Regulation and deregulation are situational, and public policies are too often linked to industry lobbying efforts. Consumers must be educated about whether their interests are served by regulation or deregulation. (SK)

Describes the Telecommunications Systems Model to help technical educators and students understand the increasingly complex telecommunications infrastructure. Specifically looks at ownership and regulatory status, service providers, transport medium, network protocols, and end-user services. (JOW)

Discusses how a financial-aid-related rule that restricts distance education is close to being killed, but that few institutions are planning to take advantage of its demise. (EV)

Probabilistic risk assessment has been promoted within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as a means of judging risk to the public and of determining regulatory measures. Interviews with engineers and other technically trained personnel reveal the difficulties created by expectations that this form of assessment should be applied. (TJH)

Compares state telecommunications regulatory policies and their potential impacts on the development of the physical infrastructure needed to support an information superhighway. Topics include federal telecommunications regulations, federal preemption of state regulations, and economic impacts of the development of the National Information…

Discusses the health effects of farmworker exposure to pesticides and the inadequacy of government regulations to protect farmworkers from pesticides. (LZ)

Describes the collapse of Newfoundland's once immense northern-cod fishery in 1992 from the perspective of a family fisherman who has become an environmental activist. Discusses failures in environmental management including the overfishing of shared resources encouraged by the Canadian government and hastened by international fishing fleets and…

Identifies flaws in the new Carl Perkins Act: mismatch between purpose and funding; micromanagement; attempts to legislate learning by specifying courses; legislation of methodology such as academic-vocational integration; failure to consider restructuring of the vocational education system; and failure to address the important federal role in…

Examined effects on funding of standardizing the independent living center model. Findings from 55 Independent Living Programs that had complete funding diversity indexes and 58 that had designated their total budgets revealed that more programs tended to become compliant over time, but funding also became more diverse over time regardless of…

The Government Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 16 is concerned with the measurement of the liability for compensated absences. The pronouncement provides separate guidance for vacation leave and sick leave and deals with a variety of related issues, such as salary-related payments, rates, sabbaticals, and measurability. (MLF)

States that government accounting is the product of mixing together budget-oriented and accounting-oriented voices. Presents a history of governmental accounting including the groups involved. An organization chart describes the current standard-setting structure. Accomplishments that improve reporting operations results are listed. (MLF)

Argues that the final fifth of an article by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Mark Fowler (based on a social vision of broadcasting different than the "marketplace" approach taken in the rest of the article) has been ignored by media and communication scholars. Suggests why a response is still needed and what form that response…

The Department of Labor is considering changing accounting rules to allow companies to treat training expenditures as investments rather than expenses. Human asset accounting could be a powerful incentive to increase business investment in training. (SK)

Promoters of the Fiesta Football Bowl offered the universities of Alabama and Louisville $400,000 each to fund minority-exclusive scholarships. The Department of Education declared minority-exclusive scholarships illegal. Documents the historically uneasy relationship between race-based scholarships and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.…

Examines a number of facets of adoption in the United States and recommends that the federal government create an adoption data collection system; states implement a uniform adoption law; and the adoption process be more open, both for adoptees and prospective adoptive parents. Also discusses the adoption of children with special needs, and…