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OCT
12 2004
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Marquette: City's wireless effort on track
A project involving a wireless Ethernet broadband
network that would serve certain city utilities is
continuing to move forward. The network would at first be
used to link Marquette's nine lift stations, the wastewater
treatment plant, the water filtration plant and the
Municipal Service Center. The network will allow for remote
monitoring and control of the stations and save the city
time and money in labor, said Karl Zueger, assistant city
manager. Eventually, the city may partner with internet
service providers to supply wireless internet access to the
public within the Marquette area. However, the city has no
plans to provide the access itself, he said. Zueger said
funding for the project would come from water and sewer
funds. He said he hoped construction could begin by spring
of next year and be finished by August 2005.
Source: The Mining Journal, http://www.miningjournal.net/news/story/1012202004_new07-n1012.asp
OCT
14 2004
* Grand Rapids: GR steps up
effort toward going 'wireless'
Grand
Rapids may be added to the growing number of communities
with citywide wireless Internet service. The city plans to
spend $19,000 to develop criteria for building a network
that could blanket the entire city. If successful, the
project could dramatically lower the cost for city residents
to get high-speed Internet connections while playing into
Gov. Jennifer Granholm's "Cool Cities" initiative.
Grand Rapids' Downtown Development Authority, which
Heartwell sits on, agreed to pay one-third of the cost of
the fee to study the issue. Recent changes in state law
allow DDAs to spend money on Internet services. General city
funds and the city's Smart Zone Authority are expected to
pick up the rest of the tab.
Source: Grand Rapids Press, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/business-2/1097765225176220.xml?grpress?BUGB
Related
Story: Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com/2004/technology/0410/18/b06e-305642.htm
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Lake Orion: On-line forum
sparks comments on Lake Orion topics
Sandy Mabery looks at it this way: It's
easier to sit down at a home computer and deliver some
thoughts than to get in the car and drive to a board
meeting. Mabery is hoping those who are reluctant to attend
public meetings will consider joining the Lake Orion Public
Resource Organization (LOPRO), an on-line forum he started
in June. His goal is that elected members of the community
read some of the public's comments. The forum is designed to
give residents a chance to comment on an array of topics,
and even promote events, and the Lake Orion Community
Schools are always a popular discussion.
Source:
Lake Orion Eccentric, http://www.hometownlife.com/Hometownlife/NewsSearch.asp?pageType=Story&StoryID=59655
*
Metropolitan Detroit: More
schools put report cards online
Kids have a harder time hiding bad grades
from parents in a handful of Metro Detroit schools that now
have made report cards available on the Internet. Online
report cards may be the next step for many districts in
Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties that already put
homework, quizzes, newsletters and even lunch menus on the
Web. The reports are a convenience for school officials, who
can easily access and print out student’s grades. And
parents are just a password away from checking an authentic
copy of their child’s report card.
Source:
Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com/2004/schools/0410/15/a02-303457.htm
OCT
15 2004
*
Ypsilanti: EMU students push for online prof
evaluations
Edward
Davis II is among a group of student leaders at Eastern
Michigan University lobbying the university to post student
evaluations of courses and professors online. While the
evaluations have for years been published in a booklet, the
information is outdated and hard to access, said Davis,
student body president. Students want a system that's free
and open only to the EMU community. The issue is being
studied by a task force of students, faculty and
administrators, said Donald Loppnow, interim provost at
Eastern.
Source:
Ann Arbor News, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-10/109785149080540.xml?aanews?NEA
OCT
16 2004
*
Kalamazoo: Kalamazoo revamps Web site
The city of Kalamazoo has overhauled its Web site to offer
more information on city government and new links to
community organizations and happenings. The revamped Web
site, www.kalamazoocity.org,
was rolled out last week. Information on various
departments, property records, City Commission meetings, how
to pay water bills online and other topics are part of an
expanded of city information. New to the site are links to
community groups and events, from upcoming concerts and
sporting events to links to churches and a business
directory.
Source:
Kalamazoo Gazette, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1097922043300620.xml?kzgazette?NEKP
OCT 17
2004
* Saginaw County: County's
nooks, crannies mapped out
A
coalition of 23 local governments has taken control of
countywide mapping and vowed to expand its services under a
Saginaw Area Geographic Information Systems Authority.
