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  • Chairman Jerome H. Powell Delivers the Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress

    Testimony

    Chairman Jerome H. Powell, February 27, 2018, Before the Committee on Financial Services, US House of Representatives, Washington, DC

    Chairman Hensarling, Ranking Member Waters, and members of the Committee, I am pleased to present the Federal Reserve’s semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress.

    On the occasion of my first appearance before this Committee as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, I want to express my appreciation for my predecessor, Chair Janet Yellen, and her important contributions. During her term as Chair, the economy continued to strengthen and Federal Reserve policymakers began to normalize both the level of interest rates and the size of the balance sheet. Together, Chair Yellen and I have worked to ensure a smooth leadership transition and provide for continuity in monetary policy. I also want to express my appreciation for my colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Finally, I want to affirm my continued support for the objectives assigned to us by the Congress–maximum employment and price stability — and for transparency about the Federal Reserve’s policies and programs. Transparency is the foundation for our accountability, and I am committed to clearly explaining what we are doing and why we are doing it. Today I will briefly discuss the current economic situation and outlook before turning to monetary policy.

    Current Economic Situation and Outlook
    The U.S. economy grew at a solid pace over the second half of 2017 and into this year. Monthly job gains averaged 179,000 from July through December, and payrolls rose an additional 200,000 in January. This pace of job growth was sufficient to push the unemployment rate down to 4.1 percent, about 3/4 percentage point lower than a year earlier and the lowest level since December 2000. In addition, the labor force participation rate remained roughly unchanged, on net, as it has for the past several years — that is a sign of job market strength, given that retiring baby boomers are putting downward pressure on the participation rate. Strong job gains in recent years have led to widespread reductions in unemployment across the income spectrum and for all major demographic groups. For example, the unemployment rate for adults without a high school education has fallen from about 15 percent in 2009 to 5-1/2 percent in January of this year, while the jobless rate for those with a college degree has moved down from 5 percent to 2 percent over the same period. In addition, unemployment rates for African Americans and Hispanics are now at or below rates seen before the recession, although they are still significantly above the rate for whites. Wages have continued to grow moderately, with a modest acceleration in some measures, although the extent of the pickup likely has been damped in part by the weak pace of productivity growth in recent years.

    Turning from the labor market to production, inflation-adjusted gross domestic product rose at an annual rate of about 3 percent in the second half of 2017, 1 percentage point faster than its pace in the first half of the year. Economic growth in the second half was led by solid gains in consumer spending, supported by rising household incomes and wealth, and upbeat sentiment. In addition, growth in business investment stepped up sharply last year, which should support higher productivity growth in time. The housing market has continued to improve slowly. Economic activity abroad also has been solid in recent quarters, and the associated strengthening in the demand for U.S. exports has provided considerable support to our manufacturing industry.

    Against this backdrop of solid growth and a strong labor market, inflation has been low and stable. In fact, inflation has continued to run below the 2 percent rate that the FOMC judges to be most consistent over the longer run with our congressional mandate. Overall consumer prices, as measured by the price index for personal consumption expenditures (PCE), increased 1.7 percent in the 12 months ending in December, about the same as in 2016. The core PCE price index, which excludes the prices of energy and food items and is a better indicator of future inflation, rose 1.5 percent over the same period, somewhat less than in the previous year. We continue to view some of the shortfall in inflation last year as likely reflecting transitory influences that we do not expect will repeat; consistent with this view, the monthly readings were a little higher toward the end of the year than in earlier months.

    After easing substantially during 2017, financial conditions in the United States have reversed some of that easing. At this point, we do not see these developments as weighing heavily on the outlook for economic activity, the labor market, and inflation. Indeed, the economic outlook remains strong. The robust job market should continue to support growth in household incomes and consumer spending, solid economic growth among our trading partners should lead to further gains in U.S. exports, and upbeat business sentiment and strong sales growth will likely continue to boost business investment. Moreover, fiscal policy is becoming more stimulative. In this environment, we anticipate that inflation on a 12-month basis will move up this year and stabilize around the FOMC’s 2 percent objective over the medium term. Wages should increase at a faster pace as well. The Committee views the near-term risks to the economic outlook as roughly balanced but will continue to monitor inflation developments closely.

    Monetary Policy
    I will now turn to monetary policy. The Congress has assigned us the goals of promoting maximum employment and stable prices. Over the second half of 2017, the FOMC continued to gradually reduce monetary policy accommodation. Specifically, we raised the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/4 percentage point at our December meeting, bringing the target to a range of 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 percent. In addition, in October we initiated a balance sheet normalization program to gradually reduce the Federal Reserve’s securities holdings. That program has been proceeding smoothly. These interest rate and balance sheet actions reflect the Committee’s view that gradually reducing monetary policy accommodation will sustain a strong labor market while fostering a return of inflation to 2 percent.

    In gauging the appropriate path for monetary policy over the next few years, the FOMC will continue to strike a balance between avoiding an overheated economy and bringing PCE price inflation to 2 percent on a sustained basis. While many factors shape the economic outlook, some of the headwinds the US economy faced in previous years have turned into tailwinds: In particular, fiscal policy has become more stimulative and foreign demand for U.S. exports is on a firmer trajectory. Despite the recent volatility, financial conditions remain accommodative. At the same time, inflation remains below our 2 percent longer-run objective. In the FOMC’s view, further gradual increases in the federal funds rate will best promote attainment of both of our objectives. As always, the path of monetary policy will depend on the economic outlook as informed by incoming data.

