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In the News
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Week of 20 March 1998 |
Vol. I, No. 24 |
In the News
In a March 11 Boston Globe article, Michael Siegel, School of Public Health assistant professor of behavioral sciences, says that because of tobacco smoke, air inside restaurants and bars can have from 2 to 6 times the amount of carbon monoxide, nicotine, and particulates of a typical office or home, and that bar and restaurant workers have a 1.5 to 2 times higher risk of lung cancer. Boston lawyers recently put advertisements in local papers seeking restaurant and bar workers who developed lung cancer after being exposed to secondhand smoke on the job and who are willing to sue tobacco companies. "It's really a life and death issue for the restaurant worker," Siegel says in the article. He estimates that nonsmoking bar workers inhale carcinogens in the workplace in levels equivalent to smoking half a pack to two packs of cigarettes per day.
A March 4 Wall Street Journal article discusses a state program approved by Maine voters in November 1996 called the Small Enterprise Growth Fund, which allows promising small businesses to borrow up to $150,000. The money does not have to be paid back immediately, although the interest rate climbs the longer the business waits to begin repayment, and the fund gets warrants to own 10 to 15 percent of the company. If the company fails, the fund risks losing money, but if the company succeeds, it gains a healthy return on its investment. In the article, Peter Doeringer, a College of Arts and Sciences professor of economics, says of the fund, "If you can spot the good companies, it's a great thing."
A February 24 Boston TAB article discusses both the benefits and downside of e-mail. "In a big university, e-mail is absolutely essential for communication, quick and personal communication at that," says Ranald Macdonald, professor and chairman of the College of Communication's department of journalism. According to the article, the downside includes junk e-mail and the overuse of personal e-mail at work.
A March 13 Associated Press story that ran in newspapers throughout the country features Robert Dallek, College of Arts and Sciences professor of history, and his upcoming book, Flawed Giant. The book, Dallek's second biography of Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th president of the United States, reveals a less than trusting relationship between Johnson and his vice president, Hubert Humphrey. "To keep close tabs on the inner workings of Humphrey's campaign, Johnson had the FBI tap Humphrey's phones," Dallek writes. "If Humphrey were going to come out against the [Vietnam] war, Johnson wanted advance notice and a chance to dissuade him." Flawed Giant will be published by Oxford University Press next month.
"In the News" is compiled by Laura Raichle, Office of Public Relations.