Prison health care costs can be one-fifth of total prison operating costs and are rising, the study found. The increase is being fueled in part by offenders who are aging, are serving longer sentences and have growing health care needs. Adding to the problem is that prisons are often in geographically remote areas. To receive specialized care, prisoners must either be brought to the specialist or the specialist must come to them — both expensive alternatives.

The year-long study of three federal prisons and a prison health care facility found that using telemedicine saved the three prisons more than $59,000 by avoiding the need to transfer prisoners to the medical center. Another $27,500 was saved when the use of telemedicine prevented about 35 trips to local specialists. Telemedicine also improved the quality of care by giving prisoners access to more expert specialists and shorter waiting times. HIV-positive prisoners also could get help from infectious disease experts, care that was not available locally.

Evaluators estimated that using a telemedicine system 100 times a month for 15 months would cover the initial cost of the equipment; thereafter, the monthly savings would be about $14,200.

November 1999 contents | Minnesota IssueWatch home page

• Severely mentally ill people are more likely to be violent crime victims, study shows
"North Carolina Study Dispels Myths of Mental Illness and Violence," NCJA Justice Bulletin, July 1999, p. 12.

Sufferers of severe mental illness are more than twice as likely — 8 percent versus 3 percent — to be victims of attacks, rapes or muggings than the general population, report North Carolina researchers. The risk of victimization was four times greater for those who used drugs or alcohol.

The study looked at the types and amounts of crime experienced by 331 people with severe mental illness. Study participants had been hospitalized because of severe mental illness and had returned to live in the community after being discharged. The 178 males and 153 females ranged in age from 20 to 70. About 66 percent were African American; the rest were white, except for one Hispanic and one Asian. Almost 63 percent lived in urban and suburban areas of four cities, while the others lived in small towns or rural sections of nine participating counties. Most lived with parents or in their own homes, while about 6 percent were homeless at least part of the time. Subjects tended to have low incomes, averaging $500 a month; about two-thirds had no earned income. Researchers say severely mentally ill people are more likely to become victims of violent crimes because of their illness and where they live — generally in poor neighborhoods with high rates of crime. The study found that subjects living in urban and suburban areas had a greater chance of being crime victims than those who lived in small towns and rural areas.

About 27 percent of the mentally ill people said they had been victims of violent and nonviolent crime in the four months preceding their interviews for the study. Nearly 60 percent, however, said they were satisfied with their personal safety.

November 1999 contents | Minnesota IssueWatch home page

• Tennessee program improves highway safety, study reports
"'Eyes on the Street': The Impact of Tennessee's Emergency Cellular Telephone Program on Alcohol-Related Fatal Crashes," Stewart J. D'Alessio, Lisa Stolzenberg, and W. Clinton Terry, III, Crime & Delinquency, October 1999, p. 453.

Fewer people—2.5 percent a month—are dying in alcohol-related crashes on Tennessee roads where motorists with cellular phones are participating in a program aimed at improving highway safety, a recent study reports.

Under the widely promoted program called "Eyes on the Street," cellular phone users make a free call to *384 when they see a suspected drunk driver or other road emergency. They are connected directly to the police.

To determine the effectiveness of the program, the study authors compared the percentage of fatal alcohol-related highway crashes before and after the program was implemented. Although the program was begun on April 1, 1995, the study looked at data from January 1987 to December 1997. The researchers found the overall alcohol-related crash rate was lower on highways after the program was implemented than before and that the rate was lower on roads with the program than those without during the same period.

At least 38 percent of the nation’s traffic fatalities in 1997 were alcohol-related, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

November 1999 contents | IssueWatch home page

• Year-round schedule may boost segregation and hinder student performance
"Year-Round Schedule May Increase Inequities, Calif. Study Finds," Debra Viadero, Education Week, September 8, 1999, www.edweek.org.

The year-round school schedule used by a southern California school district has increased inequities and negatively affected student performance, say two researchers. California is using year-round schedules in an effort to reduce class sizes.

The unnamed district offered the schedule with four staggered tracks to its 32,000 students on a first-come, first-served basis; teachers chose their schedules by seniority. Researchers found that children who had better informed parents or a parent who could get to the school during the day to sign them up were more likely to get their first choice of tracks. The two most popular tracks — those with breaks most like traditional school vacations — had the most white students and the most experienced teachers. By contrast, the two less desirable tracks had the highest proportions of minority students, non-English-speaking students, low-income children and newer teachers. More than 50 percent of the instructors in one such track were in their first year of teaching.

The researchers stressed that the more important finding was that the resulting segregation led to significant differences in student achievement. Students in the most popular track had the highest math and reading scores, while those in the least popular track — the one with no breaks in the summer — had the lowest. About 25 percent of all California students attend school year-round. Nationally, 42 percent of some 3,000 school systems operating year-round use a multitrack system similar to that of the southern California district.

