Terms: pennsylvania
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1. Greek Life and Times (University of Pennsylvania)
   Provides pictures and a historical narrative regarding daily life, arts, economy, warfare, religion and other aspects of life in ancient Greece.

2. Study: Difference Between Exit Poll and Reported Vote Impossible (Truthout.org - Freeman, University of Pennsylvania)
   "How could the exit polls in this year's presidential election have diverged so drastically from the results that election officials and the media announced?"
   
   Professor Steven Freeman, a statistician at the University of Pennsylvania, offers a disturbing answer. Looking at the exit polls and announced results in Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania, he concludes that the odds against such an accidental discrepancy in all three states together was 250 million to one."
   
    " 'As much as we can say in social science that something is impossible, it is impossible that the discrepancies between predicted and actual vote counts in the three critical battleground states of the 2004 election could have been due to chance or random error.' "
   
    "Read Dr. Freeman's well-reasoned, well-written argument, and make up your own mind." 11-04

3. -11-18-04 Study: Reported Vote in Key States Not Valid (University of Pennsylvania - Steven Freeman)
   Provides evidence that exit polls, properly conducted as they were by the National Election Poll, are extremely accurate. Provides a statistical analysis which shows that the reported votes in key states in the 2004 presidential election were definitely different from the exit poll results. Points out that the United States and other countries have so much confidence in exit polls that when the exit polls and the reported votes disagree, it is solid evidence that the reported votes are incorrect. The United States took this position successfully in the elections of the Republic of Georgia. The United States sided with the exit poll results and against the official tally. Further, the United States played a key role in unseating the person "officially elected" as President, replacing him with the person who won in the exit polls.
   
   It has been the official position of the United States government that properly conducted exit polls are the "gold standard." The results of exit polls reveal who won. Reported votes, on the other hand, are more easily manipulated.
   
   Editor's Note: Freeman attempted to explain his statistics in everyday language, but fell short. However, he made a compelling analysis that leads to the conclusion that Kerry won the 2004 presidential election. 9-05

4. -10-07-05 Pennsylvania Voters Oust Intelligent Design Supporters (USA Today)
   "Voters came down hard Tuesday on school board members who ordered a statement on intelligent design read in biology class, ousting eight Republicans and replacing them with Democrats who want the concept stripped from the science curriculum."
   
   "Eight of the nine school board members were up for election Tuesday. They were challenged by a slate of Democrats who argued that science class was not the appropriate forum for teaching intelligent design." 9-05

5. -04-12-07 Pennsylvania Court Requires Paper Ballots (VoteTrustUSA.org
   “A Pennsylvania court held late today that voters have a right under the commonweath's constitution to reliable and secure voting systems and can challenge the use of electronic voting machines 'that provide no way for Electors to know whether their votes will be recognized' through voter verification or independent audit." 04-07

6. -04-22-08 Presidential Primary Results in Pennsylvania (CNN News)
   Provides results county by county. 04-08

7. -04-22-08 Editorial: Philadelphia Key to Pennsylvania Primary (CNN News)
   "If Obama is to upset Clinton, it will begin in the Philadelphia-anchored southeast corner of the state, where about 30 percent of Pennsylvanians resides." 04-08

8. -04-22-08 Pennsylvania's "Paperless" Voting Disaster (BradBlog.com)
   "On Tuesday night, you will be told who the winner of the Pennsylvania Primary is. You will accept it. You will have no choice. No matter who the winner really is. Or isn't."
   
   "This Tuesday's crucial contest will be primarily run on 100% faith-based, Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen or push-button) e-voting machines across the state. There will be no way to determine after the election whether the computers have accurately recorded, or not, the intent of those voters who voted on them. As VerifiedVoting.org summarizes the crucial contest, it 'will be essentially unrecountable, unverifiable, and unauditable.' " 04-08

9. Pennsylvania (Yahoo)
   Provides a guide to the city. 11-01

10. Pennsylvania Schools on the Net (Yahoo)
    Provides schools on the Net by grade level, state, and then city. 11-01

11. Disabilities Resources (Central Instructional Support Center of Pennsylvania)
    Provides resources for persons with physical or traumatic brain injuries. 11-99

