FL: 4 million without health insurance

Statistics published Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau show that 4.1 million people in Florida did not have health insurance in 2009.

The health care reform goal of getting insurance for nearly all Americans has a lot of ground to make up here, as it does in the rest of the country, where 50.7 million people were uninsured last year.

In Florida, 26.6 percent of people under the age of 65 did not have health insurance. Most people 65 or older are on Medicare. Of the under-65 age group, 58.7 percent of Floridians were covered by private health insurance and 19.7 percent were on government health insurance.

Nationwide, 18.8 percent of people had no health insurance.

Number of Americans in poverty jumps to 43.6M; working-age poor at highest level since 1960s

The ranks of the working-age poor climbed to the highest level since the 1960s as the recession threw millions of people out of work last year, leaving one in seven Americans in poverty.

The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said Thursday in its annual report on the economic well-being of U.S. households. The report covers 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office.

The poverty rate increased from 13.2 percent, or 39.8 million people, in 2008.

The share of Americans without health coverage rose from 15.4 percent to 16.7 percent — or 50.7 million people — mostly because of the loss of employer-provided health insurance during the recession. Congress passed a health overhaul this year to address the rising numbers of uninsured people, but its main provisions will not take effect until 2014.

Teens report high exposure to sex education

More than 95 percent of U.S. teenagers report that they have had "formal instruction" in sex education in school or other venues outside the home, the federal government said in a survey released Tuesday, but only about two-thirds have been taught about birth-control methods.

The report does not contain trend data, but researchers said their findings that an overwhelming number of U.S. teens receive sex education has been the status quo for at least a decade.

According to data from nearly 2,800 teens, 97 percent of boys and 96 percent of girls said they had received some form of formal sex education in a school, church, community center or some other place before they were 18, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) said.

This gender gap widened when it came to learning about "methods of birth control." Seventy percent of girls said they had such instruction, compared with 62 percent of boys.

Costs imposed on Jacksonville library system creating tension with City Hall

Since 2005, the portion of the budget that the Jacksonville library system has control over has increasingly been drying up.

Numbers prepared by the library's accountants show that costs that library officials say are out of their hands - fees imposed on their department by the city - have increased by $11 million, to about 38 percent of the library's $41.7 million budget this year.

Racial Disparity in School Suspensions

The study analyzed four decades of federal Department of Education data on suspensions, with a special focus on figures from 2002 and 2006, that were drawn from 9,220 of the nation’s 16,000 public middle schools.

The study, “Suspended Education: Urban Middle Schools in Crisis,” was published by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights organization.

Throughout America’s public schools, in kindergarten through high school, the percent of students suspended each year nearly doubled from the early 1970s through 2006, the authors said, an increase that they associate, in part, with the rise of so-called zero-tolerance school discipline policies.

In 1973, on average, 3.7 percent of public school students of all races were suspended at least once. By 2006, that percentage had risen to 6.9 percent.

Both in 1973 and in 2006, black students were suspended at higher rates than whites, but over that period, the gap increased. In 1973, 6 percent of all black students were suspended. In 2006, 15 percent of all blacks were suspended.

Among the students attending one of the 9,220 middle schools in the study sample, 28 percent of black boys and 18 percent of black girls, compared with 10 percent of white boys and 4 percent of white girls, were suspended in 2006, the study found.

SC Radioactive Waste Program Runs $1.5B Over Plan

A federal audit shows that the cost of cleaning up millions of gallons of radioactive waste at a South Carolina facility will cost almost $1.5 billion more than expected.

The report released Tuesday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office finds that the U.S. Department of Energy underestimated the true costs of cleaning up the Savannah River Site in its $3.2 billion bid.

The GAO says the department underestimated labor costs by up to 70 percent and did not account for numerous other expenses.

College Loan Default Rates Rise, Report Says

The number of college students who defaulted on their federal student loans climbed in the fiscal year that ended in September 2008, according to new government data released Monday.

And once again, those who attend for-profit colleges and universities were the most likely to default.

Figures from the U.S. Department of Education show 7 percent of borrowers of federal student loans defaulted within two years of beginning repayment, up from 6.7 percent the previous year and 5.2 percent the year before that.

Default rates crept up in all sectors of higher education -- from 3.7 to 4 percent for private nonprofit schools, 5.9 to 6 percent for public nonprofit schools, and 11 to 11.6 percent for for-profit schools.

The data covers borrowers whose first loan repayments came due between Oct. 1, 2007, and Sept. 30, 2008, and who defaulted before Sept. 30. 2009.

Students at for-profit schools represented 26 percent of federal loan borrowers and 43 percent of all defaulters in 2008-09, the department says.

College Loan Default Rates Rise, Report Says

The number of college students who defaulted on their federal student loans climbed in the fiscal year that ended in September 2008, according to new government data released Monday.

And once again, those who attend for-profit colleges and universities were the most likely to default.

Figures from the U.S. Department of Education show 7 percent of borrowers of federal student loans defaulted within two years of beginning repayment, up from 6.7 percent the previous year and 5.2 percent the year before that.

Default rates crept up in all sectors of higher education -- from 3.7 to 4 percent for private nonprofit schools, 5.9 to 6 percent for public nonprofit schools, and 11 to 11.6 percent for for-profit schools.

The data covers borrowers whose first loan repayments came due between Oct. 1, 2007, and Sept. 30, 2008, and who defaulted before Sept. 30. 2009.

Students at for-profit schools represented 26 percent of federal loan borrowers and 43 percent of all defaulters in 2008-09, the department says.

Fla. SAT scores stable, below national average

Florida high school seniors again scored below the national average on the SAT college entrance exam, with the class of 2010 scoring slightly lower than 2009 did.

Test results released Monday show Florida students scoring an average of 496 in critical reading, 498 in math and 479 in writing, out of a maximum 800 points in each subject. Combined, Florida's score of 1473 was two points lower than the state scored in 2009 and 37 points below the national combined average of 1509. The state scored below average in every category: the national averages were 501 in reading, 516 in math and 492 in writing.

A record 102,741 of students took the exam in Florida, about 2,500 more students than 2009.

Some good news for Florida came from minority students, who generally scored better than their counterparts nationally.

Among racial and ethnic groups in Florida, students of Mexican heritage made the largest gains in each subject, jumping 10 points in writing and 9 in reading. Black and Hispanic students overall achieved higher scores in math and reading than their respective racial and ethnic groups nationwide.

It was that news that state Education Commissioner Eric Smith focused on. The College Board, which administers the test, said 2010 was Florida's most diverse group to take the test; 48.5 percent come from minority groups, up from 47 percent last year.

Nationwide, the average SAT score held steady - the combined 1509 was the same score the class of 2009 received. That score is nine points lower than the average in 2006, when the writing section was added and the test shifted to a 2400-point scale.

History of U.S. v. E. C. Knight Co.

Case Brief - Oyez

The Opinion

"The Supreme Court in 1896"

"Government and Business in the Late 19th Century"

"Landmark Cases" - PBS

"Dirty Dozen" book.

History of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)

"Antitrust Enforcement and the Consumer"

"The Debs Case"

"Trusts and Monopolies"

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Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)

Overview

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"The Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890"

History of the Socialist Labor Party

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Platform (1887)

"The People"

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Platform (1904)

History of Social Darwinism

"Progress: It's Law and Cause"

Overview - PBS

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"He Moved His Feet When he Ran"

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Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

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The Atlanta Compromise Speech - PBS

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"Speech at the Atlanta Exposition"

"Separate Yet One"

Biography of Booker T. Washington

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"The Effect of Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Speech" (1895)