Ever wonder how college professors pick textbooks? It ain't rocket science, apparently. Here's an email I got from Worth, the publishers of Paul Krugman's new economics textbook Microeconomics. It seems that the "adoption decision" is influenced by lottery prizes associated with filling out surveys with respect to the "adoption decision" itself...

[Text of letter announcing $200 gift drawing for faculty participating in a survey about textbook adoption]

Righty-o. One has to hope that Professor Gail Hoyt's students will "enjoy" Krugman's textbook as much as she will "enjoy" her "holiday spending."

In that post, you make the false and defamatory claim that Professor Gail Hoyt was induced to adopt Paul Krugman's economics text, published by Worth Publishers, at least in part by a $200 Amazon gift certificate that she won from Worth.

You have your facts wrong.
The survey, and the drawing Worth held for what essentially was a token prize to thank professors for taking their valuable time to fill out the survey, were unrelated to the participants' adoption decisions... Moreover, as it turns out, Professor Hoyt has not adopted the Krugman textbook...

The allegation that Worth would pay and Professor Hoyt would accept in effect a bribe to influence her selection of her class's economics text defames both Worth and Professor Hoyt. In addition, your republication of Charlie Van Wagner's letter without permission infringes Worth's copyright in the letter.

Accordingly, whether out of respect for the truth or to avoid further action on our part, I will expect that you will remove the offending post and replace it with a correction and apology

This will be the first time that since the establishment of the PA that preachers will be unable to deliver their own Friday sermons. The move is seen as an attempt by the PA leadership to stop incitement against Israel and the US in mosques.

"From now on, the preachers will be given speeches prepared in advance by the PA authorities," the official said. "Anyone who does not abide by the text will be fired."

The majority of the mosque preachers receive their salaries from the PA's Ministry of Islamic Wakf Affairs...

The PA's decision to impose censorship on preachers follows protests from Israeli and the US officials over a recent sermon in the Gaza Strip, in which the khatib, or preacher, called for the liberation of all of Palestine.

Under the new system, a landowner and the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) would come to an agreement about what cleanup should be done and what restrictions there should be on future use of the land.

An environmental covenant, spelling out the agreement, would be recorded with the county register of deeds, available to warn prospective buyers of the limitations on the land, according to Lincoln Sen. Chris Beutler...

The proposal acknowledges that there are limited resources and some degradation may never be completely repaired, said Lincoln Sen. David Landis, sponsor of the plan. The bill allows DEQ to require remediation. Then all parties agree that the future uses will be limited, he said.

The environmental covenant makes the land more marketable because future owners know the situation. Right now such land often can't be sold because potential buyers don't know what kind of cleanup might be required.

"There are no buyers. No one wants anything to do with the property," Landis said.