California: The Exodus of the Affluent

 Don Lee at LAT: 

In 2021 and 2022, about 750,000 more people left the state than moved in, according to recently released Census Bureau data. That was about as many as the total net loss of residents for all five years before the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.

But it’s not just the sheer numbers of people who have left. What’s different is that in each of the prior two years, more than 250,000 Californians with at least a bachelor’s degree moved out, while an average of 175,000 college graduates from other states settled in California, according to an analysis of census data by William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution.

In prior periods over the last two decades, that balance was about even or slightly in California’s favor, even though the state consistently lost many more residents overall to other states than it gained from them. The recent out-migration has been particularly pronounced among Californians with graduate and professional degrees.

California is heavily dependent on high earners to meet government fiscal needs. Tax filers in the top 1% of income, earning around $1 million and above, have typically accounted for 40% to 45% of the state’s total personal income tax revenue, said Brian Uhler, deputy legislative analyst at California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office, which estimated the $68-billion budget deficit.
...

In the tax filing years 2020 and 2021, the average gross income of taxpayers who had moved from California to another state was about $137,000. That was up from $75,000 in 2015 and 2016, according to migration and personal income data from the Internal Revenue Service.

IRS and other data show that Texas has long been, by far, the top destination for Californians. And in the years 2015-16, an individual or couple who had moved from California to Texas reported an average income of $78,000, about the same as Texans who relocated to California. But by 2020-2021, California transplants in Texas reported an average income of about $137,000, while tax returns from former Texans who moved to California showed an average income of $75,000.

The income gap between those coming into California and those going out is even bigger when it comes to Florida, which, as far away as it is, has become a top five destination for emigrating Californians. Statistics show more older Californians are likely to move there. Florida, like Texas and Nevada and Tennessee, another more recent hot spot for Californians, doesn’t have a personal income tax.

In California, the top tax rate for personal income is 12.3%.

Libertarian Rating of States

Many posts have discussed differences among the states, with special emphasis on California and Texas.

William Ruger and Jason Sorens at Cato:

This 2023 edition of Freedom in the 50 States presents a completely revised and updated ranking of the American states on the basis of how their policies protect or infringe on individual liberty.

This edition improves on the methodology for weighting and combining state and local policies to create a comprehensive index. Authors William Ruger and Jason Sorens introduce many new policy variables suggested by readers and changes in the broader policy environment (e.g., universal school choice and state laws that shape local zoning authority).

More than 230 policy variables and their sources are available to the public on this website. New policy variables include a battery of state‐​level land‐​use laws affecting housing, several new occupational licensing measures, a reworked household goods moving company licensing variable that focuses on the “competitor’s veto” element, qualified immunity limitations, and new abortion laws for the alternative indices. In this edition, the authors have updated their findings to

• Provide the most up‐​to‐​date freedom index yet, including scores as of January 1, 2023.
• Retrospectively evaluate how state COVID-19 responses affected freedom during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
• Refresh their analysis of how the policies driving income growth and interstate migration have changed—before and after the Great Recession and during the pandemic.

In addition to providing the latest rankings as of the beginning of 2023, the 2023 edition provides annual data on economic and personal freedoms and their components back to 2000 and for some variables, back to the 1930s.

To read the full report, visit Free​dominthe50S​tates​.org.

See in particular, the writeups for California (#48), Texas (#17), and Florida (#2) 

 

Insurance, Disaster, and Climate Change

 Jacob Bogage at WP:

In the aftermath of extreme weather events, major insurers are increasingly no longer offering coverage that homeowners in areas vulnerable to those disasters need most.

At least five large U.S. property insurers — including Allstate, American Family, Nationwide, Erie Insurance Group and Berkshire Hathaway — have told regulators that extreme weather patterns caused by climate change have led them to stop writing coverages in some regions, exclude protections from various weather events and raise monthly premiums and deductibles.

