Bulletins

DAVENPORT — A former Clinton School District employee pleaded guilty today to stealing money from the district.

WASHINGTON – A former owner of an Illinois-based technology company has pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to defraud the federal E-Rate program, the Department of Justice announced today. Tyrone Pipkin was originally charged in U.S. District Court in New Orleans on Nov. 18, 2010, for his role in the conspiracy to defraud the E-Rate program.

EAST BURKE, Vt. – Up in rural northern Vermont, it took until the 1960s to run power lines to some towns — decades after the rest of America got turned on.

Flush from the Supreme Court's expansive reading (pdf) last term of corporate personhood in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission to include the First Amendment right to contribute to federal elections, and free from even the fairly modest restrictions in the McCain-Feingold campaign-financing law, corporations are now seeking to expand their rights of personhood to include the right to privacy.

This year is widely seen as a breakthrough year for e-books in general, and a precursor of a similar development in the education community. The growing use of e-textbooks at the university level is now reaching down into the K-12 schools in terms of e-textbook availability, related online resources, and importantly, curriculum integration.

Tel/Logic Inc., d.b.a. E-Rate Central, submits these Reply Comments in response to the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking released December 7, 2010, designated FCC 10-192, seeking comment on prospective changes to the CORES Registration System.

WASHINGTON – The United States has settled two whistleblower lawsuits for $16.25 million alleging that Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) violated the competitive bidding rules of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) E-Rate Program at the Dallas and Houston Independent School Districts in connection with technology services contracts with those school districts. At the same time, the United States announced that it was intervening in those same lawsuits against HP’s former business partners, Micro Systems Engineering (MSE) and Analytical Computer Services (ACS), as well as against several individuals.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. still faces a significant gap in residential broadband use that breaks down along incomes, education levels and other socio-economic factors, even as subscriptions among American households overall grew sevenfold from 2001 to 2009.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Sept. 23 voted to upgrade and modernize the federal $2.25 billion-a-year e-Rate program by allowing schools to make e-Rate funded, internet-enabled computers available to the community after normal school operating hours—a step that supporters and stakeholders say will help students and community members build important digital literacy skills.

E-rate and the National Broadband Plan presented at The New Mexico Summer Institute on July 14, 2010.

The New York State Education Department ("NYSED") submits these Comments in response to the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking released May 20, 2010, designated FCC 10-83, seeking comment on prospective changes to the E-rate program to both simplify the program and encourage broadband deployment. These Comments also address selected service eligibility issues in FCC proceedings FCC 09-105 and DA 10-1045.

Speaking at a International Telecommunications Union meeting in India, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski shared some experiences with crafting the National Broadband Plan, but keyed in on the relationship between broadband and education.

Don't believe the telecoms. Broadband access in the United States is even worse than you think.

By JOELLE TESSLER, AP Technology Writer. WASHINGTON – A federal court threw the future of Internet regulations and U.S. broadband expansion plans into doubt Tuesday with a far-reaching decision that went against the Federal Communications Commission.

By SHANNON DININNY, Associated Press Writer Shannon Dininny, Associated Press Writer Mon Apr 5, 4:32 pm ET. STEHEKIN, Wash. – This remote outpost in the rugged Cascades is so cut off from the outside world that it has no roads leading to town and little telephone service. The 80-or-so locals relish the isolation and pristine beauty and sell it as an escape to tourists.

With large portions of the country crippled by snowstorms - and a forecast for more snow later this week - USAC has extended the Form 471 application window for FY 2010 eight days until Friday, February 19, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. EST.

In its role helping the nation’s schools connect to the Internet and other telecommunications services, the E-rate has been among the most consistent of federal programs. But perhaps too consistent, educators and experts say.

At the center of this case is a part of the FCC's Universal Service program, known as the Schools and Libraries program, or E-Rate for short. Funded by a Universal Service fee placed on telecommunications [592 F.3d 1061] providers (and generally passed along to consumers), the Universal Service program is designed to promote telecommunications access for low-income, rural, high-cost, or otherwise underserved communities. See 47 U.S.C. § 254. As its official name implies, E-Rate uses its portion of Universal Service funding to finance telecommunications projects at school and libraries.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Communications Commission ran into a potential setback Friday in its push to draft rules that would require Internet providers to give equal treatment to all data flowing over their networks.

FCC proposes web-safety education rules e-Rate applicants would have to certify that they are teaching students about internet safety, according to a new Notice of Proposed Rulemaking