    In evaluating the stance of monetary policy, the FOMC routinely consults monetary policy rules that connect prescriptions for the policy rate with variables associated with our mandated objectives. Personally, I find these rule prescriptions helpful. Careful judgments are required about the measurement of the variables used, as well as about the implications of the many issues these rules do not take into account. I would like to note that this Monetary Policy Report provides further discussion of monetary policy rules and their role in the Federal Reserve’s policy process, extending the analysis we introduced in July.

    Thank you. I would be pleased to take your questions.

  • Scam Alert: IRS Urges Taxpayers to Watch Out for Erroneous Refunds; Beware of Fake Calls to Return Money to a Collection Agency

    IRS Building

     IRS Headquarters, Constitution Avenue, Washington DC; Wikipedia Commons

    The Internal Revenue Service warned taxpayers of a quickly growing scam involving erroneous tax refunds being deposited into their bank accounts. The IRS also offered a step-by-step explanation for how to return the funds and avoid being scammed.

    Following up on a Security Summit alert issued Feb. 2, the IRS issued this additional warning about the new scheme after discovering more tax practitioners’ computer files have been breached. In addition, the number of potential taxpayer victims jumped from a few hundred to several thousand in just days. The IRS Criminal Investigation division continues its investigation into the scope and breadth of this scheme.

    These criminals have a new twist on an old scam. After stealing client data from tax professionals and filing fraudulent tax returns, these criminals use the taxpayers’ real bank accounts for the deposit.

    Thieves are then using various tactics to reclaim the refund from the taxpayers, and their versions of the scam may continue to evolve.

    In one version of the scam, criminals posing as debt collection agency officials acting on behalf of the IRS contacted the taxpayers to say a refund was deposited in error, and they asked the taxpayers to forward the money to their collection agency.

    In another version, the taxpayer who received the erroneous refund gets an automated call with a recorded voice saying he is from the IRS and threatens the taxpayer with criminal fraud charges, an arrest warrant and a “blacklisting” of their Social Security Number. The recorded voice gives the taxpayer a case number and a telephone number to call to return the refund.

    As it did last week, the IRS repeated its call for tax professionals to step up security of sensitive client tax and financial files.

    The IRS urged taxpayers to follow established procedures for returning an erroneous refund to the agency. The IRS also encouraged taxpayers to discuss the issue with their financial institutions because there may be a need to close bank accounts. Taxpayers receiving erroneous refunds also should contact their tax preparers immediately.

    Because this is a peak season for filing tax returns, taxpayers who file electronically may find that their tax return will reject because a return bearing their Social Security number is already on file. If that’s the case, taxpayers should follow the steps outlined in the Taxpayer Guide to Identity Theft. Taxpayers unable to file electronically should mail a paper tax return along with Form 14039, Identity Theft Affidavit, stating they were victims of a tax preparer data breach.

    Here are the official ways to return an erroneous refund to the IRS.

    Taxpayers who receive the refunds should follow the steps outlined by Tax Topic Number 161 – Returning an Erroneous Refund. The tax topic contains full details, including mailing addresses should there be a need to return paper checks. By law, interest may accrue on erroneous refunds.

    If the erroneous refund was a direct deposit:

    1. Contact the Automated Clearing House (ACH) department of the bank/financial institution where the direct deposit was received and have them return the refund to the IRS.
    2. Call the IRS toll-free at 800-829-1040 (individual) or 800-829-4933 (business) to explain why the direct deposit is being returned.

    If the erroneous refund was a paper check and hasn’t been cashed:

    1. Write “Void” in the endorsement section on the back of the check.
    2. Submit the check immediately to the appropriate IRS location listed below. The location is based on the city (possibly abbreviated) on the bottom text line in front of the words TAX REFUND on your refund check.
    3. Don’t staple, bend, or paper clip the check.
    4. Include a note stating, “Return of erroneous refund check because (and give a brief explanation of the reason for returning the refund check).”

    The erroneous refund was a paper check and you have cashed it:

    • Submit a personal check, money order, etc., immediately to the appropriate IRS location listed below.
    • If you no longer have access to a copy of the check, call the IRS toll-free at 800-829-1040 (individual) or 800-829-4933 (business) (see telephone and local assistance for hours of operation) and explain to the IRS assistor that you need information to repay a cashed refund check.
    • Write on the check/money order: Payment of Erroneous Refund, the tax period for which the refund was issued, and your taxpayer identification number (social security number, employer identification number, or individual taxpayer identification number).
    • Include a brief explanation of the reason for returning the refund.
    • Repaying an erroneous refund in this manner may result in interest due the IRS.

