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Party Identification, Voter Attitudes, and Voter Behavior in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 1980–2012: Real Difference or Election Law Mirage?
Get PDFThis study examines the extent to which pronounced differences in voter registration statistics between Pennsylvania and New Jersey are truly indicative of significant differences in political attitudes and voter behavior across citizens of these neighboring states. The analysis is based upon an examination of cumulative 1980–2012 American National Election Study (ANES) survey data. Although there is evidence that minor differences in partisan attachments exist, there is no evidence that these differences are manifest in diminished interest, efficacy, polarization levels, participation rates, or straight-ticket voting behavior. The central conclusion of this study is that the elevated tendency of New Jersey voters to register as unaffiliated is less of a marker of greater independent orientations and more of an election law mirage that furthers a myth of mounting citizen independence from partisan affiliations. Furthermore, these findings support the conclusion that a follow-up methodology for determining true partisan attachments among ANES respondents is a more accurate predictor of partisan attitudes and behavior than methods relying upon an initial probe of self-identified partisanship or statewide voter registration statistics.
COMMONWEALTH Forum: Law Enforcement in the Twenty-First Century: Partnering to Combat the Opioid Overdose Epidemic
Get PDFCOMMONWEALTH Special Issue Editor Mark Nordenberg invited Pennsylvania’s attorney general, Josh Shapiro, to discuss the steps that his office is taking to address the opioid crisis. As the state’s chief law enforcement officer, Mr. Shapiro has taken a multipronged approach to the epidemic that includes partnering with other government agencies and nonprofits. The following article outlines the policies undertaken by the Office of the Attorney General to combat opioid abuse in 2017
“It Is Time for Artists to Be Heard”: Artists and Writers for Freedom, 1963–1964
No full textIn The Black Arts Movement: Literary Nationalism in the 1960s and 1970s, James Smethurst writes: “Black arts cultural nationalism draws on a long history.” He describes the cultural nationalist stance we associate with the Black Arts Movement as involving a concept of liberation and self-determination that “entails some notion of the development or recovery of a true ‘national’ culture that is linked to an already existing folk or popular culture” and often relying on recognizable African elements. Black arts cultural nationalism expressed the linkages between Black Arts and Black Power even before they were specifically named and identified. In particular, Black arts cultural nationalism was visible in some of the ways 1940s and 1950s Black leftists engaged with commitments to Black nationhood, Black leadership, and Black liberation. Many Black leftists from the 1940s and 1950s were part of the writing and organizing that laid some of the groundwork for the movements commonly identified with Black Arts after 1965. Looking more closely at one formation of Black artists and writers from the early l960s, the Association of Artists for Freedom, illuminates one kind of precedent for the emerging Black Arts Movement
Should the Philadelphia Property Tax Classification System Be Modified?
Get PDFThis article reviews issues related to proposed changes to the Philadelphia taxation system. There are two proposed plans. The City plan proposes modest cuts to the wage tax and to the net income portion of the business income and receipts tax (BIRT). The plan proposed by the Philadelphia Growth Coalition includes larger cuts in these taxes combined with an increase in the property tax on commercial real estate. The increase in the property tax on commercial real estate is intended to make up for losses of revenue from the tax cuts and is proposed to create a property tax classification system in which different classes of property are taxed at different rates. These proposals have been studied by Econsult Solutions (2015), and their findings are scrutinized in this article. Also, this article includes information on the main example of a property tax classification system in Cook County, Illinois, as a cautionary tale.