12. Pennsylvania (Weber Publications)
    Includes a great deal of basic information, such as geography, legislature, flag, motto, bird, flower, motto, nickname, and so forth. Also has a link to the state capital, Harrisburg. 10-00

13. Pennsylvania Community Foundations (Foundation Center)
    Includes Berks County Community Foundation, Big Ben Foundation, Chester County Community Foundation, Greater Harrisburg Foundation, Lehigh Valley Community Foundation, The Luzerne Foundation, Philadelphia Foundation, Pittsburgh Foundation, Scranton Area Foundation, Three Rivers Community Foundation, and Washington County Community Foundation 10-02

14. Pennsylvania - Common Grant Application Format (Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvannia)
    "The Common Grant Application Format is designed to benefit you, the grantseeker, and the foundation decision-makers who review, evaluate and act on the grant proposals you submit." Sometimes called a universal grant application form. 7-02

15. Penn, William (Forrest)
    Provides a biography of the founder of Pennsylvania. 2-01

16. Flight 93 and Todd Beamer (Post-Gazette - McKinnon)
    Provides details of the last conversation before United Airlines Flight 93 went down in Pennsylvania due to passengers, including Todd Beamer, preventing the terrorists aboard from getting to their target in Washington DC. The target of the terrorists was believed to be either the White House or the Capitol. At least four who were involved in stopping the terrorists were Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham, Jeremy Glick, and Tom Burnett. Todd is known for saying "Let's roll" just before taking on the terrorists. 11-01

17. National Council of Churches Urges Diplomacy (Guardian Unlimited)
    "A visiting U.S. church official urged the United States on Thursday to negotiate with Iraq to avert a war that he said would make the United States less secure and increase the risk of terrorism in the Middle East."
    
    "Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches and a former congressman from Pennsylvania, told a news conference that his 13-member delegation expected - on their return to the United States - to meet with Bush administration officials and members of Congress to press for a peaceful solution."
    
    "Edgar and other delegation members said they had found a distressing humanitarian situation during four days of visits to Iraqi hospitals and schools. He said the food ration for Iraqis was inadequate to keep them healthy."
    
    "He said he wanted to make clear the group does not support authoritarian governments and had asked ``pointed questions'' about freedom in Iraq in a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz."
    
    "Edgar said a war would harm innocent Iraqis and increase the threat of terrorism aimed at both America and Israel."  1-03

18. 02-26-04 Bush Distances Himself from Job-Loss Comment (Seattle Times)
    "President Bush, visiting Pennsylvania to tout his prescriptions for employment growth, distanced himself from his chief economist who this week spoke approvingly of U.S. jobs moving overseas."
    
    "On Monday, N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, said in releasing the annual Economic Report of the President that the 'offshoring' of U.S. service jobs is 'the latest manifestation of the gains from trade that economists have talked about' for centuries."
    
    "The report similarly said that 'when a good or service is produced more cheaply abroad, it makes more sense to import it than make or provide it domestically.' " "Job loss is a sensitive issue for Bush as he seeks re-election in November. The economy has lost about 2.2 million jobs on Bush's watch and has been slow to reduce unemployment despite other signs of economic growth." 2-04

19. 08-29-04 Pennsylvannia Crucial for Election (USA Today)
    "USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup polls show Bush narrowly ahead in Wisconsin and the candidates even in Pennsylvania, a state that is crucial to Democratic hopes of winning in November." 8-04

20. 10-07-04 Kerry and Bush in a Tie (Bloomberg.com)
    "The race between President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry is a tossup in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania -- the three biggest battleground states -- according to six polls taken after the candidates' Sept. 30 debate." 10-04

21. Reported Vote Results Impossible (San Francisco Chronicle)
    "If the United States were a Third World country, our Nov. 2 election would not pass certification by international monitors. As former President Carter has explained on National Public Radio, we lack a central, nonpartisan election commission to guarantee fair and equal treatment of all voters nationwide, our candidates do not receive free and equal access to the media to deliver their message, voting procedures are not uniform throughout the county, and there is not a 'paper trail' available in all cases to guarantee an honest recount where called for."
    