    IRS mailing addresses for returning paper checks

    For your paper refund check, here are the IRS mailing addresses to use based on the city (possibly abbreviated). These cities are located on the check’s bottom text line in front of the words TAX REFUND:

    • ANDOVER – Internal Revenue Service, 310 Lowell Street, Andover MA 01810
    • ATLANTA – Internal Revenue Service, 4800 Buford Highway, Chamblee GA 30341
    • AUSTIN – Internal Revenue Service, 3651 South Interregional Highway 35, Austin TX 78741
    • BRKHAVN – Internal Revenue Service, 5000 Corporate Ct., Holtsville NY 11742
    • CNCNATI – Internal Revenue Service, 201 West Rivercenter Blvd., Covington KY 41011
    • FRESNO – Internal Revenue Service, 5045 East Butler Avenue, Fresno CA 93727
    • KANS CY – Internal Revenue Service, 333 W. Pershing Road, Kansas City MO 64108-4302
    • MEMPHIS – Internal Revenue Service, 5333 Getwell Road, Memphis TN 38118
    • OGDEN – Internal Revenue Service, 1973 Rulon White Blvd., Ogden UT 84201
    • PHILA – Internal Revenue Service, 2970 Market St., Philadelphia PA 19104

  • The Girl in the Spotlight at the Marvelous Netherlands’ Museum’s Golden Room

     Abbe examing The GirlFrom Monday 26 February to Sunday 11 March 2018 an in-depth scientific examination of the Girl with a Pearl Earring (c. 1665) by Johannes Vermeer will take place: ‘The Girl in the Spotlight’. The museum’s most famous painting was last examined in 1994, during a conservation treatment.

    Mauritshuis paintings conservator and Head researcher Abbie Vandivere studies the Girl with a Pearl Earring.

    Although further restoration is not yet required, major advances in non-invasive technical analysis have been made over the last 25 years. The Mauritshuis hopes to learn more about how Vermeer painted the Girl with a Pearl Earring, as well as the materials that he used. The research will take two weeks and will be conducted in public at the Mauritshuis. The latest technologies will be used.

    In order to make the research into the Girl with a Pearl Earring visible to visitors, the Mauritshuis has constructed a studio with a glass enclosure in the museum’s ‘Golden Room’. The painting will be examined 24 hours a day from Monday 26 February to Sunday 11 March 2018. As part of a multimedia presentation, Mauritshuis paintings conservator and head researcher Abbie Vandivere will explain what is taking place inside the workshop using videos and daily update 

    Girl with a Pearl Earring is a seventeenth-century painting that sparks the imagination. Her enigmatic gaze, Vermeer’s use of colour, and the outstanding play of light in this work captivate everyone who sees it. Researchers are also fascinated by the painting, and have a number of unanswered questions about how Vermeer painted this iconic work of art and which materials he used. The project The Girl in the Spotlight aims to come closer to resolving these issues using the latest technologies to investigate the canvas, pigments, oil and other materials that Vermeer used to create his renowned painting.

    For visitors, the project The Girl in the Spotlight will be a unique opportunity to witness the scientific examination of a world-famous painting. The painting may be difficult to view at some point during these two weeks, but a high-tech 3D reproduction by Océ-technologies will be on display so that visitors can take photos. Public lectures about the project will take place on Saturday 10 March. 

    From Monday 12 March, the Girl with a Pearl Earring will be back on display in the usual location in Room 15. The research team will then continue its work by analyzing the data. Final results will only be available after this analysis has taken place.

    Editor’s Note: Last month we rented Netflix’s Tim’s Vermeer — “Teller, of Penn & Teller fame, directs this absorbing film about inventor Tim Jenison’s quest to solve one of art’s greatest mysteries: How did Dutch master Johannes Vermeer paint so photo-realistically 150 years before the invention of photography?” It was interesting, in a investigative way, and does uncover and suggest some ways he might have achieved an aspect of photo-realism in the famous painting. We recommend the documentary.

  • Reprise, Bobby Kennedy, The Train: “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope”

     Paul Fusco's photo, Looking at Funeral Train

    Paul Fusco, Untitled, from the series RFK Funeral Train, 1968, printed 2008; collection SFMOMA, purchase through a gift of Randi and Bob Fisher, Nion McEvoy, Kate and Wes Mitchell, The Black Dog Private Foundation, Candace and Vincent Gaudiani, Michele and Chris Meany, Jane and Larry Reed, and John A. MacMahon; © Magnum Photos, courtesy Danziger Gallery

    Updated: The Train: Three Views of Robert F. Kennedy’s Last Journey

     

    Artist Interviews

    Explore how Paul Fusco came to capture the RFK Funeral Train photographs and how the series inspired works by Rein Jelle Terpstra and Phillipe Parreno.

     
     

     

    A color photograph of a grassy hill with a tree and a bright blue sky, Parreno

    Philippe Parreno, June 8, 1968, 2009 (film still); © Philippe Parreno, courtesy Maja Hoffmann / LUMA Foundation

     

    On June 8, 1968, a funeral train carrying Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s body traveled from New York City to Washington, D.C. He had been assassinated three days earlier and was to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. This was just two months after Martin Luther King Jr. was killed and five years after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Bobby’s older brother. The train’s journey became a spontaneous memorial, as thousands of mourners gathered along the tracks to pay their last respects to a man who had been a symbol of hope for the nation.

    Memory is always reinventing history. Memory is how we see history in the present day.