Major insurers say they will cut out damage caused by hurricanes, wind and hail from policies underwriting property along coastlines and in wildfire country, according to a voluntary survey conducted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a group of state officials who regulate rates and policy forms

 Robert Gebelhoff at WP:

More than 30 insurers have left the state or limited their coverage options in the past three years, and more are expected to leave soon. That’s partly due to an insurance scam in the state that has tied up insurers in frivolous, expensive litigation, which the state government enacted legislation to address. But the much larger problem — that powerful hurricanes are becoming more frequent — looms large.

With fewer coverage options, Florida homeowners are scrambling to find affordable policies. The state-backed Citizens Property Insurance, ostensibly a last-resort option, is now Florida’s largest home insurer, stressing the company’s solvency. Some Floridians have taken the much riskier route of going without insurance, setting up the local economy for serious pain the next time a powerful storm hits.

And it’s not just Florida. In California, worsening wildfires have also driven insurers from the state or forced them to scale back policies. Residents of Washington, Montana and Colorado are watching their coverage options shrink, too.

New College in Chaos

 Johanna Alonso at Inside Higher Ed:

When a committee of the New College of Florida Board of Trustees met in July, a whopping 36 faculty members had already left since Florida Governor Ron DeSantis initiated a conservative restructuring of the institution in January. That number has subsequently grown to more than 40, Amy Reid, the sole faculty member on the board, told Inside Higher Ed.

Now, as students prepare for the fall semester, the impact of the faculty exodus is becoming apparent: many classes won’t be offered at New College this term.

The course catalogue was already sparse when students first began looking at classes last spring. Dani Delaney, the mother of one former New College student who is transferring to Hampshire College in Massachusetts—which guaranteed admission to all New College students in good standing—said her son could only find two classes that counted toward his “area of concentration” (which is what New College calls majors). When he contacted the institution about the lack of relevant courses, she said, he was told the course catalogue was “in flux” and to “choose something else.”

Michelle Goldberg at NYT:

As of July, New College had 328 incoming students, a record for the school. Of the group, 115 are athletes, and 70 were recruited to play baseball, even though, as Walker reported, New College has no real sports facilities and has yet to be accepted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. By comparison, the University of Florida’s far more established baseball team has 37 student-athletes.

The accommodations offered to New College’s new student-athletes will be better than those provided to many existing students. Walker reported that the incoming class will be housed in newer, apartment-style dorms that in the past were reserved for upperclass students. Returning students are being moved to older, more decrepit buildings, two of which recently were declared uninhabitable because of a mold problem. (New College has said it won’t put students in mold-affected rooms.)

Some new students may well end up immersing themselves in the great works of the Western canon. But last week, New College’s interim president, Richard Corcoran, a longtime Republican politician who served as DeSantis’s education commissioner, sent a memo to faculty members, proposing new majors in finance, communications and sports psychology, “which will appeal to many of our newly admitted athletes.” As Amy Reid, a New College professor of French who directs the gender studies department, said when I spoke to her last weekend, “Tell me how sports psychology, finance and communications fits with a classical liberal arts model.”

 

Politics and College Enrollment Choices

Many posts have discussed the politics of higher education.

At Inside Higher Ed, Scott Jaschik reports that politics seems to be affecting students' college enrollment decisions.

We won’t know the impact for sure until after the May 1 deadlines, or, for more colleges, until students actually enroll. But a new study from the Art & Science Group, being released today, found that nearly one in four high school seniors “ruled out institutions solely due to the politics, policies, or legal situation in the state” where the college was located. Further, the study found that “this behavior was statistically true across liberals, moderates and conservatives.”

In addition, Intelligent.com found that 91 percent of prospective college students in Florida disagree with the education policies of Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, and one in eight graduating high school students in Florida won’t attend a public college there due to DeSantis’s education policies.

“Of those who aren’t likely to attend a public school, nearly half (49 percent) say it’s due to DeSantis’ education policies. This group makes up 12 percent of all prospective college students, including those who are in agreement with DeSantis’ education policies. Of students who are likely to attend a public school, 78 percent are concerned his education policies will negatively impact their education,” said Intelligent.com, a website focused on students.