    "In our own recent presidential election, exit polls were conducted nationwide for the media by two of the world's most respected professional exit-polling firms: Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International." "Total samples from each state were large -- about 2,000 or more voters -- and the error of estimate was small -- plus or minus less than half of 1 percent in 99 cases out of 100."
    
    "In state after state, Kerry saw his expected lead shrink or vanish. And when he lost Ohio -- which exit polls estimated he would win by 4.5 percent -- he 'lost' the election. According to Steven Freeman, who teaches research methods at the University of Pennsylvania, for 10 exit polls among the 11 battleground states he analyzed to be this far off as a result of random error, particularly when all discrepancies favored Bush, is essentially impossible." 9-05

22. -01-19-05 Exit Pollsters: Bush Won "Fair and Square" (MSNBC News)
    "When Bush turned out to be the winner, some Kerry partisans used the exit polls to insist that the Republicans had somehow stolen votes, especially in the swing states of Pennsylvania and Ohio and in districts that were using electronic voting systems for the first time."
    
    "But Edison and Mitofsky said a thorough examination of the survey data demonstrated that Bush won the election fair and square."
    
    Editor's Note: The complete explanation was contradictory. Edison and Mitofsky also stated: "...the polls overstated Kerry’s support by statistically significant margins in 26 states — more than half of them — and President Bush’s in four others. That was the worst performance since news organizations joined to begin using national exit polls together in 1988." The pollsters cannot at the same time argue that their results were significantly different from the actual results and that they are an accurate source of information. 1-05

23. -06-05-05 Reservists at a Loss for Jobs (WashingtonTimes.com)
    "Although many employers take pride in hiring veterans and make up any pay an employee lost while deployed, some are reluctant to hire reservists and Guard members who might have to deploy again, said Bill Gaul, founder and president of Destiny Group, an online organization that seeks to match employers and veterans."
    
    "Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz, Pennsylvania Democrat, and Rep. Joe Schwarz, Michigan Republican, are co-sponsoring legislation that would give companies up to $2,400 in tax credits for each veteran from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars they hire." 6-05

24. Senate Leader Supports Stem Cell Research (ABC News)
    "In exclusive interview with 'GMA,' Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist explained his decision to break with President Bush for the first time, and throw his support behind a bill that would expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research."
    
    "Frist said only embryos that would otherwise be discarded should be used for the research. Those that could be adopted or implanted would not be used."
    
    "Frist is not the first Republican to support stem cell research. Republican Sen. Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania, who suffers from advanced stage Hodgkins lymphoma, supports the research, as does former first lady Nancy Reagan." 7-05

25. -08-10-05 Legislator: Four Attackers Identified in 1999 (ABC News)
    "Members of the commission that uncovered the government's failures to share intelligence among agencies before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks want to know whether U.S. defense intelligence officials knew for more than a year that four of the hijackers were part of an al-Qaida cell but failed to tell law enforcement."
    
    "Rep. Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican who serves as vice chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, said a classified military intelligence unit known as 'Able Danger' identified the men in 1999." 8-05

26. -09-10-05 Energy from Backpack to Replace Batteries (ScienceDaily.com)
    "If you already have a little spring in your step, a team of biologists at the University of Pennsylvania would like to put it to good use by adding a few more springs in the form of a power-generating backpack. Details of their prototype "Suspended-load Backpack" were announced today in the journal Science. The device converts mechanical energy from walking into electricity up to 7.4 Watts more than enough energy to power a number of portable electronic devices at once." 9-05

27. September 11th (Wikipedia.org)
    "The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated attacks carried out against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. According to the official 9/11 Commission Report, nineteen men affiliated with al-Qaeda, a network of militant Islamist organizations, hijacked four American airliners. Two were crashed into the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York City — one into each of the two tallest towers, about 17 minutes apart — shortly after which both towers collapsed. The third aircraft crashed into the U.S. Department of Defense headquarters, the Pentagon, in Arlington County, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed into a rural field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, 80 miles east of Pittsburgh, following passenger resistance." 09-08

28. -09-14-05 Roberts Gives Hints of Positions (Bloomberg.com)
    "U.S. Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, treading a line between candor and caution, gave a Senate panel hints about his views on government seizure of private property, civil rights and the death penalty."
    
