God Bless America, Disney-style; Slowing the Maine Brain Drain; The Mayor and the 'Relationship'; E-ZPass...E-Z PayMore; Return of the Giant Slugger
God Bless America, Disney-style
Most folks hunker down on the Fourth of July with a warm hot dog and a cold soda. But 1,000 people gathered at Walt Disney World near Orlando instead to take the oath of U.S. citizenship. Then they paraded down Main Street U.S.A. Corny, perhaps, but also a reflection, experts say, of the desire to become Americans at a time when the political universe is angrily divided over the issue of illegal immigration. The new citizens hailed from far and wide—Bangladesh, Guatemala, Switzerland, to name a few places—and were feted with Gloria Estefan singing the national anthem. And, of course, a fireworks display.
Slowing the Maine Brain Drain
Likening it to the GI bill, state legislators in Augusta, Maine, passed a new tax credit on student loans this week unlike any other in the nation. Opportunity Maine, as the program is known, will provide tax breaks for anyone with an educational loan who receives an undergraduate degree from an in-state institution and continues to live and work in the Pine Tree State after graduation. The hope is that the program will encourage younger residents to remain in the state, which has an aging population and fewer job opportunities than some other New England states. "We're telling our students: If you live, work, and pay taxes in Maine, you're not going to have this student debt hanging around your neck," said Gov. John E. Baldacci. The bill reaches out to multiple age groups, like career professionals and working mothers, to lighten the load of continuing education. Companies are allowed to assume the credit as well if they bear the burden of their employee's loans.
The Mayor and the 'Relationship'
It was a scandal that Los Angelenos last week were comparing to a telenovela, the steamy soap operas of Spanish-language television. No wonder.
Battered by persistent rumors, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, 54, was forced to acknowledge that his "friendship" with Telemundo newswoman Mirthala Salinas, 35, who had covered the mayor while a political reporter, was now a "relationship."
The bombshell came months after the mayor, the first Latino to lead the city in 133 years, stopped wearing his wedding ring (aides insisted it was being "resized") and weeks after his wife of 20 years filed for divorce. In the category of can't-make-this-up, it was Salinas who told Telemundo viewers that the mayor and his wife were splitsville.
How the scandal will affect the mayor, who aspires to become governor in 2010, and Salinas, on leave while station execs review her actions, remains to be seen. But soap opera watchers are waiting to see if the mayor will drop "Villaraigosa," a melding of his and his wife's surnames, and revert to Villar. Stay tuned.
E-ZPass...E-Z PayMore
Beachgoers winding their way along the New Jersey Turnpike this summer might want to think twice before choosing E-ZPass, a system that lets drivers pay tolls electronically. New research by Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Amy Finkelstein suggests such systems lead to toll hikes.
The likely reason, she says, is that the technology allows people to think less about the fact that they are forking over money to the government, which makes it easier for politicians to raise the price. "Because the driver need no longer actively count out and hand over cash for the toll, the toll rate is arguably less visible," she writes. Finkelstein found tolls increased by 20 to 40 percent following the installation and adoption of electronic toll collection systems.
The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, an industry group, points out that toll increases are well disclosed and subject to public debate.
Return of the Giant Slugger
Revered or reviled? Fans will vote with their voices at Major League Baseball's All-Star Game in San Francisco this week. With all the bad press from allegations of steroid use, home-run giant Barry Bonds came from behind in the polls to snag the final outfield spot on the National League All-Star team despite controversy over whether he belonged on the roster at all. At 42, he will be the oldest player to start in the All-Star Game. To sweeten the deal, this year's game takes place at a home plate even closer to home: Bonds's own AT&T Park. The lone Giant to make the team, he is a 14-time All-Star. But this will be his first appearance since 2004 and his first in an All-Star Game held in the city known for its cable cars. Over 100,000 people are expected to attend the fan festivities (not including the game) hosted by sponsors like XM Radio, Chevrolet, and Taco Bell. But as Ken Griffey Jr. remarked, "One guy will be a lot bigger than everybody else."
With Liz Halloran, Kimberly Palmer and Christina Mueller
This story appears in the July 16, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.