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As has become the norm for us when Apple launches a major product, the Gear Live crew camped out at the local Alderwood Mall Apple Store to be one of the first to pick up the iPad on April 3. In this video, we not only unbox the iPad, but we also give you a brief look at the hype and store opening ceremony that each Apple Store does when they launch a new device like this. In addition, we give you a look at the iPad Dock and iPad Case as well.

Here’s how to get the show:
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Posted by Michelle Manchir at 3:20 p.m.



SPRINGFIELD – Gov. Pat Quinn today signed a new tax break into law that he said would create 20,000 jobs, but a key Illinois business leader doubted whether the measure would inspire anyone to hire anybody.



Come July 1, businesses with 50 or fewer employees can apply for a $2,500 tax credit for each full-time employee they hire.

“Small businesses are essential to the Illinois economy and it’s crucial that state government find fresh and creative ways of working with entrepreneurs, who will lead the charge toward economic recovery,” Quinn said.



Kim Clarke Maisch, Illinois director of the National Federation of Independent Business, said the tax credit won’t prompt small-business owners to hire new employees, but companies will be happy to use the credit for any jobs they already planned to create.



“This alone is not going to cause business owners to start hiring,” she said. “They need more customers and they need a better business environment before they’ll hire new employees.”



The state is prepared to give out as many as $50 million in tax credits under the law, according to the Quinn administration. For businesses to qualify, the new hires must be employed for a year, but companies can apply for the credit online as soon as they make a new hire. The application won’t be available until closer to July, according to the governor’s office.

Quinn, who wants to raise the state income tax by 33 percent, is seeking to soften his image in the business community before the November election. The governor faces Republican challenger, Sen. Bill Brady, a Bloomington
businessman and entrepreneur.

Brady, who voted for the measure, said in a statement the legislation fails to go far enough. He has promoted a broader pro-business plan.

“We need to offer tax credits for all businesses regardless of their size” rather than only providing incentives for small businesses, Brady said.

Released in February 2010, Heavy Rain has since poured into livingrooms and Blu-ray drives. So how heavy has Heavy Rain gotten? Try a million units worth.
 
 
 
 

When we first looked at the conviction of three Google employees by an Italian judge in late February, we agreed with Google’s stance that the conviction attacked the very ideals of the Internet as we know it.

The comments in reaction to this article were many and varied, often speculating on the reasoning behind the conviction. Today, a CNet article identifies profit as the judge’s reasoning behind the decision.

Sponsor

As Google stated when the convictions were first handed down, the case was concerned with a video of “students at a school in Turin, Italy [who] filmed and then uploaded a video to Google Video that showed them bullying an autistic schoolmate. The video was totally reprehensible and we took it down within hours of being notified by the Italian police.”

According to the Associated Press translation of the court document (PDF), the judge said Google’s profiting off of the video was the reason behind the conviction.

“In simple words, it is not the writing on the wall that constitutes a crime for the owner of the wall, but its commercial exploitation can,” wrote Judge Oscar Magi, continuing to say that the Internet was no longer an “unlimited prairie where everything is permitted and nothing can be prohibited”.

Profit, especially that profit which is made from completely automated advertising systems, seems like an odd reasoning to hold a content provider responsible for the content uploaded by its users. The oft-quoted statistic to keep in mind here is that YouTube has more than 20 hours of video uploaded every minute to the service. Judge Magi, however, argues that “the overwhelming speed of technical progress will allow, sooner or later, ever more stringent controls on uploaded data on the part of Web site managers”.

Google gave CNET the following statement in response to the news:

“We are reading the full 111-page document from the judge. But as we said when the verdict was announced, this conviction attacks the very principles of freedom on which the Internet is built. If these principles are swept aside, then the Web as we know it will cease to exist, and many of the economic, social, political and technological benefits it brings could disappear. These are important points of principle, which is why we and our employees will vigorously appeal this decision.”

We have to say, we still agree with Google on this one, as far as the spirit of the conviction goes. Holding the content host, YouTube in this case, liable for the content of its users attacks the very foundation of the Web. If, as some claim, Google knowingly allowed the content to stay on the site, then its a different story. But if the company immediately responded to official requests to remove the video, it should not be held responsible for its users’ content.

Discuss

Uber-finance blogger Eddy Elfeinbein has put together an awesome list of deep truths about markets and investing.

Here are a few:

The Federal Reserve isn’t nearly as powerful as is commonly believed.

There isn’t a person or group of people in charge of the market.

There’s no such thing as a “healthy correction.”

Good stocks can go down for no reason.