    CLÉMENT CHÉROUX, SENIOR CURATOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

     

    The Train: RFK’s Last Journey looks at this historic event through three distinct projects: color photographs that photojournalist Paul Fusco took from the train; snapshots and home movies by the spectators themselves, collected from 2014 to 2018 by Dutch artist Rein Jelle Terpstra; and a 70mm film reenactment of the train’s journey by French contemporary artist Philippe Parreno. This exhibition is the first time all three works will be shown together. While Fusco was not the only photographer taking official shots of the funeral that day, his photographs provide a unique view of the event. Terpstra’s research project and Parreno’s film each provide another. As Clément Chéroux, senior curator of photography, says, “The history of the event should be built through all these different documents, and all these different views.”

    Paul Fusco: RFK Funeral Train

    Magnum photographer Paul Fusco was on the train that day in 1968. He had been commissioned by Lookmagazine to cover the event. “There is a unique light in Fusco’s photographs that we don’t find in the other images that were made on the train that day,” observes Chéroux. This light came from Fusco’s focus on people, both in how and what he photographed. His images’ distinctive appearance came from how he followed people with his camera, which created a unique blurring effect around them. It was unusual at that time to see blurring in photojournalism. Perhaps because of that, it wasn’t until 1999 that the images were first published together as a collection, titled RFK Funeral Train. SFMOMA is acquiring 26 of these photographs, and a selection of them will be on view in the exhibition.

    By focusing on the people watching the train as his subject matter, Fusco was able to capture something that other photographers missed. “I was trying to show what it meant to them [to be] there, what they were feeling,” Fusco says, “their love and appreciation and sadness and loss for someone that I also was feeling great loss for.” Kennedy had represented a chance that the country could come together, and Fusco’s images show just that: diverse communities gathering together to mourn. “This was during the civil rights movement, a period of great racial tension and strife,” says Linde B. Lehtinen, assistant curator of photography, “but through his death, there was a remarkable unity.”

    Rein Jelle Terpstra: The People’s View

    Rein Jelle Terpstra saw Fusco’s images and was immediately fascinated. Looking closer, he noticed that many people in the photographs were holding cameras. “I thought, ‘How would it be if I could look through their eyes, through their cameras?’ And that’s where it started,” Terpstra says. He used Facebook to crowd source information and began getting in touch with people who were there that day, launching a multiyear project: The People’s View (2014–18).

    Terpstra is interested in the public archive, and the tension between history and memory. This collective memory, the circulation of these personal, vernacular photographs that people have held onto and passed down is “how moments like this in history are kept and made tangible,” says Lehtinen. By looking at these home movies, color slides, blurred snapshots, and even the notes and captions written on the photographs, a different view of history emerges, one that is both personal and universal. “It’s easy to get the official point of view,” says Chéroux, “but this is part of a new way of writing history, to give the people a voice.”

    A faded square photograph of a group of black and white children and adolescents, seen from behind and in profile, watching a large train pass by from the train tracks

    Annie Ingram, Elkton, Maryland, 1968; from Rein Jelle Terpstra’s The People’s View (2014–18); courtesy Melinda Watson

     

    Philippe Parreno: June 8, 1968

    Philippe Parreno takes yet another view of the train and its journey. A leading contemporary artist from France, Parreno is more interested in the metaphor of that moment. His seven-minute film, June 8, 1968(2009), recreates Fusco’s images, imbuing them with movement and reimagining the event from an almost otherworldly perspective.

    In the film, there is a sense of floating and looking down on the people in the landscape because the camera is positioned above the train. It is as if, according to Parreno, we are seeing “the point of view of the dead.” There is also another kind of floating, a hovering or tension between still and moving images. Parreno directed the actors in his film to stand still, looking not at the camera, but instead at a painted target on the train. The people are still and the objects around them — the train, the trees, and the grass — are moving, creating an uncanny effect.

    Parreno’s film acts as a deconstruction of photojournalism. “He is suggesting that we need something else today to describe what happened then, and still photography is not enough. We need sound; we need moving images. Between Fusco and Parreno there is the same difference as between history and memory,” says Chéroux.

    A sitting girl in a motor boat surrounded by blue water

    Philippe Parreno, June 8, 1968, 2009 (still); © Philippe Parreno, courtesy Maja Hoffmann / LUMA Foundation

    This is a sentiment the curator shares. Mixing or blurring — between photographs and videos, light and sound, snapshots and artistic works — is something Chéroux is very invested in as he plans future exhibitions at SFMOMA. “I’m interested in trying to erase the hierarchy and the boundaries between all the different types of photography,” he says. “Photography is an object, but photography could also be something else.”

    The Train: RFK’s Last Journey is on view on Floor 3 from March 17 through June 10.

     
    RFK’s Last Journey At SFMoMA

    March 17–June 10, 2018

    On June 8, 1968, three days after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, his body was carried by a funeral train from New York City to Washington, DC, for burial at Arlington Cemetery. The Train looks at this historical event through three distinct works. The first is a group of color photographs by commissioned photographer Paul Fusco. Taken from the funeral train, the images capture mourners who lined the railway tracks to pay their final respects. Looking from the opposite perspective, the second work features photographs and home movies by the spectators themselves, collected by Dutch artist Rein Jelle Terpstra in his project The People’s View (2014–18). The third, a work by French artist Philippe Parreno, is a 70mm film reenactment of the funeral train’s journey, inspired by Fusco’s original photographs. Bringing historical and contemporary works together in dialogue, this powerful, multidisciplinary exhibition sheds new light on this pivotal moment in American history.

