WASHINGTON ? Seven states won a share of $200 million in federal "Race to the Top" money to improve K-12 education programs, the Education Department announced Thursday.
The winners are Arizona, $25.1 million; Colorado, $17.9 million; Illinois, $42.8 million; Kentucky, $17 million; Louisiana, $17.5 million; Pennsylvania, $41.3 million; and New Jersey, $37.9 million.
The Obama administration has awarded billions of dollars in such competitions to encourage changes in education that it favors. The seven states competing in this round were all runners-up last year, and the Education Department has said it wants to encourage them to finish and carry out many of the changes proposed in their earlier applications.
Competing states committed to make changes such as improving principal and teacher evaluation systems and turning around under-performing schools. They also were asked to show specifically how they would improve science, technology, engineering and math instruction.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the money was driving dramatic improvements.
"We've had broken teacher-evaluation systems in many places, unfortunately for five, or six or seven decades," Duncan said. "You've seen more effort there and more movement in a short amount of time than in a long time prior to that, and many states are using Race to the Top resources to do that."
Two other states, South Carolina and California, were also eligible. South Carolina opted not to compete, while California submitted an incomplete application, the Education Department said.
Last week, nine states were announced as winners of a share of $500 million in grants under a similar competition focused on improving early learning programs.
Duncan also said federal officials are monitoring states to ensure that they follow through on their plans to improve schools with Race to the Top money. For example, he said he has warned Hawaii that it's in danger of losing funding.
"We're going to look for some pretty significant improvements early in the new year," Duncan said. "There's not a hard-and-fast date. If we see things turning around, that would be fantastic. If we don't see things turning around, then we've got some tough decisions to make."
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Pfc. Bradley Manning is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of US military and diplomatic documents to Wikileaks website. His defense attorneys argue that weak oversight is to blame.
Pre-trial hearings to decide whether to court-martial Pfc. Bradley Manning ? the soldier accused of stealing and leaking hundreds of thousands of top-secret documents to the Wikileaks website ? are expected to end today.?But Private Manning?s adventures in the US military justice system appear to be just beginning.
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Manning?s defense attorneys called just two witnesses to the stand to testify about Manning?s emotional outbursts while working in an intelligence analysis unit in Iraq in 2009 and 2010. Highlighting the outbursts could indicate that the defense team hopes to explore the extenuating circumstances behind Mannings actions of leaking 400,000 field reports from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as some 250,000 US State Department cables.
Given the importance of this case ? Manning?s alleged actions have been described as the single largest intelligence breach in US history ? it is unlikely that Manning can avoid a court martial. The question is whether Manning?s defense strategy could reveal more about the inner workings of the US military?s intelligence operations, the missteps of Manning?s superior officers, and even the alleged human rights violations that may have prompted Manning to leak the information in the first place.
Like the 1971 Pentagon Papers case before it, the so-called Wikileaks case is seen by US government officials as devastating to US national security interests, in which the lives of US officials and its informants abroad have been put into danger. Critics of the US see the Wikileaks case, conversely, as a chance to see the truth about alleged US misdeeds during the past decade since Sept. 11, 2001, a time during which the Bush and Obama administrations set aside longtime US laws against torture and indefinite detention.
Crude oil futures rallied more than 3% traded above $97 on positive global cues with supportive economic data from EU and US. Oil prices also got boost on public riots in Kazakhstan and Iran sanction speculation expecting supply disruption from Persian Gulf.
The two days Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit may discuss issue over Iran nuclear program and imposed sanctions wihich may keep momentum in oil prices.
The protest by oil workers in Kazakhistan may affect the oil production of Zhanaozen oil region which accounts of 25 % of country?s production of 1.60 mb/day.
Natural gas futures traded steadied near $3.10 supported by higher Crude Oil prices and stronger Euro despite warmer temperatures and weak spot demand. Natural Gas stockpiles fell by 102 Bcf to 3.73 Tcf against previous decrease of 20 Bcf in the week ended Dec 9, 2011.
We expect oil prices to trade up on bullish inventory data expectation and strong equity indices on economic recovery optimism. NYMEX Crude Oil has resistance at $100, and crucial support at $95.