Bad stocks can go up for no reason.

A trend can last much longer than you thought possible.

Stocks don’t know you own them.

The market doesn’t care about politics.

The most important variable to the stock market, by far, is the direction of long-term interest rates.

Mega-mergers rarely work.

Investment bubbles aren’t due to the moral failings of the market participants.

Read all of them here >

Join the conversation about this story »

In August of 2009, General Motors held a press conference stating that the 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric-car will average a city fuel-economy of at least 230 miles per gallon. Yesterday, engineers working on the Volt gave us a little update on what’s going on with the development of the Volt, however, they weren’t willing to confirm the 230 mpg city fuel-economy that they touted last year.

“The 230 mpg number talked about a few months ago was based on some preliminary discussion with the EPA,” said Andrew Farah, the vehicle chief engineer on the Chevrolet Volt. “Those conversations have been continuing and have not yet come to a conclusion.”

GM’s Volt spokesman, Rob Peterson, was also contacted by Inside Line asking whether the 230 mpg number was irrelevant at this point. He replied: “I don’t have anything to say about it at this point in time.”

Other than that, engineers confirmed that the Volt was hitting its target of 40 miles on battery power alone. They also confirmed that when the Volt travels in extended range mode (with the engine running), it averages about 50 mpg.

Click here for more news on the Chevrolet Volt.

2011 Chevrolet Volt:

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Inside Line

Revenue, earnings, gross margin, and operating margin all nicely ahead of consensus.

Stock up in after-market.

Here’s the release >

SANTA CLARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Intel Corporation today reported first-quarter revenue of $10.3 billion. The company reported operating income of $3.4 billion, net income of $2.4 billion and EPS of 43 cents.

“The investments we’re making in leading edge technology are delivering the most compelling product line-up in our history,” said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. “These leadership products combined with growing worldwide demand and continued outstanding execution resulted in Intel’s best first quarter ever. Looking forward, we’re optimistic about our business as Intel products are designed into a variety of new and exciting segments.”

Q1 2010 Highlights (all comparisons sequential)

• PC Client Group revenue was flat, with record mobile microprocessor revenue.
• Data Center Group revenue down 8 percent.
• Other Intel Architecture group revenue down 9 percent.
• Intel® Atom™ microprocessor and chipset revenue of $355 million was down 19 percent.
• The average selling price (ASP) for microprocessors was slightly up.
• Excluding shipments of Intel Atom microprocessors, the ASP was approximately flat.
• R&D plus MG&A spending of $3.1 billion was higher than the company’s prior expectation.
• The effective tax rate was 29 percent, in-line with the company’s prior expectation.

Business Outlook

The Outlook for the second quarter does not include the gain expected from the sale of our investment in Numonyx, nor does it include the effect of any other acquisitions, divestitures or similar transactions that may be completed after April 12th.

Q2 2010

• Revenue: $10.2 billion, plus or minus $400 million.
• Gross margin percentage: 64 percent, plus or minus a couple percentage points.
• R&D plus MG&A spending: Approximately $3.1 billion.
• Impact of equity investments and interest and other: approximately zero.
• Depreciation: Approximately $1.1 billion.

Full-Year 2010

• Gross margin percentage: 64 percent, plus or minus a couple percentage points. The company’s prior expectation was 61 percent plus or minus 3 percentage points.
• Spending (R&D plus MG&A): $12.4 billion, plus or minus $100 million. The company’s prior expectation was $11.8 billion, plus or minus $100 million.
• R&D spending: Approximately $6.4 billion.
• Tax rate: Approximately 31 percent for the second, third and fourth quarters.
• Depreciation: Approximately $4.4 billion, plus or minus $100 million.
• Capital spending: Expected to be $4.8 billion, plus or minus $100 million.

Status of Business Outlook

During the quarter, Intel’s corporate representatives may reiterate the Business Outlook during private meetings with investors, investment analysts, the media and others. From the close of business on May 28 until publication of the company’s second-quarter earnings release, Intel will observe a “Quiet Period” during which the Business Outlook disclosed in the company’s news releases and filings with the SEC should be considered as historical, speaking as of prior to the Quiet Period only and not subject to an update by the company.

Risk Factors

The above statements and any others in this document that refer to plans and expectations for the second quarter, the year and the future are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Many factors could affect Intel’s actual results, and variances from Intel’s current expectations regarding such factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Intel presently considers the following to be the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the corporation’s expectations.