While the mapping system has operated for years in Saginaw
city and Saginaw County, its survival on a countywide basis
came into question this year when the county decided to cut
its funding. Instead of letting the county system
fade, area governments agreed to intervene. At $1 per
parcel, the communities allocated $170,000. Source: Saginaw
News, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-12/109818300930870.xml?sanews?NECN
<?xml:namespace prefix = o />
OCT
18 2004
*
Copper Country and Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School
Districts: Tech grants received
The
Copper Country and Gogebic-Ontonagon intermediate school
districts will be able to create a new level of
communication between parents and teachers. On Friday, Rep.
Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, will dedicate Project TEaCH at the
CCISD offices in Hancock. Stupak worked closely with the
school districts to help obtain a $300,000
congressionally-mandated award from the U.S. Department of
Education to support the project. TEaCH (The Educator
Communications Hub) is a suite of Web tools teachers can use
to easily create Web pages and increase parent-teacher
communication through the Internet.
Source:
Ironwood Daily Globe, http://www.ironwoodglobe.com/1016isdt.htm
Related
Story: Daily Mining Gazette, http://www.mininggazette.com/news/story/1016202004_new01-n1016.asp
*
Pinckney Township: New C-cubed classes offer students
peek at life skills
By the end of the school year, every one of
Pathfinder School's 387 eighth-grade students will have
taken a course that focuses on three C's -computers,
communications and careers. Seven years in development, the
mandatory one-semester class, called C-cubed, teaches
students to use technology to build confidence-boosting
communication skills. It also provides students with an
education development plan required by the state as of last
year. The plan directs students to focus their career
interests so they can plan their high school course work.
Source:
Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com/2004/schools/0410/18/c05l-306831.htm;
Related
Story: Lansing State Journal, http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041019/NEWS05/410190321&SearchID=73187340039441
OCT
19 2004
* Warren: Warren's
$6 million in grants to go for new radios, security
The city has received grants totaling more
than $6 million to benefit first responders. The largest
allocation, for $3.7 million, will enable Warren police and
law enforcers from three counties to communicate easier via
radio. The Police Department was the lead agency on a
funding application to the U.S. Department of Justice for
the multi-jurisdictional grant, said Warren Planning and
Research Lt. Henry Piechowski. With local governments in
financial straits amid revenue sharing cuts, the grant will
enable Warren and the sheriff's departments in Macomb,
Oakland, St. Clair, Lapeer and Livingston counties to
purchase new radio equipment.
Source:
Macomb Daily, http://www.macombdaily.com/stories/101904/loc_wrngrant001.shtml
OCT
20 2004
*
Shiawassee County Schools: Area
kids get lesson in Internet safety
Because young people are particularly
vulnerable, Shiawassee County schools are kicking off
efforts this week to make students aware of online dangers.
Children may not recognize the risks of giving information
over the Internet, said David Leingang, professional
development manager for i-SAFE. The Carlsbad, Calif.-based
nonprofit foundation is working with the schools. Carolyn
McCarthy, educational technology coordinator for the
Shiawassee Regional Education Service District (RESD),
learned of the i-SAFE program last year at a meeting at the
Eaton Intermediate School District. She persuaded the
superintendents of the eight school districts in the RESD to
include Internet safety lessons this year. Teachers have
been trained to present materials about plagiarism, identity
theft, etiquette, computer viruses and cyber bullying in
their classrooms, McCarthy said.
Source:
Lansing State Journal, http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041020/NEWS05/410200326&SearchID=73188144753584;
Related
Story: Flint Journal, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-17/109837196037860.xml?grpress?NEG
OCT
21 2004
*
Northview: Student
tracking system takes flight
Northview administrators say students already are
benefiting from a new system that tracks their progress.
Teachers are using a new data management system called First
Look Information for Guiding, Helping and Teaching Students,
or FLIGHTS. Made possible through the district's partnership
with the Chicago-based Ball Foundation, which provides
financial and educational support, the system is easy to
use, Superintendent Michael Stearns said. Now, with the
click of a mouse, the computer software connects teachers to
students' grades, academic history, attendance and any
special accommodations they might need.
