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Washington Governor Launches Drug Web Site
by Chloe Albanesius
Washington Gov. Gary Locke on Tuesday unveiled a Web site to point state residents to cheaper prescription drugs from Canada.
The initiative is a partnership with Minnesota and Wisconsin, which already offer Web sites featuring options for prescription drugs. The Washington site features comparisons of brand-name drug prices and links to Canadian pharmacies that stock the drugs. The pharmacies featured on Washington's site have been visited and approved by Minnesota officials.
To inform citizens of the new project, Locke, a Democrat, will host informational workshops over the next 10 months in conjunction with the Retired Senior Volunteer Program.
In other news, a pharmacist who traveled to Canada to inspect two pharmacies for New Hampshire reported Tuesday that he found no problem with either establishment. K-Tel DrugMart and CanadaDrugs.com "were inspected by [New Hampshire] pharmacists, who found no problem whatsoever with the safety or the quality of the drugs," Frank Lukosius said.
Meanwhile, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox last week requested that the Michigan Community Health Department created a Web site that lists the prices of commonly used prescription drugs. "Providing consumers with a user-friendly Web site will empower consumers to purchase their prescription drugs at the lowest cost," he said in a statement.
Cox's suggestion comes after he unsuccessfully attempted to get drug pricing information from Virginia-based First Health Services, which provides pricing information to the Michigan health department. Cox requested that First Health provide drug prices directly to the attorney general's office, but the company declined, stating it will only provide information to the department because it holds the state's Medicaid contract.
DNA Database Yields Hundreds Of Matches
California's DNA database received more than 1,000 hits in September, linking convicted felons to new and cold cases, Attorney General Bill Lockyer announced Wednesday.
"We've gone from linking individuals to old, cold cases at a rate of less than one a year to more than three a day," Lockyer said in a press release.
Under state law, people who are convicted of certain serious and violent felonies, such as murder, rape or first-degree burglary, must submit DNA samples to the state's database.
Though the database has existed since 1994, it received only eight hits during its first five years. But as officials have gathered more DNA samples from convicted felons, it has enabled them to more frequently match biological data to evidence collected at crime scenes. At this point, the CAL-DNA Data Bank has 274,000 convicted felon profiles and 9,300 forensic profiles.
Meanwhile, Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath on Monday unveiled a revamped section of the state's Justice Department Web site dedicated to victims of crime. "Victims have enough problems without having to spend countless hours searching out the resources available to help them," McGrath said in a statement.
The section provides information on how victims can obtain orders of protection and make sure they are properly enforced. In addition, users can gain access to the updated registry of convicted sexual and violent offenders, and explore a crime-victim compensation page.
Also in Montana, the state's Board of Crime Control last week approved homeland security grants worth more than $2.6 million. The federal grants will fund three projects aimed at improving the ability of communications systems used by emergency personnel to "talk" to each other.
The Northern Tier Interoperability Project along the Montana border with Canada took home about $1.5 million to purchase portable and mobile radios, radios for a control station, and software to program secure radio channels. Meanwhile, the Lewis & Clark County Sheriff's Office was awarded $924,000 for a pilot radio project that may become a statewide radio system.
Dawson County's P-25 communication project received $207,000 to fund a dispatch-center radio, vehicle radios, and repeater and handheld radios, as well as a 100-foot tower. The county sheriff's office and the Glendive City Police Department also will add equipment that will enable monitoring of surrounding counties and the Montana Highway Patrol.
"It's way overdue," Glendive Police Chief Alan Michaels said.
Texas Candidate Under Fire For Office E-Mails
A Texas congressional candidate used state computers to send news releases about her campaign, AP reported.
Former Texas Public Utilities Commission (PUC) Chairwoman Rebecca Armendariz Klein, the Republican candidate for Texas' 25th district, sent e-mails to various contacts announcing her resignation and included personal contact information.
A Jan. 19 e-mail to a telecommunications consultant read: "Here's the latest with what I'm doing, as of last Friday. Maybe [your firm] can throw a fundraiser :-)." She also included a news release titled "Beckyforcongress."
The Texas Ethics Commission said using government property for personal gain is against the law and could result in fines or jail time. "Generally speaking, we advise [officeholders] not to use state resources for personal use, or for campaigns, or that sort of thing," said Tim Sorrells, assistant general counsel to the commission.
Klein said she found nothing improper about her e-mails. She is running against Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, and Libertarian James Werner. Though she is not expected to win, her experience with the Texas PUC has prompted some talk about her being asked to serve with a federal regulatory agency like the FCC or FTC.
Idahoans To Incur Charge For E-Filing Access
Starting Jan. 3, residents who want to find Idaho federal court information online will incur a 7-cent fee for every page view within the district court Web site. The Idaho State Journal reports that users also will have to register to access the information.
The move is part of a federal law requiring states to transition from paper-based to electronic filing systems. About half of U.S. states already charge fees for electronic filings, said Diane Hutchinson, the deputy in charge of U.S. courts in Pocatello, Idaho. "Idaho has delayed participating in this program for as long as possible ... because of the requirement to pay a fee for searching documents," she said.
Users still can check e-documents for free inside the federal courthouse, and no one will be charged if they accumulate less than $10 in user fees in a year. With the exception of those without attorneys, everyone who files in federal court will have to do so electronically by 2006, Hutchinson said.
Connecticut Pushes Online Child Safety Week
Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell called on Internet users to be aware of cyber security for children this week as part of Cyber Security Awareness Month.
"We want to make the Internet a safe haven for our children," she said in a statement. "To ensure that they are protected, we need to stay one step ahead of cyber criminals at all times."
The Republican governor urged parents to install the latest security software on home computers. "Protecting ourselves against computer viruses, worms, hackers and identity thieves is as important as protecting our families, homes and property," she said.
Meanwhile, in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Maryland Attorney General Joseph Curran on Wednesday announced a recycling partnership with Verizon Wireless for cellular telephones that will fund programs to prevent domestic violence.
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