• Demand could be different from Intel’s expectations due to factors including changes in business and economic conditions; customer acceptance of Intel’s and competitors’ products; changes in customer order patterns including order cancellations; and changes in the level of inventory at customers.
• Intel operates in intensely competitive industries that are characterized by a high percentage of costs that are fixed or difficult to reduce in the short term and product demand that is highly variable and difficult to forecast. Additionally, Intel is in the process of transitioning to its next generation of products on 32nm process technology, and there could be execution issues associated with these changes, including product defects and errata along with lower than anticipated manufacturing yields. Revenue and the gross margin percentage are affected by the timing of new Intel product introductions and the demand for and market acceptance of Intel’s products; actions taken by Intel’s competitors, including product offerings and introductions, marketing programs and pricing pressures and Intel’s response to such actions; defects or disruptions in the supply of materials or resources; and Intel’s ability to respond quickly to technological developments and to incorporate new features into its products.
• The gross margin percentage could vary significantly from expectations based on changes in revenue levels; product mix and pricing; start-up costs, including costs associated with the new 32nm process technology; variations in inventory valuation, including variations related to the timing of qualifying products for sale; excess or obsolete inventory; manufacturing yields; changes in unit costs; impairments of long-lived assets, including manufacturing, assembly/test and intangible assets; the timing and execution of the manufacturing ramp and associated costs; and capacity utilization.
• Expenses, particularly certain marketing and compensation expenses, as well as restructuring and asset impairment charges, vary depending on the level of demand for Intel’s products and the level of revenue and profits.
• The tax rate expectation is based on current tax law and current expected income. The tax rate may be affected by the jurisdictions in which profits are determined to be earned and taxed; changes in the estimates of credits, benefits and deductions; the resolution of issues arising from tax audits with various tax authorities, including payment of interest and penalties; and the ability to realize deferred tax assets.
• Gains or losses from equity securities and interest and other could vary from expectations depending on gains or losses realized on the sale or exchange of securities; gains or losses from equity method investments; impairment charges related to debt securities as well as equity and other investments; interest rates; cash balances; and changes in fair value of derivative instruments.
• The majority of our non-marketable equity investment portfolio balance is concentrated in companies in the flash memory market segment, and declines in this market segment or changes in management’s plans with respect to our investments in this market segment could result in significant impairment charges, impacting restructuring charges as well as gains/losses on equity investments and interest and other.
• Intel’s results could be impacted by adverse economic, social, political and physical/infrastructure conditions in countries where Intel, its customers or its suppliers operate, including military conflict and other security risks, natural disasters, infrastructure disruptions, health concerns and fluctuations in currency exchange rates.
• Intel’s results could be affected by the timing of closing of acquisitions and divestitures.
• Intel’s results could be affected by adverse effects associated with product defects and errata (deviations from published specifications), and by litigation or regulatory matters involving intellectual property, stockholder, consumer, antitrust and other issues, such as the litigation and regulatory matters described in Intel’s SEC reports. An unfavorable ruling could include monetary damages or an injunction prohibiting us from manufacturing or selling one or more products, precluding particular business practices, impacting our ability to design our products, or requiring other remedies such as compulsory licensing of intellectual property.

A detailed discussion of these and other factors that could affect Intel’s results is included in Intel’s SEC filings, including the report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Dec. 26, 2009.

Earnings Webcast

Intel will hold a public webcast at 2:30 p.m. PDT today on its Investor Relations Web site at www.intc.com. A webcast replay and MP3 download will also be made available on the site.

Intel plans to report its earnings for the second quarter of 2010 on Tuesday, July 13, 2010. Immediately following the earnings report, the company plans to publish a commentary by Stacy J. Smith, vice president and chief financial officer at www.intc.com/results.cfm. A public webcast of Intel’s earnings conference call will follow at 2:30 p.m. PDT at www.intc.com.

Intel [NASDAQ: INTC], the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom and blogs.intel.com

Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Xeon, Intel Core, and Intel Atom are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries.

* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• How Intel Screwed Itself Out Of The iPad Revolution
• How Google, Apple, And Other Household Brands Came Up With Their Names
• Intel Plans $2 Billion Fund To Invest In U.S. Companies

Even wigged-up gossipmonger Wendy Williams sounds concerned about Lindsay Lohan….

So far as taxes and public spending are concerned, the US has been
singular in two respects. It has not provided a public guarantee of
health insurance, and it has not collected a value-added tax. This
pairing of exceptions is no coincidence. Now that the first has been
(mostly) legislated away, time may be running out on the second. With
recent celebrity endorsements from the likes of Paul Volcker and Alan
Greenspan, the idea of a VAT is gaining momentum, and opponents are
gearing up to oppose it.

