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☆ The University of California invested $4 billion with Blackstone to buy up rental apartments and student housing, which they see as the bright spots in the real estate market this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Robert Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The University of California is investing $4 billion with Blackstone to acquire rentals and student housing. The investment comes at a crucial time for Blackstone's Real Estate Income Trust Inc. fund — also known as BREIT— a $68 billion property investment vehicle. "We consider BREIT to be one of the best positioned, large-scale real estate portfolios in the US, managed by one of the world's top real estate investors," said Jagdeep Singh Bachher, the University of California's chief investment officer. The University of California's investment could become a model for other universities with large endowment funds — typically in the billions of dollars — that want to invest in real estate investment trusts or commercial real estate assets. BREIT's portfolio includes assets in popular college towns such as Fort Collins, Colorado, where Colorado State University is located, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which is home to Louisiana State University, according to the fund's website.

☆ Major car companies like Ford, Tesla, and Toyota are at 'high risk' of sourcing parts made by Chinese forced labor, a report finds: 'It's an industry-wide problem'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A new report found "massive and expanding" links between major car companies and China's Xinjiang region. A year ago, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act was signed into law, which banned US imports of products made wholly or partly in the Xinjiang region, unless the company could prove they were not using forced labor. "It is not impossible to audit one's supply chain to identify risks"The auto industry's supply chains are "closer to a ball of spaghetti than a linear chain," Simon Croom, professor of supply chain management at the University of San Diego, told Insider. The average automaker may have links to as many as 18,000 suppliers, including their direct suppliers, the suppliers of those suppliers, and so on. Per Croom, while many companies claim to lack full insight into their supply chains, "it is not impossible to audit one's supply chain to identify risks."

☆ After a slow start, the 2022 hurricane season roared in with memorable and destructive storms
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Jennifer Gray | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —As the hurricane season closes, a handful of blockbuster storms made history after an eerily quiet first half of the season gave false hope. In fact, we didn’t have any named storms from July 3 to August 31, the first time that’s occurred since 1941. One of those storms was Hurricane Ian, which hit land in late September and will go down as the most memorable storm of the 2022 season. “Tropical storms have formed in every month outside of hurricane season, and there have been a few hurricanes, too,” NOAA said. Historically, we’ve seen at least 15 named storms form in the month of December, even all the way up to December 30.

[1/2] A street sign lies on the ground following the passage of Hurricane Nicole in Merritt Island, Florida, U.S. November 10, 2022. “The structural damage along our coastline is unprecedented,” Volusia County Manager George Recktenwald said in a statement. Nicole's storm surge also caused the collapse of parts of the scenic A1A highway, which runs along the Atlantic coast in Volusia County, sheriff's officials said. Hurricane Kate came ashore near Mexico Beach, Florida, on Nov. 21, 1985, said Philip Klotzbach, a hurricane expert at Colorado State University, on Twitter. The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

Tropical Storm Nicole neared hurricane strength early Wednesday as it aimed for Florida's Atlantic coast and the Southeast U.S. Previously a subtropical storm, Nicole has worked its way up to a tropical storm and was all but assured to become a hurricane overnight, the National Hurricane Center said. The hurricane center warned the entire state to be prepared for heavy weather. "Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion," the National Hurricane Center said in a late-night public advisory. Storm surf is likely to affect a long stretch of U.S. coastline, from the east coast of Florida to the Southeastern U.S., the hurricane center said.

Tropical Storm Lisa strengthened Tuesday as it pushed across the western Caribbean south of the Cayman Islands and was forecast to make landfall, likely as a hurricane, in Central America as early as Wednesday. And Mexico was also preparing as Lisa was forecast to strengthen in warm tropical waters and strike Belize late Wednesday. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Lisa had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph and was moving west at 15 mph. A hurricane warning was in effect for Roatan and the other Bay Islands of Roatan, and Guatemala declared a warning for its entire Caribbean coast. Hurricane expert Philip Klotzbach, a Colorado State University meteorologist, tweeted that Lisa would be the first hurricane to make landfall in Belize during November since 1942.

