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NEWS SHORTS [Stranger, The](Stranger, The Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) CENTURYLINK WANTS TO BLOCK MUNICIPAL BROADBAND In a statement sent to The Stranger on September 5, CenturyLink came out against Seattle creating a public internet utility, a possibility Mayor Ed Murray has explored since January. CenturyLink is part of an industry group called USTelecom lobbying to maintain state laws-laws the telecoms supported-that ban cities from expanding their broadband programs. The company says municipal broadband efforts often represent "millions of dollars in failed investments." But Bill Schrier, Seattle's former chief technology officer, counters that Chattanooga, Tennessee's broadband program "is pretty widely recognized as a success." He says telecoms are fighting "because they fear competition, which drives down prices." ANSEL HERZ COURT SIDES WITH THE STRANGER On September 5, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on a legal battle about grand-jury secrecy that The Stranger and the US Attorney's Office have been fighting since last year. (For background, see thestranger. com, where we've done a metric ton of reporting on it.) Short version: The Feds were sealing documents, wiping the proceedings from the public record. We thought that was crap and fought to unseal documents all the way up to the federal appellate court. In a 50-page ruling, Judge Morgan Christen agreed with us (mostly-we asked for a few things we didn't get), writing: "The public should be given an opportunity to engage in and follow the dialogue." BRENDAN KILEY HOMELESS CAMP CAN'T FIND HOME Nickelsville, a homeless encampment named after a certain former mayor whose name rhymes with "pickles," planned to move last month from the Central District to a swath of empty land in the International District. The property owner had given permission, a church sponsored the move, and neighboring Seattle Goodwill issued a statement welcoming them. But under Mayor Ed Murray, the Department of Planning and Development recently scuttled that move (at least for now) by requiring Nickelsville to undergo a lengthy permitting process. Council Member Nick Licata says if that process is onerous, perhaps "the city should instead make available unused public property." A Murray spokesman said the mayor will not be helping Nickelsville camp on public property anytime soon. ANSEL HERZ LAWMAKERS STILL LAZY The state's top justices smacked the legislature last week for continuing to underfund education. The state supreme court had ruled in 2012 that the state was failing its paramount duty-to fund education-and lawmakers have responded by doing approximately jack shit. So the justices heard arguments on September 3 about whether they should find Olympia lawmakers in contempt of court. Justices pointed out the legislature held a special session to give Boeing an $8.7 billion tax break but never scraped together the roughly $2 billion a year needed to pay for K-12 public schools. Hang 'em high, we say. A decision is pending. DOMINIC HOLDEN The Feds were sealing documents, wiping the proceedings from the public record. (c) 2014 The Stranger |