    "Roberts, undergoing a second day of questions on his nomination to be chief justice, said lawmakers could limit 'eminent domain' property seizures, blunting the impact of a June Supreme Court ruling. He said he would consider the 'real- world' impact of affirmative action and suggested agreement with a high court decision limiting death row appeals."
    
    "His answers drew praise from Republicans, including the moderate Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. Democrats offered muted criticism, hailing his skills as a witness even while voicing frustration at his refusal to give detailed responses on abortion, assisted suicide and other social issues." 9-05

29. -09-24-05 Federal Court to Make a Landmark Ruling on Science (MSNBC News)
    "The Pennsylvania case 'is probably the most important legal situation of creation and evolution in the last 18 years,' said Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, which opposes challenges to the standard model of evolution."
    
    " 'This will be the first legal challenge to intelligent design, and we’ll see whether they have been able to mask the creationist underpinnings and basic orientation of intelligent design,' she said. Regardless who wins, 'it will have quite a significant impact on what happens in American public school education.' ”
    
    "This is where things get sticky, because it all boils down to a basic argument over just what is evolution and what is religion." 9-05

30. Pitcher, Molly (Captain Barbara A. Wilson)
    "Molly Pitcher is the name of a legendary figure of the American Revolution. She is associated with the Battle of Monmouth and since 1876 has been identified with a woman veteran of the war, Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley, who lived in Carlisle, Pennsylvania." 10-05

31. Hospital Infections Fourth-Leading Cause of Death (ABC News)
    "It turns out hospital infections are the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States."
    
    "Pennsylvania is one of only six states that has passed a law requiring the reporting of infections. Experts say public disclosure forces hospitals to reduce infection rates. Dr. Rick Shannon, chief of medicine at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, looked at the data on patients in the hospital's intensive care units. He was stunned."
    
    " 'Fifty-one percent of everyone who got these infections died. Half the people who got one died,' he said. Dr. Shannon wasted no time. He gave an order to the ICU staff. Reduce hospital infections to zero — in just 90 days." 10-05

32. -10-31-05 Samuel Alito, Bush Nominee for Supreme Court (BBC News)
    Provides a profile. "The man President Bush has chosen to be a US Supreme Court justice, Judge Samuel Alito, is seen as a staunch conservative."
    
    "Judge Alito, a 55-year-old Roman Catholic of Italian descent, was appointed to the federal appeals courts in 1990 by the first President George Bush."
    
    "The following year he voted to uphold all restrictions on abortion in Pennsylvania law, requiring a woman to notify her husband before an abortion." 10-05

33. -11-18-05 Murtha: We Need a Well-Planned Withdrawal from Iraq (Los Angeles Times)
    "Signaling heightened opposition to the war in Iraq from a corner of long-standing support for the military, Rep. John Murtha, a conservative Pennsylvania Democrat, said today the United States should immediately begin to bring its troops home."
    
    "Murtha, the senior Democrat on the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee, said the U.S. military forces should be withdrawn as quickly as possible, which could be accomplished within six months. He called for maintaining a rapid-deployment force in the region."
    
    "His declaration, at a Washington news conference, suggested that President Bush has lost a key supporter of the war — a knowledgeable Democrat to whom others in the party turn for advice and leadership on military issues." 11-05

34. -12-18-05 Bush Acknowledges Eavesdropping (CNN News)
    "In acknowledging the message was true, President Bush took aim at the messenger Saturday, saying that a newspaper jeopardized national security by revealing that he authorized wiretaps on U.S. citizens after September 11."
    
    "Senators contemplating a vote Friday on whether to renew some controversial portions of the Patriot Act used The New York Times' report as evidence that the government could not be trusted with the broad powers laid out in the act."
    
    ""In particular, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, said such behavior by the executive branch 'can't be condoned,' and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said the report swayed his decision on the Patriot Act proposal."
    
