On the one-year anniversary of the $787 billion stimulus bill President Obama acknowledged that the recovery does not feel like much of one because so many are still out of work. Harvey Kazatsky, an out-of-work paralegal proposes that the state could pick up half of a worker's pay for a year. He believes that many small businesses are shorthanded and would happily hire workers if there were not so much uncertainty over taxes and health care. Asked for his take on Kazatsky's idea, Temple economics professor Bill Dunkelberg seized on the red tape. "It immediately means all kinds of paperwork and delays.” For too many small businesses, demand is not great enough to hire even subsidized labor, he said.

February 21, 2010 | Associated Press, Popular Science, many more

More than 30 years after the world greeted its first "test-tube" baby, researchers say the majority of the assisted reproduction children are healthy and normal and that they are finding only a few medical differences. Carmen Sapienza, a geneticist at Temple University School of Medicine, noted that only a small fraction of the assisted reproduction children were outside the normal range of gene expression. "However, because some of the genes found to be affected are involved in the development of fat tissue and the metabolism of glucose, it will be interesting to monitor these children, long term to determine whether they have higher rates of obesity or diabetes."

February 20, 2010 | Philadelphia Daily News

A federal invasion-of-privacy lawsuit may be the least of the Lower Merion School District's problems. Allegations that the affluent suburban district used webcams on school-issued laptops to "spy" on students in their homes have now caught the attention of Montgomery County detectives and the FBI. David Kairys, a Temple University law professor who specializes in civil rights and constitutional law, described the policy as Orwellian. "It's pretty outrageous," Kairys said. "It's sort of beyond belief that they wouldn't say, 'This is going too far.'"

February 20, 2010 | ABC’s "Good Morning America"
(There is no link to this report.)

Tiger went before the world last Friday for the first time since his infidelities were discovered last November. But how did his mea culpea compare with other famous people who've been linked to sex scandals, such as Bill Clinton, David Letterman and Mark Sanford? "I think it's about the best we can expect from him, honestly," said Temple psychologist Frank Farley. "He's not like the other politicians, comedians and so on, in that the give and take, the informal Q&A, that's just not him."

February 19, 2010 | 6ABC

Tiger Woods says he might rejoin the PGA Tour sometime this year, but his redemption tour has already begun with a public apology. From the standpoint of public relations, one sport management expert says Woods probably did himself some real good as he heads down the comeback trail. “I think you let this ride out from here. You get him back on the golf course and you let his playing do the talking,” said Joe Mahan, a sport marketing professor in Temple’s School of Tourism and Hospitality Management. “People are going to be cynical about that, but that’s really the best thing to do at this point.”

February 19, 2010 | 6ABC
(There is no link to this report.)

The webcam controversy in the Lower Merion School District has been getting national attention. The school district claims the intent was not to spy, but simply to locate 42 missing computers. Justin Shi, associate professor of computer and information science at Temple University, was asked how easy it would be for someone to activate a webcam remotely. “Someone who knows what they are doing could insert software to activate a webcam. It's easy to change it,” he said.

February 19, 2010 | NBC10
(There is no link to this report.)

First Lady Michelle Obama brought her campaign against childhood obesity to Philadelphia on Friday. The First Lady visited the Fresh Grocer near Temple’s main campus and stopped at nearby Fairhill Elementary School to talk about her new plan, "Let's Move," which will pledge $10 million to provide schools with more nutritious lunches and more healthy snacks in vending machines. The School District of Philadelphia is already working with the Food Trust and Temple University to teach kids about portion sizes and the nutritional content of foods. "The consequences of obese children are that they get adult diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol," said Gary Foster, director of Temple's Center for Obesity Research and Education.