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ProPublica analyzed federal education data from the 2009-2010 school year to examine whether states provide high-poverty schools equal access to advanced courses and special programs that researchers say will help them later in life. This is the first nationwide picture of exactly which courses are being taken at which schools and districts across the country. More than three-quarters of all public school children are represented. Read our story and our methodology. From http://projects.propublica.org/schools. © Copyright 2011 Pro Publica Inc. Find a school Highland Park High School 433 VINE AVE, HIGHLAND PARK, ILL., 60035 | Grades 9-12 |Students||Total Teachers||Inexp. Teachers||AP Courses| Percentage of relevant students who... Highland Park High School, part of the Township High School District 113, is located in Highland Park, Illinois. The school reports an enrollment number of 2,025 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 140 teachers on staff. ProPublica's analysis found that all too often, states and schools provide poor students fewer educational programs like Advanced Placement, gifted and talented programs, and advanced math and science classes. Studies have linked participation in these programs with better outcomes later in life. Our analysis uses free and reduced-price lunch to estimate poverty at schools. We based our findings on the most comprehensive data set of access to advanced classes and special programs in U.S. public schools — known as the Civil Rights Data Set— released by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. Highland Park High School offers 19 AP courses, and 33 percent of students participate in those classes. The school's pass rate for AP exams of 91 percent is below the district average of 92 percent. A school's AP pass rate is determined by the number of students who both sat for AP exams and passed some or all of those exams. Highland Park High School has an enrollment rate of 36 percent for advanced math classes, and 24 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 24 percent. These data points were reported by schools and districts to the Office for Civil Rights. For more information about the data, see our full methodology. — Generated by Narrative Science

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Despite the lowest unemployment rate ever reported in Ohio, a record number of Franklin County residents turned to food pantries for assistance in 1997, 11 percent more than the year before. With more than 2,000 households requiring at least a month's worth of food--an unprecedented level of chronic need--food banks scrambled to raise the funds necessary to provide 14.2 million pounds of food. For the first time in Ohio history, the state legislature chipped in $1.5 million for the pantries, a gesture which could be seen as tacit acknowledgement that charities for the poor are being transformed from providers of emergency services to permanent suppliers of ongoing assistance. It's time to build that acknowledgement into public policy. Nationwide, 21 million families once dependent on food programs as last resorts now rely on them for regular assistance. These programs can't keep up with the new demands. Emergency food assistance programs in many American cities are being forced by lack of resources to turn away hungry people they would have fed in the past. And the problem is likely to get worse: even as hundreds of thousands of poor people (one million in 1997 alone) lose food stamp aid due to welfare reform, charities serving the poor are projected to lose as much of 46 percent of their 1996-level federal funding by 2002. Ohio, for example, will lose $1 billion in food stamp benefits over the next six years. California is cutting back by $1.5 million per month (out of an original $9 million) on the food stamps it issues. The crisis is not limited to food banks. Even as the number of clients seeking beds grows by the day (despite a growing economy and near record-low unemployment), government subsidies for most homeless shelters are dwindling. In 1996, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty estimated a homeless population of more than 750,000 each night and a projected annual increase of 5 percent each year. Yet already last year an average of 24 percent of requests by homeless families were denied due to lack of resources, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Of 59 cities receiving HUD support for homelessness programs, 76 percent have a shortage of emergency shelter beds and transitional housing slots. A study by the National Welfare Monitoring and Advocacy Partnership found that one in six former welfare recipients in South Carolina cannot pay for food after leaving the rolls and one in four cannot pay housing costs. In Wisconsin, welfare reform's touted vanguard state, shelters reported a 69 percent increase in the number of people turned away in 1996. Thus even as their role as supplemental welfare providers is supposed to be expanding in post-AFDC society, charities are losing subsidies ($4.5 billion annually from the food program alone) from the Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services. Nonprofit charities for the poor are therefore in the untenable