    Editor's Note: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act prevents presidents from deciding on their own--without court approval--whether someone in the United States can be spyed upon. In particular, a president cannot skirt the courts based on a claim that he is protecting national security. Court warrants can be issued within hours and should not slow down approval of justified spying; further, spying can begin immediately in emergencies, as long as the justification is court approved within 3 days of starting. The law was designed to prevent abuse of power by the president and ensure protection of civil liberties. 12-05

35. -02-05-06 Senate Judiciary Leader: Explanation for Domestic Spying "Strained and Unrealistic" (ABC News)
    "Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has not adequately justified why the Bush administration failed to seek court approval for domestic surveillance, said the senator in charge of a hearing Monday on the program."
    
    "Sen. Arlen Specter said Sunday he believes that President Bush violated a 1978 law specifically calling for a secret court to consider and approve such monitoring. The Pennsylvania Republican branded Gonzales' explanations to date as 'strained and unrealistic.' " 02-06

36. -03-23-06 Sharp Criticism of College Board for SAT Errors (ABC News)
    "Another revelation about scoring errors on last October's SAT exam has the College Board, the test's owner, under heavy criticism even from admissions officers a group that relies on the SAT and typically supports it."
    
    "A growing number of schools, including Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania, do not require the SAT. Dennis Trotter, the college's vice president for enrollment and marketing and dean of admission, said the latest errors call into question the test's 'relevancy and dependability in the admissions process.' " 03-06

37. -05-30-06 Test of Software in Elections Machines Renews Security Concerns (Washington Post)
    "The latest dispute occurred several weeks ago after it was discovered at a test in Utah that someone with a reasonable knowledge of computer code could gain access to and tamper with the system software on a popular brand of voting machine manufactured by Diebold Election Systems. The developments prompted California and Pennsylvania to send urgent warnings to counties that use Diebold's touch-screen voting systems to take additional steps to secure them." 05-06

38. -05-12-06 New Threats to Voting Security Uncovered (New York Times)
    "With primary election dates fast approaching in many states, officials in Pennsylvania and California issued urgent directives in recent days about a potential security risk in their Diebold Election Systems touch-screen voting machines, while other states with similar equipment hurried to assess the seriousness of the problem."
    
    " 'It's the most severe security flaw ever discovered in a voting system,' said Michael I. Shamos, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University who is an examiner of electronic voting systems for Pennsylvania, where the primary is to take place on Tuesday." 06-06

39. Review of Apocalypto as Mayan History (MSNBC News)
    "There’s plenty to argue about in Mel Gibson's 'Apocalypto' – and we’re not just talking about the actor/director’s bad behavior and controversial views. Anthropologists and modern-day Mayans are arguing about how much truth there is in Gibson’s gripping, violent tale of an ancient civilization on the brink."
    
    Elin Danien, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology disagreed with Mel Gibson's view of the Maya as depicted in the movie. " 'His view that the Maya were corrupt from within and were saved by the Spaniards is nonsense,' she said. 'The Spaniards destroyed everything they encountered. Yes, it's true that the cities of the Peten, of what we call the Classic Maya period, were abandoned in the 10th century. But there were cities in the Yucatan, there were cities on the Pacific coast of Guatemala that were going full blast when the Spaniards arrived.' " 12-06

40. -04-19-07 Senate Grills Attorney General (MSNBC News)
    "His job in jeopardy, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales insisted Thursday he played only a small role in the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors. Skeptical senators reacted with disbelief."
    
    " 'We have to evaluate whether you are really being forthright,' Sen. Arlen Specter bluntly informed the nation's chief law enforcement officer."
    
    "The Pennsylvania Republican said Gonzales' description was 'significantly if not totally at variance with the facts.' " 04-07

41. Ryan, Bianca (Wikipedia.org)
    "Bianca Taylor Ryan (born September 1, 1994) is an American singer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who won the debut season of NBC's America's Got Talent. At age 11, the prodigy repeatedly performed to standing ovations from the studio audiences, and her finale appearance—singing "I Am Changing" from the Broadway musical Dreamgirls—prompted show judge (and onetime prodigy) Brandy to shake her head and proclaim that Ryan 'makes me want to go practice … that's how good you are.' [1]" 04-07

42. -04-23-07 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' Wins $25,000 (CNN News)
    "Thirteen-year-old Morgan Pozgar, of Claysburg, Pennsylvania, was crowned LG National Texting champion on Saturday after she typed 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' from 'Mary Poppins' in 15 seconds." 04-07

43. -04-25-07 Congress and President in a Constitutional Confrontation on Iraq War (Christian Science Monitor)
    "In a move that both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue have anticipated for weeks, Congress and President Bush are heading into their first direct confrontation over funding the Iraq war."
    
