January 07, 2010

The Justice Department today filed a lawsuit against the state of New Jersey and the New Jersey Civil Service Commission alleging a pattern or practice of employment discrimination against African-Americans and Hispanics, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The complaint challenges New Jersey's use of a written examination for promotion to the rank of police sergeant in localities throughout the state. The United States' complaint alleges that African-American and Hispanic candidates for promotion to sergeant pass the examination at significantly lower rates than white candidates. The complaint also alleges that even those African-American and Hispanic candidates who pass the examination suffer discrimination because their passing examination scores are significantly lower than those of white candidates, and New Jersey certifies candidates for promotion to police sergeant in descending rank-order based primarily upon each candidate's written examination score. The complaint concludes that New Jersey's use of the examination violates Title VII because the state has not demonstrated that its pass/fail use of the police sergeant written examination or its certification of candidates in descending rank-order to local jurisdictions is job related and consistent with business necessity. Full release.

Sen. Chris Dodd's (D-Conn.) retirement has led many observers to suggest that overhauling our financial system will be easier, a clear sign that our money-driven political system is broken, according to campaign finance watchdogs Public Campaign and Common Cause. "As the Senate begins work on the financial system overhaul, a tough reelection battle would have had Sen. Dodd dialing for dollars and attending fundraisers with the same interests he would be working to regulate," said Nick Nyhart, president and CEO of Public Campaign. "That it takes retirement to boost the likelihood of good policy is an indictment of our broken campaign financing system." "It's a sad commentary that many think that Sen. Dodd's announced retirement will free him to act in the public interest, since he doesn't have to worry about special interest campaign donors," said Bob Edgar, president and CEO of Common Cause. "We need a system that allows members of Congress to act in the public's interest at all times. It's time for Congress to change the way Washington works by passing the Fair Elections Now Act." Full release.

Justin Cannon, 27, of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Christopher Drotleff, 29, of Virginia Beach, Va., have been charged with crimes including second-degree murder, attempted murder and firearms offenses while working as contractors for the U.S. Department of Defense in Afghanistan, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride of the Eastern District of Virginia and John Perren, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office announced today. Cannon and Drotleff were charged under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA). The 13-count indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia on Jan. 6, 2010, and unsealed today, alleges that on May 5, 2009, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Cannon and Drotleff shot and killed two Afghanistan nationals and wounded a third. The indictment alleges that at the time of the shootings, Cannon and Drotleff were Department of Defense contractors employed by Paravant LLC, which is a subsidiary of Xe (formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide). According to the indictment, as contractors, Cannon and Drotleff provided training to the Afghan National Army for the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in the use and maintenance of weapons and weapons systems. Full release.

Federally Employed Women (FEW) is releasing the results of a survey taken of its members about pay-for-performance personnel systems. Respondents were also asked to provide solutions to the many problems associated with these systems and they are also included in the organization's Position Paper (http://few.org/docs/PayforPerformancePositionPaper.pdf). "The vast majority of our survey respondents believed that current pay-for-performance systems have a lot of problems," announced Sue Webster, FEW National President, upon the release of the survey results. "But we firmly believe that just pointing out problems does not help so we are also offering solutions on how to fix these problems including more training, safeguards, data collection and required action plans to name a few," she added. While in theory the organization's members asserted that there were benefits to a pay-for-performance system, by virtually a two-to-one ratio respondents expressed a lot of concern about how they are implemented which is the crux of the problem. This in turn could lead to adverse impacts on women employed in the federal workforce in areas such as job security, career progression and the future of Equal Employment Opportunity laws and diversity programs. Full release.

Medical News Today recently reported that America's pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies are working on nearly 100 life-changing medicines for diseases affecting people with HIV/AIDS, according to a new report released by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 1 million Americans are living with HIV. The number of deaths per year as a result of AIDS has significantly been reduced since anti-retroviral therapy was introduced in 1995. However, AIDS still remains an epidemic burden to developing nations where a startling 33 million people were said to be living with HIV. Patients in sub-Saharan Africa, China, India and the Russian Federation are among those most affected. "We are greatly encouraged by these critically important medicines and vaccines in development to treat and prevent HIV infection," said PhRMA President and CEO Billy Tauzin. "Pharmaceutical researchers are continuing their efforts to develop new therapies and vaccines to improve and lengthen the lives of HIV-infected patients." Full release.

