Hasta La Gadget!

Too often when Albuquerque, New Mexico, makes headlines, it’s bad news – a police department under scrutiny by the Justice Department, or a seemingly unsolvable homeless problem. But recently the city made news for something good – especially good for women. Initiated by Mayor Richard Berry, the Albuquerque City Council unanimously passed a strong gender pay equity initiative that is the first of its kind in the nation (full disclosure – the Mayor’s task force was headed by yours truly).

We all know by now that the gender pay gap between women and men is 22% nationwide for full-time, year round work. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in Washington, on average women earn less than men in virtually every single occupation for which there is sufficient earnings data to calculate an earnings ratio. What’s more, the gap is not closing – it’s been that way for over a decade. Begging and shaming employers hasn’t helped, and the Supreme Court has all but eliminated legal remedies.

So Albuquerque decided to do something different. Contractors will now be required to submit data on what they pay women and what they pay men by job classification as a condition of bidding for taxpayer dollars. Nobody’s salary on a bulletin board, but statistics that show percentage pay gaps for a given job category. And the data will be public.

If contractors hit specified benchmarks, initially a discrepancy of 10% or less, they’ll be rewarded with extra credit on the bid. Well, you might ask, why allow even 10%? Shouldn’t the pay gap between women and men doing the same work be zero? Of course it should, unless there are other factors such as time on the job or extra certification that come into play. So all other things being equal, zero is the goal.

But the plain truth is, most employers are so far from parity a zero tolerance policy would just discourage them from even trying to fix pay gaps. We know it’s not unusual for companies to have gaps in the 30- 40% range – so an allowable variance of 10% or less is actually a high bar in the early stages of implementation. With pay gaps so stubborn female workers have grown gray waiting, it’s clear that fixing the problem won’t be instant.

And that’s the point – fixing the problem. If employers can be incentivized to hit a target of 10% this year, the requirement can be revisited next year, until they eventually approach that magic number zero. When competitors see they’re losing out by shortchanging women — or men, the ordinance applies to both — they ought to be motivated to catch up. If they can’t, or don’t want to try, then they don’t deserve our tax dollars.

Besides, there are obvious benefits to employers. Research clearly shows that better pay results in less employee turnover, and further shows that replacing an employee very often costs more than a raise in compensation. When employers are viewed as treating workers fairly, the public is more likely to view them favorably and do business with them. And don’t forget that federal law prohibits discrimination in pay based on sex or race. A public reporting requirement will motivate employers to review their own compensation practices, and remedy any potential problems before they become serious enough for legal action.

It would be easy to say “sure, but Albuquerque is a small town, and this couldn’t be done in much larger cities with hundreds of contractors.” Not true. Albuquerque is comparable in size to Miami, Atlanta, Denver, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Kansas City, and Omaha. Larger cities such as Boston are instituting some voluntary measures to close the gender pay gap, and the topic is under serious discussion in New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, and elsewhere.

Let’s hope it’s the start of a trend. It’s not only about time. It’s about real money in the pockets of families.

Listen to the 2 minute radio commentary here:

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R Willy, the crazy scooter-er in this stunt, looks like he’s flipping an infinite amount of times but it’s actually just a triple backflip. Oh and it just so happens to be the first triple backflip on a scooter ever. I’ve watched the clip multiple times over and have gasped every time it seems like he’s just about to miss but actually ends up sticking the landing.

Read more…

In the rare, but serious, cases of a radiation leak like the Fukushima nuclear plant’s meltdown, first responders are tasked with sending radiation victims to triage based on their level of exposure. A new genetics-based blood test could be a faster, more accurate way to assess how individual victims will respond to radiation. Researchers from Harvard Medical School and New … Continue reading

Vivo has officially introduced their latest 4G LTE-enabled Android 5.0 smartphone namely the Vivo X5Pro. Adopting a metal frame, this high-end smartphone sports a 5.2-inch 1920 x 1080 Full HD Super AMOLED display with 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass 3, a 1.0GHz or 1.7GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 64-bit processor, an Adreno 405 GPU, a 2GB RAM, a 16GB of expandable internal storage (up to 128GB) and dual SIM card slots.

