: Families in Adams County with an income between 160% and 250% of the Federal Poverty Income Guidelines and ineligible for federal food assistance programs were determined to be in the “food gap.” In collaboration with Adams County Farm Fresh Markets and the Center for Public Service at Gettysburg College, the Adams County Food Policy Council developed the Fair Share Program to provide monthly food vouchers and educational sessions to a group of families in the food gap to use at farmers markets in Gettysburg, PA. The goals of the program were to provide families not eligible for federal food assistance with an increased ability to purchase healthy foods, increase fruit and vegetable consumption, support local farms the local economy, and provide nutrition education and support. Purpose: We sought to identify the effectiveness of the pilot Fair Share Program in reaching its goals and to determine ways to improve the program in the future. Methods: 25 families who participated in the Fair Share Program during the summer of 2011 were given surveys at the start of the program, and interviews were conducted with participants at the end of the program. Surveys were given to the participating vendors at the farmers markets at the conclusion of the program. A bivariate analysis of the participant survey was done comparing results from Hispanic and non-Hispanic participants using SPSS Statistics 17.0, while the vendor surveys and interviews were evaluated qualitatively. Results: There were several noteworthy differences between the habits and perceptions of the Hispanic and non-Hispanic participants, including fruit and vegetable consumption patterns, reasons for not shopping at the farmer’s markets, and where food is typically obtained from. Interviews indicated that both participants and vendors had overall positive experiences with the program even though challenges including price and language differences were experienced. Conclusion: The Fair Share Project reached its goals and had a positive impact on the community. Improvements should be made if the program is to be continued in the future to address the challenges participants faced while participating, and there is strong support for continuation and extension of the program

Crossroads for Federal Enforcement of the Clean Air Act

A major goal of the Clean Air Act 1 (hereinafter CAA or Act ) is to protect and enhance the quality of the Nation\u27s air resources. 2 The Act uses a two tiered approach to accomplish this goal. First, the Act focuses on the national attainment and maintenance of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for criteria pollutants, 3 and second, the Act also sets specific standards for known hazardous air pollutants (HAPS) 4 . The Act emphasizes throughout its text that air quality problems are national in scope and often cross state boundaries. 5 Congress clearly intended that enforcement of programs to improve air quality be a cooperative effort of state and federal governments. 6 Courts also have recognized for decades the necessity of a federal enforcement presence in the effort to improve air quality nationally. As the D.C. Circuit Court noted, EPA ... is the ultimate supervisor, responsible for approving state plans and for stepping in, should a state fail to develop or to enforce an acceptable plan... EPA is to ensure national uniformity where needed, for example, to ensure that states do not compete unfairly for industry by offering air quality standards that are too lax to bring about needed improvement in the air we breathe. 7 An important component of many federal environmental laws is federal enforceability. The federal enforceability 8 of state air quality limitations or controls on sources requires that the Administrator of the EPA, not solely state or local authorities, enforce emission ..

New York Proposed Code of Evidence: Article V, The Symposium: The New York Proposed Code of Evidence

Article V of the New York Proposed Code of Evidence sets forth the rules of evidentiary privilege. Unlike other articles of the Proposed Code, it differs significantly from its federal counterpart. Article V of the Federal Rules of Evidence consists of only rule 501, which provides that, unless otherwise required by the constitution or federal statute, privileges in federal courts are governed by the principles of the common law as they may be interpreted... in the light of reason and experience. Rule 501 further provides, however, that questions of privilege in civil cases as to which state law supplies the rule of decision will be governed by state law. Thus, an examination of Article V of the New York Proposed Code is useful not only because of its significance in state cases, but also because of its relevance to federal diversity cases

The Distribution of ALFALFA Galaxies

The ALFALFA blind HI survey will enable a census of the distribution of gas-rich galaxies in the local Universe. Sensitive to an HI mass of 10**7 solar masses at the distance of the Virgo cluster, ALFALFA will probe the smallest objects locally and provide a new consideration of near-field cosmology. Additionally, with a larger, cosmologically significant sample volume and wider bandwidth than previous blind surveys, a much larger number of detections in each mass bin is possible, with adequate angular resolution to eliminate the need for extensive follow-up observations. This increased sensitivity will greatly enhance the utility of cosmological probles in HI. ALFALFA will eventually measure the correlation function of HI selected galaxies in a large local volume. The larger sample and volume size of the ALFALFA dataset will also robustly measure the HI mass function (HIMF). Here, we present the preliminary results on the distribution of local gas-rich galaxies from a first ALFALFA catalog covering 540 deg**2.Comment: To appear in Proceedings of IAU Symp. Number 244, "Dark Galaxies and Lost Baryons", June 2007, 2 pages including 1 figur