Pacific in the Press | Oct. 23, 2018

Quote of the Week

"This is a way for us to learn about people, their senses and sensibilities. Cooking from the past is like time travel." 

Ken Albala, The Denver Post, Oct. 17, 2018

Examples of how University of the Pacific was represented in the news media in recent days:

"APNewsBreak: California revisits three-strike life sentences," The Associated Press, Oct. 18, 2018: McGeorge's Michael Vitiello was quoted in this wire story about the state's three-strike sentencing law. The story was published by scores of newspapers and news websites throughout the country. Vitiello said law enforcement and victims' groups may challenge earlier releases for sex offenders. "You couch it in the frame of nonviolent third-strike offenders who have been put away for far too long," Vitiello, an expert on the three-strikes law, told The Associated Press. "That comes kind of squarely within the public's perception that we've overdone it."

"China just asserted its hold over the South China Sea. Will ASEAN nations push back?," The Washington Post, Oct. 15, 2018: School of International Studies' Daniel O'Neill authored this piece on China extending its presence in the South China Sea and what, if anything, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, will do. He concluded: "Undoubtedly, the Philippines, Myanmar and Malaysia will continue to seek improved economic relations with China, the region's economic powerhouse. But for China, these relations are not key to preventing ASEAN members from working together against China's assertiveness in the South China Sea. Because the "ASEAN Way" is to operate on consensus, China needs the support of just one member government, such as authoritarian Cambodia, to prevent the organization from taking a common stance against China's assertiveness in the South China Sea. Having used its financial power to divide ASEAN and change the status quo in its favor since the signing of the DOC in 2002, China is now more willing to use its military power to protect the rocks and reefs it is transforming into islands in the South China Sea."

"Flaming peacocks and pyes of mutton: The quest to re-create yesterday's meals," The Denver Post, Oct. 17, 2018: History's Ken Albala was quoted in this story about the growing desire to replicate meals eaten hundreds of years ago. "We know more and more about what our ancestors ate and we want to know what it tasted like," Albala told The Denver Post. "This is a way for us to learn about people, their senses and sensibilities. Cooking from the past is like time travel, and getting to sample things from the past with unfamiliar ingredients and flavor combinations is a way to do that gastronomically. ... Find a simple historic recipe you can manage. Amelia Simmons' 'American Cookery' (1796) was the first American cookbook. You can find it online, and dozens of others. Try that."

"Sheriff Scott Jones Can Keep Obstructing Investigations Into Shootings, County Counsel Says," Capital Public Radio News, Oct. 15, 2018: McGeorge's Clark Kelso was quoted in this story about Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones and allegations he obstructed independent investigations of his department. Kelso said independent investigations are common and important. "I think that is one of the good protections against possible abuse and misconduct in an organization," Kelso told Capital Public Radio News. "If your audit function is purely internal, it tends to take all of the teeth out of the audit function."

"Fresno County is bustling. Employment hits level not seen since Great Recession," The Fresno Bee, Oct. 19, 2018: The Center for Business and Policy Research's Jeff Michael was quoted in this story about the economic growth in Fresno County and the unemployment rate there, which is lower than it has been in three decades. "September is sort of a typical low point of the year (for unemployment rates), but regardless of that typicality, this is the lowest September on record," Michael told The Bee. "We think it could even go a bit lower and average under 7 percent for the whole year next year, and that would be another record for Fresno." The story was updated for Merced County: "Merced County on the rebound. Employment hits level not seen since Great Recession," Merced Sun Star, Oct. 19, 2018

"Another view of events through readers' eyes," The Record, Oct. 20, 2018: Philosophy's Lou Matz was part of a group of readers interviewed by the newspaper on wide-ranging topics of primarily national and local issues. The newspaper did the same time in January with conservative readers; this time the readers identified as politically liberal or moderate. "I think our country is founded on the value that citizens should look beyond just what's good for them that, yeah, they gotta consider their interest, but they gotta look at the idea of the public welfare, the common good," Matz told The Record. "That is really fundamental, and our founders thought that, a just and enlightened society is one that produces character. So we have our liberties and rights and those are fundamental, to a just society, but there's also the side about producing people that have character virtues like compassion and the ability to think critically, and patience and civility and those things you can't legislate."