position of having to reduce the services they provide, sometimes dramatically, even as the number of people in need of such services is growing. Two related solutions would help address this problem. The first is to redefine the meaning of "charity." Where the legal definition of charity once meant service to the less fortunate, today the word encompasses almost any nonprofit endeavor, from the local homeless shelter to the youth hockey fund to the neighborhood theater. The definition of the word is important because certain types of charitable status confer multiple tax benefits including untaxed profits for business income, special debt-financing options, and non-taxable donations from private individuals and entities. Poverty-servicing charities, because of their enhanced role in post-welfare society, should be granted special status. This change in the tax code would significantly restrict the boundaries of charity and allow for targeted proposals designed to increase the tax benefits enjoyed by nonprofits--but only to the advantage of the homeless shelter and not the theater. The second step is to develop alternative means of funding charities for the poor. In the current political climate, direct service charities are unlikely to see their direct federal support restored anytime soon; individual taxpayers, therefore, must be encouraged to give more to these organizations. The way to do this is with a special charity tax credit. A Charity Credit People generally imagine that the local free health clinic or low-cost clothing store is financed mainly by good-hearted citizens through tax-deductible donations. The reality is different. Government is the single largest source of funding for human service nonprofits, providing almost half of all revenues for direct charity income. Thus recent government spending cuts have had a devastating effect. And while the average person thinks of the local homeless shelter, not the town symphony, as a typical charity, she is nevertheless more likely to give money to the symphony than to the shelter. Annually, only around $12 billion in private charitable donations went to organizations helping low-income families during the 1990s (and that includes donations to religious groups). More than $90 billion, in contrast, was donated to charities that did not serve the poor during the same period, according to the Nonprofit Almanac. Tax laws group all nonprofits together, defining them as any organizations that provide services without regard to profit. A contribution to the symphony, according to Chapter 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, gets the same charitable deduction as a donation to a food bank; both are categorized as contributions to charitable organizations. We must modify the definition of nonprofits to favor those that serve the poor, so that the tax code no longer treats contributions to the symphony as equivalent to contributions to a food bank. A direct service charity would be required to meet one of two prescriptions. Either it would be organized and operated so that the majority of annual expenses are dedicated to poor relief; or it would be organized to solicit and collect gifts and grants to be distributed to qualified charities that meet the first requirement. Limits on what qualifies as a charity are an important starting point for targeted tax policies. Policymakers can generate legislation to aid the food bank without having to justify why the symphony will be left to fend for itself. (Establishing a minimum percentage of annual expenses to be spent on poor relief would prevent organizations from attempting to take advantage of the proffered exemptions and subsidies without a meaningful commitment to servicing the poor.) But under current conditions, even an increase in charitable giving cannot entirely offset the impact of federal cuts in social welfare programs. Private giving to true charities would have to increase by at least 50 percent a year in order to offset government cutbacks. Under the existing tax code, private contributions can realistically only compensate for maybe 5 percent of the reductions in government spending; more conservative estimates place the figure as low as 1 to 2 percent. To meet the needs of the poor through private donations, contributions would have to increase by more than four times the current projected growth rate. Is there any way to resolve this resource crunch? One possible solution is the charity tax credit (CTC). Although CTC legislation is not new, then-senator Dan Coats reintroduced it in 1995 to address the impact of welfare reform. Essentially, the tax credit encourages individual donations by allowing the donor to reduce her tax bill by some amount. Unlike the ordinary charitable deduction, which only allows a taxpayer to reduce the amount of taxable income, the charity tax credit is actually deducted directly from the final tax bill. For example, if a taxpayer in the 28 percent tax bracket donates $100 to the symphony and itemizes her tax return, she can reduce her taxable income by $100 and her tax bill by $28. With a 50 percent CTC, a donation of $100 to a homeless shelter or a qualified free medical clinic would reduce her final tax bill by $50. The tax credit increases the tax subsidies to genuine charities for the