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Booze Is Still Big Business for States. On Tuesday morning, the conservative group FreedomWorks put forward a call to action: “Are We Ready to Battle for Private Booze?” For FreedomWorks, state control over liquor sales is just another example of government overreach: “It turns out that when you get government out of a business it didn’t necessarily belong in originally, people don’t perish en masse.” The thing is, though, privatizing liquor in the 17 states that have a booze monopoly isn’t so easy. That’s in part because, as FreedomWorks notes, liquor is big, big business for some states. Just look at Pennsylvania.  National Journal

Obama To Endorse Privatizing Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. President Obama flew to Phoenix, scene of some of the worst wreckage in the housing collapse, to talk about how the government can lengthen and strengthen the housing recovery on Friday. He will endorse gradual privatizing of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. NPR

Pension Reform Could Disrupt Investment Funds. Detroit’s financial woes, exacerbated by underfunded pension liabilities, have brought renewed scrutiny to public pension plans. Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, and others have suggested overhauling these plans to shift more responsibility to the private sector….Proponents argue that privatization could reduce the risk of municipal bankruptcy and federal bailouts. One downside is the possible increase in fees associated with external management of retirement savings; it creates another way for Wall Street to extract wealth from Main Street.  New York Times

Moral Monday demonstrations are spreading around the country. Next up: Chicago! Now, the model of these protests is spreading around the country to target the erosion of civil rights, liberties, and the takeover of unelected secretive Big Money politics. The next waive is in Chicago, where a group of “Chicago Moral Monday Coalition, an alliance of Chicago clergy, lay people, unions and community organizations” is targeting the historic hotel where the notorious ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) is to hold their meeting in the first week of August….These includes bills on “Stand Your Ground”, privatizing schools, health insurance, voting rights, tax structures, gun legislation, environment, and more. Religion News

MI: Detroit bankruptcy: Will city’s storied art collection be sold? The potential sale of its public art collection, which includes masterworks by Rodin, Degas, Van Gogh, and Cézanne, is generating the most controversy. Emergency financial manager Kevyn Orr announced Monday that he is hiring Christie’s Appraisals Inc., the famed New York City auction house, to appraise a portion of the collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts on the behalf of creditors who are requesting the assessment, which then might be used in a sale or leasing situation to help pay back the debt.  Christian Science Monitor

 

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Credit Rating Agencies Uneasy About Toll Roads as Americans Drive Less. Toll roads aren’t the cash cows they used to be. The assumption that the roads will “pay for themselves” is no longer a reliable one, and credit rating agencies are taking notice.  Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Eight Ways Privatization Has Failed America. Some of America’s leading news analysts are beginning to recognize the fallacy of the “free market.” Said Ted Koppel, “We are privatizing ourselves into one disaster after another.” Fareed Zakaria admitted, “I am a big fan of the free market…But precisely because it is so powerful, in places where it doesn’t work well, it can cause huge distortions.” They’re right. A little analysis reveals that privatization doesn’t seem to work in any of the areas vital to the American public.  Truth-Out

Groups Charge ALEC with Tax Fraud over Secretive “Scholarship” Fund that Finances Junkets for State Lawmakers. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is running a secretive, multi-million dollar slush fund that finances lavish trips for state legislators and has misled the Internal Revenue Service about the fund’s activity, two government watchdog groups charged today. Common Cause and the Center for Media and Democracy said the “scholarship fund” scheme also raises serious questions about ALEC’s compliance with state gift and disclosure laws, and the ethics of lawmakers who accept ALEC’s travel payments…. ALEC’s agenda includes the privatization of schools and other public assets, anti-labor laws, weakened protections for clean water and air, and telecom deregulation bills.  PRWatch

Some “Teach for America” Alums Criticize A Program That Promotes Racial Power Dynamics, Privatization, Standardized Testing, and Union Busting. If the recent multi-million dollar donation from the Walton Family, which owns Walmart, is any indication of its real agenda, the non-profit organization Teach For America could be seen be a vehicle for promoting charter schools and undermining unions….Now some of TFA’s alumni are speaking out, denouncing TFAs tactics as promoting government policies of excessive standardized testing, and providing an army of recruits to replace veteran union teachers in charter schools.  Uprising

NY: Gov. Cuomo signs bill to privatize LIPA. Andrew Cuomo has signed into law a bill to privatize utility operations of Long Island Power Authority. New Jersey-based Public Service Electric and Gas Co. Electric Light & Power