This primer on VAT from Robert Carroll and Alan Viard (h/t Greg Mankiw)
is useful and even-handed. If you need to collect revenue, it says, a
VAT is a good way to do it. Once it’s there, on the other hand, you can
raise it rather too easily to collect even more. That is something for
conservatives to worry about. Liberals are more concerned about
regressivity. A VAT exempts new savings, so the rich pay
proportionately less. There are ways to mitigate that drawback,
according to the Tax Policy Center’s Eric Toder and Joseph Rosenberg.
Payroll taxes are more regressive than a VAT. Using a VAT in part to
substitute for payroll taxes could make the system as a whole more
progressive.

Another paper by the TPC asks whether the present income tax code is capable of bridging the fiscal gap
by itself. The answer is no, certainly not if tax increases were
confined to the highest-paid households, as Obama has promised.
Spending cuts and new revenue sources are going to be required.

Read all about it at Climate Interactive.

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Today, Apple upgraded MacBook Pros across the line — 13.3, 15.4 and 17 inch — but I’m not weeping with excitement. Could new MacBook Pros be any less inspiring? The hardware improvements are marginal, “Me-too” upgrades against Windows 7 laptops. New MacBook Pros, like older models, are perceived premium brand at premium pricing delivering maximum margins for Apple. It’s the price people pay to be cool.

About once a year I stir up this price-vs-value debate, mainly because of entry-model display resolution, system memory and harddrive capacity, for which MacBook Pros are arguably deficient compared to Windows laptops. Apple’s iLife suite is one of the Mac’s main benefits, but the `09 version launched in January 2009. The digital media suite isn’t even keeping feature pace with third-party apps for iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. The point: I expect more from Apple? Shouldn’t you, given what Mac laptops cost?

According to NPD, the average selling price of Windows notebooks at US retail — including online and brick-and-mortar stores — was $512 in February, down $40 year over year (March numbers release next week). By comparison, Mac notebook ASP was $1,343, down $159 from February 2009. Higher pricing, stronger branding and better retailing increase MacBook Pros’ perceived value among many computer shoppers. Apple also benefits from newness, meaning that for many Windows PC owners (the majority of the market) a Mac is something fresh. They’ve used Windows.

Then there is the cool factor. People want to belong, to be noticed, to be appreciated. It’s one reason consumers align themselves with celebrities and select brands — or groupie girls chase some rock stars. Right now, Apple’s brand is cool.

Value vs Price

To be cool, MacBook Pro buyers pay much more than Windows 7 laptop purchasers. MacBook Pro prices range from $1,199 (for the entry-level 13.3-incher) to $2,299 (for the 17-inch model). Windows 7 notebooks start as low as a few hundred bucks. My ho-hum reaction to today’s upgrades is twofold: Apple offers incremental improvements over existing models, and hardware upgrades — other than battery life — mainly catch up with existing Windows 7 laptops for much more money.

RAM is a good place to start. The MacBook Pro line is now standardized at 4GB, which finally catches up with most Windows laptops. For notebooks sold at US retail, “most are 4GB and then 3GB,” explained Stephen Baker, NPD’s vice president of industry analyst. “Between the two of them they represent about two-thirds of all Windows notebooks, and three-quarters of total, excluding netbooks.” As measured by memory configuration, Best Buy offers 185 different laptop models, 128 of which come with 4GB of RAM. The 3 1GB portables are netbooks. Among the dozen notebooks with 2GB memory, five are Mac laptops (some of which will be replaced by new models announced today).

How does storage compare? More than two-thirds of the laptops sold at Best Buy come with harddrives between 300GB and 899GB. Today’s MacBook Pro upgrades leaves the entry 13.3-incher at 250GB, raises the high-end 13.3-incher’s storage from 250GB to 320GB and moves up the entry 15.4-inch model to 500GB. Apple kept Intel Core 2 Duo processors for 13.3-inch MacBook Pro models, but modestly upgraded clockspeeds. The 15-inch and 17-inch models move up to faster Intel Core i5 and i7 processors.

Over at Engadget, Paul Miller astutely observes that the move to Core “has caused quite the unprecedented wait.” Windows PC manufacturers have long offered i5 and i7 processors, and for considerably less selling price than new MacBook Pros. Apple’s lowest-cost Core i5 model is $1,799 compared to $1,357.98 for the comparably configured HP dv6t model (HP display is slightly larger, screen resolution slightly less and graphics memory four times more). Windows 7 laptops with slightly slower Core i5 clockspeeds (2.26GHz instead of 2.4GHz) can be purchased for under $600.