Crude Oil S1: 5090 S2: 5050, R1: 5190, R2: 5230
Natural Gas S1: 162, S2: 160, R1: 167, R2: 170
Courtesy: Edelweiss Comtrade Limited Research
If you want to have a free trial on Indian commodities or equity markets CALL TOLL FREE 08049311177 or visit tips.commodityonline.com
ANKARA, Turkey ? A passenger bus collided with a truck on a single lane road in southeast Turkey on Wednesday, killing 25 people, an official said.
Gov. Mustafa Toprak of Diyarbakir province said 16 other passengers were injured in the accident on a road linking Diyarbakir with the neighboring Batman province. He said some of the injured were in serious condition.
The mid-sized coach collided head-on with the truck, which was carrying bricks, said Ferit Basar, the mayor of the small town of Yukari Salat near the site of the crash.
The road was reduced to a single lane due to roadwork at the time of the crash, which probably helped cause the accident, Basar said.
Dogan news agency video footage showed medics stepping over a partly-covered body to rush an injured person on a stretcher to an ambulance. Body bags were placed side by side on the road, which was scattered with bricks.
The bus' front-end appeared cut open from the impact of the crash.
UMD's START gets $3.6 million to study terrorism's human causes and consequences Public release date: 20-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Neil Tickner ntickner@umd.edu 301-405-4622 University of Maryland
DHS renews support for the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - With $3.6 million in new federal funding, researchers at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism http://www.start.umd.edu/>(START), based at the University of Maryland, will continue to expand the scientific understanding of the human causes and consequences of terrorism, specifically addressing crucial homeland security issues, such as terrorist behavior, violent extremism and counterterrorism.
Funding for the new round of research comes from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/structure/editorial_0530.shtm>, which has renewed START's status as a DHS Center of Excellence, and continued funding support for the next five years. The first installment of the award provides $3.6 million for the center's next 18 months.
Based at the University of Maryland, START researchers from more than 40 institutions worldwide will use the new grant to: explore the social, behavioral and cultural factors that influence violent extremism, including political, financial and religious causes; examine the emergence and operations of domestic terrorists and how they interact with law enforcement strategies, community initiatives and government policies; collect and code terrorist data so that it can be incorporated into behavioral models that can be used in homeland security decision making.
"START is delighted to have this opportunity to continue supplying timely, objective information on the human characteristics of terrorism and its impact on communities to decision makers and policy experts," says Gary LaFree, director of START and professor of criminology at the University of Maryland.
PLANNED RESEARCH INCLUDES:
VIOLENT EXTREMISM -- SOCIAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND CULTURAL FACTORS
Analyzing terrorist attacks, groups and ideologies to identify the characteristics, structural compositions and individual roles in launching attacks;
Examining the effectiveness of efforts to delegitimize the justifications an individual has for engaging in terrorist activities;
Assessing the impact of Internet communications on a terrorist group's ability to convey ideology and recruit; and
Gauging how society, family and friends affect and respond to the process of becoming a violent extremist.
DOMESTIC TERRORISTS -- EMERGENCE, OPERATIONS AND INTERACTIONS
Identifying conditions and attacks associated with homegrown terrorism and determining the process by which right-wing extremists turn to violence;
Surveying minority group attitudes towards U.S. policies and terrorist activities;
Compiling a database of federal counterterrorism initiatives; and
Comparing failed, foiled and successfully executed terrorist attacks to demonstrate components of counterterrorism efforts that have been successful and to identify opportunities for prevention.
COLLECTING, CODING AND USING DATA TO INFORM DECISIONS
Improving statistical modeling to better predict violence;
Updating and using the Global Terrorism Database - the world's largest, most comprehensive, open-source database including information on more than 98,000 terrorist attacks around the world from 1970 through 2010;
Creating the Terrorist and Extremist Organizations Database; and
Predicting which individuals will become leaders within violent and nonviolent organizations.
START began in 2005 as one of the Department of Homeland Security's Centers of Excellence, the first to focus on behavioral and social science. The current funding renewal follows a rigorous, competitive application process.
"Under the leadership of Dr. Gary LaFree, START has been a proactive and productive Center of Excellence that has served DHS well. We look forward to working with START for another five years," says Matthew Clark, director of DHS's Science and Technology Directorate's Office of University Programs.
