By Jennifer Maddox
The E-Rate program is pork-barrel politics turned on its head. It's a case of the federal government approaching schools, libraries and rural health care centers all over the country and promising them money for phone service and wiring to hook up to the Internet, only to have the congressmen step forward and try to take it away.
It's the ideal regional story.
E-Rate, which stands for Education Rate, was conceived out of Vice President Al Gore's techno-campaign to get the country wired.
Last year, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it would dole out $2.25 billion each year among schools, libraries and rural health care facilities in the form of discounts on phone and Internet access charges.
Local officials said the FCC basically told them, ìyou'll definitely get these discounts. Just fill out the application.î Relying on that message, school districts and other entities crafted 1998-99 budgets assuming they would get the additional phone service and Internet access at the discounted rates.
Problems started when conservatives realized that long-distance phone carriers, which were to bear the burden of the E-Rate cost through their "Universal Service" fees to the FCC, announced increases in long-distance rates in May.
Critics immediately began to refer to the increased charges as the Gore Tax. Meanwhile, the non-political locals were left confused. They thought they would be getting these discounts. And what to do about their already-approved budgets?
That remains unclear. Responding to political pressure, the FCC announced in June that it would cut the E-Rate budget to $1.275 billion per year -- slightly more than half of what it originally advertised.
But one lawmaker has introduced a bill this summer to kill the E-Rate entirely. Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., threatened to tack his bill as an amendment on to the Commerce-Justice-State appropriations bill, but pulled back at the last minute.
Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., and Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., have introduced bills that are slightly more moderate. They propose to cut the federal communications excise tax by two-thirds and leave the remaining third ($1.7 billion) for E-Rate. That money would be distributed to the states in the form of block grants.
To make this a regional story, the Schools and Libraries Corp. (set up by the FCC to administer the E-Rate) has a list of applicants on its Web site, accessible through the FCC site (www.fcc.gov). The applications will have a contact name and number from the local districts. They will give you an earful on the subject.
Also, a coalition has organized to save the E-Rate. You might also find that local school officials have created a vast e-mail network, trading information on how to lobby to retain the E-Rate program.
I am told by the House Subcommittee on Telecommu-nications, Trade and Consumer Protection that hearings on Tauzin's bill are likely in September.
By Christine Dorsey
The agency, formed in 1996 by Congress, awards grants to all kinds of museums and libraries across the nation. It began its efforts in October.
With E-Rate, NEA funding and other controversies brewing, the institute is another source for reporters who want to know how funding cuts for the country's cultural endeavors may affect local entities.
The institute awards several kinds of grants to local museums and libraries each year.
The next grants ó about $20 million for local museums ó will be announced Sept. 11. Institute public affairs specialist Giuliana Bullard said the agency will have state-by-state breakdowns of the grants.
Bullard can be reached at (202) 606-8339, or at
Gbullard@imls.fed.us. You can also access the institute's Web page at www.imls.fed.us.
Of the 30 RRA members who responded to the survey in May and June, 73 percent said they are "very" or "moderately" interested in additional training for deadline and non-deadline reporting.
The respondents expressed interest in further training on the use of search engines, mailing lists, and spreadsheet and database programs.
RREF at its July 20th meeting decided to ask the RRA board to propose training programs to be cosponsored by RREF.
RREF also discussed the planned Dec. 14 event to mark RRA's 10th anniversary and various fund-raising opportunities. RREF plans to solicit tax-deductible contributions from bureaus and news organizations to help subsidize the program.
Robert Gavin, a regional reporter for the Syracuse (N.Y.) Newspapers was elected RREF secretary.
If you still want to donate, please send checks directly to the U.S. Capitol Police Memorial Fund, 119 D Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20510.
E-mail is fast becoming RRA's best way to get in touch with members.
Please also remember to alert us of address changes.
John Biers, who wrote for papers in Massachusetts and Maryland, has left for New Orleans, where he'll work as a business reporter for the Times-Picayune.
Also, Ethan Wallison, who covered Illinois, has taken a job at Roll Call.
-- Pat Howe, Got news? Call Pat Howe at (202) 662-7123
The board also discussed the possibility of getting a table to promote regional reporting at next year's American Society of Newspaper Editors convention.
Dorsey updated the board on the 10th anniversary event, which has been scheduled for Monday, Dec. 14 at the Freedom Forum. She also informed the board on the status of efforts to invite President Clinton for a briefing with regional reporters.
Vice President Carl Weiser briefed the board on newsmaker ideas. Several invitations have gone out to agency heads. The board continued discussing a ìhow-toî event on using FEC documents from the Web and the FEC's dial-up Direct Access Program. Board member James Grimaldi and RRA member Sylvia Smith are working on an event.
