HEAR ME NOW?

More than one in eight households have cell phones but lack traditional landline telephones, according to a federal study released Monday that tracks the country’s growing dependence on wireless phones.

The growth of families reachable only by cell phone has been of special interest to the telephone industry, providers of 911 emergency services, and public and private polling organizations.

Pollsters typically rely on random calls to households with landline telephones, but some have begun reaching out to cell-phone users, which is more expensive and makes it harder to ensure their samples are truly random.

The federal data showed once again that young, poor, male and Hispanic people are likelier to have only wireless telephone service. Nearly one in five Hispanic adults — 18 percent — have cell phones but no landline phones, the survey showed. That was up from 15 percent in the last half of 2006.

— The Associated Press

NO RESOLUTION

State lawmakers have taken widely divergent approaches to dealing with an influx of immigrants, including 11 million thought to be here illegally.

• Nine states will require at least some companies (usually state contractors) to use a federal database to verify that new hires are in the country legally. Arizona’s new law is the broadest because it applies to all employers. But one state, Illinois, prohibits companies from checking out new employees on the database.
• Six states partner with federal authorities to enforce immigration laws, but four states (and most major cities) forbid the practice.
• Six states passed laws since 2005 to cut off certain public benefits for illegal immigrants, but six others let undocumented children get taxpayer-subsidized health insurance.
• Ten states allow undocumented students to receive in-state tuition at public colleges, with Nebraska becoming the latest to join in 2006.
• Seven states let illegal immigrants get driver’s licenses, down from nine in mid 2006. However, Oregon will be dropping off the list in February. Maine and Michigan lawmakers are reconsidering their policies as well.
• All 50 states have sent National Guard troops to the 1,954-mile border with Mexico since July 2006 to support the Border Patrol’s increased enforcement efforts there.

— Stateline.org

ESSENCE OF THE PROBLEM

“I never heard anybody say, ‘I just got the right amount of property tax relief.’ Republican primary voters are like everyone else: ‘What have you done for me lately?’”

— Republican consultant Todd Smith, quoted in the Austin American-Statesman

USE IT OR LOSE IT?

A commission appointed by the New Jersey legislature concluded that capital punishment — which requires a more elaborate process at trial and in appeals — costs too much, financially and emotionally, to maintain it as an empty gesture. One study considered by the commission estimated that New Jersey communities and courts had spent a quarter of a billion dollars above and beyond the cost of non-capital murder trials to try to satisfy the exacting standards for death penalty cases established by U.S. Supreme Court.

One member of the panel, James Abbott, chief of police in West Orange, N.J., said the emptiness of a penalty that is so rarely imposed persuaded him to go along with the group’s finding that New Jersey’s death penalty served no purpose. Of the 60 death sentences recommended by New Jersey juries under the current law, 57 have been reversed on appeal.

New Jersey is not the only state asking these questions about costs and benefits. In states like Maryland, New Mexico and South Dakota, legislative efforts to repeal the death penalty — once considered hopeless — now appear to be within a few votes of success. Blue-ribbon committees similar to the one in New Jersey have been appointed in places like Illinois, Tennessee, Maryland and Florida.

— Time magazine

SURVIVING THE TYC MELTDOWN by Scott Henson. The Grits for Breakfast blogger offers up a 1717-page report on what Texas counties should know about the Texas Youth Commission problems and solutions. Henson makes the case that fewer kids will go to TYC and will stay for a shorter time and that counties must develop incarceration alternatives and youth re-entry strategies. The report is available for purchase at Henson’s Web site, gritsforbreakfast. blogspot.com.

FIFTY YEARS OF CHANGE ON THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER by Joan B. Anderson and James Gerber. The authors explore shifts in living standards, political climates, economies and tensions along the border. Published by University of Texas Press.

HISTORIC HOTELS OF TEXAS by Liz Carmack. More than 60 historical hotels, from both rural and mid-sized towns to the state’s metropolises, are featured in this Texas travel guide. Never again will readers wonder where they should stay when visiting another part of the state. Published by Texas A & M University Press.

GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER ON THE TEXAS FRONTIER: Notorious Killings and Celebrated Trials by Bill Neal. The author spent more than four decades visiting West Texas county courthouses, gathering stories and doing research. It’s like an historically accurate reading of No Country for Old Men. Published by Texas Tech University Press.

PRIVACY, PUBLIC ACCESS & POLICYMAKING IN STATE REDACTION PRACTICES. This white paper by the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and the National Electronic Commerce Coordinating Council (eC3) aids counties in how to create policies for removing Social Security numbers and other sensitive information from public documents. It offers advice on finding cost-effective redaction solutions and insights on developing redaction programs and systems. The paper can be downloaded for free via the NASS Web site at www.nass.org.

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