MI: Precious Art Appraised as Detroit Tries to Dig Out of Debt. A couple weeks after a state-appointed emergency manager filed a bankruptcy claim on behalf of Detroit, the world-famous Christie’s auction house has been called in to begin appraising some of the Detroit Institute of Arts’ permanent collection. Gawker

WA: Privatized liquor’s easier for minors to steal – opinion. Kids have always stolen booze, but it usually was beer lifted from the local convenience store or supermarket. It was harder for them to get the hard stuff because they weren’t even allowed in the state liquor stores that once had the monopoly on sales. They’d have to steal it from home, persuade an adult to buy it for them or hope the liquor store clerk would be fooled by a fake ID. Now all they have to do is visit the local supermarket, tuck a bottle under a jacket and walk out the door. Kids are no longer bothering to steal wine and beer when the hard stuff is so readily available. It’s much easier for them to steal liquor than cigarettes, which generally are kept behind the counter. Bellingham Herald

NC: What NC lawmakers treasure (It isn’t children) – opinion. There was also a budget provision to spend $10 million for low-income students to get private-school vouchers. Even though there is no evidence vouchers increase student achievement, the General Assembly will not only fund this proposal in 2014-15, it has every intention of increasing program funding in the future. This would give away tens of millions to private entities in just a few years. There is no way to believe this General Assembly cares about the importance of public education to our state. When given the chance to invest in our children, lawmakers drained the resources of time, talents and treasure from public schools and are turning it over to private corporations and undertrained workers. This legislature’s heart is with privatizing public education, because that is where its treasure is. News & Observer

 

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Arizona, Texas: Opposition Mounts To Toll Roads. Road tolling is becoming a less popular option in many areas in the country. In Arizona, efforts are underway to put an initiative on the statewide ballot that would ban the tolling of existing roads while in Texas lawmakers realize voters would never approve a transportation package that included authorization for tolling.  TheNewspaper.com

TN: Gov Haslam’s outsourcing draws little push-back. Still, in the three years Haslam has held the office, outsourcing of state government functions to private companies has grown dramatically and indications are the trend will continue. The most striking example is turning over management of state government buildings to Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle, a move depicted as something no other state has done — but now has other states asking Tennessee to show them the way.  Knoxville News Sentinel

FL: Medicaid Privatization Begins With 9000 Central Florida Long-Term-Care Patients. The move comes two years after state lawmakers approved the privatization of Medicaid for low-income Floridians. Under the managed care system, the state will send Medicaid dollars to the insurance companies. WFSU

NY: NYC charter schools getting $4.5 million state grant to teach regular public schools. Top city charter schools will teach regular public schools how to better educate students in a new initiative funded by a $4.5 million state grant, Education officials said…. Promoting charters has been a key of Mayor Bloomberg’s overhaul of the city’s system of education system. Charter schools outperform traditional public schools on many standardized tests, but critics say the comparisons are unfair because charters serve fewer kids in need. Charters and district schools have fought bitterly at times over shared space in public school buildings, which the city rents to charters at no charge. New York Daily News           

 

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DC, Maryland: Speed Camera Firms Move To Hide Evidence. The firms operating red light cameras and speed cameras in the District of Columbia and Maryland are working to suppress evidence that could be used to prove the innocence of a photo enforcement ticket recipient. In Washington, the Arizona-based vendor American Traffic Solutions has repositioned cameras and cropped photos so that it is impossible to determine whether another object or vehicle happens to be within the radar unit’s field of view. TheNewspaper.com

The Public-Private Surveillance Partnership. The NSA is also in the business of spying on everyone, and it has realized it’s far easier to collect all the data from these corporations rather than from us directly. In some cases, the NSA asks for this data nicely. In other cases, it makes use of subtle threats or overt pressure. If that doesn’t work, it uses tools like national security letters.  The result is a corporate-government surveillance partnership, one that allows both the government and corporations to get away with things they couldn’t otherwise. Bloomberg

WA: A year after privatization, liquor thefts rampant. More than a year after Washington privatized liquor sales stores continue to deal with brazen shoplifters. Right now stores don’t have to disclose what’s been stolen but lawmakers are hoping to change that. While stores don’t have to disclose what’s being stolen, Dian Lee, who lives in the Logan neighborhood, only has to look around her neighborhood and behind the grocery store to see how much is being stolen.  KXLY Spokane