Then there is the topic of screen resolution, of which there is some disagreement. I’m dissatisfied with 13.3-inch Mac portable screen resolution, which has stayed at 1280 x 800 for years. By comparison, my 13.1-inch Sony VAIO Z720 has 1600 x 900 resolution, and the display is simply breathtaking.

“The notebook market has shifted from 16:10 aspect ratio to 16:9,” said John Jacobs, DisplaySearch’s director of Notebook PC Market Research. “The new 16:9 aspect ratio displays at 13.3-inch or 13.4-inch are 1366×768, compared to Apple’s 1280×800. So, more columns, but fewer rows.” So he agreed with me there.

He emphasized: “When you compare that to the 15.6-inch 1366×768 display, which is the most popular notebook display on the market (about 40 percent market share), Apple is the winner there on both columns and rows…Apple’s resolution is only lower, and only in one dimension (fewer rows) at only one size — 13.3-inch — compared to comparable products from brands that ship the Microsoft OS.”

Apple’s Logo Advantage

The slow move to Core i5 and i7 processors and marginality of other upgrades is typical Apple. The company maximizes margins at the front end, by offering a base set of features that deliver the best return on investment. As the product lifecycle progresses, Apple recovers its investment and supply-chain logistics lower production costs, incremental improvements begin. Apple typically starts by improving the hardware for the same price. Later, the company adds better hardware or features and cuts the price. Along the Mac’s lifecycle, Windows PCs comparably come with faster processors, more storage and more graphics memory for considerably less money. Apple’s starting price is always more — $999 for the white MacBook.

There are many reasons why the strategy works for Apple, such as its tight end-to-end control over Macs, premium branding and fierce price competition among PC manufacturers (something that hurts comparable premium branding). The branding works, and people pay more to be cool.

There’s a science to branding, for which logos are hugely important. A 2008 Duke University branding study by professors Gavan Fitzsimons, Gráinne Fitzsimons and Tanya Chartrand compared different logos. In a Duke University video, Gavan Fitzsimons explained the study sought to measure “incidental branding” — very short exposure to brand logos. One a typical day the average person is exposed to between 3,000 and 10,000 different brand logo impressions. “We assume that incidental brand exposures do not affect us, but our work demonstrates that even fleeting glimpses of logos can affect us quite dramatically,” he said in a statement.

Researchers subliminally exposed students to Apple and IBM logos. Those exposed to the Apple logo “had a goal to be creative,” based on a seemingly unrelated additional task using bricks, Chartrand explained in the video. “Apple has worked for many years to develop a brand character associated with nonconformity, innovation and creativity.”

The studies’ results could easily apply to anything or anyone that people identify with. They inherit characteristics from the thing or person they attach to. Peer influence can magnify the sense of purpose or belonging. Will using an Apple product really make people more creative over time? Certainly they may feel more creative or feel better about themselves for the brand association. By comparison, what feeling does the Windows logo generate? Unfortunately, the study didn’t use the Windows logo, but IBM’s.

I bring up all this for an important reason: The Mac-vs-Windows PC pricing debate is often heated (at least in BetaNews comments) and unresolved. There are plenty of people looking at configurations and pricing — how much more they could get from a Windows laptop vs a Mac notebook — and expressing bafflement about why anyone would pay more for less. Human beings make many purchase decisions for emotional reasons, about how XYZ product or brand makes them feel.

Something is working right for Apple, regardless of Windows PC price comparisons. The Mac is but one product with sales momentum, which likely will be reconfirmed when the company next announces earnings — on April 20. According to NPD, US retail Mac laptop unit sales rose 43.3 percent in February year over year. Unit sales for all notebooks rose 33.9 percent and 36.6 percent for Windows laptops (with netbooks removed). Mac notebook sales measured in dollars rose 28.1 percent compared to 24.7 percent for all notebooks or 21.6 percent for Windows portables (with netbooks removed). The point: The whole market is growing double digits, including Windows laptops, which is a major turnaround from early 2009.

Microsoft is benefitting from the release of Windows 7 and, perhaps more importantly, aggressive and quite good marketing. The “Windows 7 was my idea” advertising campaign is exceptionally good. But unlike Apple, Microsoft doesn’t have a corporate logo. Apple’s recognizable logo covers all products, whereas Microsoft has many logos, with Windows being the more widely recognized. Apple has a brand advantage in the single logo.