USA Grows, California and Illinois Shrink

From the Census Bureau:

After a historically low rate of change between 2020 and 2021, the U.S. resident population increased by 0.4%, or 1,256,003, to 333,287,557 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Vintage 2022 national and state population estimates and components of change released today.

Net international migration — the number of people moving in and out of the country — added 1,010,923 people between 2021 and 2022 and was the primary driver of growth. This represents 168.8% growth over 2021 totals of 376,029 – an indication that migration patterns are returning to pre-pandemic levels. Positive natural change (births minus deaths) increased the population by 245,080.

“There was a sizeable uptick in population growth last year compared to the prior year’s historically low increase,” said Kristie Wilder, a demographer in the Population Division at the Census Bureau. “A rebound in net international migration, coupled with the largest year-over-year increase in total births since 2007, is behind this increase.”
...
Increasing by 470,708 people since July 2021, Texas was the largest-gaining state in the nation, reaching a total population of 30,029,572. By crossing the 30-million-population threshold this past year, Texas joins California as the only states with a resident population above 30 million. Growth in Texas last year was fueled by gains from all three components: net domestic migration (230,961), net international migration (118,614), and natural increase (118,159).

Florida was the fastest-growing state in 2022, with an annual population increase of 1.9%, resulting in a total resident population of 22,244,823.

“While Florida has often been among the largest-gaining states,” Wilder noted, “this was the first time since 1957 that Florida has been the state with the largest percent increase in population.”

It was also the second largest-gaining state behind Texas, with an increase of 416,754 residents. Net migration was the largest contributing component of change to Florida’s growth, adding 444,484 residents. New York had the largest annual numeric and percent population decline, decreasing by 180,341 (-0.9%). Net domestic migration (-299,557) was the largest contributing component to the state’s population decline.

Eighteen states experienced a population decline in 2022, compared to 15 and DC the prior year. California, with a population of 39,029,342, and Illinois, with a population of 12,582,032, also had six-figure decreases in resident population. Both states’ declining populations were largely due to net domestic outmigration, totaling 343,230 and 141,656, respectively.

Red State, Blue State

 From the Rose Institute:

The governors of the nation’s four largest states, California, Texas, Florida, and New York, face voters in 2022. Beyond determining who will occupy governors’ offices, these contests will shape our nation’s direction in the coming years. The four “mega-states” have established rival and increasingly polarized visions of state government–one blue, the other red. California and New York have become national catalysts for progressive policies, while Texas and Florida have become the most powerful advocates of conservative alternatives. Their governors–Gavin Newsom (D-CA), Kathy Hochul (D-NY), Greg Abbott (R-TX), and Ron DeSantis (R-FL)–have come to embody these states’ highly partisan models. This election thus provides voters in the four states an opportunity to judge not only their governors, but also the blue or red agendas they represent. Moreover, the elections may give momentum to at least two of these governors–Newsom and DeSantis–to sell their states’ competing visions to the nation by running for president in 2024.

Using new survey data, this report highlights four main findings.

• The governors of all four states have positioned themselves to win reelection in 2022 by retaining the support of members of their state’s dominant party, rendering opposition by people outside that party largely irrelevant.[1]
• The four governors are on track to win reelection even though a large share of their constituents are dissatisfied with recent economic and social trends.
• Many residents of these states are considering moving elsewhere, most frequently those (such as Republicans in California and New York) who disagree with their state’s dominant political orientation. Many are interested in moving to a place where their neighbors would have political and policy preferences closer to their own.
• After their expected reelections, at least two of these governors–DeSantis and Newsom–are positioned to carry their states’ policy visions into a national competition for the presidency.

