Bakery corruption, baggy jeans, bike-only parking lots, more

Today’s Headlines:

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Urban Schools Aiming Higher Than Diploma

“What is required, educators say, is nothing less than revolutionizing schools built for another century, when a high school diploma was a ticket to social mobility in a manufacturing economy, and students with only basic skills could make it into the middle class. But the task is daunting, and the outcome uncertain, experts say.”

The Nano Challenge: What happens when the green movement crashes into the anti-poverty crusade?

“I’m not making an ideological argument here or manufacturing an excuse for American superconsumers, with our Hummers and McMansions. I’m not offering a proper answer to the puzzle proffered above, unfortunately, just stating the rarely acknowledged facts: Probably there should be an emissions-free car available for $2,500 (or an organic granola bar for 52 cents), but, at the moment, there isn’t. There must be a way to reconcile mass car ownership with global warming, but, at the moment, we haven’t found it.”

Critics say ban on saggy pants a racial trigger

“Johnny Jones, 20, a “Grady baby” who lives in Decatur, argued the ban would encourage racial profiling of young, black men. He said in some neighborhoods, some young people wear their pants low to blend in, hoping not to be perceived as weak and viewed as a crime target.”

Egypt’s Problem and Its Challenge: Bread Corrupts

“Over the course of an hour one recent day, 14-year-old Mahmoud Ahmed managed four trips to the counter. His job, he said, was to ensure a steady stream of bread for a nearby food vendor, who then resold it in sandwiches. It appeared that the baker let him push his way to the front to get bread before others. Was there a deal going? Mahmoud would not say.

“Down the road, five blocks away, a 12-year-old, Muhammad Abdul Nabi, was selling bread, the same kind of bread, from a makeshift table for more than double the price at the bakery. But there were no lines.”

Subdivision in Watts attracts attention

“Yet only three blocks from the Imperial Courts public housing project, along a stretch of land once used as a neighborhood dump, 44 homes are rising in Watts within sight of its famous towers.

“Across the street from bungalows with bars on their windows and trash in their yards, a developer and a grass-roots organization are selling the American dream: two stories, four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, with master suites and marble counter tops — priced ‘from the mid-$400,000’s.’ “

Bike Parking Lot, With Attendant, Is Planned for Midtown

‘We’re really looking for a big number to build something quite spectacular,’ said Daniel A. Biederman, president of the 34th Street Partnership. ‘We want this to be the premier bike parking facility in the country.’ “

Signs of a baby boomlet in Phila. region

“Yesterday, pediatrician Tonya Arscott-Mills was making sure 3-month-old Elvis Cubero could breathe easily.

“Elvis fussed and scrunched up his flush face as Arscott-Mills tugged up his shirt and placed the stethoscope on his belly.

“Elvis’ mother, Margerita Cubero, embodies two of the key trends that demographers cite for the increase in births: She is Hispanic (she was born in Puerto Rico but has lived in the mainland United States most of her life). And she’s 38 years old and just had her first child.”

A Suburb Looks Nervously at Its Urban Neighbor

“Underneath this fear of urban decay lies the quiet thread of resentment. For many years, Shaker Heights was one of the richest cities in the United States. As presidents of Cleveland’s largest companies, a few Shaker Heights citizens were bosses to generations of Clevelanders. In the middle of what the Census Bureau found in 2002 to be America’s third-most-segregated urban area, Shaker Heights flouts local racial attitudes by actively encouraging integration. Of the town’s 27,245 residents, 61 percent are white and 34 percent are black, according to the census.

“For many outsiders, the attack on Mr. McDermott is seen as comeuppance for a community that seemed smug about its wealth, security and racial diversity.”

Texas town ordered to give up land for border fence

“‘Well, that seems a little heavy-handed,’ Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster said Wednesday.

Foster is chairman of the Texas Border Coalition, a group of border mayors, city officials and business leaders who oppose the government’s border fence plans and have complained that they haven’t had enough input on the effects of the fence on their communities.”

FEMA trailers making a comeback

“Pity the lowly FEMA trailer, first the symbol of government failure in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, then maligned as a ‘toxic tin can.’

“But today thousands of surplus FEMA trailers have become lifesavers for budget-strapped municipalities, school districts, police and fire departments, and nonprofits in Pennsylvania and across the nation.”

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Tags: bikingatlantadisaster planningsuburbs

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