With this grant, the University of Maryland continues to leverage its founding tradition as a land-grant institution, with a mission to shape research and education through the lens of public service. The new research program will provide the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with an integrated system, whereby research findings are directly incorporated into policy recommendations and, in turn, public and policy needs drive research explorations and career training for students and practitioners.
The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) is supported in part by the Science and Technology Directorate of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through a Center of Excellence program based at the University of Maryland. START uses state-of-the-art theories, methods and data from the social and behavioral sciences to improve understanding of the origins, dynamics and social and psychological impacts of terrorism.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
UMD's START gets $3.6 million to study terrorism's human causes and consequences Public release date: 20-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Neil Tickner ntickner@umd.edu 301-405-4622 University of Maryland
DHS renews support for the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - With $3.6 million in new federal funding, researchers at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism http://www.start.umd.edu/>(START), based at the University of Maryland, will continue to expand the scientific understanding of the human causes and consequences of terrorism, specifically addressing crucial homeland security issues, such as terrorist behavior, violent extremism and counterterrorism.
Funding for the new round of research comes from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/structure/editorial_0530.shtm>, which has renewed START's status as a DHS Center of Excellence, and continued funding support for the next five years. The first installment of the award provides $3.6 million for the center's next 18 months.
Based at the University of Maryland, START researchers from more than 40 institutions worldwide will use the new grant to: explore the social, behavioral and cultural factors that influence violent extremism, including political, financial and religious causes; examine the emergence and operations of domestic terrorists and how they interact with law enforcement strategies, community initiatives and government policies; collect and code terrorist data so that it can be incorporated into behavioral models that can be used in homeland security decision making.
"START is delighted to have this opportunity to continue supplying timely, objective information on the human characteristics of terrorism and its impact on communities to decision makers and policy experts," says Gary LaFree, director of START and professor of criminology at the University of Maryland.
PLANNED RESEARCH INCLUDES:
VIOLENT EXTREMISM -- SOCIAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND CULTURAL FACTORS
Analyzing terrorist attacks, groups and ideologies to identify the characteristics, structural compositions and individual roles in launching attacks;
Examining the effectiveness of efforts to delegitimize the justifications an individual has for engaging in terrorist activities;
Assessing the impact of Internet communications on a terrorist group's ability to convey ideology and recruit; and
Gauging how society, family and friends affect and respond to the process of becoming a violent extremist.
DOMESTIC TERRORISTS -- EMERGENCE, OPERATIONS AND INTERACTIONS
Identifying conditions and attacks associated with homegrown terrorism and determining the process by which right-wing extremists turn to violence;
Surveying minority group attitudes towards U.S. policies and terrorist activities;
Compiling a database of federal counterterrorism initiatives; and
Comparing failed, foiled and successfully executed terrorist attacks to demonstrate components of counterterrorism efforts that have been successful and to identify opportunities for prevention.
COLLECTING, CODING AND USING DATA TO INFORM DECISIONS
Improving statistical modeling to better predict violence;
Updating and using the Global Terrorism Database - the world's largest, most comprehensive, open-source database including information on more than 98,000 terrorist attacks around the world from 1970 through 2010;
Creating the Terrorist and Extremist Organizations Database; and
Predicting which individuals will become leaders within violent and nonviolent organizations.
START began in 2005 as one of the Department of Homeland Security's Centers of Excellence, the first to focus on behavioral and social science. The current funding renewal follows a rigorous, competitive application process.
"Under the leadership of Dr. Gary LaFree, START has been a proactive and productive Center of Excellence that has served DHS well. We look forward to working with START for another five years," says Matthew Clark, director of DHS's Science and Technology Directorate's Office of University Programs.
With this grant, the University of Maryland continues to leverage its founding tradition as a land-grant institution, with a mission to shape research and education through the lens of public service. The new research program will provide the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with an integrated system, whereby research findings are directly incorporated into policy recommendations and, in turn, public and policy needs drive research explorations and career training for students and practitioners.
The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) is supported in part by the Science and Technology Directorate of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through a Center of Excellence program based at the University of Maryland. START uses state-of-the-art theories, methods and data from the social and behavioral sciences to improve understanding of the origins, dynamics and social and psychological impacts of terrorism.
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 20-Dec-2011
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