Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center experienced a power outage for over three hours on Saturday that rendered the hospital's communications and data systems unusable for most of the day. The outage was a result of an overheated electrical component that led to a "smoke incident," shutting down much of the hospital's electricity, DHMC media relations manager Mike Barwell said. DHMC admitted no patients at the time of the incident, and was under partial diversion by press time on Sept. 21, only admitting patients with severe medical condition such as heart attack or stroke. DHMC relies on clean energy for most of its electricity and data systems. No patients or staff were impacted by the incident, Barwell said.
A task force of the American Bar Association is calling for dramatic reform of legal education due to student debt and lack of law school applications, The New York Times reported. The proposed changes, drafted in a report, include training individuals without law degrees to provide limited legal services and opening the bar admissions exam to people who have not met traditional requirements such as 45,000 minutes of classroom instruction for graduation. The report criticized the practice of many law schools that provide merit-based financial aid rather than need-based aid to keep institutional rankings high. The report is currently in draft form, but will be distributed for comment and then considered at the 2014 meeting of the Bar Association.
Former president of Skidmore College Jamienne Studley will become deputy undersecretary of education, the Education Department announced Friday. Studley will oversee the department's higher education agenda alongside Jeff Appel, who will hold the same title. She is expected to address issues including college accreditation and tuition, Inside Higher Ed reported. Studley is predicted to play a key role in shaping President Barack Obama's proposal to create a college ranking system based on affordability and quality, while Appel will concentrate more on student financial aid. Studley previously worked with consumer law and advocacy group Public Advocates Inc. and served on the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity since 2010.