The Closed Academy

Colleen Flaherty at Inside Higher Ed:

The recent wave of educational “gag orders” restricting the teaching of race, gender or other so-called divisive concepts is a dire threat to what makes American higher education unique and sought after. Such legislation is a far greater threat to free speech than any problem it might be trying to solve, and it also risks colleges’ and universities’ accreditation. Institutions must speak out against this kind of government censorship, which is not politics as usual.

These were the major themes that emerged during a Wednesday panel organized by the free expression group PEN America and the American Association of Colleges and Universities. The occasion was the release of a new joint statement from the two groups opposing legislative restrictions on teaching and learning, which notes that 70 such bills affecting higher education have been introduced in 28 states, and passed in seven states, since January of last year. (More states have passed bills affecting K-12 education.)

...

This isn’t the first time these groups, or others, have publicly opposed educational gag orders (PEN, in particular, has an ongoing legislation tracking project and regularly speaks out). But the joint statement expresses new “alarm” at the advancing trend toward censorship—as did panelists in their comments.

...

Not all presidents have openly opposed such legislation, however. Kent Fuchs, president of the University of Florida, for instance, recently told faculty members not to violate a new state law that he said governs “instructional topics and practices.” The law, known as HB 7, is better known among its supporters as the Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act, which Republican governor Ron DeSantis introduced in December as a bulwark against the “state-sanctioned racism that is critical race theory.” Faculty members were also warned that running afoul of this new law could result in "large financial penalties" for the university, based a separate new law enforcing HB 7

...

Addressing how the recent divisive concepts bans are part of an even larger trend toward legislators and other figures interfering in long-held higher education norms, Lynn Pasquerella, president of the AAC&U, said, “There’s certainly a growing sense of urgency around responding to and indeed redressing the overreach on the part of legislators, governors and state governing boards into curricula, hiring, tenure and promotion decisions and accreditation, alongside the monitoring of faculty and student perspectives and viewpoints that threaten to undermine academic freedom and shared governance on college and university campuses.” (Some recent examples: Florida introduced a mandatory survey on the climate for college viewpoint diversity and passed a post-tenure review law, the University System of Georiga made it possible to fire tenured faculty members without clear faculty input, and Mississippi’s Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning changed how faculty members get and maintain tenure in near secrecy.)

Punishing Companies

Jason Lange at Reuters:

A bipartisan majority of U.S. voters oppose politicians punishing companies over their stances on social issues, a cold reception for campaigns like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' against Walt Disney Co (DIS.N), a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

The two-day poll completed on Thursday showed that 62% of Americans - including 68% of Democrats and 55% of Republicans - said they were less likely to back a candidate who supports going after companies for their views...But even when prompted along the lines of DeSantis' own argument for his action - that laws should remove benefits of government tax breaks from corporations that push a "woke" agenda - 36% of Republicans nationally said they would be less likely to support a candidate with such a view.

Florida v. Academic Freedom

Many posts have discussed threats to academic freedom.

Michael Wines at NYT:

Three University of Florida professors have been barred from assisting plaintiffs in a lawsuit to overturn the state’s new law restricting voting rights, lawyers said in a federal court filing on Friday. The ban is an extraordinary limit on speech that raises questions of academic freedom and First Amendment rights.

University officials told the three that because the school was a state institution, participating in a lawsuit against the state “is adverse to U.F.’s interests” and could not be permitted. In their filing, the lawyers sought to question Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, on whether he was involved in the decision.

Mr. DeSantis has resisted questioning, arguing that all of his communications about the law are protected from disclosure because discussions about legislation are privileged. In their filing on Friday, lawyers for the plaintiffs said the federal questions in the case — including whether the law discriminates against minority groups — override any state protections.

Two university representatives said they could not comment on pending litigation. Mr. DeSantis’s office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

From the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education:

FIRE is deeply concerned by a report in The New York Times that the University of Florida has barred three professors from participating as witnesses in a voting rights lawsuit against the state of Florida.

FIRE has said it before, and we’ll say it again: The profound civic importance of fair trials requires the ability of fact and expert witnesses to come forward to testify truthfully without fear that their government employer might retaliate against them. Public university faculty are no exception. We call on UF to reverse course immediately.

