News Sources: Mexican Trucks Roll in U.S.

The Bush administration is proceeding with a pilot program to allow up to 100 Mexican trucking firms to haul their cargo anywhere in the United States. The program has drawn the ire of Teamsters and members of Congress, who charge it is an attempt at "union-busting" and doesn't address environemental and safety concerns. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including the following (click on names for contact information):

Jorge Gonzalez - Associate Professor of Economics, Trinity University - Gonzalez is an expert in trading patterns between Mexico and the U.S., intra-industry trading, the economic impact of immigration, political economy of international trade, and the Mexican economy. His most recent research "The Term Structure of Interest Rates and the Mexican Economy," was published in Contemporary Economic Policy.

Raymond Robertson - Associate Professor of Economics, Macalester College - Robertson specializes in Latin American economic policy. Most of his research is conducted in Mexico, where he has lived. He can discuss a range of issues including the effects of NAFTA on Mexico, unskilled workers, and foreign investment in Mexico.

Elizabeth DeSombre - Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Wellesley College - Desombre can speak on international environmental politics and law. Her research projects include the use of economic sanctions for environmental goals, the relationship between trade and environment, and environmental, labor and safety standards on ocean ships.

Study on Islam Earns ASA Award

For many westerners, Islamic law (the shari'a) is often associated with repressive regimes. But a DePauw University sociologist has co-authored a study that finds Islamic orthodoxy - measured as the desire to implement the shari'a - is associated in every country with support for such economic reforms as increasing the responsibility of government for the poor, reducing income inequality, and increasing government ownership of businesses and industries." For that study, Nancy J. Davis is the co-recipient of the 2007 Distinguished Article Award from the American Sociological Association's Sociology of Religion section.

A Big Grant for a Big Job

Global changes are creating an increasingly interdependent world in which science and technology are essential to economic progress, health care advances, national security, environmental management, and many other critical issues. That's why Claremont McKenna College has received a $20 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create a new full-tuition scholarship, the Interdisciplinary Science Scholarship Program.

News Sources: The Air Force's Missing Nukes

The Pentagon is trying to figure out how a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads and flown from North Dakota to Louisiana last week. Officials say the crew was unaware they were carrying nuclear weapons and one military official says the public was never in any danger. But the incident apparently was a major breach of security rules surrounding nuclear weapons. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including (click on names for contact information):

Andrew Latham - Associate Professor of Political Science, Mcalester College - Latham specializes in international conflict and security issues and is an expert on arms production and the proliferation of arms, including weapons of mass destruction.

Steven Lee - Professor of Philosophy, Hobart and William Smith Colleges - Lee possesses a plethora of knowledge on war and the use of nuclear weapons, including the cultural, psychological, and historical impact of nuclear weapons. He is also a scholar on ethics and critical thinking. Lee received the "Make a Better World Award" by The American Society of Association Executives.

Andrew Grossman - Professor of Political Science, Albion College - An expert on civil defense readiness in the event of an attack using weapons of mass destruction, Grossman is the author of the book Neither Red Nor Dead: Civilian Defense and American Political Development During the Early Cold War. He has commented widely on terrorism and threats posed by weapons of mass destruction in the U.S. He also is an expert on government institutions and issues related to international security.

Keeping a Big Eye on the Sky

Westmont College President Gayle Beebe this week dedicates the school's new 24-inch reflector telescope. The Keck Telescope telescope has immediately established itself as one of the most powerful on California’s Central Coast.

Iraq Not a PR Exercise

The upcoming report from Gen. David Petraeus on the resuts of the Iraq surge has been preceded by a White House PR campaign that includes speeches to veterans groups and congressional "fact-finding tours" to heavily guarded Iraqi marketplaces. DePauw's Ken Bode says the truth should be judged by evidence, not by staged performances, and the hard facts say the military side of the surge is not working.