• 07 Nov 2009 03:08

  Saturday, November 7, 2009

  TN: Bredesen calls biofuel criticism 'outrageous' By Tom Humphrey, Knoxville News Sentinel Gov. Phil Bredesen branded a legislative attack on the BioFuels Initiative he launched two years ago as "ridiculous" and "outrageous" Thursday and said it endangers an unannounced "very large investment in East Tennessee." MS: State to provide funding for online job training By Carlie Kollath, The Daily Journal (Tupelo) BELDEN, Miss. - Mississippi was one of four states chosen to participate in a U.S. Department of Labor program that funds 80 percent of costs associated with online job training courses. DE: New push for LNG plant near Claymont By Jeff Montgomery, The News Journal (New Castle-Wilmington) An Amerada Hess Corp. joint venture plans a new attempt to develop a liquefied natural gas terminal along the Delaware River opposite Claymont, after acquiring a BP property long bogged down by a state boundary dispute. MN: Broadening broadband around Minnesota By Steve Alexander, Minneapolis Star Tribune MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- A report today will recommend that the state help ensure high-speed Internet is available across Minnesota. NE: Nebraska nuclear power plant goes offline By The Associated Press, Lincoln Journal Star FORT CALHOUN, Neb. -- The Omaha Public Power District's nuclear power plant, Fort Calhoun Station, has been taken offline for a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage. WV: Morgantown technology businessman named to state school board By Davin White, Charleston Gazette Gov. Joe Manchin on Thursday appointed a Morgantown man with decades of experience in private technology companies to a nine-year term on the state Board of Education.

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• 06 Nov 2009 04:40

  Friday, November 6, 2009

  AL: Alert system may fill rural gap By Jason Morton, Tuscaloosa News EUTAW, Ala. -- On Thursday, the Alabama Emergency Management Agency announced at the Greene County Courthouse the potential hiring of Global Security Systems, a Jackson, Miss.-based company that plans to bring its Alert FM system to nine West Alabama counties.   Read More AL: Lawmakers put pressure on contracts By Phillip Rawls, The Associated Press, Montgomery Advertiser The battle over an unbid $13 million computer contract is beginning to have an impact on how other state contracts are awarded.   Read More GA: Georgia prisons win stimulus grants for energy projects By Dave Williams, Atlanta Business Chronicle The Georgia Department of Corrections has received $16 million in federal economic stimulus grants for a series of energy efficiency projects at prisons around the state.   Read More NY: Wind law could benefit company By Christine McConville, Boston Herald Despite significant opposition in Western Massachusetts, state environmental affairs secretary Ian Bowles is pushing hard to get a controversial wind-turbine law passed before the legislative session ends on Nov. 18.   Read More NY: Wind-energy firm takes Yates County town to court By Steve Orr, Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester) ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Angered by a Town Board vote in Italy, Yates County, to kill a turbine proposal, a wind-energy company is asking a judge to override the elected board members and allow the project to go forward.   Read More NY: Conference emphasizes need for technology in classroom By Bennett J. Loudon, Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester) ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- A conference for aspiring teachers Thursday emphasized the need for educators to embrace the use of technology in the classroom.   Read More SC: GOP gubernatorial candidates split on disclosing Boeing deal details By Rudolph Bell, The Greenville News State representative and Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley of Lexington said Thursday night South Carolina officials ought to disclose details now of the incentives package they offered to The Boeing Co. in order to lure a new aircraft plant to North Charleston.   Read More