poor. Giving $100 to a homeless shelter would actually only cost $50; giving the same amount to the symphony would cost $72. Donors who give with an eye to charitable deductions are more often those individuals who choose to itemize their tax returns. Thus taxpayers who opt for the standardized deduction are not usually enticed by the charitable deduction option. The charitable tax credit, on the other hand, would allow even those filing the 1040 EZ form to reduce their tax bill by contributing to qualified charities. By broadening the base of donors with an option that does not require tax itemization, the charity tax credit offers an excellent opportunity for charities to expand the private contribution pool. Wealthy donors tend to restrict their giving to their own ethnic and racial groups; the fact that the proposed tax credit doesn't require itemizing the tax form assures access to a wider pool of donors and maximizes the potential for diffuse contributions to a variety of agencies. Embedded as a tiny ray of light in the ill-conceived Project for American Renewal, an attempt to strip Washington of almost all responsibility for the poor, Coats's bill sought to offer a 100 percent credit for contributions up to $100, with an incremental increase of $100 for each subsequent year, up to $500. Though no floor action was ever taken on the bill, the CTC may be the last, best hope for charities in dire need of more money. Through Coats's plan or a similar one, the CTC would generate an estimated $23 billion over the next five years, which would help substantially as charities cope with the growing stream of welfare reform refugees. Even a smaller credit would be valuable--it would certainly be more politically feasible. Decreasing the credit by as much as 50 percent from the Coats proposal would still produce revenues in excess of $10 billion dollars, which is more than direct service charities can currently anticipate receiving in government subsidies. State governments have begun to see the logic of the CTC approach; more than 20 now operate some version of the charity tax credit. As you would expect, studies of these existing programs show that people give more to charity when the cost of giving decreases. But while some policymakers favor a state credit, the federal tax credit is the better option. The funding lost to welfare reform is federal money, so the federal government should bear the primary duty of recompensing donors. In addition, because the state programs vary so widely--from youth rehab to community service support--charities easily run the risk of losing out to nonprofits not directly affected by welfare reform. More important, federal taxes are obviously much larger than state taxes--and donors would rather take a credit on their larger, federal tax bills. Legislating the federal CTC into existence would be both a symbolic and a practical gesture. It would acknowledge the existence of the discrepancy between what's expected of direct service charities and what resources are available to them. And the revenue it generates would allow charities to meet the growing needs of the poor abandoned by welfare reform. What's more, freedom from government purse strings and the regulations that accompany them might allow greater opportunity for innovations in service delivery. It is ironic that charities serving the poor should face diminished public funds just when they have become the only institutional recourse for the dislocated poor. If the federal government is going to rely so heavily on private charities to provide what it once did, then it must stop treating charities under the federal tax laws as merely supplementary providers of social services. After decades in which private charities assisted the government, focusing on contracted service delivery of federal and state welfare programs or on providing supplemental food assistance and emergency shelter, charities are now expected to deliver basic food and medical assistance, even to build low-income housing. When charities agree to fulfill the covenant broken by the public sector, they earn the right to demand concessions from both the private and the public sectors. Although the charity tax credit is a moderate first step, it is a necessary one if charities are going to accomplish what's now expected of them. You need to be logged in to comment. (If there's one thing we know about comment trolls, it's that they're lazy)

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If you’ve ever circled city blocks over and over looking for a parking spot (which should be just about anybody who’s ever tried to find parking in a city), you’ve probably wished a voice would just tell you exactly where to go. And if navigating congested city streets has ever frustrated you, it won’t be surprising to hear that more than 30 percent of traffic congestion in cities is caused by drivers looking for parking. According to a study performed by UCLA Professor Donald Shoup, who surveyed 15 city blocks for one year in downtown Los Angeles, the search for a parking spot created about 950,000 extra miles of travel – equivalent to about 38 trips around Earth! Not only is this excess travel clogging city streets, it is wasting gasoline - 47,000 gallons in those same 15 blocks, or about two and a half