September 2009

The Recovery Act included more than $25 billion in grants aimed at improving the nation's technology infrastructure and expanding adoption of electronic health records. The unprecedented amount of federal funding for health IT and broadband initiatives has provided some economic hope to states like Michigan, which boasts the highest unemployment rate in the country. Faced with 15 percent unemployment, a $2.8 billion budget deficit and the struggling automotive industry, officials in Michigan are hoping the federal government's IT investments provide a long-term windfall for the Midwestern state. With an eye toward enticing more technology firms to set up shop within the Michigan's borders, state officials have teamed up with business groups and local universities to coordinate the state's efforts on increasing adoption of both broadband and electronic health records. In the area of electronic health records, Michigan is ahead of most states in its planning, but not quite at the same level as leaders like Virginia and Delaware. Michigan Chief Information Officer Ken Theis said he is very proud of the progress the state has made on planning and implementing e-health records since discussions began in October 2006.

Speaking at the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters conference, Federal communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said he is very concerned about what he sees as the "perfect storm" quality to the current state of traditional media. "Broadcasters today are confronted with a difficult economy, a plummeting advertising market, and rapid technological change buffeting traditional business plans," he said. Minority owners face a fourth challenge, he said, access to capital. Chairman Genachowski announced that the FCC would bring the various sides together for a discussion of issues surrounding Arbitron's Portable People Meters (PPMs). he said that the FCC's authority is limited over "the core issue" of minority undercounts. The FCC NOI focused on the commission's use of Arbitron PPM data and how it might "might impact the integrity of agency analyses and trend reporting, and thus policymaking," he said.

President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate: 1) Victoria A. Espinel to be US Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator and 2) Adele Logan Alexander for the National Council on the Humanities.

Victoria Espinel is the founder and President of Bridging the Innovation Divide, a not-for-profit foundation focused on addressing the "innovation divide" and empowering all Americans to obtain the full benefit of their creativity and ingenuity. From 2007-2009, Ms. Espinel was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the George Mason University School of Law. Her areas of teaching and research were intellectual property and international trade. She has acted as advisor on intellectual property issues to the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senate Finance Committee, House Judiciary Committee and House Ways and Means Committee.

Dr. Adele Logan Alexander is a professor of history at The George Washington University. She specializes in African American and family history, gender and social issues. Dr. Alexander has authored numerous articles and papers, as well as two notable books: Ambiguous Lives: Free Women of Color in Rural Georgia, 1789-1879, and Homelands and Waterways: The American Journey of the Bond Family, 1846-1926.

Sen Susan Collins (R-Maine), the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, is preparing cybersecurity legislation that would give the Homeland Security Department -- and not what she calls a "White House czar" -- primary authority to protect federal civilian and private computer networks from attacks. "We need more rigorous and aggressive cybersecurity standards, both for the federal government and in helping the private sector improve cybersecurity practices," she said. Her measure will add to an increasingly jumbled landscape of cybersecurity legislation.