UF should be aware that Plymouth State University’s ill-considered decision to punish faculty who had testified in a trial ultimately cost the state of New Hampshire’s taxpayers $350,000. FIRE warned Plymouth State then, and we’re warning UF now: If you pick a fight with the First Amendment, you will lose.

 

A Plea to End Felon Disenfranchisement

George Will writes at WP:

What compelling government interest is served by felon disenfranchisement? Enhanced public safety? How? Is it to fine-tune the quality of the electorate? This is not a legitimate government objective for elected officials to pursue. A felony conviction is an indelible stain: What intelligent purpose is served by reminding felons — who really do not require reminding — of their past, and by advertising it to their community? The rule of law requires punishments, but it is not served by punishments that never end and that perpetuate a social stigma and a sense of never fully reentering the community.

Meade, like one-third of the 4.7 million current citizens nationwide who have reentered society from prison but cannot vote, is an African American. More than 1 in 13 African Americans nationally are similarly disenfranchised, as are 1 in 5 of Florida’s African American adults. Because African Americans overwhelmingly vote Democratic, ending the disenfranchisement of felons could become yet another debate swamped by partisanship, particularly in Florida, the largest swing state, where close elections are common: Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s margins of victory in 2010 and 2014 were 1.2 and 1.1 percent, respectively. And remember the 537 Florida votes that made George W. Bush president.

Hispanic Population

Jens Manuel Krogstad writes at Pew:

Asians had the highest annual growth rate (3.0%) of any major U.S. racial or ethnic group in 2017. The Hispanic growth rate followed at 2.0%, exceeding that of blacks (0.9%) and whites (decrease of <0 .1="" a=""> Overall, the U.S. annual population growth rate has held steady at 0.7% since 2011.

Following a Hispanic population boom in the 1990s that was driven by immigration and high fertility rates, the Hispanic population’s annual growth rate peaked at 4.2% in 2001. It then started to decline as fertility rates fell and immigration slowed, a trend that accelerated during the Great Recession. While the foreign born accounted for 40% of Hispanic annual population growth in 2006, that share dropped to 34% by 2015. Fertility rates declined from a peak of 98.3 births per 1,000 Hispanic women in 2006 to 71.7 in 2015.

Despite its slowing growth rate, the Hispanic population continues to expand, reaching a record 58.6 million in 2017, according to the Census Bureau’s latest estimates. As the second-largest racial or ethnic group in the U.S., Hispanics play a significant role in the nation’s population trends. Overall, the U.S. population increased by more than 2.2 million people between 2016 and 2017, with Hispanics accounting for 1.1 million, or about half (51%), of this growth.

California, Texas, and Florida account for more than half of the nation's Hispanic population.

Moving

From the Census:

Also available today are 2015 American Community Survey state-to-state and place of birth flows and 2010-2014 American Community Survey county-to-county and metro-to-metro flows statistics. The county-to-county and metro-to-metro migration flows tables, which use data collected between 2010 and 2014, show how many residents move (or flow) from one county or metro area to another over a one-year period.
Among the 2015 American Community Survey state-to-state and place of birth flows:

• New York had 69,289 migrants to Florida, and California had 65,546 migrants to Texas. The state flows are not statistically different from each other.

• Over 1.5 million people living in Florida were born in New York. This was the largest flow between state of birth and state of current residence followed by over 0.9 million people who were born in New York living in New Jersey.

Highlights from the migration flows from the 2010-2014 American Community Survey:

• Approximately 16.9 million people moved annually to a different county, and nearly another 1.9 million people moved to the United States from abroad.
• The two largest county migration flows were Los Angeles County to Orange County in California with 41,558 movers and Los Angeles County to San Bernardino County in California with 39,865 movers. The two largest county-to-county flows do not differ statistically from each other.
• Among metro areas, in California, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area had 87,565 movers go to the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metro area.

