Hooray for Fridays!
Five Republican assemblymen have introduced National Popular Vote legislation in the New York legislature.
Hanover, New Hampshire, the home of Dartmouth College, and other small neighboring towns are considering implementing community broadband.
In New York state the energy industry has spent more than $11 million in lobbying expenses and campaign contributions.
Possible illegal campaign contributions are causing scandals in Wisconsin and Missouri.
Former North Carolina state representative Michael Decker pleaded guilty to accepting payment for switching his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat, thereby swaying a House Speaker vote.
DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton appeared on The Colbert Report, talking about District of Columbia voting rights.
Denver, Colorado, politicians think transparency is a pretty good idea.
Wisconsin gubernatorial "reform candidate" Mark Green didn't sign our Voters First Pledge.
The Department of Justice is sueing the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, for denying equal voting rights to minority citizens.
Confusion still reigns in Ohio over voting guidelines laid out by Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell.
Limited Liability Corporations (LLC) in New York make circumventing campaign finance laws a piece of cake.
This week I'm specifically soliciting news from Michigan, for the sole reason that I rarely hear anything related to reform or ethics coming from that state. Use the Comments section, and bring on the Wolverine State news. Unless there is none...in which case, bring on some tidbits about Iowa. Why?
Why not?
There are lots of reasons to love New Hampshire - beautiful scenery, hundreds of miles of trails, maple syrup, and moose, just to name a few. Oh, and the people - they look out for their own.
I'm so proud of the tiny town of Hanover, New Hampshire, the home of my alma mater, Dartmouth College. Hanover and seven other small Granite State towns (in some cases, villages) have joined together to discuss the possibility of a community broadband project. Many of the region's rural residents have no access to high-speed internet (or even cable television), and even phone service leaves something to be desired in some places. The big phone companies aren't going to come in and fix this situation any time soon (if they had any such inkling, they would have done it already), so these communities are coming together to fix the problem themselves. Hooray for an independent spirit!
Here is an article from The Dartmouth (yes, I'm plugging my school's daily newspaper - deal) explaining the situation and the possible solution.
As more and more communities are left behind by the big telecom corporations, what else are they supposed to do than to look inward for solutions? If you know of any other communities (small, like Hanover, or big, like Philadelphia) that have or are thinking about implementing community broadband, let us know in the Comments section, and we'll share the praise for these forward-thinkers.
Common Blog