November 1999 contents | IssueWatch home page

• New laws let retired teachers work at full pay while receiving pension
"States Strive to Lure Retired Teachers," Julie Blair, Education Week, September 8, 1999, www.edweek.org.

In response to teacher shortages, South Carolina, Maryland, North Carolina and Texas have added or changed laws so that some retired teachers can return to the classroom and receive full pay plus their pension. California recently expanded its program, begun in 1996, so more retirees could take part.

Supporters say the retirees are qualified, experienced and can be great mentors to new teachers. In South Carolina, retirees who teach in critical-need districts or subject areas can earn full-time pay while drawing their pensions. Other retirees can earn up to $25,000 a year while collecting 55 percent of their retirement payments. In California, retirees can earn their full salaries and pensions if they work in schools where class-size reductions have been initiated.

Poor districts or those needing the most teachers may not be able to afford the salaries of the more experienced retirees, however. In Texas, for example, few districts have taken advantage of a new law that allows mathematics, science or technology teachers to receive full salaries and pensions, according to Debbie Graves Radcliffe of the Texas Education Agency. "If districts can find a brand-new teacher or a teacher with a year or two of experience versus a 30-year veteran, they can hire for significantly less pay," she says.

Minnesota note: Earnings limits for retired Minnesota teachers are based on age and federal Social Security rules. During calendar year 2000, retirees under age 65 can earn $10,080 per calendar year; those between 65 and 69 can earn $17,000 per year; and those 70 and older have no restrictions. For every two dollars earned over the limit, the pension and the recipient’s Social Security payments each are reduced by one dollar. The amount that can be earned in the year of retirement is prorated on the retirement date; for example, a teacher retiring on June 30 could earn $5,040 in 2000 without his or her pension being affected.

November 1999 contents | IssueWatch home page

• Kids perform better in classrooms with natural light, study shows
"Classroom Windows May Be a Bright Idea, Study Says," Linda Shaw, Seattle Times, October 7, 1999, www.seattletimes.com.

Pupils score higher on math and reading tests in classrooms that have more natural light, according to a study of three school districts by a California energy-consulting firm.

After rating the amount and distribution of light in the districts' elementary school classrooms and controlling for factors such as family income that might affect test scores, the Heschong Mahone Group investigators looked at standardized test results. In Seattle and Fort Collins, Colorado, students in schools with the most natural light scored 9 to 13 percent and 7 percent higher, respectively, than those in schools with the least natural light. Students attending the most light-filled schools in the Capistrano Unified School District in Orange County, California, where researchers could compare fall and spring scores, had scores that were 20 percent higher in math and 26 percent higher in reading.

A related study of 108 stores in a retail chain found that sales also were higher by an average of 40 percent in stores that had skylights. The studies were commissioned by Pacific Gas and Electric, a California utility, as part of a program to encourage the use of natural light to save energy.

November 1999 contents | IssueWatch home page

• Revenue that colleges gain from "affinity" cards will not be taxed, court rules
"Appeals Court Says Colleges Owe No Taxes on Profits from 'Affinity' Credit Cards," Patrick Healy, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 7, 1999, www.chronicle.com.

Colleges can collect revenue tax-free from "affinity" credit cards they co-sponsor, a U.S. appeals court has ruled.

Affinity cards can generate thousands of dollars annually for schools. The appeals court case involved the nonprofit alumni associations at Oregon State University and the University of Oregon, which had received about $1.1 million dollars over two years by allowing the use of their names, seals and logos on the cards. The Internal Revenue Service argued the alumni groups had done enough work to promote the cards to qualify the income as taxable. The court, however, held that the income should be characterized as nontaxable royalties.

November 1999 contents | IssueWatch home page

• Aviation's contribution to global warming highlighted in report
"Report Claims Aircraft Can Influence Climate," William B. Scott, Aviation Week & Space Technology, August 30, 1999, p. 57; "Jets Causing Greenhouse Gas Increase," Michael McCarthy, Independent, June 5, 1999, p. 8.

An international panel claims that aircraft contrails produced by the condensation of water vapor at high altitudes have a detrimental effect on climate and atmospheric ozone.

More than 3 percent of human-made global warming is attributable to gases released in aircraft exhaust, according to the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, but the greater problem is where the gases are emitted. "Aircraft emit gases and particles directly into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere where they have an impact on atmospheric composition," according to the panel’s report, which was the work of more than 100 experts. As a consequence, more carbon dioxide and water vapor, the two principal gases causing the greenhouse effect, go into the atmosphere, which then retains more solar heat and oxides of nitrogen and sulfur, two other greenhouse gases. Even if planes were made more fuel-efficient, the overall rate of global warming would continue to increase, the report maintains, because the rate of passenger air travel is climbing rapidly. Fuel consumption, with corresponding emission rates, is projected to triple between 1992 and 2050.

November 1999 contents | IssueWatch home page

• Private well water with bacteria linked to stomach ulcers
"First Direct Link Found Between Bacteria in Drinking Water and Stomach Ulcers," U.S. Water News Online, July 1999, www.uswaternews.com.