In addition to new data tables, the Census Flows Mapper tool now includes statistics from the 2010-2014 American Community Survey to show demographic statistics on the mover’s relationship to the householder, household type and housing tenure. In addition, the 2010-2014 migration flow statistics are available through the Census Application Program Interface (API).

Florida Surpasses New York

The Census reports:

By adding an average of 803 new residents each day between July 1, 2013 and July 1, 2014, Florida passed New York to become the nation’s third most populous state, according to U.S. Census Bureau state population estimates released today. Florida’s population grew by 293,000 over this period, reaching 19.9 million. The population of New York increased by 51,000 to 19.7 million. 

California remained the nation’s most populous state in 2014, with 38.8 million residents, followed by Texas, at 27.0 million. Although the list of the 10 most populous states overall was unchanged, two other states did change positions, as North Carolina moved past Michigan to take the ninth spot. 

Another milestone took place in Georgia (ranked 8th), which saw its population surpass 10 million for the first time. 

North Dakota was the nation’s fastest-growing state over the last year. Its population increased 2.2 percent, followed by the 1.7 percent growth in Nevada and Texas. Each of the 10 fastest-growing states was in the South or West with the exception of North Dakota.  

Six states lost population between July 1, 2013, and July 1, 2014: Illinois (9,972 or -0.08 percent), West Virginia (3,269 or -0.18 percent), Connecticut (2,664 or -0.07 percent), New Mexico (1,323 or -0.06 percent, Alaska (527 or -0.07 percent) and Vermont (293 or -0.05 percent)..

No More Mini-Meds

The Orlando Sentinel reports on the latest changes resulting from the Affordable Care Act:

Orlando's big theme parks, whose businesses depend on cheap, flexible part-time and seasonal labor, are struggling with how — or even whether — to provide health insurance for those workers now that the federal government is requiring better plans.

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. is the latest major employer to tell its part-time and seasonal workers that their current health-insurance plan will be eliminated, beginning in January.

That's because the plan SeaWorld currently makes available to part-time and seasonal workers is an extremely limited benefit plan — often referred to as a "mini med" — that carries low premiums but also caps payouts.

Such mini-med plans will soon be outlawed by the federal government's Affordable Care Act, the sweeping health-care reform law championed by President Barack Obama and passed by Congress in 2010. Among many other changes, the legislation forbids insurance plans from imposing annual monetary limits on essential medical care or on overall spending. That prohibition goes into effect next year.

Businesses say such plans are an affordable way to provide basic health coverage to part-time workers who cannot afford the premiums of a full insurance plan. But others say the plans amount to phantom coverage that does nothing to protect people in the event of catastrophic injuries or illness — the times when health insurance is most important.

Coverage of Zimmerman Case Juror

A number of posts have dealt with misreporting of news events. A 2012 post noted that NBC edited a recording to make George Zimmerman sound like a racist. A number of media outlets have now reported that a juror in the Zimmerman trial said that he got away with murder.  At Slate, William Saletan explains that the juror's remarks were quite different.

Nightline shows ABC interviewer Robin Roberts asking Maddy: “Some people have said, ‘George Zimmerman got away with murder. How do you respond to those people who say that?’ ” Maddy appears to reply promptly and confidently: “George Zimmerman got away with murder. But you can’t get away from God.” But that’s not quite how the exchange happened. In the unedited video, Roberts’ question is longer, with words that have been trimmed from the Nightline version, and Maddy pauses twice, for several seconds, as she struggles to answer it. “… George Zimmerman … That’s—George Zimmerman got away with murder. But you can’t get away from God.”

You have to watch her, not just read her words, to pick up her meaning. As she struggles to answer, she looks as though she’s trying to reconcile the sentiment that’s been quoted to her—that Zimmerman “got away with murder”—with her own perspective. So she repeats the quote and adds words of her own, to convey what she thinks: that there’s a justice higher than the law, which Zimmerman will have to face. She thinks he’s morally culpable, not legally guilty.