swimming pools. This is money, time, and resources that drivers and city officials have been letting go to waste for years. People take crowded city streets as a given, but in reality there are massive inefficiencies that are entirely surmountable, particularly with RFID technology in place. In cities ranging from Stockholm to San Francisco, the parking technology firm Streetline is partnering with IBM to install RFID-based parking-management systems as part of IBM’s Smarter Cities initiative (a subset of Smarter Planet, focused on congestion solutions, greener buildings, water management systems, and the like). Logistically, this involves embedding transponders in the pavement of a city’s parking spots, attaching readers to permanent structures like lamp posts, and setting this system up to transmit information to a software platform from IBM that can manage the data that comes from Streetline’s readers. Magnetic sensors installed in the pavement can detect whether or not a vehicle is in a given parking space, meaning cities can now view the flow of parking availability in real time. Doing so has allowed city officials and drivers alike to realize that at any given time there can be as many as 2,000 parking spots available, when many had believed there were none. Amazing. For drivers, finding a parking spot no longer has to involve circling and clogging the already-congested city streets, a process that on average will take 20 minutes in a business district, according to IBM’s Global Parking Survey. That could be the difference between being late for a business meeting or making it on time. Instead, it can be as simple as loading the free “Parker” app, looking at open spots nearby on the map, and navigating to the most convenient one. City management stands to gain the most from the technology, as they have access to Streetline data, trends, and reports, enabling their parking managers and enforcement officers to work more efficiently. Managers of parking garages can locate spots that have been occupied for too long or are vacant, and can use that information to better serve their customers. And a better understanding of the flow of traffic and parking availability also allows for more efficient planning of transit schedules and infrastructure projects around the trends city officials see. Based on the costs of inefficient parking management revealed by the UCLA survey referenced above, Streetline can save people time, money, and gas, while simultaneously bringing in more revenue for a city from the efficiencies created, particularly from a more organized system of issuing parking tickets and better accommodations for tourism. This can make a difference for municipalities facing big budget deficits that need new and better sources of revenue. If city governments can significantly reduce traffic congestion and air pollution, and drivers can save time and gas money simply by gaining better visibility into open parking spaces, it’s a worthwhile investment that has the potential to pay for itself in a very short period of time.

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Definitions of fear: - noun: an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight) - noun: a profound emotion inspired by a deity Example: "The fear of God" - noun: an anxious feeling Example: "They hushed it up out of fear of public reaction" - verb: be afraid or scared of; be frightened of Example: "I fear the winters in Moscow" - verb: be uneasy or apprehensive about Example: "I fear the results of the final exams" - verb: be sorry; used to introduce an unpleasant statement Example: "I fear I won't make it to your wedding party" - verb: be afraid or feel anxious or apprehensive about a possible or probable situation or event Example: "I fear she might get aggressive" - verb: regard with feelings of respect and reverence; consider hallowed or exalted or be in awe of Example: "Fear God as your father" - name: A surname (very rare: popularity rank in the U.S.: #25619) Search for fear at other dictionaries: OneLook, Answers.com, Merriam-Webster Help, Feedback, Customize, Android app, iPhone/iPad app Copyright © 2013 Datamuse

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In this section, you will be introduced to two long-term RMBL data sets: summary data from Dr. John Harte’s warming meadow experiment and Dr. David Inouye’s phenological observations collected since 1973 (coming soon!). In combination with other RMBL data, try your hand at asking - and answering! - your own scientific questions. Anyone who has taken a science class has seen the scientific method described as a series of steps something like this: This is a convenient and straightforward list that summarize how science was done for presentation in journal articles and textbooks. Unfortunately, it implies that the purpose of science is to conclude. But the process of science is much more creative, interactive, and dynamic that that! Science is centered on asking questions and testing ideas as shown in this diagram. Doing science can involve all sorts of inputs you might not associate with scientific research, such as curiosity or even serendipity - a happy accident or pleasant surprise. Visit Berkeley’s Understanding Science website for an interactive version of the real process of science.

