News, information and research from Boston University
July 6, 2009 at 9:56 am
Saying the only alternative would be liquidation, a federal judge has okayed the sale of GM’s assets to a new government-run agency, paving the way for the automaker to emerge from bankruptcy. School of Management Dean Louis Lataif, a former Ford executive, can discuss the implications.
Contact Louis Lataif, 617-353-2668, lelataif@bu.edu
July 2, 2009 at 1:37 pm
America has a fixation with discount retail prices, and it's costing us. College of Communication Professor Ellen Ruppel Shell, who explores the history, science, psychology, economics, and societal implications of low prices in her new book, "Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture," discusses the subject in a TIME magazine Q&A.
Contact Ellen Ruppel Shell, 617-353-5973, eshell@bu.edu
July 2, 2009 at 10:21 am
New Delhi's high court today decriminalized homosexuality in India's capital city, a landmark ruling expected to likely spread nationwide. School of Law Professor Robert Volk, an authority on gay-rights law, can compare and contrast the legal situations in India and the United States.
Contact Robert Volk, 617-353-3156, rvolk@bu.edu
July 2, 2009 at 9:53 am
The upcoming Senate battle over President Obama's climate-change bill will center on the "cap-and-trade" system to allow trading of pollution permits as emission levels are increasingly tightened. Energy risk-management expert Mark T. Williams, who teaches finance in the School of Management, says not to expect Senate approval until the economy rebounds and there's a stronger U.S. industrial sector - probably not until 2010.
Contact Mark T. Williams, 617-358-2789, williams@bu.edu
July 2, 2009 at 9:14 am
The inspector general probing the SEC's failure to discover Bernard Madoff's $65 billion Ponzi scheme recommends that whistleblowers should be paid a bounty for information about financial fraud. School of Law Professor Tamar Frankel, an authority on securities law, says such rewards would be a two-edged sword and probably limited to outsiders (insiders thereafter couldn't be trusted).
Contact Tamar Frankel, 617-353-3773, tfrankel@bu.edu
July 1, 2009 at 3:00 pm
After 18 years and nearly three complete orbits around the sun, Ulysses, the interplanetary space probe that provided scientists with a more complete understanding of the solar wind and the solar activity cycle, was turned off. Nathan Schwadron, an associate professor of astronomy, can discuss the space probe's solar wind observations, which led scientists to write two books and more than 1,000 articles.
Contact Nathan Schwadron, 617-353-2625, nathans@bu.edu
July 1, 2009 at 12:07 pm
In the nation's annual obesity rankings, 23 states reported higher adult obesity rates over the past year with concerns about Medicare's higher costs to treat fat baby boomers. Colorado had the lowest rate of obese adults followed by Massachusetts and Connecticut. Caroline Apovian,MD, Director of Nutrition and Weight Management at Boston Medical Center, can discuss the issues and what to do about them.
Contact Caroline Apovian, 617-414-1816, apovian@bu.edu
July 1, 2009 at 10:54 am
In a surprise that "flabbergasted" the National Retail Federation, Wal-Mart says it backs President Obama's plan to force employers to provide health insurance to workers. School of Management Professor Alan Cohen, executive director of the Health Policy Institute, can discuss what the endorsment by the nation's largest private employer might mean for the healthcare reform effort.
Contact Alan Cohen, 617-353-9222, abcohen@bu.edu
July 1, 2009 at 10:21 am
The Supreme Court's term ended with Chief Justice John Roberts having guided the high court rightward with swing-vote Justice Anthony Kennedy a key ally. School of Law Professor Jay Wexler, who once clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, can look back at the term and ahead to the next.
Contact Jay Wexler, 617-353-3174, jaywex@bu.edu
July 1, 2009 at 10:08 am
With the push of an ACLU lawsuit, a 2004 internal CIA report on the agency's Bush-era detention and interrogation tactics is being released today by the Obama administration. School of Law lecturer Philip O'Neill, Jr., who teaches national security law, can discuss the long-term legal implications of the disclosures.
Contact Philip O'Neill, Jr., 617-951-2253, poneill@eapdlaw.com