"Pacific students hold Medicare health fairs throughout NorCal," Lodi News-Sentinel, Oct. 17, 2018: Medicare Part D clinics operated by student-pharmacists from Pacific's Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences were featured in this story. The clinics are held throughout Northern California. In the past 11 years the clinics have saved beneficiaries about $6.9 million at an average of about $1,049 per beneficiary. The student-pharmacists over the year have helped 1,599 low-income beneficiaries, 995 beneficiaries who speak other than English, and found 854 sever drug-related problems and notified their doctors, and volunteered 18,285 hours.

"New Documentary on George Moscone to Air on KVIE in November," Outword Magazine, Oct. 18, 2018: A documentary about Pacific alumnus George Moscone '53 was featured in this story and the upcoming air dates given. Work on the film was done by Pacific undergraduate and graduate students, and faculty. "We're honored to be the official PBS presenting station for an important and poignant documentary," Michael Sanford, associate GM for production at KVIE, told Outword. "George Moscone's regional connection through his academic roots at UOP Stockton, and his brilliant tenure as majority leader in the California State Senate, make us proud to play a key role in distributing and promoting this program to stations throughout California and across the U.S."

"Once picking lettuce in Salinas, astronaut José Hernández boosts Monterey County libraries," The Californian, Oct. 16, 2018: Alumnus and former Regent José Hernández '84 was featured in this story that recounted growing up in Stockton, attending Pacific and going on to become an astronaut. He was attending the Foundation for Monterey County Free Libraries' 24th annual Words & Wine event at Laguna Seca to raise money for the county's library system and promote STEM education and reading. "Hernández is the perfect example of someone who came from a migrant fieldworker (background) and rising literally to the stars," Jayanti Addleman, the county's library director, said of Hernández. "How many people get to do that? And if you don't have that education support, that background of people helping you in every way, it's really hard to achieve your potential."

"Students invited to annual financial aid, college workshop," The Record, Oct. 18, 2018: The annual Student Financial Aid and College Awareness Workshop sponsored by Pacific and the San Joaquin County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and other groups was featured in this story.  

"Transatlantic wind to Richard Harris International Film Festival," Limerick Post (Limerick, Ireland), Oct. 14, 2018: Media X's Kevin Pontuti is mentioned in this story about the upcoming Richard Harris International Film Festival.

"Dr. Jeffrey Michael, Restore the Delta Critique California WaterFix Benefit-Cost Analysis," Fish Sniffer, Oct. 19, 2018: The response by the Center for Business and Policy Research's Jeff Michael to a report by the state Department of Water Resources on the California WaterFix, or Delta tunnels, project was cited in this story. The story lists some of the errors in the report.

"UPLR: In Session 019 - AB 2943," LexBlog.com, Oct. 16, 2018: Devinn Larsen, a staff writer for Pacific's Law Review and a McGeorge law student, authored this entry on Assembly Bill 2943. She writes in part: "The bill set out to extend the prohibition of conversion therapy practices to adults by making any advertisements for, offers to practice conversion therapy, or the actual practice of conversion therapy violations of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) as deceptive practices. As the CLRA declares services unlawful when represented as having the approval, benefit, or quality they do not have, the lack of substantiated evidence as to the success of conversion therapy after years of medical research sparked the introduction of AB 2943 to expand the ban of conversion therapy practices to all."
 
"UOP Study Projects State Economic Growth," Escalon Times, Oct. 17, 2018: The latest California and Metro Forecast by Pacific's Center for Business and Policy Research was featured in this story about the economic outlook.