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• 05 Nov 2009 13:00

  NY: Cuomo targets Intel for global 'campaign of illegal conduct' By Casey Seiler, Times Union (Albany) The Attorney General charges the world's largest chip-fab with engaging in broad-based bribery and coercion to maintain its market position in a new antitrust lawsuit. MD: Free phones, airtime offered to poor Marylanders By Gus G. Sentementes, The Sun (Baltimore) BALTIMORE, Md. -- One of the country's largest national prepaid cell phone carriers is making free phones and 64 minutes of monthly air time available to nearly 400,000 low-income Maryland residents under a new effort it brought to the state this week. DE: Bluewater's foes now on its side By Aaron Nathans, The News Journal (New Castle-Wilmington) It wasn't that long ago that Bluewater Wind's main opponents were Delmarva Power and NRG Energy. But if Bluewater's offshore wind farm gets built, it may have both to thank for keeping the project afloat. FL: Fla. GOP -- Steele a victim of bogus 'tweets' By Rick Neale, Florida Today Brevard Republican Party Chairman Jason Steele was targeted by a fictitious Twitter account set up by a fellow party official, the Republican Party of Florida announced. LA: LSU to aid 'genome zoo' By Jordan Blum, The Advocate (Baton Rouge) LSU is expected to provide much of the DNA and tissue specimens for a new international project to assemble a "genome zoo" of 10,000 vertebrate species. MA: Report -- State must step up fight against overdoses By The Associated Press, Boston Herald Tamper-proof prescription pads, jail diversion programs and school-based drug counselors are some of the steps Massachusetts should adopt to stem OxyContin and heroin overdoses, according to a new report. ME: Company bids for biomass contract By Nick Sambides Jr., Bangor Daily News MILLINOCKET, Maine — Brookfield Renewable Power has bid to supply electricity to the state's utilities from a biomass boiler it hopes to install at its local paper mill, a next step among several needed to restart the mill, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday. MN: Saving the ash tree, seed by seed By Bill McAuliffe, Minneapolis Star Tribune MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Most of Minnesota's ash trees seem doomed, but the rush is on to preserve their seeds in hopes of saving the species. NE: Nebraskans eager to trim budget By Paul Hammel, Omaha World-Herald Any Nebraskans worth their corn husks will tell you who needs to start at quarterback for the Husker football team. And they're full of ideas on how to wrest the state out of its sticky, $334 million budget problem, judging from e-mails sent to reporters and to a state senator's Web site.   Read More NH: Anthem warns of security breach By The Associated Press, Concord Monitor Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is warning 10,000 New Hampshire physicians, dentists and other providers that their Social Security numbers may have been stolen.   Read More NY: Aqueduct-bid tribe in 'illegal casino' flap By Maggie Haberman, New York Post NEW YORK -- The Florida Seminole tribe, which is part of a team making a play to run the potentially lucrative video lottery casino at Aqueduct, is enmeshed in a controversy in its own state, with some pols claiming they're illegally allowing gambling.   Read More NY: Cuomo files Intel antitrust suit By Ashlee Vance, The New York Times In 2005, Michael S. Dell's namesake company was getting pounded. His competitors were selling personal computers and servers built on cheap, popular and powerful chips from Advanced Micro Devices, while Mr. Dell had stuck loyally with slower chips from Intel.   Read More NY: Some N.Y. voters uncomfortable with new system By Cara Matthews, Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester) Change isn't always easy, and that came through this week in the comments of voters who marked paper ballots and scanned them into machines, rather than the old-fashioned way of pulling mechanical levers, election officials said.   Read More OK: Oklahoma defends its handling of $2.8B in stimulus funds By Michael McNutt, The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City) Oklahoma correctly accepted and spent its federal stimulus funds, an assistant attorney general said Wednesday in arguing against a lawsuit that claimed Oklahoma officials acted wrongly.   Read More SC: Details to be kept quiet By Katy Stech, The Post and Courier (Charleston) Politicians and other state officials privately crafted a $450 million incentive deal to land Boeing Co. on the promise of thousands of jobs and a multibillion-dollar economic impact, but the details of that deal could be kept from public view for the next year.   Read More TN: TN legislators may scrap $70M biofuels project By Chas Sisk, The Tennessean (Nashville) State lawmakers say they might pull the plug on a University of Tennessee effort to produce ethanol from switchgrass, after school officials said it has changed business partners, scaled down production and now plans to start out using corncobs, not switchgrass.   Read More TX: Senator -- No fed money for US-China wind project By H. Joseph Herbert, The Associated Press, The Houston Chronicle WASHINGTON — A Democratic senator is calling on the Obama administration to reject an expected request for federal economic stimulus money as part of a $1.5 billion West Texas wind energy project because he says it will generate Chinese, not American, jobs.   Read More

