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W.Va., New Hampshire Get Security Aid
by Chloe Albanesius
The Homeland Security Department this week awarded West Virginia and New Hampshire millions of dollars in security funding.
West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise accepted $31.1 million in federal money to be dispersed throughout the state. About $15.5 million will go directly to localities, while $9.9 million in emergency-response equipment will go to regional response teams, hospitals and local fire departments. Meanwhile, $2 million will be used to address cyber terrorism, and $1.3 million will go toward protecting the state's food supply from terrorist activity.
"I can't honestly say that funding from Washington has been as quick or as expansive as we would like," Wise said in a release. "We would like to have been able to spread more money around the state to our various agencies -- particularly to law enforcement agencies -- but we have done well under the circumstances."
New Hampshire Gov. Craig Benson, meanwhile, announced that Homeland Security awarded the state a competitive grant of $360,000 to prepare for a natural or manmade disaster. "This grant will not only save money through long-term strategic planning, but most importantly it will save lives," he said in a release. Nine grants of $40,000 each will be distributed throughout the state.
Benson also met with Homeland Security officials Tuesday to demonstrate the results of a federal grant awarded to the state last month. State emergency officials were on hand to demonstrate radios, hazardous-material equipment and training equipment designed to allow communications across agencies. "This money has allowed us to streamline our purchases, coordinate our resources and ultimately improve our response time," Benson said.
In other news, Virginia Gov. Mark Warner on Tuesday accepted the resignation of the state's homeland security director, John Hager. Former Lt. Gov. Hager will leave the post effective April 30. Warner praised Hager's longstanding commitment to Virginia's citizens and his leadership after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Hager urged his successor to continue his work on ensuring Virginia's emergency preparedness. "Much remains to be done," he said.
California Bill Targets Google's Gmail Service
Democratic state Sen. Liz Figueroa introduced legislation that would require e-mail providers to obtain consent from all parties -- both senders and receivers of e-mail -- before analyzing the text of the messages. The bill, S.B. 1822, is targeted at Google's new free Gmail service, which is still being tested.
Gmail scans the text of incoming messages to deliver targeted advertisements to the users' Internet browsers. The technology has alarmed many privacy advocates. Figueroa's measure would forbid the review of e-mail content unless Google (or any other e-mail provider) first obtains the consent of all the parties to an e-mail conversation. The legislation would let e-mail providers continue to scan the text of messages for viruses and spam.
Elsewhere in California, Los Angeles County on Monday announced that Virginia-based American Management Systems will upgrade the county's financial management systems. The six-year, $13 million contract seeks to streamline the county's business practices.
AMS software will enable the county accounting system to give officials immediate access to financial information. "This solution will provide us timely and more effective access to information, improving how we deliver services to our citizens and help maximize taxpayer dollars," county auditor-controller J. Tyler McCauley said in a release.
Texas Entities Seek Dell's Aid For E-Recycling
The Travis County Commissioners Court and Austin Independent School District in Texas this week announced that they have chosen Dell to dispose of old computer equipment.
"We were purchasing computer hardware from numerous vendors and were spending a lot of time coordinating auctions for our outdated computers," Cyd Grimes, the Travis County purchasing agent, said in a release. "This was difficult to manage, providing little return on investment and causing us concern about where our old computers were ending up."
The county spends between $500,000 and $1 million on Dell computer hardware each year, and future purchases will now include Dell's asset recovery services.
Gray Salada, CIO of the school district, said students and families in the district are environmentally conscious, so "we want to set an example by making sure we are properly recycling our technology hardware."
Va. Man Convicted Of Using Technology To Entice Minors
A Charlottesville, Va., man was convicted Tuesday of using technology to lure two teenage girls to have sex with him, Attorney General Jerry Kilgore announced.
James Daniel Bray faced federal charges of using interstate communications to lure the minors to meet him. He first met the girls when they attended high school with his daughter and later communicated with them via letters, telephone calls, instant messages and e-mails. The girls' parents learned of his activity when one of the girls said they had gone with Bray on an overnight motorcycle trip to Fredericksburg.
He will be sentenced July 2 and faces up to 15 years in jail on each of the enticement charges.
In other news, New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey announced Monday that the state issued 100,000 new digital driver's licenses in just three months.
Those applying for the documents must provide "six points of identification" to make sure the licenses do not fall into the wrong hands, McGreevey said. The state's Motor Vehicle Commission expects to have its final 20 facilities able to distribute the licenses by the end of June, at which point the state will stop issuing paper licenses or accepting renewals by mail.
The new licenses represent a little more than 1 percent of New Jersey's 6 million licensed drivers.
Maryland OKs Plan For Campus Internet Access
The state of Maryland approved the University System of Maryland's request for the extension of Internet services to affiliates of the University of Maryland Academic Telecommunications System (UMATS) and the Mid Atlantic Crossroads.
The project will extend the Baltimore Education and Research Network (BERnet) to education and research institutions in the Baltimore area and to those interested in collaborating on its development.
In other education news, New Hampshire Gov. Craig Benson taught a seventh-grade class in Allenstown on Tuesday that is participating in his program for distributing laptop computers. "I want to force change throughout our educational institutions," Benson said in a release. "That is why I have created the laptop program, to enhance the classroom experience and get our children excited about going to school."
AOL Free Trials: Return To Sender
A California lawmaker has introduced legislation that would require companies who mail unsolicited copies of compact discs or digital videodiscs to include self-addressed, stamped envelopes so consumers can return unwanted materials.
News.com reports that Democratic Assemblywoman Loni Hancock said the added costs for companies could reduce landfill waste and preserve resources. "This bill will take care of a growing problem of hundreds of millions of CDs mailed out unsolicited," Hancock said in a telephone interview. The manufacturers "use increasingly scarce and expensive petroleum. The CDs then last up to 400 years in a landfill and, in fact, they can be re-used."
A spokesman for America Online, a company that routinely sends millions of CDs offering trials of its service, said the legislation would be "unduly prohibitive."
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