OH: Ohio to Privatize Inmate Meal Services. Ohio’s Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) has awarded a two-year contract to Philadelphia-based Aramark to provide meal services to the state’s 50,000 inmates. Expected to save approximately $14 million annually during a time of a $60 million deficit, Aramark won the bid with a cost of $3.61 per inmate, per day.  Correctional News

IL: City’s defense of privatizing Midway suggests deal likely soon. With two bidders still on the runway, a top mayoral aide on Thursday appeared to lay the groundwork for privatizing Midway Airport to help solve Chicago’s pension crisis and rebuild the city’s neighborhoods. Chicago Sun-Times

 

 

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FL: In One Month, Florida Will Privatize Prison Health Care, Lay Off 2,000. After a prolonged battle, Florida has set a date for when its prison health care system will be privatized, booting nearly 2,000 state employees out of their jobs. ThinkProgress

NC: Privatization of N.C. Commerce gets under way. The machinery to convert the N.C. Department of Commerce into a public-private partnership is already under way, a week after the 2013-14 state budget was approved. The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area

WI: Mulwaukee: Abele’s Privatization Plan – editorial. We’re very disappointed by Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele’s decision to terminate Milwaukee Transport Services’ contract to operate the county’s fixed bus and paratransit systems and, allegedly, select the out-of-state, for-profit MV Transportation instead. It’s a curious choice and one we may never fully understand, thanks to the Abele-backed Act 14, which boosted his power at the expense of good-government checks and balances. The Shepherd Express warned that this change to Milwaukee County governance, Act 14, would result in secret, corrupt sweetheart deals.  Express Milwaukee

IN: Former Republican Indiana school chief made sure GOP donor’s charter school got top marks. A former Indiana school superintendent frantically overhauled a school grading system to ensure a Republican donor’s charter school received an “A” grade…. The Indianapolis charter school was run by Christel DeHaan, who has given more than $2.8 million to Republicans since 1998, according to the Associated Press. Bennett had received $130,000 from DeHaan. Bennett had promised to hold “failing” schools accountable by implementing the new statewide A-F school grading system. The new grading system had initially given Christel House a “C” grade, because of the school’s poor test scores in algebra. “This will be a HUGE problem for us,” Bennett wrote in a Sept. 12, 2012 email. At the urging of Bennett, the grading system was quickly altered so that Christel House ended up with an “A” grade. Raw Story           

TN: Chattanooga‘s public, private parking fees no longer presented together online. Two weeks after learning that tickets for public parking violations were being presented alongside private fees owed to Republic Parking, the Chattanooga Parking Authority has put an end to the arrangement and changed the structure of its online payment system….Since last October, the recipients of tickets on Chattanooga streets have been presented with the option of paying fines online. Although the typical ticket in the city costs $11, the fees had appeared to be much higher to citizens seeking to clear their records at times.  That’s because Republic Parking, the private company contracted by the city to monitor streets and enforce meters, also operates a number of private lots across the city. And if drivers had outstanding fees from violations in those private, for-profit lots, the fines also appeared in their online charges—right alongside any tickets they owed to Chattanooga. Nooga.com

KY: Chamber pushes public-private work on projects. The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce is floating the idea of using public-private partnerships to build such things as roads, an idea that was suggested more than two years ago in southcentral Kentucky as a way to get the remainder of Interstate 65 widened more quickly. But Kentucky is one of 26 states that do not have enabling legislation that would allow general public-private partnerships, or P3, according to a report released Tuesday by the state chamber. Kentucky did enact specific legislation that is allowing the Louisville bridges project to move forward as a type of partnership.   Bowling Green Daily News

OH: Lawmakers to examine seized Elmwood traffic cams. “We all wonder what these cameras look like up close and the costs associated with each unit,” Mallory said in a prepared statement. “When out-of-town camera companies encourage the privatization of law enforcement, it takes advantage of both local governments and citizens’ right to due process, and such information should not be kept in the dark. I look forward to hearing Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Neil shed some light on this matter.”  In June, a Hamilton County judge ordered Elmwood Place and its camera vendor to pay back $48,500 they collected from speed camera tickets after the judge told the village to stop using the cameras earlier this year.  Cincinnati.com

 

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IL: Port of Chicago gets private firm to run harbor, add 1,000 jobs. The Illinois International Port District has reached a pact with a Denver company to take over operation and management of the Port of Chicago, its long underperforming Southeast Side cargo facility, in a deal expected to yield $500 million in infrastructure investment and 1,000 new jobs within a decade.  Chicago Business

