Articles by Steven Gilchrist

In 2017, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) issued its latest infrastructure report card.  Every four years, the ASCE creates a report card regarding the nation’s infrastructure.  The report card rates 16 different infrastructure categories.  The 2017 overall grade for American infrastructure is a D+.  This is the same grade the ASCE gave American infrastructure for the last report card in 2013. “Our infrastructure bill is overdue and our inaction is costing American’s $3,400 per year in lost disposal income,” says Greg DiLoreto, chairperson of the ASCE Committee on America’s Infrastructure. The 16 infrastructure categories for the 2017 report card are: Aviation; Bridges; Dams; Drinking Water; Energy; Hazardous Waste; Inland Waterways; Levees; Parks & Recreation; Ports; Rail, Roads; Schools; Solid Waste; Transit; and Wastewater.  The highest grade for an individual category was given to Rail, which earned a B.  Transit earned the l...

2017 marked the 50 th anniversary of the publication of “The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society.”   This document was the final report of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice.   The Commission, which had a total of 19 members, was established by the Johnson administration to examine methods to improve the criminal justice system in the United States.   At the time of the final report, Johnson called the research “the most comprehensive and detailed program for meeting the challenge of crime ever proposed in this country.” The Johnson Crime Commission devised more than 200 recommendations in the 1967 report.   One of the recommendations was the establishment of calling 911 to report an emergency.   Another recommendation from the Commission was for the U.S. Congress to create a new office in the Department of Justice to assist state and local law enforcement agencies.   This recommendation led to th...