Source:
Grand Rapids Press, http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-17/109837196037860.xml?grpress?NEG
OCT
24 2004
*
Livingston County: Internet
class targets parents
An Internet safety class, put on by Hilton,
Spencer Road, Lindbom and Hornung elementary schools, is
being held at Hilton Elementary, 9600 Hilton Road in
Brighton, at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Hosted by Livingston County
Sheriff's Department Detective Edwin Moore, the class is
targeted at parents who are looking for tips in keeping
their children safe when surfing the World Wide Web. The
class is free and open to the public. Some of the more
recent topics Moore covers include cyber-bullying through
e-mail and instant messages, as well as online diaries
posted by children, which Moore said are "ideal for
predators."
Source:
Daily Press and Argus, http://www.hometownlife.com/Hometownlife/NewsSearch.asp?pageType=Story&StoryID=61520
OCT 25
2004
*
Warren: Warren school's weather
station gives nation aid
The newly installed WeatherBug station at
Siersma Elementary, 3100 Donna, helped the school become
certified as one of two National Homeland Security Schools
in Metro Detroit. Longfellow Elementary in Royal Oak is the
other. The weather information gathered by the WeatherBug
stations is relayed to the government, which monitors wind
directions in the event of a terrorist biological attack.
The weather station information also can be monitored by
anyone with access to the Internet. The system, which
includes a camera view of the school's playground, was up
and running last month. For educational purposes, the
cameras can be time-lapsed so students can see various
systems move in and out of an area. Students can also tap
into any WeatherBug tracking station throughout the United
States.
Source:
Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com/2004/schools/0410/27/d05-314015.htm
OCT 26
2004
*
Dowagiac: School
district spending $287, 000 for upgrade
Dowagiac Board of Education Monday night approved
spending $287,000 on the WAN, or "wide area
network" discussed at the Sept. 20 meeting to provide
faster computer connections between buildings - particularly
with the new middle school ready for occupancy in June. A
WAN boosts bandwidth and, hence, speed, eliminates recurring
fees for leased lines and increases the abilities of
Dowagiac's network in terms of reliable connections to the
Internet, e-mail, ability to use streaming throughout the
school system, library services, food services and voice,
data and video capabilities.
Source:
Dowagiac Daily News, http://www.leaderpub.com/articles/2004/10/26/news/dowagiac_news/dnnews2.txt
OCT 27
2004
*
Livonia: Livonia gets high-tech
boost
The city's three libraries will get a boost
in technology upgrades thanks to a $13,700 grant, the
largest of such grants among Wayne County libraries. The
money, from the Reed Act/Gates Foundation, will go toward
replacing computers and updating public access equipment
with an emphasis on providing computer services to those who
are unemployed or seeking a career change. While Livonia
typically isn't viewed as an area of economic depression,
City Librarian Kathleen Monroe said now, more than ever,
officials are seeing patrons who rely solely on libraries to
search for jobs, file for unemployment benefits and send out
resumes in light of the current economy.
Source:
Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com/2004/wayne/0410/27/f03-316630.htm
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Grand Traverse County: High
tech trash
The
Electronics Waste Collection effort Friday ran like a
well-oiled machine - in contrast to the 55,000 pounds of
outdated equipment collected. The computers, printers,
copiers, fax machines, VCRs, stereos and televisions
gathered were long past their heyday of electronic
supremacy. An estimated 2,700 pieces were collected from 289
appointments made, which included residents from around the
region. A $5 fee per item covered the cost of the
collection, which was sponsored by the Grand Traverse
County. Cell phones were accepted for no fee.
Source:
Grand Traverse Herald, http://www.gtherald.com/herald/2004/oct/27trash.htm
*
Marquette: U.P. teens learn
dangers that come with Internet
Nearly
800 teenagers from all over the Upper Peninsula attended the
seventh annual U.P. Youth Conference in Marquette Tuesday,
but one session generated a lot of chatter. Lt. Tim Lee,
unit commander of the Computer Crimes Unit with the Michigan
State Police in Lansing, presented a room full of teenagers
with the possible dangers of using the internet. Lee has
worked with the MSP for about 12 years and served in the
Marines for six years prior to that. He specializes in
online investigations involving internet crimes against
children.
Source:
The Mining Journal, http://www.miningjournal.net/news/story/1027202004_new03-n1027.asp
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