☆ Behind the vocal Asian American minority railing against affirmative action
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Kimmy Yam | Kimmy Yam Is A Reporter For Nbc Asian America. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

As the Supreme Court weighs two high-profile cases challenging affirmative action, a vocal minority of Asian Americans continues to impact public debate. Among Chinese Americans, support for affirmative action is at 59%, the lowest within the Asian American community. This also means that they themselves haven’t experienced the benefits of affirmative action or education equity policies, Niu said. Top American universities, however, use a “holistic” admissions process in which affirmative action policies allow them to take race into account. Asian Americans do face discrimination in our society, in our education systems, but they’re not the result of race-conscious policies like affirmative action,” Chen said.

☆ A Teenage Drag-Racing Champion Racks Up Trophies With Her Chevy
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( A.J. Baime | Photographs Andrew White For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Danika Fickler, 18, a freshman at Colorado State University, on her 1986 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer drag racer, as told to A.J. I did a lot of growing up at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, Kan. My parents honeymooned at this racetrack when they married in 1993. Both of them have been drag racing since before I was born. My mom was a class winner at Heartland in 2005, 2006 and 2007, and my dad won a National Hot Rod Association [NHRA] national event there in 2019. When I go to Heartland now, people come up to me all the time to tell me that they knew me when I was a baby.

Latinos were 31 percent of the state’s high school graduates that year. But at 31%, the six-year graduation rate for MSU’s Latino students lags far behind CU Boulder, where it was 63 %. On the CU Boulder campus stands a 4-foot-7 memorial to “Los Seis,” six activists, including CU Boulder students, who were killed in two off-campus car bombings in 1974; the killings were never solved. Seventy-two percent, 510, of the middle and high school students enrolled in the program for 2020-21 were Latino. Vela and three other CU Boulder students who spoke with NBC News first learned about the campus through the Aquetza program.

☆ Duke Energy is one of the top leakers of a gas that is 25,000 times more polluting than carbon dioxide, EPA records show
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Phil Mckenna | Inside Climate News | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +22 min

The emissions were equal to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of more than 59,000 automobiles, according to the EPA’s greenhouse gas equivalency calculator. Under such a scenario Duke Energy would likely have years of low emissions punctuated by a single year of high emissions. While other utilities have participated for decades in a voluntary program with the EPA to reduce SF6 emissions to next to nothing, Duke Energy has not. Brooks said Duke Energy is also targeting its most leaky equipment for faster replacement. The figure is roughly half of 1% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, far smaller than yearly emissions of carbon dioxide, the primary driver of climate change.

EY’s leaders last week approved separating the professional-services firm’s consulting and auditing businesses. The consulting firm, which doesn’t have an official name yet, has to make sure its branding doesn’t confuse prospective or existing clients, she said. EY trailed Deloitte and PwC in both its total revenue, $39.96 billion, and consulting revenue in the 2021 fiscal year. EY’s planned split has drawn comparisons to when Andersen Consulting separated from defunct accounting firm Arthur Andersen in 2001 and subsequently rebranded as Accenture. Companies could be inclined to stick with their existing consulting firm, rather than try out a new one, if they are uncertain about their outlook, Mr. Tellis said.

The White House struck a tentative deal Thursday to avoid a rail strike that risked major disruptions across the United States, with freight workers securing a key demand. Pandemic pressures, including those that scrambled supply chains, worked in freight workers’ favor, logistics experts said. A rail strike would dent many industries, as about 40% of goods that are shipped long-distance rely on the nation’s rail system. Rail workers often are on-call 24/7 year-round and are allotted time off only after being called to a number of consecutive on-call shifts. A labor union source told NBC News that getting rail carriers to negotiate on attendance policies was a major breakthrough.