    "At the heart of the dispute is a tension locked into the Constitution over who directs a war. As commander in chief, Bush says that he and generals on the ground determine the deployment of US forces, not members of Congress."
    
    "Democrats say that Congress must use its war-funding powers to force the president to change course on a war that most Americans no longer support."
    
    " 'Congress has a right to do what it's doing. We still have civilian supremacy in this country, which still includes Congress,' says Louis Fisher, an expert on presidential war powers at the Library of Congress." 04-07

44. -03-13-08 Obama Wins Clear Victory in Mississippi (PBS.org)
    "Sen. Barack Obama scored a victory in the Mississippi primary Tuesday, nudging his delegate advantage over rival Sen. Hillary Clinton. With nearly a dozen primary contests remaining, political analysts weigh how the battle for delegates may be waged in Pennsylvania and beyond." 03-08

45. -04-06-08 Clinton Chief Strategist Replaced (USA Today)
    "Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, waging an intense fight for working-class voters in Pennsylvania, replaced her chief campaign strategist Mark Penn on Sunday following the disclosure that he was working to push a trade deal that Clinton opposes." 04-08

46. -04-16-08 The Philadelphia Debate (ABC News)
    "Clinton, D-N.Y., needs to demonstrate she's still in control of Pennsylvania -- her perilous path still intact despite distractions and obstacles of her own -- and sow the kind of serious doubts about Obama she needs to spring in the minds of superdelegates."
    
    "Yet the polls are looking more sweet than bitter for Obama, D-Ill.: The new ABC News/Washington Post national poll gives Obama an 11-point edge on the question of whom Democrats would like to see as the nominee -- and shows a spike in Clinton's negative perceptions." 04-08

47. -04-23-08 A Democratic Primary With No End (Time.com)
    "If an Obama collapse of the sort Clinton needs to gain the nomination was ever going to happen, it was in that month and a half between Ohio and Pennsylvania. Yet despite increased criticism and scrutiny, Obama has expanded his lead over Clinton in national polls. He cut her margin in Pennsylvania down to 10 points, and he actually improved his performance from Ohio in the demographic groups he needed to demonstrate he could win: voters with no college education or those over 65, white men, those making less than $50,000, and self-described conservatives."
    
    "Even so, the real winner of the Democratic race in Pennsylvania is John McCain. The most significant number coming out of Tuesday night wasn't Clinton's 10 point margin of victory, but 43. That's the percentage of Clinton voters who say they would stay home or vote for McCain if Obama is the party's nominee in November. It is no longer just the Chicken Littles within the party who openly worry about an outcome that leaves large blocks of women or African-Americans frustrated and alienated." 04-08

48. Selling Our Infrastructure to Foreign Investors? (New York Times)
    "The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that the United States needs to invest at least $1.6 trillion over the next five years to maintain and expand its infrastructure. Last year, the Federal Highway Administration deemed 72,000 bridges, or more than 12 percent of the country’s total, “structurally deficient.” But the funds to fix them are shrinking: by the end of this year, the Highway Trust Fund will have a several billion dollar deficit."
    
    " 'We are facing an infrastructure crisis in this country that threatens our status as an economic superpower, and threatens the health and safety of the people we serve,' New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg told Congress this year. In January he joined forces with Mr. Schwarzenegger and Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania to start a nonprofit group to raise awareness about the problem." 08-08

49. -11-10-08 Poll: Bush Leaving with Lowest Favorability Rating (CNN News)
    "On the day that President-elect Barack Obama is visiting the White House, a new national poll suggests that the current occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is the most unpopular president since approval ratings were first sought more than six decades ago."
    
    "Seventy-six percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday disapprove of how President Bush is handling his job." 11-08

50. -02-11-09 Judges Accused of Jailing Kids for Cash (MSNBC News)
    "In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers." 02-09