The $50,000 Prize for Preventive Journalism, to be presented for the first time in September 2008, is for stories printed in U.S. publications between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008.  In our initial prize rules, we stated that all submissions must be received by June 30, 2008.  However, for stories published later in the month of June, applicants and their organizations might not have enough time to put together and send the actual applications.  So we have extended the date for receiving applications to July 15, 2008.  Again: applications for the Prize for Preventive Journalism must be received at Understanding Government’s office in Washington by July 15, 2007.  For detailed rules and background on the prize, please click here.  And please feel free to contact us with any questions.

The State Dept. Web site describes the Fulbright academic scholarship as an essential part of international exchange. This year, however, State, in tandem with the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, has withdrawn Fulbright grants from students in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas.

The New York Times’ Ethan Bronner reports that the rationale behind the move is that Israel has declared Gaza a hostile territory.  As a result, only people with pressing humanitarian concerns, like medical workers, should be allowed to travel in and out. But denying Palestinian students scholarships to western colleges and universities remains a point of contention within the Israeli government. Officials point out the “moderating” effect such an education could have.

The withdrawal could prove too controversial to stick, so stay tuned.  Read Bronner here.  MB

At the same time as drivers are slamming their car doors and heading for the bus, the subway, and light rail, public transit is being slammed by higher fuel prices.  In some cases, as Ana Campoy and Alex Roth report in the Wall Street Journal, public transit services are actually being forced to cut service — particularly due to high diesel prices — at a time when ridership is ramping up.  Trains and buses from Rhode Island to San Diego are packed, and in Seattle, the public transit system is already $13 million in debt.  As everyone knows, a crisis is also an opportunity, but the story notes that "while the will for more public transit is evident, the way to secure federal funding isn’t."  Will public transit finally get traction on Capitol Hill?  Read Campoy and Roth here.  EH

If you haven’t already read and memorized Scott McClellan’s What Happened, the New York Times’ Brian Stetler notes that McClellan has harsh words about the media coverage of the Iraq invasion. Now, two prominent broadcast journalists are saying McClellan is right.

Katie Couric and Jessica Yellin, who both worked at NBC during the invasion, said the media should have done a much better job of criticizing the Pentagon. Yellin called the coverage an “embarrassment.” NBC news anchor Brian Williams abstained from such self-criticism. But he did say yesterday that the Pentagon was placing personal calls – including to his cell phone – the minute something possibly critical was said.

Yesterday’s comments mark a break from a broadcast world that’s been silent about their cheerleading of the Iraq invasion.  Read Stetler here.  MB

Three months after a Congressional deadline—and more than six years after the war started—the White House has appointed an inspector general for Afghanistan. The Washington Post’s Karen DeYoung reports that, pending Senate confirmation, Maj. Gen. Arnold Fields were be in charge of rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in the Afghanistan reconstruction program.

Iraq has had its own special inspector general, Stuart Bowen, who has won praise by lawmakers critical of the war but was almost sacked by the President after the 2006 election. The Pentagon and State Dept. have opposed an Afghanistan inspector general, saying it overlaps with their current work.  Clearly, some people must think there could soon be too much oversight of what the U.S. is doing in Afghanistan.  Read DeYoung here. MB

The New York Times’ Michael Brick does some journalistic assisted suicide, letting the U.S. military hangs itself through professing love for Ultimate Fighting Championship. U.F.C. is a pro league of mixed martial art and jujitsu fighting, what John McCain once called “human cockfighting.”

Now it’s all the rage on Army bases and Pentagon recruiters see it as a great tool. Tomorrow night—live!—on network television the army will field its own ultimate fighting team. “The U.F.C. provides a great venue to get the Army name into the minds of millions of young Americans,” said Maj. Kelly Crigger.  Awesome!  Read Brick here.  MB

You may have thought this stuff (rooting out non-existent voter fraud) went out of fashion when Karl Rove left the White House.  Not in Rove’s adopted home state, apparently.  Wayne Slater of the Dallas Morning News reports that Texas’s attorney general, Greg Abbott, a Republican, has devoted $1.4 million to rooting out voter fraud in the Lone Star State, and since 2006 he has "prosecuted 26 cases – all against Democrats, and almost all involving blacks or Hispanics."  In each case, the defendant was accused of mailing legal ballots for legal voters who voted legally.  The illegal part was taking the sealed ballots to the mailbox for these mostly elderly voters.  According to Texas law, it’s illegal for private citizens to assist voters in this way.  I don’t pay taxes in the State of Texas, but that doesn’t mean I can’t feel bad for the people who do.  Understanding Government doesn’t take partisan positions.  But $1.4 million to prosecute people who dropped letters in the mailbox? 

Ned Hodgman

The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank devotes his Washington sketch column to a jargon-filled, tedious speech given yesterday by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley. Hadley talked at the Proliferation Security Initiative, where he praised U.S. non-proliferation efforts and trashed international non-proliferation bodies like the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Milbank notes that Hadley was one of the original neocon “vulcans,” who gave false information to justify the Iraq War. Hadley even supplied the infamous “16 words” in President Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address that Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger to build a nuclear weapon. But while other vulcans like Paul Wolfowitz have unceremoniously moved on, Hadley quietly continues to fight the neocon battle. Read Milbank here. MB

The Washington Post’s Keith Ritchburg gives a dispatch from this week’s World Science Festival in New York, where prominent scientists are really down on America’s loss of prestige in the world of science. Scientists including Nina Fedoroff, Condolezza Rice’s science and technology advisor, cite the lack of federal money for scientific research and development.

Their specific complaints include the lack of money for stem cell research, as well as the embarrassment of living in a country that questions climate change and evolution. The scientists are also upset that none of the presidential candidates are discussing more money for science. Do these broadsides indicate that scientists are increasingly ready to join the political fray? If so they would join civil rights organizations, aid groups and the many other interests who must explain to Washington a purpose that to them- and many others- sounds unimpeachable. Read Ritchburg here. MB

The Federal Communications Commission is considering whether to get companies to bid on providing free internet service. The Wall Street Journal’s Amy Schatz reports that the FCC might auction off parts of the airwaves to internet service providers “with the stipulation that a portion of the network be set aside for free.”

The companies would then try to make money through offering a premium, higher-speed web service in addition to the basic, free service and through advertisements. The U.S. is 15th among the 30 countries judged developed by the Office of Economic and Development in providing internet to its population. Read Schatz here. MB