IL: Opinion: Chicago Brd of Ed starving its schools to justify privatization “…and now we are faced with budget cuts so severe that the remaining schools are left wondering how they will function at all? What the Sun-Times declares a conspiracy theory [editorial, July 21] is self-evident to me — that our schools are being starved into failure in order to justify mass privatization. Fifty schools closed and over 20 new charter schools. Three thousand layoffs and $1.6 million to bring in Teach for America novices. Another $20 million on an academy for principals. All connected, along with the CEO of CPS, to the Broad Foundation.” Chicago Sun-Times

MI: Detroit requests proposals for privatization of waste, recycling. The city of Detroit is looking for a private partner to collect waste and recycling in the city. This morning, Detroit released a request for proposals for residential solid waste and recycling pickup. Crain’s Detroit Business

OR: Liquor privatization battle brewing in Oregon. The Oregon Legislature’s failure to loosen state liquor laws could lead to an initiative campaign to privatize sales of booze, a lobbyist for grocery stores said Tuesday.  OregonLive.com           

CA: First Privately-Funded Public Park in San Francisco. Through a conservation easement, Emerald Fund has agreed to pay for not just the development of the park, which is complete except for the installation of a children’s play structure to come within the next few months, but also the maintenance of the open space. The agreement, which the San Francisco Parks Alliance (SFPA) voted on Tuesday, requires the Emerald Fund to give up development rights on the park as well. SFPA has agreed to monitor the easement, and it is legally binding to the title company.  The Epoch Times

PA: Lottery privatization debate simmers. A new extension was agreed upon Friday for a proposed Lottery privatization bid as opponents of the idea say a record sales report throws more cold water on the prospect. Citizens Voice

Senate Republicans start push on charters and choice. The top Republican on the Senate Education Committee kicks off a series of events on charter schools today. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) meet with Tennessee charter school leaders today in Nashville. The focus broadens on Tuesday: Three other Senate Republicans, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), join Alexander and Paul for a forum on school choice in Washington, D.C., with both public charter and private schools.  Politico

Opinion: The perils of privatizing health care, American-style. As health systems around the world grapple with the increasing costs of providing health care for their citizens, far too many are considering more extensive privatization of their systems to emulate the U.S. health care model.  This is a mistake not only from an economic perspective but also from a human rights and public health position. Health policy solutions           

“There they go again” It seems to me that the collective might of the people, in the form of the government, is at its best and most appropriate in protecting our most vulnerable. Our children would qualify as one such constituency. And in particular, their right to a good public education and the means to acquire skills necessary for becoming productive citizens. How does privatizing our public education system conform to this plan? Diminishing the resources available to children for their education by whipping up a frenzy of schooling “alternatives” doesn’t do it. Destabilizing the world of their schools where teachers are fired and inexperienced replacements are induced to move through the system without forming attachments doesn’t cut it. Replacing a world of knowledge, learning and understanding with rote exercises and test “bubbling” certainly is counter-productive to developing a “life of the mind”. City Watch

 

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NY: Tax Watch: Flaws undermine Yonkers schools privatization plan (video). The plan to privatize Yonkers’ $1.7 billion school construction program is on the rocks. Two weeks ago, a blue-ribbon commission headed by former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky issued a stinging critique of what’s called the Public-Private-Partnership, , or P3 model. It concluded that the plan was so riddled with errors and unsupported assumptions that taxpayers wouldn’t save $63 million over 35 years as touted by consultant firm KPMG.  In fact, the Brodsky commission found that “serious flaws” in the plan had inflated the projected savings by at least $200 million, creating a yawning hole to be filled by cash-strapped Yonkers taxpayers. The Journal News

CA: Save the Berkeley Post Office Protesters Set up Camp. More than 100 people, including some who say they plan to camp out, have gathered in front of a historic post office in Berkeley to protest its closure. The protesters represent the groups Save the Berkeley Post Office and Strike Debt Bay Area and are holding a demonstration and teach-in on the privatization of public services in front of the post office at 2000 Allston Way.  “We’re fighting to save it, and we’re not going to stop,” protester Moni Law said.  NBC Bay Area

ME: Alfond attacks new Portland charter school for aligning with ‘extreme organization’. Baxter Academy for Technology and Science, a new charter school set to open this fall in Portland, will host a policy luncheon next week that is sponsored by the conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center.,,,[N]ext Wednesday’s “Friedman Legacy Day” at the school is an annual event that nationally honors the late Milton Friedman,,,Alfond told the Bangor Daily News on Friday that he is troubled by Baxter Academy aligning itself with the conservative think tank, which formerly employed Maine Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen and other past and current members of Gov. Paul LePage’s administration.  Bangor Daily News           