Perhaps the question shouldn’t be “Does Apple demand too much to be cool?” but “Why don’t Microsoft and its Windows PC partners demand more?” Apple doesn’t have a monopoly on premium branding or pricing. Regarding new MacBook Pros, I expected more than Windows 7 laptop “Me-too” from Apple. Other people can debate the price comparisons, and comments below would be a good place to start.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

After All Facebook reported this morning that Facebook is testing a new “Questions” feature, someone turned to Quora, the well-funded Q&A site created by former Facebook execs, to ask “Why is Facebook creating a Q&A product to compete against Quora?” (Quora is still in private beta so you may not be able to view that page.)

Guess who should turn up but Facebook director of product Blake Ross, saying “I’ll answer this since I’m involved in the questions prototype at Facebook.” He explains that Questions is an evolution of Facebook’s former Polls product, with the idea of delivering instantaneous results to questions about logistics and recommendations. According to the screenshot on All Facebook, Questions pops up in the ad sidebar on the site — presumably to reach would-be answerers in a questioners’ network in the moment.

Ross opines that tech pundits perceive unnecessary and untrue competitive dynamics with our eagerness to declare that things are killers of other things. He says Facebook’s motivations are anything but anti-Quora.

Facebook’s experimentation in this “space” is actually a direct result of internal circumstances at the company rather than all this recent outside activity. For the last few years, we didn’t have enough engineers to make significant, sustained investments in our applications (e.g. photos and events). Earlier this year, we finally got comfortable enough with our recruiting numbers to reorganize the product engineering group into dedicated application teams of 4-5 people each. That’s why you’re suddenly seeing improvements to applications that haven’t evolved in years, such as our recent launch of higher res photos. One of our app teams is charged with experimentation and we decided to pursue this vision of real-time Q&A now that the resources were finally in place.

Ross also says that he thinks the Q&A category is misunderstood, since Quora and Aardvark have different focuses, the former a knowledge base and the latter “really fast results for more day-to-day queries.” So it sounds like what he’s saying, if I may, is that Facebook Questions is an Aardvark killer.

Please see the disclosure about Facebook in my bio.

Below are links to news stories of interest from newspapers that came up during a search today.  These links were active at the time of this e-mail, but should you want to save a story, printing it or cutting and pasting the entire article and saving it to your computer is recommended.    

State News

 Even in tough times, extracurriculars hang on
Springfield State Journal Register – In “Clubs and activities: A hidden benefit of equitable funding,” published in the March/April 2010 issue of the Illinois Association of School Boards Journal, Joseph Matula said he found while comparing Illinois school districts that “those with an equalized assessed valuation (EAV) greater than $100,000 per pupil provide 48 percent more clubs and activities than school districts with an EAV per pupil of less than $100,000.” 

Clubs and activities: A hidden benefit of equitable funding
Illinois Association of School Boards – Advocates of a change in the emphasis of school funding on property taxes see the things that wealthier school districts have and would like all children to have the same opportunities. Some feel this disparity is tied to racial bias (see Chicago Urban League v. State of Illinois). Others fear the wrath of taxpayers in that any change will be interpreted as a tax increase and the legislators who support it will surely lose in the next election. 

Expert says 4-day schools don’t always save as much money as expected
Decatur WAND (NBC) – allow school districts to cut one day of school each week to save money. Custer, S.D. has had 4-day weeks for 15 years. Superintendent Tim Creal says it saves up to $70,000 a year — enough for two teachers. Gore, Okla. schools are going back to five days after one year. Officials say class periods on in-session days are too long for pupils. 

Lawmakers may let schools adopt 4-day week  Illinois school districts would have the option of dropping one day of classes per week  under legislation making its way through the Statehouse. The move could save districts thousands in transportation and utility costs. 

Dist. 300 board reviews what’s been cut, what it still needs to
Chicago Daily Herald – budget reductions made to date and those likely to come. The board is trying to slash $15 million from the 2010-11 budget to cope with delayed state payments, Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed reduction in education funding and expected increases in insurance costs. Between cuts that have been approved by the board and tentative agreements reached with the district’s unions, 

7,457 voters sign petition blocking Palatine Dist. 15’s $27 mil loan
Arlington Heights Daily Herald – It seemed like an impossibility given the monumental task and the minuscule amount of time to do it.  But opponents of the $27 million bond issue narrowly approved last month by Palatine Township Elementary District 15 knew not to underestimate the attention voters are giving to government spending in the midst of a recession. 

