http://www.newwest.net/topic/main/C568/L/ New West Network: The Voice of the Rocky Mountains en info@newwest.net Copyright 2011 Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:55:46 MST Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:55:46 MST http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/idaho_submits_ien_application_for_broadband_stimulus_funds/C568/C568/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/idaho_submits_ien_application_for_broadband_stimulus_funds/C568/C568/ Mon, 24 May 2010 18:59:06 MST Following up on its statement from the first round of broadband stimulus funding, Idaho’s Department of Administration has filed an application for more than $6 million in federal funding to help develop the Idaho Education Network (IEN). According to the application, the money will be used for 24 “anchor sites” in 15 rural communities, but the summary form of the application printed in the directory did not specify where these sites or communities were, but said that it would make broadband available to 5887 unserved households. The wording is crucial. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/qwest_asks_for_350_million_in_broadband_stimulus_funding/C568/C568/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/qwest_asks_for_350_million_in_broadband_stimulus_funding/C568/C568/ Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:54:37 MST After sitting out the first round of broadband stimulus funding, US West (Qwest) has roared back for round 2, asking for $350 million from the federal government for a $467 million project that spans its 14-state coverage area. In its application, which is not yet available on the database, Qwest proposes to build facilities to serve more than half a million homes, schools, businesses and hospitals with broadband Internet services supporting download speeds of 12 to 40 Mbps. Whether Qwest gets the grant is another question. The largest grant awarded in the first round was $126 million, according to an article in Network World. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/in_a_flurry_of_activity_idaho_legislature_adjourns_sine_die/C568/C568/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/in_a_flurry_of_activity_idaho_legislature_adjourns_sine_die/C568/C568/ Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:14:11 MST Amidst a flurry of activity and a couple of more than ten-hour days, the Idaho Legislature has adjourned sine die, with a few interesting developments and surprises in its last few hours, as well as a whole pile of Strongly Worded Letters to send to the Federal government. Factors speeding the Legislature on their way included it being an election year, the economy inducing them not to spend the $30,000 each legislative day costs, the urgency to get out of town before March tax revenue figures came in and possibly required yet another cut to the 2010 budget, and, perhaps, the desire to be out of session before April Fool’s Day. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/another_episode_of_damn_lies_and_statistics/C568/C568/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/another_episode_of_damn_lies_and_statistics/C568/C568/ Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:24:28 MST We get it all the time, by phone, paper, or online. “Would you like to take a survey?” Then, through the magic of statistics, we learn all sorts of amazing things. Not so fast. As Mark Twain (or Disraeli, depending on which Internet quote engine you use) once said, there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics. And it doesn’t take a lot of learning about surveys to realize how often and how easily statistics can be misused.  http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/adjourn_leg_id/C568/C568/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/adjourn_leg_id/C568/C568/ Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:35:40 MST Failure of mediation between the Idaho Department of Administration and Syringa Networks regarding the development of the Idaho Education Network (IEN) could mean that the Idaho Legislature may not be able to adjourn as planned by next Friday. One of the few remaining tasks for the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC) was to provide $3 million in spending authority for the IEN based on a two-year grant from the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson education foundation. The budget for the IEN was supposed to be set a week ago, but was held off at the request of Legislative leadership until mediation was held yesterday in hopes that the Syringa lawsuit could be settled first. “It concluded last evening around 8:00 without success,” said Ken McClure, of Givens-Pursley, legal counsel for Syringa. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/ien_could_quintuple_school_internet_costs/C568/C568/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/ien_could_quintuple_school_internet_costs/C568/C568/ Mon, 15 Mar 2010 08:52:51 MST Idaho Internet service providers (ISPs) say that the way that the Idaho Education Network (IEN) is being set up could end up costing schools up to five times what they currently pay to connect to the Internet—ongoing annual costs that would have to be borne by the general fund after a $3 million two-year grant runs out. The ISPs also deny Department of Administration charges that they are coming in after the fact and trying to change the process, saying it was always intended for them to provide the “last mile” between a Qwest-built backbone and schools, and that it is Qwest that is changing the process by building expensive new connections when adequate connections already exist—and risking putting local companies out of business in the process. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/labrador_becomes_first_latino_to_preside_over_idaho_house/C568/C568/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/labrador_becomes_first_latino_to_preside_over_idaho_house/C568/C568/ Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:18:47 MST Continuing a process begun with Representative Margaret Henbest, D-Boise, in 2008 of inviting retiring members of the Idaho House to serve as Speaker for part of the day’s session, Speaker Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale, handed the gavel to Representative Raul Labrador, R-Eagle, who is leaving the House to run for Congress. And in keeping with other “firsts,” such as Henbest’s first woman speaker, as well as being a Democrat presiding over the largely Republican House—and Representative George Sayler’s, D-Coeur d’Alene, turn on Monday as the first Speaker from Kootenai County—Labrador may have been the first Latino to preside over the chamber. Naturally, House members treated Labrador with all the deference due the Speaker. Mostly. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/idaho_state_affairs_committee_passes_conscience_bill/C568/C568/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/idaho_state_affairs_committee_passes_conscience_bill/C568/C568/ Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:10:58 MST After two days of testimony, mostly in opposition, Idaho’s House State Affairs Committee voted to pass this year‘s version of the “conscience” bill, which lets medical professionals such as nurses and pharmacists refuse to perform medical actions or fill prescriptions that could cause an abortion—as well as emergency contraception—or hasten the end of life. The bill has already passed the Senate. This year’s bill is different from last year‘s in several ways, such as the inclusion of the end-of-life component, which brought in other opponents such as AARP and, perhaps, made debating and voting against the bill more palatable to legislators who would not otherwise want to be perceived as being pro-abortion. In addition was the fact that the bill went through the State Affairs committees in both houses—reportedly not only because the State Affairs committees are thought to be more conservative, but because of the perception that Health & Welfare committees—each headed by women—would be less receptive to the bill, especially after chair Senator Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston, held the bill in her committee last year. Lending credence to this argument, voting on the bill was split not only along partisan lines but also among gender lines: All three votes on the bill featured Republican men on one side and Democratic women on the other. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/idaho_awarded_broadband_stimulus_grant/C568/C568/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/idaho_awarded_broadband_stimulus_grant/C568/C568/ Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:47:22 MST A single project in Idaho has finally been awarded a grant from the federal government intended to improve broadband Internet access in rural areas. According to a press release, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Project has been awarded $6,142,879 in loans and $6,142,879 in grants to provide a FTTH broadband system offering broadband services to anchor institutions, critical community facilities, and approximately 3,770 unserved and underserved households in the communities of Plummer, Worley, Tensed, and DeSmet, as well as isolated farms and rural home sites on the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation in North Idaho. Three other Idaho projects could still be awarded funds. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/tempers_grow_short_in_idaho_legislature/C568/C568/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/tempers_grow_short_in_idaho_legislature/C568/C568/ Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:00:00 MST Just days after a spat in which the Idaho Senate refused to hear a bill to eliminate a House proposal for a 1 percent cost of living adjustment to state retirees, which Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter also weighed in on, another potential turf battle looms—one that could doom the carefully crafted education budget, scheduled to be voted on Wednesday morning by the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC). In Tuesday’s meeting of the House Education committee, Chair Representative Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, strongly criticized the process by which JFAC Chair Senator Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, had set up meetings with education stakeholders in order to determine the best way to make cuts to the education budget that would cause the least damage to schools and students. The meetings resulted in a proposed budget bill and an unprecedented dozen pages of intent language explaining it last week, which was supposed to culminate in a vote on Monday but which was postponed until Wednesday. Nonini issued a number of strong statements indicating that he believed JFAC was not paying enough attention to the education committee, which is supposed to be making policy decisions. “I don’t know how he can criticize,” said Cameron, when informed of Nonini’s remarks. “He was part of the process.”