    Editor’s Note: My husband and I were in Kauai, Hawaii on this day, meeting after an eight-month separation due to his service in Viet Nam. We learned of Bobby’s shooting and, subsequently, his death, leaving from our separate places across the world to meet with both joy and sadness. Chris Matthews’s Bobby Kennedy — A Raging Spirit — is a fine tribute to the man, who is sorely missed by many and needed for these difficult days.

    From the RFK  Human Rights site: Robert Kennedy believed in the power of individuals to make a difference.  He believed that small acts can add up and have a larger impact. He famously said:

    “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” 

    and, another quote by Robert Kennedy we found:

    “The glory of justice and the majesty of law are created not just by the Constitution — nor by the courts — nor by the officers of the law — nor by the lawyers — but by the men and women who constitute our society — who are the protectors of the law as they are themselves protected by the law.”

    Below: Senator Robert Kennedy discusses school with young Ricky Taggart of 733 Gates Ave. – World Telegram & Sun,  Dick  DeMarisco; Library of Congress

    Bobby Kennedy Senator Robert Kennedy discusses school with young Ricky Taggart of 733 Gates Ave

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG4vJxi9Kis

    — Tam Gray

  • Ferida Wolff’s Backyard: Turkey Vultures in Our Neighborhood and A Groundhog Wintering

    Turkey Vultures

    Turkey Vultures in Our Neighborhood

     
    My neighborhood consists mostly of houses, a local elementary school, well-tended lawns and a variety of trees. It’s like most suburban developments except for an occasional aberration like I noticed yesterday. It seems that a clump of trees has become home to a bunch of turkey vultures.
     
    I’ve seen these birds soaring overhead more frequently this year. Sometimes they come fairly close to rooftops and float over backyards. They usually come in groups, tilting their wings to catch the updrafts and maybe spot some carrion to eat. They aren’t exactly cute but they are impressive.
     
    Why are they here? These birds used to be seen mostly in the southern states but since our climate has been warming, they now have moved to the north and have even been spotted in Canada.
     
    The world of nature is shifting as we can see by the weather forecasts this season. We are expecting temps in the 70s for the next few days. I wonder what the birds will think of that. Perhaps we all need to be flexible as our world changes.
     
    All about turkey vultures:

    https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Turkey_Vulture/id

    Editor’s Note — 

    Turkey Vulture Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of  Ornithology https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Turkey_Vulture/id:   Size & Shape. Turkey Vultures are large dark birds with long, broad wings. Bigger than other raptors except eagles and condors, they have long “fingers” at their wingtips and long tails that extend past their toe tips in flight. When soaring, Turkey Vultures hold their wings slightly raised, making a ‘V’ when seen head-on.

    Turkey Vulture | National Geographic, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/t/turkey-vulture/: Turkey Vulture. The most widespread vulture in North America, the turkey vulture is locally called “buzzard” in many areas. A turkey vulture standing on the ground can, at a distance, resemble a wild turkey. It is unique among our vultures in that it finds carrion by smell as well as by sight.
     
    BIRD TALK: WILD TURKEYS AND TURKEY VULTURES | East County …
    https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/bird-talk-wild-turkeys-and-turkey-vultures: Nov 17, 2011 – So this edition of Bird Talk is on the wild turkey and the other turkey namesake bird, the turkey vulture. The wild turkey is not native to California, although it is native to North America. Numerous attempts to introduce the turkey to California failed. Then in the early 1990s a second attempt was successful.

     Audubon: http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/turkey-vulture

  • Why Statehouse Interns Are Especially Vulnerable to Sexual Harassment

     

    Near the end of the Colorado legislative session last year, one of Democratic state Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet’s interns revealed something she had been holding inside for months: A male lawmaker had been harassing her.

    The Kansas State Capitol building, Topeka, 2015; Wikipedia Commons

    According to the then-18-year-old intern, who did not want to be named out of fear it would harm her job prospects, the male lawmaker’s unwanted comments and glances bothered her so much she stopped going to the Capitol. The experience led her to turn down another position in the Statehouse, and to drop her political science major.

    The #MeToo movement has revealed a long-standing culture of harassment in state legislatures. Since October, about two dozen male state lawmakers have resigned, said they will resign, or been forced from their leadership roles after being accused of harassment or assault.

    As legislative leaders grapple with how to create a safer environment for everyone, legislative interns remain among the most vulnerable and the least protected under workplace harassment laws.

    In most states, unpaid interns — in legislatures or other workplaces — aren’t considered to be employees and therefore aren’t protected against workplace sexual harassment under the federal Civil Rights Act.

    Some legislatures have sexual harassment policies that allow nonemployees to file claims to the legislature of sexual harassment against legislative staff and lawmakers, according to a Stateline review of policies from nearly all states. But only a handful of states specifically mention interns, and even when they do, that doesn’t necessarily give them legal standing for filing a civil lawsuit.