ABC’s online story about the interview ends with Maddy asking, “Did I go the right way? Did I go the wrong way?” But that’s not the whole quote. In the unedited video, she continues: “I know I went the right way, because by the law and the way it was followed is the way I went. But if I would have used my heart, I probably would have [gone for] a hung jury.” In another clip, she draws the same distinction: “I stand by the decision because of the law. If I stand by the decision because of my heart, he would have been guilty.” At one point, she says that “the evidence shows he’s guilty.” Roberts presses her: “He’s guilty of?” Maddy answers: “Killing Trayvon Martin. But as the law was read to me, if you have no proof that he killed him intentionally, you can’t say he’s guilty.” That’s the distinction she’s trying to draw here: Killing is one thing. Murder or manslaughter is another

Corruption in Isolated State Capitals

In The San Diego Union-Tribune, Christopher Cadelago reports:

California’s capital is about 85 miles from San Francisco, 385 miles from Los Angeles and 500 miles from San Diego. Does that remoteness make Sacramento susceptible to greater levels of corruption?

Researchers out with a new study seem to think so.

In “Isolated Capital Cities, Accountability and Corruption: Evidence from U.S. States,” Filipe R. Campante and Quoc-Anh Do argue isolated capital cities are robustly associated with greater levels of corruption. California along with Florida, Nevada and Texas are listed as among the least concentrated states. [See an earlier post on an earlier version of this paper.]

Campante, of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and Do, a Paris-based economist, also contend that the various mechanisms for holding state politicians accountable are similarly affected by the spatial distribution of population.

“Newspapers provide greater coverage of state politics when their audiences are more concentrated around the capital, and voter turnout in state elections is greater in places that are closer to the capital,” the researchers argue.

The paper provides a telling example from Massachusetts and New York:

Both states have witnessed recent corruption scandals that led to the indictment and eventual conviction of two very prominent state legislators: former Senate Majority leader Joseph Bruno, in New York, and former House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, in Massachusetts. We can learn about the scope of media accountability in both states by looking at these scandals and how they were covered by the New York City and Boston press. ...

Both led to high-pro le convictions, in scandal-plagued environments. It is interesting, however, to contrast the coverage devoted to these cases by the main newspapers from the respective states' main cities: New York City, located just over 100 miles away from the state capital Albany, and Boston, which happens to be the capital itself. A search for \Joseph Bruno" (or \Joseph L. Bruno") and \corruption" in November 2011 yielded 154 articles in the online archives of the New York Times, 77 in the New York Post, and 91 in the New York Daily News. The same search with \Salvatore DiMasi" (or \Salvatore F. DiMasi"), on the other hand, yielded 238 matches in the Boston Globe and 130 matches in the Boston Herald. The di fference is more remarkable if we control for the size of the diff erent newspapers: a \neutral" search (for the word \Monday," following Gentzkow et al. (2005)) reveals, for instance, that the New York Times is about twice the size of the Boston Globe. In sum, Boston newspapers seem to have devoted substantially more coverage to the DiMasi scandal than New York City newspapers did to the Bruno a air { consistent with the idea that their readership might be more interested in what goes on in Beacon Hill (the central Boston neighborhood that is the site of the state government) than the New York papers' is in what takes place in Albany.

Hispanic State Population

In its new statistical portrait of the Hispanic population, Pew provides detail on geographic distribution:

The Hurricane and the Campaign -- 1992

From UPI, August 29, 1992:

Knowing Hurricane Andrew is one domestic disaster he cannot afford to blow, President Bush returned to Washington Saturday to get an update on federal relief efforts in Florida and Louisiana.

Having set aside a planned weekend at his seaside home in Kennebunkport, Maine, Bush flew to the White House from Camp David, Md., for a high-profile meeting with top aides.

With cameras rolling, Bush stepped off his helicopter on the South Lawn and strode to the Cabinet Room for talks with Transportation Secretary Andrew Card, Deputy Defense Secretary Donald Atwood and members of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Earlier in the day, the Defense Department announced that the number of federal troops assisting in South Florida would be doubled to 14,000.