The board discussed the possibility of highlighting a regional story on the RRA Web Page each month, but no one volunteered to take charge of the project. The board also discussed putting together a calendar of regional events such as FEC filings and other agency activities. RRA secretary Brett Lieberman, who also is president of the Regional Reporters Educational Foundation, said he
would discuss with RREF board member Chris Callahan the possibility of having Callahan's journalism interns work on the project.
By Christine Dorsey
Two Capitol Police officers and a female tourist had been shot by a gunman inside the U.S. Capitol. All four were being rushed to area hospitals. So I began doing what no doubt all of us did: I started making cold calls to my congressional offices looking for a story.
Only after I'd put my story to bed that night did I stop and think about what really happened. I stepped out of my role as a reporter for a moment and considered the horrible crime that had occurred.
I didn't know officers J.J. Chestnut or John Gibson. I didn't even recognize them when their mugs started appearing on the networks and in the papers. But then, I probably wouldn't recognize anyone on the Capitol Police force.
I walk by them weekly, if not daily, and usually ignore their presence. Or sometimes, I curse them for preventing me from getting to press briefings a few seconds faster. I roll my eyes when they hassle me if I forget to wear my press badge. I impatiently tap my foot when they insist on rifling through my lunch bag.
But since July 24, my attitude has changed. I'm sad to say, it took the murders of two officers to make me realize just what the Capitol police do for me every time I walk into that historic building.
It took one deranged man's deadly actions to remind me that it could just as easily have been me at whom his gun was pointed. He is a sick man, and he probably had no real reason for choosing the Crypt entrance as opposed to the House or Senate entrances. He blew his way through the checkpoint, so a "Staff Only" sign would not have deterred him.
He was angry and wanted to vent. How many others do you suppose are tempted to do the same on any given day?
Because I work inside the Capitol so often, I forget what a symbol it is to so many. And I forget it is also a target. I take for granted the hundreds of men and women whose job it is to take the bullets for me. And you. And everyone who visits or works there.
This wonít be last time a deranged killer visits the U.S. Capitol. I'll remember that the next time an officer holds me up at the door.
RRA president Christine Dorsey can be reached at (202) 783-1760 or by e-mail, cdorsey@nationalpress.com.
Don't worry, everyone has that feeling. But to get an idea what's out there, a good place to start is The New York Timesí Cybernavigator
(http://www.nytimes.com/navigator) designed as the paper's home page for its own reporters.
Basically a subjective list of links to the rest of the Web, edited by the paper's electronic media top dog, the site is chock-full of places to look for story ideas. In addition to links to search engines, phone lookups and news sites, the site also has more esoteric links, such as one for the FAA's database of airline safety reports and another on state statistics called StateSearch (http://www.nasire.org/ss/index.html) (How far along is your state
on the Y2K problem?)
A sister site, Political Points,
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/polpoints.html) will lead you to top political sites, from The White House to All Politics.
One link (http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting.html) will take to you to the Census Bureau's projections of voting-age population by state in November. Another Web link (http://www.realchange.org) gets you to something called the Skeleton Closet, which promises to dish dirt on politicians.
-- Onell Soto,
Scripps-Howard News Service
Some E-Rate Contacts
The coalition to save E-Rate consists of:
CLUCK: Check chicken checks
Donrey Media Group
In Brief
Regionals may want to add to their phone lists a new agency in town called the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Regional reporters are interested in Internet and computer-assisted reporting training, according to a survey by the Regional Reporters Education Foundation and the Regional Reporters Association.
As of Aug. 10, RRA collected $235 from association members for a fund set up in memory of two police officers killed in the Capitol shooting. That, plus a $100 donation from RRA, will be delivered to the U.S. Capitol Police by board president Christine Dorsey.
Whatís your e-mail?
If you are a paid member of RRA and have
not been receiving e-mail
correspondence from Board President Christine Dorsey, please send her your e-mail at cdorsey@nationalpress.com.
Restive Regions
Two States News Service reporters have moved on.
Small Newspapers Group
Board minutes - August 3, 1998
The RRA board voted unanimously to donate $100 to the U.S. Capitol Police Memorial Fund to show appreciation and sympathy for the loss of two officers killed at the U.S. Capitol in July. President Christine Dorsey sent an e-mail to the membership soliciting individual contributions that she would add to the RRA donation, so the group may give a larger gift to the memorial fund.
President's Report
A new attitude toward the police
Donrey Media Group
WWWeblink
Despite spending lots of time on the Internet, it's hard to shake off that feeling that there's a lot more out there than you get to see.
Riverside Press-Enterprise
July 1998 Regional Reporter
June 1998 Regional Reporter
May 1998 Regional Reporter
April 1998 Regional Reporter
March 1998 Regional Reporter
February 1998 Regional Reporter
January 1998 Regional Reporter
December 1997 Regional Reporter
November 1997 Regional Reporter
October 1997 Regional Reporter
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August 1997 Regional Reporter