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II. Species with Hyaline or Lightly Pigmented Perithecial Walls; Subhymenial Layer Often Thickened and Pigmented Only five New Zealand species have been studied. As no characteristic conidial form has been found to be common to all species in this section, each species is discussed separately. Nectria peziza (Tode) Fr. No conidial form was found among perithecia in field collections. Single spore cultures produced only intercalary chlamydospores which, formed in chains of four to six, were globular, thick walled, 5–8μ diameter Perithecia develop in cultures six weeks old. Nectria cyathea Dingley. No conidial form was found among perithecia in field collections. Cultures are slow growing, isabelline, floccose, sometimes zoned. Arthrospores are formed among ropelike. Text-fig. 2.—Fig. 1.—Conidial forms of N. ralfsii. Fig. 2.—Conidial forms of N. otagensis Fig. 3.—Conidial forms of N. macrostoma. mycelium. Intercalary chlamydospores were also present, more or less globose, 8–15μ. in diameter. Perithecia form in cultures 6–8 weeks old. Nectria ralfsii Berk. & Br. Erumpent sporodochia covered with dark translucent masses of conidia occur among clusters of immature perithecia. From single ascospore isolations developed a white floccose culture White pulvinate sporodochia were formed which, when mature, became translucent, greenish-black with catenulated conidia. Conidiophores form a superficial layer up to 200μ long; they are penicillately branched, terminating in phialides 15–20 × 2–3μ. Conidia are broadly elliptical, 10–18 × 7–9μ, often with a distinct papilla and pigmented, thickened walls Intercalary chlamydospores were present among mycelium of the sporodochia (Text-fig. 2, 1). Rilestone (1941) noted “that Mr. E. W. Mason regarded this conidial form as identical with Sphaeropsis henriquesii Thumen, but that as the conidia are not borne in pycnidia the fungus cannot be classified as a Sphaeropsis; for the present it should be known as the conidial form of N. ralfsii” Sections of young sporodochia show a structure similar to the superficial layer of Dendrodochium. Conidiophores are branched penicillately, and often swollen below septa, while branches terminate in phialides from which pigmented, not hyaline, conidia are catenulated. Nectria macrostoma Berk & Curt. In field collections clusters of perithecia are aggregated around bases of the synnemata, stalks of the synnemata are dark coloured, whereas conidial heads are pale salmon and translucent; sporodochia are present. In cultures synnemata 0.5 mm long are formed in small clusters of 2—5 arising from small byssoid stromata. When immature the dark stalks terminate in penicillately branched hyaline conidiophores, each branch ending in a typical subulate phialide. In mature fructifications, terminal branches become compacted together and slimy conidia, catenulated from phialides, adhere together to form globose, pale salmon translucent heads. Conidia are hyaline, globose or broadly elliptical, 2–6 × 1.5–3 5μ. Intercalary chlamydospores are present in the mycelium (Text-fig. 2, 3). This conidial stage conforms with the imperfect form-genus Graphium Corda, as defined in its limited sense by Mason (1937). Nectria otagensis Currey ex Lindsay. On some young stromata immature perithecia surround large cavities filled with orange translucent conidial masses. Superficially these cavities appear as labrynthiform pycnidia, but neither a true ostiole nor a distinct wall is present; hyphae from the stroma converge around them, and from this layer of tissue arise regularly arranged phialides to form a compact layer lining each cavity. Conidia are catenulated, adherent, fill the central cavity, and exude as an orange, waxy mass. Conidia are unicellular, elliptical, sometimes more or less bacilliform, hyaline, 2–5 × 1.5–2μ (Text-fig. 2, 2). This conidial stage is typical of the form genus Aschersonia Mont., usually associated with Hypocrella Sacc., a genus in the Clavicipitaceae. In cultures conidia are catenulated from phialides which form lateral branches on aerial hyphae; sometimes hyphae are compacted into a slimy stroma. Conidia are unicellular, allantoid, 3–4 × 0.75–1.5μ.

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