Researchers have found the first direct link between stomach ulcers and the presence of a particular bacterium in Pennsylvania well water.

Penn State Harrisburg researchers tested private well water and found Helicobacter pylori, an organism that causes 75 percent of all stomach ulcers and two kinds of stomach cancers. They then interviewed the residents who drank the well water and found that the presence of the bacterium was significantly correlated with cases of stomach ulcers.

Drinking water is generally considered safe if it does not contain coliform bacterium, head researcher and assistant professor of environmental microbiology Katherine H. Baker says. However, tests used to look for coliform bacterium do not detect H. pylori. Baker emphasized that the study involved only private untreated water supplies; municipal water sources are less likely to contain the organism. Baker first identified the bacterium in well and surface waters in the region more than a year ago. It was the first report of live H. pylori in surface water in the United States and the first time scientists found a major source of the organism outside the human body.

An estimated 2.5 million new H. pylori infections occur annually in the United States. Nearly 5 million people suffer from peptic ulcer disease, and about 16,000 die annually from complications associated with the disease. Treatment costs exceed $5 billion.

Minnesota note: About 25 percent of Minnesotans use well water as their primary source of drinking water, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. The department does not routinely analyze public drinking water systems for H. pylori.

November 1999 contents | IssueWatch home page

• Fuel additive dangerous to environment, government panel concludes
"Clean Air Fuel Pollutes Water," State Government News, September 1999, p. 8.

Use of the fuel additive methyl tertiary butyl ether should be reduced because it has been found to pollute ground water, says a panel commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency.

In September 1998, unsafe levels of the oxygenate, produced from methanol, were found in between 1,000 and 4,300 wells in Maine, according to a statewide study. The study results prompted Governor Angus King to remove Maine from the federal reformulated gas program. California followed suit, and New Hampshire plans to do the same. MTBE accounts for two-thirds of the oxygenates used nationally, with ethanol making up the other one-third.

Minnesota note: Ethanol is the only oxygenate used in Minnesota. Made from corn, the additive is cheaper than MTBE to produce and distribute here because of the ready abundance of corn. The mandated use of oxygenated gasoline both statewide and year-round began in October 1997. The federal government mandates the use of oxygenated fuel in the winter and in urban areas. While MTBE is cheaper to produce than ethanol, a smaller percentage of ethanol — less than 8 percent versus 15 percent — achieves the same level of oxygen in the gasoline. A renewable fuel, ethanol does not add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as fossil fuels do. Rather, the amount of carbon dioxide released when ethanol is burned is the same amount as the corn or other source material took out of the atmosphere when it grew.

November 1999 contents | IssueWatch home page

•Demand is increasing for online customer service from state and local governments
"Pacing Online Customer Service," Heather Harreld, Civic.Com, September 1999, p. 28.

Greater government use of the Internet to disseminate information and promote self-service among citizens has also increased the demand for online customer service. State and local governments are now working to provide quicker, more consistent responses to online requests.

A variety of approaches are being used to make sure citizens get prompt answers. Detroit’s webmaster, for example, personally answers or redirects e-mails. In Iowa, three people work part time answering e-mail to the state’s portal site. "People expect a quick response when you're working electronically," says Kay Arvidson, director of marketing for the portal, IowAccess Network. During tax season, the Kansas Department of Revenue gets more than 200 e-mail questions a day about the state's online tax filing form. To get questions to the right place, the department has a web page that identifies common inquiries and links visitors to the employee best able to answer the question. The same staff handles online and in-person customer service. They try to respond to e-mails the same day, even if only to acknowledge the message was received and to estimate how long it will take to answer. Citizens in San Carlos, California, are encouraged to send e-mail "field reports" about problems that need fixing, such as potholes or broken street lights. These reports, which must be responded to within 48 hours, are sent directly to the appropriate city department by a custom-made routing application.

November 1999 contents | IssueWatch home page

• "Web-access blocking" allows companies to customize what web site visitors see
"A Secret Cat-and-Mouse Game Online," Michael Moss, Wall Street Journal, October 13, 1999, p. B1.

Programs that can identify web-site visitors are being used to secretly let visitors into a site, show them an alternate site or reroute them somewhere else.

The technology relies on the fact that each Internet user has an identifying number that a computer can trace; those who use such access services as America On Line, however — about 30 percent of all web users — remain anonymous because they share a common number. Web-access blocking techniques are directed at rival firms or government agencies that web-site owners perceive as a threat to their business. Child pornographers, hate groups and people who sell stolen goods, for example, have blocked government investigators from their sites. Businesses may post dummy web pages to keep competitors in the dark. Visitor identification information also is used to refine marketing campaigns and catch hackers. While no law mandates it, federal agencies have begun posting a notice on their sites that they collect the web addresses of visitors.

November 1999 contents | IssueWatch home page