“PRISONERS” OF PRIVATE INDUSTRY: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND STATE SUNSHINE LAWS

There is an ongoing push by governments to keep secret their negotiations with private businesses, resulting in a state-eat-state battle for jobs, with the governments often offering potential businesses millions of dollars in tax breaks and other incentives. A tire factory could pop up next door and community members may not know about it until after the deal is signed. Some states exempt such negotiations in their sunshine laws. Some include such exemptions in the codes that govern economic development agencies themselves rather than in the sunshine law. Responses by courts to such secrecy has been mixed. This article reviews fifty state codes to determine whether officials are free to negotiate behind closed doors, and examines relevant case law. It also offers recommendations for policy changes to ensure transparency in such negotiations.     

The West in Flames: The Intergovernmental Politics of Wildfire Suppression and Prevention

This research examines changes in the intergovernmental policyarrangements governing the control of wildfires in the westernUnited States. For much of the twentieth century, the policymakingstructure resembled Deil S. Wright's inclusive authority modelwhereby fire policy was dominated by the U.S. Forest Servicewith the states playing a supporting role. More recently, thestates have become increasingly important in the decision-makingprocess because of changes in residential patterns and land-usepreferences that require greater intergovernmental coordinationin presuppression and suppression activities within urban/wildlandintermix areas, the rise in the number of large wildfires withinnational forests, and the willingness of Congress to approveinstitutional arrangements that give more weight to local communityinterests. Thus, the current approach increasingly resemblesthe overlapping authority model where multiple governmentaljurisdictions share decision-making responsibility on wildfirecontrol policies.     

Students,academic institutions and contracts — a ticking time bomb?

Traditionally the courts have been reluctant to trespass too far on the sanctity of academic freedom, and have certainly not wished to be seen as final arbiters of academic decisions. It is doubtful whether anything in the fast changing world of higher education has yet changed enough to modify such reluctance. However, when the student/college relationship is viewed through the prism of 'service provision' very different conclusions may be reached. It seems very hard to deny that the agreement between an academic institution and a student is a contract, and (most obviously) a contract for the provision of educational services. If the advertised services are not provided, or are provided inadequately or incompletely then an action for breach of contract on behalf of the student(s) affected may lie. Moreover any generalised disclaimer on behalf of the academic institution may (now) fall foul of unfair contract terms legislation. In Education and the Law Vol 11 No. 2, 1999, Tim Birtwistle and Melissa Askew began the process of exploring such issues. This article will endeavour to examine in greater depth matters such as the formation of the student/college contract; claims for breach of contract and unfair contract terms.     

Report on the 2003 revision of the U.S. Standard Certificate of Death.

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is responsible for publishing Standard Certificates of Birth and Death for the United States of America. The standard certificates are revised roughly every 10 years. The revision process is designed to ensure that the standard certificates meet, as nearly as possible, the use for which they are intended at all levels: individual, local, state, and federal. The authors report on the most recent revision of the U.S. Standard Certificate of Death, recording the process and the role of the National Association of Medical Examiners in the process. Changes recommended during revision include requesting known aliases of a decedent and rearrangement of the certificate to provide more room for those items requesting dates and for describing how the injury occurred. New items have been added asking for information regarding traffic fatalities, the role of tobacco use in causing death, and whether female decedents were pregnant. Once approved by the Department of Health and Human Services, the new standard certificate will be made available to the states. Each state will have 2 years to adapt the U.S. Standard Certificate of Death to its use and to implement new state death certificates on January 1, 2003.     

Parentage of Hydatidiform Moles

We were presented with the STR (short tandem repeat) profiles from two separate paternity trios. Each trio consisted of a mother, an alleged father, and products of conception (POC) that contained a hydatidiform mole but no visible fetus. In both cases , antecedent pregnancies had followed alleged sexual assaults. Mole classification and pathogenesis are described in order to explain the analyses and statistical reasoning used in each case. One mole exhibited several loci with two different paternal alleles, indicating it was a dispermic (heterozygous) mole. Maternal decidua contaminated the POC, preventing the identification of paternal obligate alleles (POAs) at some loci. The other mole exhibited only one paternal allele/locus at all loci and no maternal alleles, indicating it was a diandric and diploid (homozygous) mole. In each case, traditional calculations were used to determine paternity indices (PIs) at loci that exhibited one paternal allele/locus. PIs at mole loci with two different paternal alleles/locus were calculated from formulas first used for child chimeras that are always dispermic. Combined paternity indices in both mole cases strongly supported the paternity of each suspect.     

The relationship between Body Mass Index and abnormal psychological and personality variables

The Body Mass Index (BMI) was created in order to classify individuals into body weight categories ranging from below normal to very obese, depending on the individual’s weight and height. The Body Mass Index has been identified as a marker for psychological issues such as self-control, self-esteem, depression, and anxiety. This study used a data matrix composed of a sample of 2,506 police officer candidates. The BMI’s were calculated and correlated with 343 personality variables, including the MMPI-II and the Personality Assessment Index. The results indicated a total of 87 significant correlations, 20 at the .05 level and 67 at the .01 level. Despite the fact that many of the correlations were small, the large number of correlations indicates a significant relationship between BMI’s and individuals with problematic psychological and personality characteristics. Discussion centers upon explanations of the relationship between the Body Mass Index and various psychological concepts.     

Case report of sudden death after a blow to the back of the neck.

A 13-year-old girl experienced a fall during gym class that caused immediate unresponsiveness and death. The lone witness reported that the decedent lost her balance as she approached a hurdle and fell, striking her head on a crossbar of the hurdle near the ground. Autopsy revealed no external injury. Internal injury that could be demonstrated anatomically was confined to a contusion within the right semicapitis muscle at the base of the skull. In the absence of an anatomic cause of death, possible explanations of the death include a cardiac dysrhythmia, a vasovagal stimulus, and diffuse axonal injury caused by a concussive force to the junction of the medulla and spinal cord. Animal studies have shown that severe concussion can cause death via profound autonomic dysfunction without leaving anatomic evidence of injury, and that the essential component of concussion is an element of rotational injury to the brain. The authors believe that the blow to the neck caused this death by the transmission of a concussive force through the reticular activating system. The prompt work of police in distinguishing the lone witness from several people in the area who thought they knew what had happened was essential for diagnosis. On reaching our conclusions, the authors notified first the family, then the superintendent of the school system, and finally the news media. The authors told each party in turn that they would be contacting the others.