New campaign targets college-age voters
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission has earmarked more than $600,000 as part of an effort to bring college voters to the polls on Nov. 2.
The money is part of the independent, nonpartisan commission’s Help America Vote College Poll Worker Program. Grantees, which include groups at various college campuses, will use the funds to encourage students at higher education institutions to serve as poll workers and assistants.
In California, CSU Long Beach will receive a $25,000 grant for its “Love Me, I’m a Poll Worker” campaign to recruit poll workers for Los Angeles County. Participants will wear special T-shirts promoting the program every Tuesday until election day.
Student voters suppressed, liberal group says
A new report by the liberal group Moving Ideas states it has found evidence of “widespread voter intimidation and suppression” by election officials. A portion specifically focuses on challenges faced by college students.
Many are unaware of a 1979 Supreme Court decision that allows students to use their college and dormitory addresses when registering to vote, and many succumb to intimidation that prevents them from registering, the group said.
The group cited a legal challenge by a Texas district attorney to voter registration efforts at a predominantly black college on the same residency question, despite the fact that the 1979 decision was based on students at the same school.
In addition, it reported that officials erroneously told University of Arizona students they would face felony charges if they registered out-of-state voters and wrongly cautioned students at the University of Delaware that they might lose financial aid and face tax problems for using dorm addresses for their registration.
UC receives $2.4 million digital library grant
The Library of Congress has awarded $2.4 million to the UC California Digital Library for the development of new technology for creating digital archives of government documents.
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said the money will help the university preserve the “state’s fascinating political history.”
The award was one of eight made by the LOC across the country to develop the digital infrastructure necessary to preserve the government’s Web-based documents.
Currently, the government posts more than 65 percent of its reports without making printed editions. The digital documents remain available for an average of just four months, the LOC said in a statement.
CDL will work closely with UCSD’s San Diego Supercomputer Center, with help from New York University and University of North Texas. The effort will initially focus on federal, state and local political movements, like the 2003 gubernatorial recall election.
Berkeley scientist to clone anti-AIDS plan genes
UC Berkeley and the government of Samoa have announced an agreement over research and development of a new drug to fight the AIDS virus.
The deal supports Samoa’s assertion of “national sovereignty” over a gene sequence of a drug extracted from the bark of its native tree that scientists say may help in the fight against the epidemic.
Under the terms of the agreement, a UC Berkeley professor of chemical engineering will clone the genes of the tree and insert them into bacteria, which will function as live “factories” for the drug. Scientists are currently studying the drug’s potential for forcing the AIDS virus out of hibernation in the body’s immune cells, making it susceptible to anti-AIDS drugs currently in use.
If the chemist is successful, the people of Samoa will receive set royalties from commercial profits arising from sales of the plant-derived compound. Under the contract, the campus and Samoa will also negotiate the distribution of the drug to developing nations at a “minimal profit.”
Teens’ condom use rises after counseling
HIV-positive teens are more likely to use condoms — especially with unaffected partners — if they’ve undergone one-on-one counseling, researchers at UCLA’s AIDS Institute have found.
The researchers believe their findings may help develop a new strategy to control the spread of the virus.
They reported their findings in the October issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
