What? Pay to Get the News?

So what’s the New York Times worth to me? And how high are the stakes attached to the answers that I and millions others will give in coming weeks?

Are people ready and willing to pay to get stories from the Times? How about from other news organizations – the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, CNN, or whoever you turn to for information?

A long-awaited major moment is at hand for the news industry: The Times’ Web site is the premier American site for world and national news. And they’re about to start charging serious users for access. .

This is, in some ways, a great period to be a reporter for a major news organization. Readership is very strong, if you include both Internet readers and traditional print readers. The reach of a story is fabulous – a piece published in Milwaukee can be (and often is) read immediately on the other side of the globe.

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Doing the Basics Right: Wendy Kopp on the Road to Education Transformation

I remember watching a television interview in which a famous tennis player described his first appearance in a big-time tournament. He said he always wondered what was said during breaks in such matches when the player and his coach conferred. He figured there must be some kind of sophisticated strategy talk fit for the top of the sport. But when he came to the first pause in the action, what did the coach tell him? Keep your eye on the ball. Swing smoothly. Concentrate. Which, of course, is what you would tell anyone playing tennis.

There are no magic tricks, no silver bullets. Do the basics, and do them well.

That was a central theme of Wendy Kopp, the founder and CEO of Teach for America, during an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” visit to Eckstein Hall this week. Teach for American now has more than 8,00o “corps members” working in high-needs schools across the US, including in Milwaukee.

Kopp, one of the most influential figures on America’s education scene in the last 20 years, gave a decidedly optimistic message about the future – or possible future – for the education of students in schools that have long been associated with poor outcomes. One of her favorite words is “trajectory,” and she is convinced that the trajectory of millions of children can be changed so that they are on a path to academic success.

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Looking Ahead on the Dodd-Frank Consumer Protection Path

The passage last year of a new federal law covering lending and credit transactions for consumers will provide stronger protection, but questions about how it will be enforced and what it will actually mean are just beginning to be answered.

That was the overall theme of the 2011 Public Service Conference held at Eckstein Hall. The conference, New Directions in Consumer and Community Financial Protection, brought together prominent federal and state authorities on the subject and provided an up-to-the-minute look at the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

“Dodd-Frank created a floor, not a ceiling, for consumer protection” noted Kathleen Keest, an expert on consumer protection law from the Center for Responsible Lending.  The new law reverses some of the federal preemption rules that were in effect prior to its passage, providing state attorney generals with increased enforcement authority with respect to many consumer protection laws.

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