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• 04 Nov 2009 21:01

  Thursday, November 5, 2009

  GA: Memory cards forgotten in 7 Ga. voting machines By The Associated Press, The Augusta Chronicle Memory cards in seven voting machines were unintentionally left in Atlanta precincts Tuesday night, in a poll worker error that election officials say is not expected to affect the outcome of any race. GA: Grant creates shared library for Georgia's colleges By Laura Diamond, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Georgia Tech received $857,000 to create a digital library to be shared by colleges in the University System of Georgia. LA: DOTD explains ramp controls By Will Sentell, The Advocate (Baton Rouge) Ramp meters, which would be the first of their kind in Louisiana, are aimed at making it easier to merge onto the interstate. They will force vehicles to proceed one at a time along entrance ramps onto I-12, roughly at four-second intervals. MA: Families seek coverage for hearing aids By Christine McConville, Boston Herald Health insurance companies in Massachusetts are not required to pick up the cost of children's hearing aids, but if Josephine Lee of Georgetown and other parents have their way, that's going to change. MD: Annapolis considers 'renewable energy park' By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Sun (Baltimore) BALTIMORE, Md. -- Hoping to make some green out of going green, Annapolis officials are weighing an ambitious plan to convert an old municipal dump into a "renewable energy park" that would generate enough electricity to supply all of the power the state capital consumes, using landfill gas, yard waste and the sun's rays for fuel. MD: Constellation, EDF moving forward with nuclear sale By Liam Farrell, The Capital (Annapolis) Constellation Energy and Electricite de France are moving quickly to close their nuclear power deal under conditions imposed by the state Public Service Commission, including a $100 rebate for Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. ratepayers. NV: Nevada utility panel taking public comment today By The Associated Press, Nevada Appeal (Carson City) Nevada state utility regulators plan a public meeting in Reno to hear from residents about electric, gas, telephone, railroad and water service in northern Nevada. VT: Video shows bridge cracks By Matt Sutkoski, Burlington Free Press A video released Tuesday by the New York Department of Transportation shows extensive cracking on at least one of the concrete piers supporting the closed Lake Champlain Bridge linking Addison to Crown Point, N.Y.

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• 04 Nov 2009 04:02

  Wednesday, November 4, 2009

  VT: Vermont Yankee misses deadline By Terri Hallenbeck, Burlington Free Press A Nov. 1 deadline set by legislative leaders came and went, and still no deal between Vermont Yankee and the state's largest utilities on a post-2012 power contract.   Read More

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• 03 Nov 2009 08:32

  Tuesday, November 3, 2009

  MN: Cash-strapped colleges outsource their e-mail By Jenna Ross, Minneapolis Star Tribune MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- It takes manpower and money to run an e-mail system, and colleges and universities have less of both these days. So they're turning to outside providers such as Google and Microsoft to run their e-mail for free. CO: Ritter defends ex-aide over restricted records By Tim Hoover, The Denver Post Gov. Bill Ritter on Monday publicly defended Stephanie Villafuerte, the White House's nominee for U.S. attorney in Colorado, as questions linger about whether she played a role in the accessing of a restricted federal database while working on Ritter's 2006 gubernatorial campaign. HI: 3 in Hawaii win governor's innovation awards By Staff Reports, The Honolulu Advertiser Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday recognized three recipients of the Governor's Innovation Awards for their role in helping Hawai'i create an innovation-based economy and a stronger future for the state. MA: Wind turbine on line for base cleanup By George Brennan, Cape Cod Times CAMP EDWARDS Mass. — Rose Forbes, the woman who spearheaded a wind turbine project for the Air Force, said recently it made little sense for the base to clean up groundwater using energy that fouled the air through fossil-fuel emissions. MD: Tool titans merge By Andrea K. Walker, Lorraine Mirabella and Jamie Smith Hopkins, The Sun (Baltimore) BALTIMORE -- Black & Decker Corp., the Towson-based toolmaker founded here almost 100 years ago, said Monday that it plans to merge with The Stanley Works in a $4.5 billion all-stock deal that will bring together internationally known brands but reduce the number of local jobs. MN: Utilities kill plans for Big Stone II power plant By Leslie Brooks Suzukamo, St. Paul Pioneer Press Developers of the controversial Big Stone II power plant in Milbank, S.D., said Monday they will not build the $1.6 billion coal-fired project, ending a four-year battle between utilities and environmentalists over a significant portion of Minnesota's energy future. NH: Sierra Club seeks council chief's recusal By Chelsea Conaboy, Concord Monitor The acting chairman of a state council charged with hearing a case on Public Service of New Hampshire's Bow power plant is a former employee of the company. The state chapter of the Sierra Club, which is appealing a state permit issued for the plant, wants him disqualified from the case. NM: Eichenberg responds to 'Denish can't win' comments By Matthew Reichbach, New Mexico Independent Democratic State Sen. Tim Eichenberg recently made waves throughout the New Mexico blogosphere when he said that he didn't believe that Lt. Gov. Diane Denish could win the gubernatorial race next year. NV: Spokesman -- Gibbons 'made mistake' over Reid car bomb By David McGrath Schwartz, Las Vegas Sun Gov. Jim Gibbons today repeated his belief on a Nevada political show that the bomb in Harry Reid's station wagon in 1981 was a telephone book in a shoe box. VA: Long-distance call from Alaska? By Staff Reports, Richmond Times-Dispatch Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin made a long-awaited entry into the Virginia governor's race via an automated call to as many as 350,000 state residents urging them to vote.