The president was showered with criticism from victims of Hurricane Andrew last week that the government was slow to respond to their massive loss of homes and businesses.

But a Newsweek poll released Saturday showed that 54 percent of Americans believe Bush has done a good job handling relief efforts. At the same time, however, 57 percent said they think Bush is more concerned about matters in Iraq and Bosnia-Hercegovina than the plight of those in Florida and Louisiana.

From The New York Times, August 30, 1992:

Gov. Bill Clinton said today that an effort should be made to "look into" why problems have plagued the hurricane disaster-relief effort in Florida and Louisiana.

But he pulled up short of blaming President Bush for any of the troubles, saying he did not want to politicize the issue in an election and that any investigation should be carried out in "as nonpolitical a way as possible."

"I do believe an important job of a President is the management of disasters," the Democratic nominee told reporters here at an appearance before a wildlife group. "I think they need to look into it. But I don't want to get into assessing the blame there because I don't know what the facts were. We ought to look into how it can be changed for the future."

The Bush Administration has been hit by complaints over the past several days that it moved ineptly and too slowly to aid the victims of Hurricane Andrew, particularly in Florida.

Today, the Bush campaign said that Mr. Clinton, despite his claims to the contrary, was jumping on criticisms of the disaster relief for political advantage. "He's trying to exploit what is a terrible situation for political gain," said Torie Clarke, a campaign spokeswoman. "He should be ashamed of himself."

From The New York Times, September 2, 1992:

With a few deft words, President Bush threw the full weight of incumbency behind Florida's hurricane victims today, and showed in the process why even Presidents who lag in the polls are electoral forces to be reckoned with.

Seeking to recover from an early stumble in the Federal relief effort, Mr. Bush flew Air Force One to the site of the worst storm damage and opened the Federal treasury to residents of South Florida.

He committed the Government to footing the entire cost of rebuilding the region's shattered schools, bridges, hospitals, roads and other public facilities, a tab that is likely to run double that of the $1.5 billion spent after Hurricane Hugo struck South Carolina in 1989. He also pledged to rebuild Homestead Air Force Base, at a cost that could reach $500 million, even though some experts had concluded that if the judgment was based on military need, the base might never be reopened.

By day's end it was clear that this normally budget-conscious President, who has railed for months against unrestrained Federal spending, would spare nothing when it came to helping Florida's hurricane victims.

Though he lost the general election to Clinton, Bush won Florida by 1.9 percent.

Online Schools

In the second edition of our textbook, the federalism chapter discusses distance learning.  Some relevant information is available at Online Schools: Florida:

Florida’s Department of Education is one of the largest, most influential educational systems in the United States. In Florida there are almost 70 public school districts, hundreds of private schools, ten public universities, and over 40 more private and state colleges -- and that’s not counting Florida’s many community and technical colleges. The government has for many years put emphasis on offering a spectrum of resources to Floridian students, and the Florida Board of Governors oversees the expansive State University System of the region.

Florida is one of the country’s few states that have opted to join the Elementary and Secondary Education Act’s (ESEA) Flexibility clause. The clause allows a local government to disregard parts of the No Child Left Behind Act if they can prove that doing so will better serve a student’s education. The provisions in the ESEA allowed Florida to pass a bill that regulates and promotes charter online schools. With this bill, students who are homeschooled or attend schools that are poor performing can take free credited courses within online schools in Florida.

In 1997 the Florida Virtual School (FLVS) became the first web public school in the nation. Many of Florida’s online schools soon followed suit, offering free tuition and hundreds of classes ranging from basic required subjects to electives like world languages and art. Online students have many resources available to them including academic advising, school newspapers and literary magazines, student clubs, and comprehensive virtual libraries. Online educational and entertainment activities, such as a Shakespeare Festival and Earth Day festivities, are held on a regular basis.