    “The legislative policy could be used to discipline a legislator maybe, but probably doesn’t do anything for the victim,” said Minna Kotkin, director of the Employment Law Clinic at Brooklyn Law School.

    In an effort to protect interns in all workplaces, at least seven states enacted laws between 2013 and 2015 that made all unpaid interns “employees” under the law.

    This earlier movement began after a New York City judge in 2013 threw out a case in which an unpaid TV intern said a supervisor had assaulted her. The judge said because the intern wasn’t an employee, she wasn’t covered under the state’s civil rights protections.

    State lawmakers at the time said the case revealed a loophole in the law concerning protections for unpaid interns. But the movement to pass this type of legislation has died down in the past couple of years, leaving unpaid interns in most states unable to collect legal damages for workplace harassment.

    The lack of protections for young, unpaid female interns worries some advocates for women in politics, such as Erin Hottenstein, founder of Colorado 50-50, a group that tries to get women elected in Colorado. Women are more likely than men to take unpaid internships, according to a recent study by Intern Bridge, a national consulting group, and women also are more likely to be victims of harassment.

    These women may be less likely to stay in politics if they experience harassment, Hottenstein said. And while most male lawmakers are well-behaved, she said, the culture needs to change.

    “I find it very disconcerting to be encouraging women to run for office knowing that they are going to go into a cesspool where they may not be safe,” she said.

    No Clear Protections

    While there has been pushback about using unpaid interns, the practice is still common in governments and legislatures.

    Whether interns qualify as employees, and therefore have legal protection against workplace harassment, depends on many factors. An intern is more likely to be considered an employee if she is guaranteed pay during the internship, or a job after her internship is over, or performs work normally done by an employee, according to guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor.

    An intern who receives academic credit in exchange for her work is less likely to be classified as an employee with the normal workplace protections.

    In Kansas, for example, college students who participate in a legislative internship program run through the University of Kansas receive academic credit as well as a $600 stipend for their twice-weekly work in the Capitol.

  • The Touch of a Ladybug: Creating a New Class of Flexible, Stretchable Electronically-sensitive Synthetic Materials

    Stanford researchers have set the stage for an evolution in electronics by taking the concept of ‘artificial skin’ to the next level, demonstrating not only a stretchable circuitry that can feel the touch of a ladybug, but a manufacturing process to mass produce this circuitry.

    By Andrew Myers and Tom Abate

    Of the many ways that humans make sense of our world — with our eyes, ears, nose and mouth — none is perhaps less appreciated than our tactile and versatile hands. Thanks to our sensitive fingertips, we can feel the heat before we touch the flame, or sense the softness of a newborn’s cheek.

    Weichen Wang and Jie Xu work together in the Bao lab.

    Graduate student Weichen Wang, left, and postdoctoral scholar Jie Xu work together in the Bao lab to prepare a stretchable transistor array. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)

    But people with prosthetic limbs live in a world without touch. Restoring some semblance of this sensation has been a driving force behind Stanford chemical engineer Zhenan Bao‘s decades-long quest to create stretchable, electronically-sensitive synthetic materials. Such a breakthrough could one day serve as skin-like coverings for prosthetics. But in the near term, this same technology could become the foundation for the evolution of new genre of flexible electronics that are in stark contrast with rigid smartphones that many of us carry, gingerly, in our back pockets.

    Now, in a Feb. 19 Nature paper, Bao and her team describe two technical firsts that could bring this 20-year goal to fruition: the creation of a stretchable, polymer circuitry with integrated touch-sensors to detect the delicate footprint of an artificial ladybug. And while this technical achievement is a milestone, the second, and more practical, advance is a method to mass produce this new class of flexible, stretchable electronics — a critical step on the path to commercialization, Bao said.Zhenan Bao

    Right, Zhenan Bao

    “Research into synthetic skin and flexible electronics has come a long way, but until now no one had demonstrated a process to reliably manufacture stretchable circuits,” Bao said.

    Bao’s hope is that manufacturers might one day be able to make sheets of polymer-based electronics embedded with a broad variety of sensors, and eventually connect these flexible, multipurpose circuits with a person’s nervous system. Such a product would be analogous to the vastly more complex biochemical sensory network and surface protection “material” that we call human skin, which can not only sense touch, but temperature and other phenomena, as well. But long before artificial skin becomes possible, the processes reported in this Nature paper will enable the creation of foldable, stretchable touchscreens, electronic clothing or skin-like patches for medical applications.

    Bao said their production process involves several layers of new-age polymers, some that provide the material’s elasticity and others with intricately patterned electronic meshes. Still, others serve as insulators to isolate the electronically sensitive material. One step in the production process involves the use of an inkjet printer to, in essence, paint on certain layers.

    “We’ve engineered all of these layers and their active elements to work together flawlessly,” said post-doctoral scholar Sihong Wang, co-lead author of the paper.

    The team has successfully fashioned its material in squares about two inches on a side containing more than 6,000 individual signal-processing devices that act like synthetic nerve endings. All this is encapsulated in a waterproof protective layer.

    The prototype can be stretched to double its original dimensions – and back again – all the while maintaining its ability to conduct electricity without cracks, delamination or wrinkles. To test durability, the team stretched a sample more than one thousand times without significant damage or loss of sensitivity. The real test came when the researchers adhered their sample to a human hand.

