January 11, 2010 at 5:08 pm
The federal court trial has opened in San Francisco on the case challenging California’s voter-approved ban on gay marriages, the so-called Proposition 8. Law Professor Linda McClain, an authority on family law and policy, says this case is a critical test of arguments for legalizing same-sex marriage. “For opponents of same-sex marriage, a key point […]
January 5, 2010 at 11:48 am
Come June and soccer’s World Cup, ESPN will launch what it says will be the first all three-dimensional TV network to homes. Other 3D offerings from ESPN will include the Summer X Games, some NBA games, and college basketball and football. Sports journalism Professor Frank Shorr, director of the BU Sports Institute, says it was inevitable. […]
December 24, 2009 at 11:40 am
The heat continues to increase on insurance giant AIG, which got $182 billion in taxpayer bailouts yet gave out $165 million in bonuses. New York Senator Chuck Schumer says President Obama’s pay czar should be given the power to recover the “outrageous” bonuses. Law Professor Cornelius Hurley, director of the Morin Center for Banking and Financial […]
December 23, 2009 at 10:37 am
Insurance giant AIG, bailed out by taxpayers to the tune of $180 billion, had promised to return $45 million of the $165 million in bonuses it paid despite the bailout. But most of that remains unpaid, the Washington Post reports. Former Federal Reserve Bank examiner Mark T. Williams, who teaches finance at BU’s School of […]
December 22, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Iranian President Ahmadinejad denies reports of a confidential Iranian document describing that country’s effort to design an atomic bomb trigger. He says it was forged by America. Attorney Philip O’Neill, who teaches national security law at BU Law School and is the author of the soon-to-be published “Verification in an Age of Insecurity,” says Iran […]
December 22, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Talks have broken down after a flurry of stories saying Google was about to buy the online local search and business-review provider Yelp in order to expand search advertising opportunities. School of Management Professor N. Venkat Venkatraman, chairman of the Information Systems Department, says a Google acquisition of Yelp could benefit both. “Yelp could play an important part […]
December 21, 2009 at 3:31 pm
In a dramatic middle-of-the-night vote, Democrats won a 60-40 procedural vote on the Senate healthcare-reform bill which they hope to pass on Christmas Eve. School of Management Professor Stephen Davidson, whose book “Still Broken: Understanding the U.S. Healthcare System” will be published soon, says in a Huffington Post commentary that progressive should take the best […]
December 17, 2009 at 2:53 pm
A top U.S. diplomat reportedly discussed enlisting the White House in replacing Afghan President Karzai after Karzai’s flawed re-election victory this fall. But it went no where and the diplomat was fired. Journalism Professor Nick Mills, author of “Karzai: The Failing American Intervention and the Struggle for Afghanistan,” thinks the diplomat, Peter Galbraith, had the […]
December 17, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Bank of American has tapped Wellesley attorney Brian Moynihan as its new CEO, promoting him up from head of the bank’s consumer and small-business operations. Former Federal Reserve Bank examiner Mark T. Williams, who teaches finance in the BU School of Management, says BofA needs a risk-management veteran, not a lawyer, at its helm. “In […]
December 16, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Corporate sponsors are taking the Tiger Woods’ episode as a chance to rethink the value they may be getting for celebrity endorsers. Meantime, public-relations Professor Peter Morrissey, an expert in reputation management, says Tiger has to wait for this to bottom out and avoid the tendancy to act like a victim. “History will record if […]