TX: TxDot moving toward toll roads. “These public/private partnerships is where they sell of our roads to these, mostly foreign, private companies,” says Terri Hall, President of the grassroots group Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, or TURF. “And the first foreign-owned toll road in Texas that opened is not even getting half the traffic that was projected.”But the most outrageous part is, if the toll revenue doesn’t meet its target, the state guarantees the difference. That would come from the Highway Fund, which is already strapped. “It basically puts all Texas taxpayers on the hook to pay back these private toll operators,” Hall declared.“The House didn’t pass them, the Senate didn’t pass them. So Txdot decides they’re going to do an end run around the House rule and get what they want anyway. It’s wrong,” says Eltife. In addition, there would be no competitive bidding on the projects. KETK

PA: Anyone remember Lottery privatization? “Why is Gov. Corbett so intent on privatizing a lottery that has been a national model for decades and just delivered more than $1 billion in programs that help senior citizens?” asked House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D- Allegheny, tells Swift.  PennLive.com

AZ: Openness lost in privatization. A push toward the privatization of state services is spawning criticism from those who see the trend as the decline of government transparency and accountability. Muskogee Daily Phoenix           

News

Housing Crisis: Developers Vie to Replace Barracks and Dorms. While an ever-growing number of developers have been gravitating to student housing for some time, lured by a largely recession-proof investment fueled by students who take out what are essentially guaranteed loans (borrowers may default, but they can never escape by declaring bankruptcy), now developers have started to target singles’ military housing as a new and potentially lucrative market. As The Wall Street Journal recently reported, a developer has built the military’s first private housing complex for single service members on an army base in Fort Meade, Maryland….. The other question is whether service members can afford to pay for something that used to be free. Especially considering that a lot of lower-ranking soldiers, both single and coupled, have trouble paying their bills as it is—it’s not uncommon for military families to use food stamps.  New York Observer

San Jose Conference Fueling Private Space Industry. The annual New Space Conference has become a center of gravity for the dozens of companies, inventors and enthusiasts who see profits in outer space…..Now even a lobbying group has taken up the cause of the growing space industry. The Tea Party In Space sees privatizing what lies beyond the atmosphere as a necessary element of fiscal responsibility. CBS San Francisco

Detroit: Donald Cohen Warns of Privatization, Calls for Bailout. As Detroit officials discuss a “fire sale” of public assets and services to private interests in the wake of the city’s $18 billion Chapter 9 bankruptcy last Thursday, some conservative politicians and business leaders may realize their dreams of “running government more like a business” after all. Truth-Out

NE: Nebraska making progress on child welfare. Pristow, who was hired in March 2012, has been dealing with a system left in turmoil by the failure of the state’s 2½-year experiment in privatizing the child welfare system. The effort began in late 2009 with goals of improving care and reducing the numbers of children in out-of-home care.  By the end of February 2012, four of the five private agencies had lost or dropped their contracts, citing inadequate reimbursement from the state. The goal of improving care for children went unrealized, and the state lost foster families and service providers. Omaha World-Herald

MN: University of Minnesota moving along with Teach For America deal. No decision has been made on the proposed partnership between the University of Minnesota and Teach for America, but some graduate students said they believe an unofficial agreement has already been decided…. In addition to concerns about the training program, the press release from graduate students said “the partnership would contribute to the increasing privatization and exploitation of public schools in communities most affected by racism and state violence.” Twin Cities Daily Planet

MI: Bill would ease privatization. House Bill 4549: Ban government competition with private enterprises (“yellow pages test”) . Introduced by Rep. Greg MacMaster (R) to prohibit government agencies from competing against private enterprises, or subsidizing any charitable or non-profit institution using government support to do this. Activities normally provided by government would be exempted, including public schools, “essential services” and “necessary services” as defined in the bill. “Vital services,” including things like food stores, drug stores, child care, elder care, and telecommunications services could only be provided if there were no private sector alternatives. Privatization of essential and necessary services would be explicitly allowed. A private enterprise could sue to obtain an injunction forcing the government competitor to stop, and to seek compensatory damages. Governments already providing commercial goods or services would be grandfathered, but could not expand. HollandSentinel.com

 

 