District 205 Deans Won’t Be Laid Off Yet; More Staff Let Go  WGIL Radio News – ? $3.5 million in changes to the Galesburg School District budget are being set in motion now that the Galesburg School Board …   

Galesburg Athletic Pay to Play Proposal Discussed  WGIL Radio News – ? Galesburg School officials are clarifying a part of the proposal to make $3.5 million in changes to the District’s budget –   

Galesburg Parents Save Cooke Elementary School Gain  WGIL Radio News – ?-  Parents around one Galesburg School District elementary school have essentially saved their school …   

Evanston cops looking into ‘malicious’ Facebook site linked to school  Police are investigating a Facebook site called “Evanston Rats,” and have contacted several Evanston Township High School students who appeared to post comments attacking other students.   

Schools chief warns of malicious Facebook site
PioneerLocal.-  Evanston Township High school Superintendent Eric Witherspoon warned students today that posting malicious comments on the “Evanston Rats” Facebook site could result in criminal prosecution and school discipline,   

Township democrats spurn corrupt post
Chicago Daily Southtown –  Phil Kadner –  Democratic township committeemen have decided not to run a candidate for Cook County regional schools superintendent in November. “We felt the money as a budget item is best invested in the classroom as opposed to administration,” said Frank Zuccarelli, the Thornton Township Democratic committeeman who was picked by Cook County party leadership to head a search team for a possible candidate.   

Fees keep kids from prom
Plainfield Sun – A Plainfield South parent who owes the district money doesn’t understand the why the school is preventing her son from going to prom. On Wednesday, she received an automated phone message saying all outstanding school fees must be paid in full before students can purchase prom tick   

State will soon cut off MAP scholarships for college students
Journal&Gazette Times-Courier –  Illinois higher education officials next week likely will stop telling applicants they’re approved for the state’s largest need-based college grant program. 

Our Opinion: LLCC stays true to its mission  IF IT’S BEEN a few years since you’ve been on the Lincoln Land Community College campus, you’re in for a surprise on your next visit. 

After $8.5 million in cuts over past three years, Quincy School Board members willing to discuss new sources of revenue
Quincy Herald-Whig – the average education fund tax rate among the 25 downstate Illinois’ large-unit districts at $2.50 per $100 of assessed valuation. The district’s finances also will be affected by how the teacher contract is resolved this summer. The last contract covered three years. The salaries and pay increases included have become a template for other contract agreements in the district.   

Student teacher arrested for sexual abuse
Quincy KHQA (CBS) 7 – A student teacher at a Quincy Elementary School is behind bars after police say he had inappropriate sexual contact with a 16 year-old boy.

Political News

Quinn heads to Springfield to push for tax hike  AP Gov. Pat Quinn is heading to Springfield, and he wants lawmakers to act on his proposal to raise the state income tax. The Democrat has proposed raising … 

Illinois Lawmakers Facing Several Battles in New Sesssion
Chicago WFLD (Fox) 32 –  not be able to reach an agreement by May 7 when the session closes.  If the session goes past then, the budget will require a super-majority to pass. Lawmakers will also be working on two key school funding issues: vouchers and four-day school weeks. Illinois state representatives have already approved a new law that would allow school districts to operate just four days a week,   

Cash-strapped Illinois owes companies $4.5 billion
Chicago Tribune – State government is such a deadbeat because its coffers are nearly empty, dating to ex- Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s overspending and a decline in revenue because of the poor economy. As a result, Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration has stopped paying service providers in order to keep government functioning day to day. The state owes more than $4.5 billion to such providers,   

Is Gov. Quinn even thinking?
Chicago Tribune – Eric Zorn – Once again, we have a Democratic governor — Pat Quinn, successor to the ousted and indicted Blagojevich — with dismal approval ratings trailing his GOP challenger, state Rep. Bill Brady of Bloomington, in early polling. Public Policy Polling has Brady up 10 points — 43 percent to 33 percent — with 53 percent of those surveyed saying they disapprove of the job Quinn is doing. Rasmussen Reports has Brady up 7 points — 45 percent to 38 percent — with 56 percent saying they disapprove of the job Quinn is doing. Both organizations surveyed approximately 500 voters the first week of April   

Lawmakers Debate Ways to Rework Political Map  MyFox Illinois – SPRINGFIELD – State senators from both parties are calling for changes to the way legislative maps are drawn. …   

Citizen Redistricting Effort Up Against Senate Plan  WSIL TV – Some say changing the culture of corruption in Illinois will require changing the way the state draw legislative districts. …   

Giannoulias fundraising falls short of Kirk total  CHICAGO (AP) — Democrat Alexi Giannoulias said Monday that his campaign posted its best fundraising quarter yet in the first three months of the year but that he didn’t match the quarter posted by Republican Mark Kirk, his opponent for President Barack Obama’s old U.S. Senate seat.   