    “It works great, even on irregularly shaped surfaces,” said postdoctoral scholar Jie Xu, and the paper’s other co-lead author.

    Perhaps most promising of all, the fabrication process described in this paper could become a platform for evaluating other stretchable electronic materials developed by other researchers that could one day begin to replace today’s rigid electronics.

    Bao said much work lies ahead before these new materials and processes are as ubiquitous and capable as rigid silicon circuitry. First up, she said, her team must improve the electronic speed and performance of their prototype, but this is a promising step.

    “I believe we’re on the verge of a whole new world of electronics,” Bao said.human and artificial hand

    This research was supported by Samsung Electronics, the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, and NETEP and MOTIE of the Republic of Korea.

    Zhenan Bao is the K.K. Lee professor of chemical engineering and (by courtesy) of materials science and engineering and (by courtesy) of chemistry. She is also faculty fellow of Stanford ChEM-H, a member of the Stanford Bio-X, the Precourt Institute for Energy and the Stanford Neurosciences Institute, and an affiliate of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. She founded and directs the Stanford Wearable Electronics Initiative (eWEAR)

    Other Stanford authors on this paper include Professor Boris Murmann, lab director Jeffery B.-H. Tok; post-docs Jie Xu, Francisco Molina Lopez, Simiao Niu, Ting Lei, Amir M. Foudeh, Andrea Gasperini; and graduate students Weichen Wang, Ging-Ji Nathan Wang, Reza Rastak, Vivian R. Feig, Jeffery Lopez, Yeongin Kim, Anatol Ehrlich. Also on the team were visiting scholars Jong Won Chung and Youngjun Yun of the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology; and Professor Soon-Ki Kwon of Gyeongsang National University.

  • Which States Send the Most Olympians to the Winter Games? Colorado Is Home to 1 in 8, but Vermont Sends More Per Capita

    US Team 2018 Opening Ceremonies

























    By Jennifer Cheeseman Day

     

    February 2018

    As we celebrate the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, we take a bird’s-eye view of population statistics of the 31 states US athletes call home.

    • This year, Colorado contributed the largest number (31 out of 244) of winter Olympians, making up 13 percent of the U.S. team.

    Not surprisingly, Colorado is the number one state for skiing establishments (40). However, California has the most sports centers, places that can include ice skating rinks, at 3,788.

     

    winter-olympics-graph

    • On a per capita basis, Vermont (at 24 athletes per million population) and Alaska (at 9 athletes per million population) beat out all other states.
    • While states with large populations contributed many Olympians, most come from less populous states. About 7 in 10 athletes come from states with fewer than 10 million residents.

    The nine largest states (California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, and North Carolina), which account for more than half of the total US population, contributed only 3 out of 10 Olympians.

    • Colorado’s workforce has one of the largest number of coaches, umpires and professional athletes on a per capita basis— about 2,000 per million population.
    Jennifer Cheeseman Day
     Jennifer Cheeseman Day is a demographer in the Census Bureau’s Communications Directorate.

  • Download the Indictment: Grand Jury Indicts Thirteen Russian Individuals and Three Russian Companies for Scheme to Interfere in the United States Political System

    Department of Justice
    Office of Public Affairs
     

    Friday, February 16, 2018

    The Department of Justice announced that a grand jury in the District of Columbia today returned an indictment presented by the Special Counsel’s Office. The indictment charges thirteen Russian nationals and three Russian companies for committing federal crimes while seeking to interfere in the United States political system, including the 2016 Presidential election. The defendants allegedly conducted what they called “information warfare against the United States,” with the stated goal of “spread[ing] distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general.”  

    “This indictment serves as a reminder that people are not always who they appear to be on the Internet,” said Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein. “The indictment alleges that the Russian conspirators want to promote discord in the United States and undermine public confidence in democracy. We must not allow them to succeed. The Department of Justice will continue to work cooperatively with other law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and with the Congress, to defend our nation against similar current and future schemes. I want to thank the federal agents and prosecutors working on this case for their exceptional service.”

    According to the allegations in the indictment, twelve of the individual defendants worked at various times for Internet Research Agency LLC, a Russian company based in St. Petersburg, Russia. The other individual defendant, Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, funded the conspiracy through companies known as Concord Management and Consulting LLC, Concord Catering, and many subsidiaries and affiliates. The conspiracy was part of a larger operation called “Project Lakhta.” Project Lakhta included multiple components, some involving domestic audiences within the Russian Federation and others targeting foreign audiences in multiple countries.   
    Internet Research Agency allegedly operated through Russian shell companies. It employed hundreds of persons for its online operations, ranging from creators of fictitious personas to technical and administrative support, with an annual budget of millions of dollars. Internet Research Agency was a structured organization headed by a management group and arranged in departments, including graphics, search-engine optimization, information technology, and finance departments. In 2014, the agency established a “translator project” to focus on the US population. In July 2016, more than 80 employees were assigned to the translator project.

    Two of the defendants allegedly traveled to the United States in 2014 to collect intelligence for their American political influence operations.

