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Michael Powell Talks Telecom In Midwest
by Chloe Albanesius
FCC Chairman Michael Powell is traveling to Missouri and Kansas this week to promote high-speed Internet and public-safety telecommunications services.
Powell's focus will be the importance of rural high-speed Internet service, homeland security, economic growth and job creation. An increase in innovative technologies will "spur the economy, attract jobs and increase productivity," Jane Mago, chief of the FCC's Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, said during a Wednesday news briefing.
The chairman's first stop is on Thursday in Kansas, where he will tour a public-safety answering point (PSAP) to assess the readiness of Johnson County's 911 emergency-call system and to discuss issues involving the ability of emergency systems to communicate with each other.
On Friday, Powell will be at the University of Kansas to tour the Information and Telecommunications Technology Center (ITTC) and discuss its advances in spectrum utilization. He later will participate in a forum on broadband technologies with Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and broadband industry leaders. Powell also will deliver a keynote address at a Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics summit.
Powell's trip also will include a stop in Kansas City, Mo.
In other news, the Statewide Communications Alliance of Nebraska (SCAN) Board and SAFECOM announced a free conference on public-safety communications for Feb. 24 in Lincoln, Neb. Participants will discuss the integration of local needs as Nebraska lays the groundwork for a statewide communications system.
And Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, announced last week that he is against Sprint building a cellular telephone tower in the town of Easton. Its construction near residential neighborhoods is "insensitive and ill conceived," he said in a release. "Private interests should not be allowed to profit at the expense of scenic beauty and open space that the state paid $80 million to acquire and preserve."
Attorneys General Praise 'Do Not Call' Ruling
Several Democratic attorneys general on Wednesday applauded a federal appeals-court ruling upholding the constitutionality of the national "do not call" list against unwanted telemarketing.
"This ruling is a historic victory for regulations," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in a release. "The ruling should have far-reaching ramifications as a legal precedent for similar valid commercial regulation of spam, faxes and other costly, aggravating telemarketing abuses."
"This is a matter of residential privacy, not commercial telemarketers' alleged free-speech rights," Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar said in a statement. The case is similar to one challenging Colorado's no-call law pending before U.S. District Court Judge Robert Blackburn. Salazar is "very optimistic" that the decision in that case will be "similarly favorable."
California Attorney Bill Lockyer, with whom Salazar filed an amicus brief in the 10th Circuit Court in defense of the federal law, said the ruling was a "huge victory for consumers [and] free choice." He vowed to "aggressively" target do-not-call violators.
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper also praised the ruling.
Meanwhile, Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers last week reached a settlement with a Nevada telemarketing firm that allegedly misled Oregon consumers with promises of free gasoline vouchers. Residents were told they would receive $200 in vouchers, with the only charge being $1.95 for shipping and handling. Instead, they were signed up for phone cards and charged additional fees if they did not opt out after 30 days.
The company apparently collected $59,900 from 1,009 Oregonians. They will have to repay the stolen money, as well as an additional $7,500 fine.
And in Illinois, Attorney General Lisa Madigan last week unveiled a state police Web site that names sex offenders and provides other information on them. The Illinois Department of Corrections' Web site also was revamped to include public alerts about whether offenders have to register upon their release.
Washington Governor Focuses On Tech Innovations
Washington Gov. Gary Locke on Thursday will sign into law legislation extending tax incentives for high-tech research and development. The measure will extend incentives set to expire soon, allowing for research in specific technology areas and for the construction of research facilities. The governor will sign the measure at Targeted Genetic Corporation in Seattle.
On Wednesday, Locke praised the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute for securing more than $3 million in federal grant money to expand the its tech center. "This new facility will help fuel the 'innovation economy' in Spokane and the Inland Northwest," he said in a release. The money will fund some 35,000 square feet of new science labs and office space. Construction is expected to start in early summer and finish about 10 to 12 months later.
Meanwhile, Locke last week toured the Washington Digital Learning Commons project at North Kitsap High School. The Web-based portal delivers high-quality digital resources, learning tools and online courses directly to classrooms. The goal is to connect all middle schools and high schools in the state in the next five years.
'Reverse Auction' Saves Virginia 30 Percent
Virginia officials used an auction tactic first seen on eBay to save 30 percent on its purchase of information-technology media storage, Gov. Mark Warner announced Friday.
As part of Virginia's Partners in Procurement (VAPP) initiative, the state put online an outline of the products and services it needed. Vendors then made public bids for the state's business, with competition eventually driving the price down.
"I have said before that we must re-engineer the business practices of government to achieve fundamental and permanent change," Warner said. "Adopting new tools, new technologies and a new approach to limit the state's spending has been ... one of the administration's priorities," Secretary of Administration Sandra Bowen added.
Meanwhile, Warner last week expressed disappointment that the online travel site Travelocity.com has decided to close its Virginia customer-service center. He vowed to partner with Dickenson County officials and Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., to fill the vacancy.
Online Voting Effort Targets Maryland Youth
A voting effort that combines Internet interaction with grassroots campaigning has selected Maryland youth as its next target state in the presidential primaries.
Youth04, a project from the Center for Democracy and Technology, has 18 college chapters in 13 states and the District of Columbia and previously focused its efforts on Wisconsin and South Carolina. The group's Web site features petitions and polls tailored to young voters. Web surfers also can contribute to an online discussion board on election issues.
The group published an online booklet last month now used as a supplement to the political science textbook "We the People."
Toddler Found Thanks To AMBER Alert
Michigan's AMBER Alert program on Wednesday was used to locate a 22-month-old girl who allegedly was abducted by her father and grandfather and taken several states away.
BeyondMissing generated and distributed high-resolution fliers to AMBER Alert recipients about the girl's disappearance, while faxes, e-mails and text messages were sent to law enforcement agencies, media outlets, service stations, fast-food outlets, convenience stores and bus stations within a 200-mile radius of the place where Bella Ann Rudduck was abducted.
Ten hours later, New York authorities arrested Harold Rudduck Jr. and his father.
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