All or nothing on Blagojevich FBI tapes, defense attorney says  CHICAGO — Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s brother’s attorney said Monday that all of the FBI’s tapes of the ousted governor talking on the telephone should be kept sealed or else all of them should be released so the public can hear them in their entirety.   

Economic stress eases, but Illinois still among the five worst
Arlington Heights Daily Herald  – Economic stress declined in the nation’s most troubled areas in February as unemployment stabilized and the pace of foreclosures eased, according to The Associated Press’ monthly analysis of conditions in more than 3,100 U.S. counties. After peaking in January, economic stress dipped in February in half the states and half the 3,141 counties. “We are not out of the woods yet,   

High cost of Illinois government planes
Quincy KHQA (CBS) 7 –  Everyone knows how much every penny counts in the State of Illinois — especially in today’s budget climate. Thousands of teachers have been cut to help make ends meet…..but there’s a huge expense you might not have thought about. And it’s sucking up a large chunk of change. Steve Staeger looks at the high cost of Illinois’ government planes 

National News

NJ gov wants teachers union leader fired for memo
Belleville News-Democrat – Christie spokesman Mike Drewniak said the governor wants Bergen County teachers union head Joe Coppola fired for his “irresponsible” memo. The memo from the Bergen County Education Association to its locals included a closing prayer that read:  ”Dear Lord this year you have taken away my favorite actor, Patrick Swayze, my favorite actress, Farrah Fawcett,   

Rural Minn. School Replaces Books With iPads
WBBM TV CBS 2 Chicago – watched a group of his students tap out a test drive on the new iPad. The iPad can access the Internet, hold the contents of books and provide a place for notes. The Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop school board turned a new page on learning by approving $265,000 on this high-tech program. In addition to buying 230 iPads, it will upgrade all school buildings with Wi-Fi   

Missouri gets $54M to fix struggling schools
Belleville News-Democrat –  First priority will be given to 52 struggling schools – mostly concentrated in Kansas City and St. Louis.  The U.S. Department of education said districts must choose one of four options: closing the school and transferring students to higher-achieving schools; replacing the principal and rehiring no more than half the teachers;   

TIME.com Today’s Top Stories

In Appeal for Diplomacy, Obama Invokes the Mushroom Cloud

Bush used the image to justify invading Iraq; Obama hopes it will focus attention on tightening security around nuclear materials

Is the U.S. Army Losing Its War on Suicide?

The rate at which soldiers are taking their own lives is increasing under the burden of repeat deployments in war zones

Getting Haiti’s Earthquake Homeless to Move

The first of what may be a new model of shelters has opened up. But will Haiti’s homeless make the move there out of the capital?

The Top Contenders to Replace Justice Stevens

Though President Obama is considering as many as 10 candidates, most observers put the odds on his selecting from a short list of established legal minds who will likely deflect inevitable claims that they are outside the mainstream of legal thought

For Foodies, Ramps Are the New Arugula

There is no shortage of fans, at home and in restaurants; after all, the Church of the Ramp is one of the fastest-growing denominations in the religion of seasonality

Word of the Day for Tuesday, April 13, 2010

ne plus ultra \nee-plus-UL-truh; nay-\, noun:

1. The highest point, as of excellence or achievement; the acme; the pinnacle; the ultimate.
2. The most profound degree of a quality or condition.

The lineup for NBC The TODAY Show’s annual Toyota-sponsored summer concert series was revealed on Tuesday, and the nation’s No. 1-rated morning show will host a bevy of music’s biggest stars in a two month series that kicks off in New York’s Rockefeller Plaza next month.

Sting will inaugurate this year’s series with a live show on May 14. The newest American Idol winner and runner-up will also be dropping in right after the Idol finale at the end of May. On June 8, Christina Aguilera will play a full half-hour concert to launch Bionic, her first studio album in four years. Other artists set to take the stage live on TODAY this year include Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Maxwell, Carrie Underwood, and Lady Gaga.

Take a look at the full schedule for the 2010 TODAY Show Summer Concert Series below……

MAY:
21 The Script
27 American Idol Winner and Runner Up (Special Thursday performance)

JUNE:
4 Justin Bieber
8 Christina Aguilera
11 Rascal Flatts
18 James Taylor and Carol King
25 Maxwell

JULY:
2 Maroon 5
9 Lady Gaga
16 Enrique Iglesias
23 John Mayer
30 Carrie Underwood

AUGUST:
6 Train
13 Ke$ha
20 Keith Urban
27 Katy Perry