For taking pictures and videos, the handset is equipped with an 8MP front-facing camera with 720p HD video recording and a 13MP rear-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture, LED flash and 4K video recording. Powered by a 2300mAh battery, the Vivo X5Pro provides 4G LTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS for connectivity, and runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop OS with Funtouch OS 2.1 on top.

The Vivo X5Pro is expected to retail for $440. [GSMArena]

Joshua Yaro is a Ghanaian-born soccer star on the Georgetown University men’s team who was slated to become the number one overall pick in this year’s Major League Soccer draft, before deciding to stay in school. He was not only the Big East Defensive Player of the Year but also on the Dean’s List. Even more unique about Yaro is that he was recruited out of a small California boarding school called Cate, thousands of miles away from Georgetown.

Though Joshua and I have never met, I’ve known about his recruitment to Georgetown since February of 2013, when he signed his National Letter of Intent. No, I’m not a soccer fanatic; rather, we attended the same high school, and our alma mater did a nice job of announcing his recruitment to all alumni.

As in Yaro’s case, when athletes are successfully recruited to continue their careers at the collegiate level, their high schools should properly document and promote their accomplishment.

Despite the fact that some people are put off by the significant attention paid to recruiting, sports play a large role in American culture, and a high school athlete getting recruited to play at any level of college is at least newsworthy to the alumni and local community.

The most publicized instances today consist of a highly coveted recruit in either football or men’s basketball appearing in front of his entire school and TV reporters to announce which college he’ll attend. Such attention makes perfect sense because there are millions of fans anticipating where such prized student-athletes will compete in college, as they can produce tremendous exposure and revenue for their future schools.

But while the media coverage is extensive surrounding marquee recruits in college’s two revenue-generating sports, many high schools fail to realize that they should be proactive in publicizing all of their athletes’ college recruitments, even when they don’t have a nationally recognized college prospect. In fact, such publicity should include both male and female athletes going on to compete in all sports at any level beyond high school. Here’s why:

Give Proper Credit

Having a high school graduate go on to compete in college is always an achievement worth highlighting. Out of all of the athletes in their respective recruiting classes, they have been selected from a national and sometimes even international talent pool to advance their athletic careers. Being chosen to play for a college team is an honor and a testament to not only their talent but also their dedication.

Increase Local Exposure

While recruiting in revenue-generating sports is usually national news, the recruitment of athletes in any sport is relevant to their respective local communities. Local sports writers are responsible for tracking this news and reporting it to the public; however, the information can be difficult to gather. When high schools take more initiative in reporting their college recruitments, they can better ensure that all athletes receive proper recognition and also help inspire younger athletes within the community.

Drive Alumni Engagement

Alumni tend to care a great deal about what is happening with their high schools. However, high schools frequently struggle to aggregate and publish compelling news that keeps alumni engaged. Annually reporting if any graduates have been recruited to play sports in college and which schools they’ll attend is an easy way to keep many alumni connected to the school. And highly engaged alumni tend to be more likely to donate.

For high schools looking to better publicize their recruited athletes, here’s how:

Be Thorough

Check the legitimacy of each college recruitment, as there have been infamous follies in this respect. For instance, a football player once deceived his entire school and community into thinking he’d accepted a scholarship to play for the University of California, Berkeley. While colleges may be prohibited to comment on a recruit’s status until a certain date, high school coaches are often a reliable resource. High schools may even go so far as to review the formal documentation that is typically sent to recruits.

Tell the Full Story

Interview the athletes and learn how they were recruited, which other colleges were recruiting them and what factors drove their final decision. Record the interviews and post them under the athletics section of the high school’s website. Over time, the school will develop a repository of information that tells a more enriched story of its athletics program.

Get Social

Share the college commitment stories on social media and be sure to engage local journalists, alumni groups and the colleges they’ll be attending. Especially because they don’t play on TV, smaller colleges can also benefit from the additional exposure.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.