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CA: Appeals denied, Berkeley Post Office for sale. Despite appeals from a united City Council, state legislators, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee and dozens of community groups and individuals, the United States Postal Service announced July 18 that it will sell the historic downtown Berkeley Post Office. “While I am sympathetic to the concerns raised by the concerned parties … I will not set aside the Postal Service’s April 19th decision” to sell the post office, USPS Vice President Tom A. Samra stated in a letter posted at the building. San Jose Mercury News

CA: Privatizing the Botanical Gardens – opinion. “This vote means we are basically privatizing 55 acres of Golden Gate Park and handing it over to a nonprofit with no public accountability,” Harry Pariser, a longtime resident of the Inner Sunset, activist, and author told the Bay Guardian. “Essentially we’re allowing the government to make us show an ID to come onto public land. It’s also going to be a space where there’s going to be a lot more commercial activity. I think inevitably there is going to be fees for everyone.” San Francisco Bay Guardian

MI: Restaurants at rest stops? Michigan puts out feeler. The state Department of Transportation on Thursday put feelers out to companies looking to form public-private partnerships involving rest stops, freeway lighting and bridge construction. Ideas could include opening restaurants and buying advertising space. If successful, the state may look to make money at rest stops along U.S. 131 in west Michigan and U.S. 23 in the southeastern part of the state. One privatization deal could involve all 18,400 lights on the state’s freeways. The Detroit News

OH: Lawsuit Seeks To Shut Down Speed Cameras. Earlier this month a Hamilton County, Ohio judge declared Elmwood Place in contempt of court for ignoring a ruling that found speed cameras to be an unlawful “scam.” A group of lawyers is seeking to replicate that legal success by shutting down the automated ticketing machines in New Miami, a village of 2000 residents located twenty miles to the north, with a class action lawsuit filed on Friday….. Optotraffic began issuing citations last October in return for a cut of the fine revenue. The lawsuit argues that Optotraffic supplies hearsay evidence to the court and denies an innocent motorists a realistic opportunity to defend themselves. TheNewspaper.com

Time to Decide: Concentrated, Privatized Wealth or Shared Prosperity – opinion. Journalist Ted Koppel summarized the privatization trend: “We are privatizing ourselves into one disaster after another…. We’ve privatized a lot of what our military is doing. We’ve privatized a lot of what our intelligence agencies are doing. We’ve privatized our very prison system in many parts of the country. We’re privatizing the health system within those prisons. And it’s not working well.” The Real News Network

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WI: Armed, Masked and Dangerous: the Militias of Privatization vs. the Public Good. Wisconsin, the battleground state where Governor Scott Walker has wielded his power with the grace of an elephant in a Crate and Barrel outlet store, has become the scene of armed, mask wearing, camouflaged security outfits patrolling the backwoods on the lookout for eco-terrorist types at the behest of a mining company more than willing to defile the environment for profits…. Ganson said that the guards “carried semi-automatic guns, were dressed in camouflage, and wore masks covering their faces. ‘As you can imagine, it was quite a shock for five middle-aged people out for a walk,’ he said. Ganson tried to engage the guards, but was ‘met with stony-faced silence.’ He was alarmed but managed to grab a few photos of the men. ‘I was thinking if the worst scenario happened, at least there would be photos on my camera.'” Truth-Out

PA: Pa. Lottery should not follow Illinois path, lottery outsourcing opponents say. A story out of Illinois that raises questions about that state’s outsourcing of its lottery management is resonating with those opposed to Gov. Tom Corbett’s interest in hiring a private manager to run the Pennsylvania Lottery. The story that appeared in Monday’s edition of Crain’s Chicago Business discusses how Northstar Lottery Group LLC, the consortium hired in 2011 to manage the Illinois Lottery, fell short of hitting its profit targets for the second consecutive year. Instead of the $947.1 million in profits it committed to bring in last year, the article indicates Northstar generated $793.5 million. It also discussed how Northstar failed to increase the number of lottery vendors as promised and its on-line ticket sales proved to be a bust.  Patriot-News

Cities Need to Weigh Costs of Private Partnerships – Donald Cohen. DealBook recently published a piece by Kent Rowey that makes a troubling argument for selling public services and infrastructure to Wall Street banks and other corporations. Under the guise of making recommendations for Detroit, Mr. Rowey tried to sell the idea that auctioning off our most vital services and assets to for-profit companies is a simple win-win solution for strapped governments. It sounds simple, but the real track record of public-private partnerships is fraught with problems. New York Times