☆ Hurricane season forecast: Above average, spare us from another one, Louisiana resident says
▼ + stars: | 2022-05-30 | by ( Jennifer Gray | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Callaghan O'Hare for the Washington Post/Getty Images“There is a literal PTSD out there in the community,” explained Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter. “We have some homes that literally have not been touched since Hurricane Laura,” Hunter noted. “Though it has taken far too long, there is over a billion dollars in federal aid that has been allocated for hurricanes Laura and Delta. Lake Charles ‘on edge’Powerful winds blew out windows in the Capitol One Bank Tower during Hurricane Laura in 2020. “Certainly, as we approach hurricane season, locals are just a bit more on edge than they were prior to 2020,” Hunter acknowledged.

☆ Above-average hurricane season forecast with several major hurricanes
▼ + stars: | 2022-05-24 | by ( Jennifer Gray | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The official start to hurricane season is just a week away and forecasters are predicting another busy one. The CSU forecast called for 19 named storms, nine hurricanes and four major storms. However, during the announcement, NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad recognized that the current hurricane cycle for the Atlantic is a busy one. “If you go back two years, the 2020 hurricane season broke records across the board and it’s the most active season on record with 30 named storms,” said Spinrad. “Yes, the loop current does look like 2005,” said Matthew Rosencrans, lead hurricane season outlook forecaster with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.

☆ Moldova, SUA sau Germania? Cât costă învățământul superior în țara noastră în comparație cu alte state
▼ + stars: | 2020-11-10 | by ( ) agora.md time to read: +7 min

Cât ține de costul studiilor din Moldova și cel din alte state, acesta diferă de la universitate la alta. În unele instituții costul studiilor este extrem de scump, iar în alte state studiile sunt achitate de stat însă decizia asupra lor este externalizată. În 2019, din totalul de 47,7 mii de studenți înrolați în învățământul superior 20.754 (43,5%) au beneficiat de finanțare bugetară, iar 26.991 (56,5%) au învățat în bază de contract. În așa fel, aproape jumătate dintre absolvenți au obținut diplome de studii superioare fără a investi un leu în studii. Decizia de urmare a studiilor universitare implică sau economii de zeci de ani făcute de părinți sau contractarea de către studenți a creditelor de la bancă care vor fi achitate în următorii 20-25 de ani.

Persons: Nicoleta Onofrei, Victor Sterpu Organizations: ASE, State University, Pennsylvania State Uni, Rutgers Uni, Colorado State Uni, VIP League Princeton, CEC Locations: ASE București, Moldova, SUA, Pennsylvania State, Rutgers, Colorado State, Harward, NYU, AGORA, România

☆ OPINIE | Inflația academică și devalorizarea diplomelor: efecte economice și sociale pe termen lung
▼ + stars: | 2020-11-05 | by ( ) agora.md time to read: +29 min

Sistemul dat bineînțeles funcționează în beneficiul ambelor părți atât a universităților cât și a studenților. În așa fel statul conservă prin subsidiere dominația câtorva dinozauri ai sistemului de învățământ și exclude apariția alternativei. Acreditarea calității instituțiilor de învățământFinanțarea în baza calității poate fi instituită exclusiv în cazul în care calitate studiilor, a studenților și a diplomelor este validabilă. Una din modalitățile de îmbunătățire a procesului de evaluare și acreditare a universităților, fără de a introduce schimbări substanțiale, constă în implicarea în procesul de evaluare a studenților și a absolvenților. Evident că aplicarea acestei politici va reduce drastic numărul studenților și a diplomelor emise, în schimb valoarea fiecărei diplome va crește exponențial.

Persons: Nicoleta Onofrei, Studenții, Mark Mazureanu Organizations: Statistică, State University, Pennsylvania State Uni, Rutgers Uni, Colorado State Uni, VIP League Princeton, Academia, Studii, Finanțelor, Ministerul Educației, Ministerul Finanțelor, Ministerului Educației, Ministerului Finanțelor, Educației, Națională, Asigurare Locations: Moldova, Vest, Republica Moldova, SUA, Pennsylvania State, Rutgers, Colorado State, Harward, NYU, Europa, Danemarca, Europa de Vest, AGORA

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