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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, JULY 09, 2004 Supercomputing Bills Clear House Federal Program Pushes Science Education House Stands by Patriot Act, Barely FCC Reshuffles Spectrum SUPERCOMPUTING BILLS CLEAR HOUSE The U.S. House of Representatives has passed two bills aimed at improving supercomputing facilities and programs in the United States. The High-Performance Computing Revitalization Act of 2004 would coordinate all federal supercomputing projects under the authority of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy and would require the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy's Office of Science to make supercomputing facilities available to researchers. Under the other bill, called the Department of Energy High-End Computing Revitalization Act of 2004, the secretary of energy would develop top-level supercomputing facilities, which would be accessible to researchers from industry, academe, and federal agencies. The bill authorizes $165 million for the project, but the funds would still need to be appropriated through other legislation. The Computing Research Association, a group that represents academic and commercial researchers, praised the House's approval of the bills but noted that federal funding for information technology projects has frequently fallen short of targets. Chronicle of Higher Education, 8 July 2004 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2004/07/2004070802n.htm FEDERAL PROGRAM PUSHES SCIENCE EDUCATION U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham this week announced the Scientists Teaching and Reaching Students program, which is intended to support and foster interest in math and science programs among the country's middle and high school students. According to the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, U.S. students, who are among the top-performing students in the world in math and science at the 4th-grade level, fall nearly to the bottom of the list by 12th grade. The new program will award scholarships for math and science teachers to study at the nation's labs, including Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, and Sandia National Laboratories. In addition, those labs will host 2,000 5th- and 8th-grade students for at least one day a year. For a number of years, U.S. colleges and universities have seen steadily declining numbers of students in science programs, and the effect of the new program on this trend is not clear. Countries such as India, China, and Russia currently graduate significantly more science and engineering students than the United States. San Jose Mercury News, 8 July 2004 http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/9112372.htm HOUSE STANDS BY PATRIOT ACT, BARELY Efforts to overturn portions of the USA PATRIOT Act were rejected by the U.S. House of Representatives this week, as lawmakers responded to a veto threat from the White House. One portion of the PATRIOT Act lowers the bar for federal officials to obtain records from libraries and book stores about the habits of their patrons. Civil libertarians and many in Congress have taken issue with those powers of the law, calling them unconstitutional, and Reps. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) and C.L. Butch Otter (R-Idaho) had led the push to repeal those powers. Even without the PATRIOT Act, said critics, investigators can obtain similar records from libraries or book stores if probable cause is shown. The PATRIOT Act allows the government to force disclosure of records without showing such cause. The effort to block that portion of the law appeared to have the majority support needed to pass, but 10 Republican lawmakers were persuaded to change their minds, resulting in a vote of 210-210. Wired News, 8 July 2004 http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,64144,00.html FCC RESHUFFLES SPECTRUM The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) this week made a number of decisions that will change the landscape for wireless spectrum in the United States. The FCC agreed to swap spectrum licenses with Nextel Communications in a $4.8 billion deal that will give more spectrum to the nation's emergency workers. The FCC also approved rules that will allow license holders to trade or lease licenses more easily than they currently can, and it lifted a rule that prevented the merger of two cell-phone companies in the same market. Finally, the FCC gave its approval for NextWave Telecom to sell a key license in New York to Verizon Wireless. Michael K. Powell, chairman of the FCC, said the changes would streamline usage on wireless spectrum, allowing more efficient use by emergency workers, and would encourage wireless development and deployment in currently underserved areas. Critics of the changes faulted the pricing of the deals, saying that Nextel was undercharged for the spectrum and that the federal government is losing billions of dollars. New York Times, 9 July 2004 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/09/business/09spectrum.html ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your settings, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/ Or, you can subscribe or unsubscribe by sending e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName To UNSUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SIGNOFF Edupage If you have subscription problems, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For past issues of Edupage or information about translations of Edupage into other languages, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/ ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE PUBLICATIONS EDUCAUSE publishes periodicals, including "EQ" and "EDUCAUSE Review," books, and other materials dealing with the impacts and implications of information technology in higher education. 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