Foreclosures continue to dominate the nation's housing market and their discounted price tags are attracting strong interest from homebuyers. Buyers looking for great deals on homes will find them at Hudson & Marshall's auction of nearly 200 bank-owned homes January 11th-16th in cities throughout Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. Valued from about $14,000 to $969,000, all the homes come with insurable title, no back taxes or liens. Buyers will be required to make a cash or certified check deposit of $2,500 for each property which they are the winning bidder. Property #810 located in Braselton, Georgia is a six bedroom, six bath home in move-in ready condition valued at $969,000. Another stunning property being auctioned is property #253, a four bedroom, four bath home in Hilton Head, SC last listed at $479,900. "As the nation's housing market slowly see-saws back toward recovery, homebuyers expect to purchase homes at significant discounts and are often bypassing traditional homes in favor of foreclosures," said Dave Webb, principal Hudson & Marshall. "Buyers particularly like purchasing bank-owned homes through auction because the process is quick and offers a wide selection of choices," added Webb. Full release.

The non-profit Clean Air Watch today hailed the Environmental Protection Agency's new smog proposal as a "breath of fresh air." The EPA today proposed to set tougher national standards for ground-level ozone, commonly referred to as smog. "Smog is the nation's most widespread air pollutant and one of the most dangerous," noted Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch. "Smog can make us sick. It can send us to the hospital. It can literally kill." O'Donnell called today's announcement "a breath of fresh air from the government." He added "it could translate into fresher air for every American." Technically, the EPA is proposing to reconsider a decision made in 2008 while President Bush was in office. At that time, the EPA rejected the unanimous recommendations of EPA's science advisers and set standards that were too weak to protect public health and the environment. It was disclosed that President Bush personally intervened to weaken part of the EPA standards. Full release.

A long-awaited report from the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) finds that youth in juvenile corrections facilities are sexually abused at alarming rates and are victimized significantly more often than adult inmates. A shocking 12.1 percent - or almost one in eight - of the detained youth who participated in the survey reported sexual abuse at their current facility during the previous year. On any given day, there are approximately 93,000 youth confined in juvenile facilities, more than half of whom are 16 or younger. "These figures are unconscionable, and even more so when you consider that the survey did not include youth locked up in adult facilities, where many are at even greater risk for abuse," said Lovisa Stannow, Executive Director of Just Detention International. The study - "Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2008-09" - is based on a survey given to 9,198 youth detainees in 195 facilities from all fifty states and the District of Columbia. Full release.

The Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI, www.icsi.org), a nonprofit health care improvement organization, has created a Professional Partnerships group to help medical groups, hospitals, health plans, policy makers and others transform their health care so it is more patient-centered, of higher quality and more affordable. "ICSI's mission has long been to improve the quality and lower the cost of the care that our member organizations deliver," said Nancy Jaeckels, Vice President, Member Relations and Strategic Initiatives. "Establishing ICSI Professional Partnerships enables ICSI members and non-members alike to benefit from our expertise, collaborative processes, and applied approach to health care redesign." ICSI currently serves 56 medical group and hospital members and is sponsored by six health plans in the Upper Midwest. ICSI is known for its leadership in the development of evidence-based health care guidelines and its organizational culture work, and for convening diverse stakeholders to find solutions to health care problems that no single group alone can solve. Full release.

A national effort to add ten specific amendments to the Constitution of the United States was launched this week when the nation's 7,300 state legislators received the book "10 Amendments for Freedom" along with information on how to convene a Constitutional Convention. The effort is being spearheaded by 10 Amendments for Freedom, Inc., a not-for-profit organization, to provide permanent restraints upon the federal government. "The initial goal is to have the state legislatures vote to have Congress convene a Constitutional Convention to propose ten specific amendments be added to the Constitution," stated William H. Fruth, Founder and National Director. "After the amendments are proposed by the convention, they will need to be ratified by three-fourths of the states." Full release.

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