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• 02 Nov 2009 15:11

  WA: Privacy looms over gay rights vote By William Yardley, The New York Times SEATTLE — At a time when voters in many states are using petitions to qualify ballot measures on issues from gay rights to property rights, a legal dispute over the identity of 138,000 petition signers here is raising new questions about privacy, free speech and elections in the Internet age. CA: California may pull the plug on power-guzzling flat-screen TVs By Michael B. Farrell, The Christian Science Monitor SAN FRANCISCO -- The state that first championed the ban on energy-hogging refrigerators in the 1970s now has its sights set on power-hungry TVs. ID: Idaho school district to restart copier bids By The Associated Press, Idaho State Journal (Pocatello) The largest school district in the state plans to restart the bidding process with copier companies for their services in November, nearly three months after recanting on a decision to award the contract to Xerox Corp. MN: Website in Minnesota lifts profile of e-philanthropy By Jean Hopensperger, Minneapolis Star Tribune MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- GiveMN is a new research tool that aims to increase people's charitable giving online. MN: Protected aquifer feared at risk By Tom Meersman, Minneapolis Star Tribune MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Pooling underneath the Twin Cities area is drinking water so old and pristine that it's protected by state law. It can't be used for industrial purposes in the seven-county metro area.   Read More MO: Study will review purposes of Missouri River dams By Chet Brokaw, The Associated Press, Kansas City Star A Missouri River study ordered by Congress will provide a long overdue review of the 1944 law that spelled out the purposes of the river's six dams, officials from states along the Missouri said Thursday.   Read More MT: Schweitzer criticized for backing single firm on $70M Internet stimulus project By Mike Dennison, Missoulian Gov. Brian Schweitzer's recommendation that one firm get $70 million in federal stimulus funds to expand high-speed Internet service is being blasted by Montana telephone companies and regulators, who say the project won't extend new service to under-served areas.   Read More OK: Today marks the first day of new Oklahoma laws By Michael McNutt, The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City) Most elements of a comprehensive lawsuit reform measure, agreed to in the last days of this year's legislative session after more than two years of bickering, are now law. It's one of nearly 200 state laws that will take effect today.   Read More RI: R.I. to distribute $2.3 million in federal aid for energy-efficiency projects By Peter B. Lord, The Providence Journal Help is finally on the way for middle-class people who want to make their houses more energy-efficient and save on heating bills. But the assistance is not quite here yet.   Read More SC: How the Boeing deal was done By Andy Shain, The State (Columbia) A week before North Charleston landed a new Boeing jet assembly line, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham thought South Carolina had lost the deal.   Read More TX: Emergency alert system now includes cell phones By Suzannah Gonzales, The Austin American-Statesman Central Texans can now receive emergency notifications on their cell phones.   Read More US: A bid to cut emissions looks away from coal By Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times WASHINGTON — As Congress debates legislation to slow global warming by limiting emissions, engineers are tinkering with ways to capture and store carbon dioxide, the leading heat-trapping gas.   Read More

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• 01 Nov 2009 23:09

  Monday, November 2, 2009

  Spending limits, gambling top fiscal 2009 ballot measures By Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org Staff Writer The national spotlight may be focused Nov. 3 on elections for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, but voters elsewhere could take action to profoundly change the way their states get and spend taxpayers’ money.   Read More

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• 01 Nov 2009 08:59

  Sunday, November 1, 2009

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• 31 Oct 2009 01:53

  Saturday, October 31, 2009

  MN: Could the flu bring the Web to its knees? By Bob Von Sternberg, Minneapolis Star Tribune If the flu pandemic becomes as severe as some experts fear, it could end up infecting the Internet. That's the conclusion of the General Accountability Office, which issued a report this week that warned about a potential meltdown of the Web. ME: Fairpoint plan spells fear for workers' benefits By The Associated Press, Bangor Daily News FairPoint filed Monday after agreeing on a deal with key lenders to lower its debt from $2.7 billion to $1 billion and cut its interest expenses. The plan, which is subject to approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York, seeks $30 million in concessions from its unions in northern New England. LA: AgCenter lab joins group testing food By Staff Reports, The Advocate (Baton Rouge) A state agricultural chemistry lab has become part of a network of food-testing labs, created for quick response to contaminated food emergencies. Click here to read the latest state elections stories Click here for a printable guide to 2009 and 2010 gubernatorial races

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