Dear Commons Community,

The news media are all over the coverage of the Republican senate primary in Tennessee where incumbent and Republican establishment candidate Lamar Alexander easily won over Joe Carr, a state representative from Rutherford County.  Joe Scarborough on his morning MSNBC show had a segment questioning whether Alexander’s victory spelled the end of Tea Party influence in Republican primaries since incumbents/establishment candidate won every Senate primary election this year.

As reported in the New York Times:

“Tennessee voters backed Senator Lamar Alexander against a Tea Party challenge and turned down an aggressive bid by conservatives and business interests to oust three members of the State Supreme Court in primaries on Thursday.

Mr. Alexander’s victory in the Republican primary was another win for establishment Republicans against Tea Party challengers. And the decision to retain the justices was also a defeat for conservatives who hoped to gain a majority on Tennessee’s highest court.

With 99 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Alexander led six other candidates with 50 percent of the vote, The Associated Press said.

In addition to backing Mr. Alexander, Republicans, as expected, nominated another incumbent, Gov. Bill Haslam, who is running for re-election in November’s general election.

In securing a win, Mr. Alexander thwarted the final attempt by Tea Party supporters to oust a Republican senator this year after challenges in Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and South Carolina faltered. The year has proved a marked contrast from 2010 and 2012, when Tea Party candidates toppled Senators Robert F. Bennett of Utah and Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, both Republicans.”

Good news for the Republicans and good news for our country.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The Professional Staff Congress (PSC) and the City University of New York took a major step in the right direction by agreeing to provide health insurance for adjuncts. In a statement released yesterday, the PSC and CUNY announced:

“The Professional Staff Congress and The City University of New York have reached a landmark agreement with the City of New York on inclusion of eligible CUNY adjuncts in the New York City Health Benefits Program. The agreement provides regularized health insurance for an important part of the CUNY teaching workforce and contributes to stabilizing the finances of the PSC-CUNY Welfare Fund. “

The full statement is below.

Congratulations to all involved in reaching this agreement.

Tony

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Health Insurance for Adjuncts

The Professional Staff Congress and The City University of New York have reached a landmark agreement with the City of New York on inclusion of eligible CUNY adjuncts in the New York City Health Benefits Program. The agreement provides regularized health insurance for an important part of the CUNY teaching workforce and contributes to stabilizing the finances of the PSC-CUNY Welfare Fund.

Extending health insurance to this significant group of part-time employees at CUNY has required the vision and persistence of many partners, said CUNY Chancellor James B. Milliken and PSC/CUNY President Barbara Bowen. “We thank Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, legislative leaders, budget and labor relations offices and the PSC-CUNY Welfare Fund for their critical roles in making this agreement possible,” they said.

Adjunct health insurance has been provided by the PSC-CUNY Welfare Fund for several decades, through funds negotiated in collective bargaining. As the number of adjuncts grew and the costs of health care skyrocketed, however, the burden on the Welfare Fund escalated to an untenable level, necessitating stop-gap measures to maintain the Fund’s solvency.

The PSC, including the affected adjuncts, vigorously advocated for equitable adjunct health insurance.  The University responded, and successfully sought and obtained additional funding from New York State to provide support for adjunct health insurance.  Shortly thereafter, the University and the PSC entered into negotiations regarding the benefit and began working with the City of New York to allow coverage for eligible adjuncts to be transferred from the Welfare Fund to the City Health Benefits Program. During the negotiations, the Welfare Fund Trustees voted to extend the adjunct health insurance coverage through September 30, 2014.

“This accomplishment assures equitable access to health insurance, which will profoundly affect the lives of dedicated adjuncts, many of whom have been teaching core courses for decades.  Qualified CUNY adjuncts will now be able to receive their basic health insurance through the City Health Benefits Program, on an equitable basis with full-time CUNY employees,” Bowen and Milliken said.

Qualified adjuncts may enroll in the City Health Benefits Program effective October 1, 2014; the University has established a deadline of September 19 for enrollment through college human resources offices. The University will provide additional funding to the Welfare Fund to enable it to continue to provide coverage until October 1.

Dear Commons Community,

The New York State Department of Education has labeled 40 schools in New York City “persistently dangerous.”

The state released its latest list of unsafe schools on Tuesday. Of the 47 schools on the 2013 to 2014 list, 40 of them are located in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx or Staten Island.

The state labeled 33 schools persistently dangerous on the 2012 to 2013 list, and just 25 were located in New York City. Nine of the schools on last year’s list were on this year’s as well.

In order to compile the list, the state uses a formula that compares the number of violent incidents that took place at a school with the total number of students, according to the New York Post.

A state education spokesman said that the increase in the number of schools deemed persistently dangerous is due to better reporting by schools, not more violence. “We do not believe that schools are more dangerous now,” said the spokesman, Tom Dunn.

Marge Feinberg, a spokeswoman for the New York City Department of Education, told the New York Daily News that school safety has actually improved, noting that the number of arrests and suspensions made in city schools has decreased.

“The safety of our students comes first,” Feinberg said. “Crime in New York City’s schools has decreased significantly in recent years.”

Safety indeed needs to come first!

Tony