Drug Overdoses in Pennsylvania: Measuring, Tracking, and Forecasting the Epidemic
Get PDFAmong the many challenges for public officials in controlling the opioid epidemic, one major problem is how to accurately measure, track, and forecast the epidemic’s course, and how to reliably assess the effectiveness—and cost-effectiveness—of epidemic control measures. In this review we summarize available epidemiological data on substance use disorders and their complications that can be useful to measure and track the epidemic in Pennsylvania. We examine the data through the lens of a systems approach, with the goal of using epidemiological data to create and parameterize dynamic models of the epidemic. We suggest that by integrating a variety of datasets into systems models, it should be possible to forecast and predict the future trajectory of the epidemic and make appropriate decisions on how to mitigate the epidemic. In addition, we identify several potentially valuable data sources that are currently underused for public health decision making
Forgotten but Not Gone: The Impact of the Opioid Epidemic and Other Substance Use Disorders on Families and Children
Get PDFThis article discusses the impact of the opioid epidemic and other substance use disorders (SUDs) on families and their members, including children. We review factors contributing to this major public health and safety problem, current trends in opioid and other substance use and misuse, prevalence of opioid use disorders (OUDs) and other SUDs, and interventions to help families. Sources of information for this article include research, clinical and recovery literature, government reports, experiences of the two senior authors in clinical settings, and interviews and surveys of family members affected by a loved one’s SUD
The Role of Community Coordinated Efforts in Combating the Opioid Overdose Crisis: The Pennsylvania Opioid Overdose Reduction Technical Assistance Center
Get PDFThe Pennsylvania Opioid Overdose Reduction Technical Assistance Center (TAC) was developed by the University of Pittsburgh, School of Pharmacy, Program Evaluation and Research Unit (PERU) and funded by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) in response to the need for local coordination and supported efforts to address the growing number of opioid overdoses in Pennsylvania. This article outlines the TAC’s initiatives to address this crisis in 42 counties across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, stressing the importance of communication and collaboration both within and between communities, such as public health, public safety, first responders, physicians, the criminal justice system, and families. The TAC uses the Implementation Framework (IF) developed by Dr. Janice Pringle to achieve accurate data assessment and the effective implementation, evaluation, and sustainability of programs
Solar Renewable Energy Credit Price Volatility and Investment Returns: Have Policies Stranded Capital Investment?
Get PDFPennsylvania is one of a number of U.S. states that provide incentives for the generation of electricity by solar energy through Solar Renewal Energy Credits (SRECs). This article develops a return on investment model for solar energy generation in the PJM (mid-Atlantic) region of the United States. Model results indicate that SREC values of roughly $150 are needed for residential scale systems to break even over a 25-year project period at 3% interest. Market prices for SRECs in Pennsylvania have been well below this range from late 2011 through the first half of 2016, indicating that previous capital investments in solar generation have been stranded as a result of steep declines in the value of SRECs. A simple conceptual supply and demand model is developed to explain the sharp decline in market prices for SRECs. Also discussed is a possible policy remedy that would add unsold SRECs in a given year to the SREC quota for the subsequent year
Facing the Nation and the University: A Model for Institutional Transformation
No full textThis essay responds to Sánchez’s invitation to start in a specific place to consider a larger story in order to describe his impact as both a scholar and an institution builder. This essay will do so by putting two of his pieces in conversation: “Face the Nation,” which offers new conceptual frameworks to understand a multiracial society, and “Crossing Figueroa: The Tangled Web of Diversity and Democracy,” in which he theorizes the role of the university and the struggle for democracy both inside and outside its walls. By reading these two pieces together, scholars of racial formation may gain insight regarding three critical interventions that the field now takes for granted. First, multiracial interaction is regularly a research topic that complicates binaries of Black and white because Sánchez, his colleagues, and his predecessors began asking different questions about race. His students have been central to pushing the edges of the field, proving that good mentorship is more than generosity. Second, the fact that Sánchez, a preeminent historian, engages multiple fields in theorizing multiracial interaction demonstrates the political urgency of reading and writing beyond the discipline. Lastly, Sánchez’s efforts to diversify university faculty and create conditions of success for faculty of color is central to making the university live up to its promises of civic responsibility and democracy. Ultimately, his body of work both on and off the page demonstrates his importance in bringing different worlds, disciplines, and individuals together