    To hide the Russian origin of their activities, the defendants allegedly purchased space on computer servers located within the United States in order to set up a virtual private network. The defendants allegedly used that infrastructure to establish hundreds of accounts on social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, making it appear that the accounts were controlled by persons within the United States. They used stolen or fictitious American identities, fraudulent bank accounts, and false identification documents. The defendants posed as politically and socially active Americans, advocating for and against particular political candidates. They established social media pages and groups to communicate with unwitting Americans. They also purchased political advertisements on social media.  

    The Russians also recruited and paid real Americans to engage in political activities, promote political campaigns, and stage political rallies. The defendants and their co-conspirators pretended to be grassroots activists. According to the indictment, the Americans did not know that they were communicating with Russians. 

    After the election, the defendants allegedly staged rallies to support the President-elect while simultaneously staging rallies to protest his election. For example, the defendants organized one rally to support the President-elect and another rally to oppose him — both in New York, on the same day.

    On September 13, 2017, soon after the news media reported that the Special Counsel’s Office was investigating evidence that Russian operatives had used social media to interfere in the 2016 election, one defendant allegedly wrote, “We had a slight crisis here at work: the FBI busted our activity…. So, I got preoccupied with covering tracks together with my colleagues.”

    The indictment includes eight criminal counts. Count One alleges a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States, by all of the defendants. The defendants allegedly conspired to defraud the United States by impairing the lawful functions of the Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the US Department of State in administering federal requirements for disclosure of foreign involvement in certain domestic activities. 

    Count Two charges conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud by Internet Research Agency and two individual defendants.

    Counts Three through Eight charge aggravated identity theft by Internet Research Agency and four individuals.

    There is no allegation in the indictment that any American was a knowing participant in the alleged unlawful activity. There is no allegation in the indictment that the charged conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election. 

    Everyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. At trial, prosecutors must introduce credible evidence that is sufficient to prove each defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, to the unanimous satisfaction of a jury of twelve citizens.

    The Special Counsel’s investigation is ongoing. There will be no comments from the Special Counsel at this time.

    Attachment(s): 
    Download Indictment
    Component(s): 
    Office of the Deputy Attorney General

  • Over the Hill …and Laughing Down the Slope

    View from Shuckstack Fire Tower  Looking southeast from the fire tower at the summit of Shuckstack in the Great Smoky Mountains. Fontana Lake is below, and Nantahala Mountains of North Carolina are beyond. Fontana forms the southwestern boundary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Brian Stansberry, Wikipedia

    by Julia Sneden

    The other day I received one of those black-bordered cards with “Over The Hill” printed in large letters on the front. It was an invitation to the 50th birthday party of a friend, and gave me a good indication that the party would be full of black balloons and tacky jokes. No thank you. Not for this ancient hill-climber. Laughing at old age takes a bit of brio, and I’m happy to muster that whenever possible. But that “Over The Hill” stuff turns me off. 

    Face it: the climb up wasn’t any picnic, so the trip down ought to be a lot easier, and a lot more fun! Where do people get off behaving as if the downslope were a lousy place to be?

    When my brother and I were children, the school bus dropped us off at the foot of a large hill. We had to hike up a steep mile and a half to get home.  It was wartime, and the school board in its wisdom decreed that there was enough gasoline for just one trip up that hill per day. It never occurred to us to question why they picked us up near the top of the hill in the morning, when we were rested and could easily have run downhill to the bus stop, but in the afternoon, when we were tired, delivered us to the foot and left us to trudge up. Their decision left me incredibly fit, and with calf muscles that to this day bulge like softballs.

    In my late teens, I was invited to join a hike up a small mountain on the Appalachian Trail. The mountain was called Shuckstack, and my friends and I were told that it was a challenging climb. Nowadays my rock climbing, glacier-hiking sons would ridicule that claim, but at the time, Shuckstack sounded like a real adventure. I was confident that I was up to the hike, even though I was by then in college and a long way from the school bus stop of my childhood. Little did I realize what dormitory life had done to my level of fitness! The first part of the climb was very steep, and the day was hot and humid. I huffed and puffed and sweated and tried not to whimper. There was no conversation in our small group, only an occasional muttered curse or groan.

    Once the initial, steep ascent was past, the trail ran along a wooded ridge, full of bushes that caught at us, poison ivy that we tried to avoid and fallen trees that we had to struggle over. Then came another long, steep climb. By the time we reached the top, we were completely out of breath, dehydrated (this was in the days before anyone thought of carrying bottled water), and almost too hot to care that we were at the summit. The views were lovely, and there was a certain sense of satisfaction in having made it, but we were mighty tired. We collapsed on the rocks, tactfully trying not to sit upwind of anyone.

    The descent, however, was a different matter. Suddenly, we were full of energy. We took time to notice the delicious and deceptively cool looking shade in the woods around us. We saw small flowers and vines that we had overlooked on the trudge to the top. We jumped off low rocks and clambered over fallen trees as we trotted along the ridge. We chatted happily about how difficult the climb had been, and congratulated each other on our success. We identified several birds and small critters along the trail. When we got to the bottom, we took off our shoes and socks and waded in the lovely, clear stream where we had started our climb. We collapsed in the car on the way to a friend’s house where a big victory feast awaited us.