Diana Jean Schemo

Diana Jean Schemo worked as a senior staff reporter at Remapping Debate.  Diana had previously been a long-time New York Times reporter.  She has recently published a book entitled “Skies to Conquer: A Year Inside the Air Force Academy.”

djs@remappingdebate.org
Imagining an alternative to State-eat-State
Original Reporting | By Diana Jean Schemo | Economy, State government, Taxes
The tendency of states to try to outbid their neighbors — with business incentives or lowered tax rates — has serious consequences. Practiced among Republican and Democratic governors alike, the dog-eat-dog approach has, according to much research, caused states to squeeze their own coffers and weaken environmental regulations, while lavishing subsidies both on firms that relocate anyway, and on those that might have stayed even without incentives. Are states failing to imagine another very basic possibility? What if, instead of persistently undercutting each other, they banded together in interstate agreements? What if they agreed on a common floor for environmental or business regulations? What if states agreed not to fish for jobs in their neighbor’s pond, or sought region-wide revenue increases that would eliminate the fear of being left behind or outgunned? More
Off the clock
Original Reporting | By Diana Jean Schemo | Unions
Republican Study Committee proposal to prohibit government employees from fulfilling union responsibilities while on government time would save a relative pittance in annual spending, but deal a body blow to the ability of federal unions to represent more than a million government workers in grievances, arbitration and collective bargaining. More
RU 486 abortions on the rise; harassment, while illegal, remains common at clinics
Story Repair | By Diana Jean Schemo | Gender equity, Reproductive health services
Significantly more women are turning to medications instead of surgery for abortions, ending unwanted pregnancies earlier and with less risk of complications to the woman, according to a new study by the Alan Guttmacher Institute. Harassment and intimidation of abortion clinic employees and patients were rampant, particularly at these busiest clinics, the study found. According to the organization, the ratio of pregnancies ending in abortions was unchanged. More
Ball and chain: the human cost of raising the retirement age
Original Reporting | By Diana Jean Schemo | Social Security
Proposals for “reinventing” Social Security tend to be debated in terms of their impact on the financial health of the system itself, not in terms of their impact on the overall well-being of the people the system is supposed to serve. But if Social Security were to be "fixed" by raising the age at which full benefits could be collected to 69 or even 70, that fix would represent a lot more stress and unhappinesss for millions of Americans, and mean that a big chunk of their most golden of golden years would not be available for retirement. More
Mission shrinking
Original Reporting | By Diana Jean Schemo | Education
California once believed in providing a liberal education of the highest quality and at the lowest cost to students. Now, with funding already well below historic highs, some want to to shift to 'workforce building.' More
Let business be business
Original Reporting | By Diana Jean Schemo | Deregulation, Environment
Wisconsin's new governor wants to clear a path to easier regulatory approvals for large farms, but questions about why deregulation would not yield a return to more pollution have not been answered. More
Paying the cost for paying the costs
Original Reporting | By Diana Jean Schemo | Government services, Taxes
Attempts to oust elected officials mid-term no longer represent a last resort for voters fed up with egregious acts of corruption, but an increasingly common response to elected officials who make unpopular decisions. Often those decisions involve raising taxes and fees that pay for public services like police, fire fighters, and clean water. What is involved in the effort to convince a skeptical public that the costs of not having public services are higher than the costs of maintaining those services? More
Preparation for active citizenship not on education agenda
Original Reporting | By Diana Jean Schemo | Education
As various education debates rage, schooling in the tools of democracy not part of national discussion. More

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