September 2011

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) called for congressional action on a spectrum auction bill. She did not say it would have to be on her proposed auction bill, but included that among the possible choices.

"On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, a fitting tribute to our first responders, who fought so bravely to save lives and lost their own, is to provide them with a nationwide, interoperable broadband communications network. Congress should act decisively and quickly to address the unacceptable situation which remains in place a decade since the attack on our country," she said. Her bill, like that of Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), would allocate the D block of spectrum for that interoperable network, and fund its creation and maintenance through proceeds from the auction of broadcast spectrum. Congress has been divided over whether to use the valuable D Block of spectrum to create a public-safety network or auction off the D Block and build an emergency network that shares commercial airwaves.

Several surveys have found people are willing to take a pay cut in order to have the flexibility to work remotely. Now, a new survey is confirming these findings –- but with a twist.

Flexible jobs site Momcorps asked 1,071 working Americans about flexible working and work-life balance. And like Dice and Staples before it, the site found that a significant percentage would take a smaller paycheck in exchange for flexibility. 42 percent of respondents said they would be willing to give up some percentage of their salary for more flexibility at work. On average they'd accept a six percent cut. So is there any news here? The basic fact that flexibility has monetary value to workers may not be new, but one survey finding may surprise you. If you imagine that those most desperate for flexible work are frantic mothers scrambling to meet their home commitments, think again. Actually, working men (12 percent) were twice as likely as working women (6 percent) to say they would give up more than 10 percent of their salary for more flexibility at work. In addition, equal percentages of both fathers and mothers (82 percent) thought flexible working would make them better parents and only half of working parents of both genders said they worked a traditional nine-to-five day.

Facebook has added another Washington hand to its leadership team: Erskine Bowles, former White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton, has joined the Facebook board of directors.

Bowles now serves as president emeritus of the 17-campus University of North Carolina system and recently was co-chairman of President Barack Obama’s bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Bowles was the White House chief of staff from 1996 through 1998 and also served as a member of both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council. Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg served as chief of staff for the Treasury Department under Clinton. Bowles joins Facebook’s growing board. The company added Reed Hastings, Netflix chief executive earlier this summer. Other board members include Zuckerberg, Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz, Jim Breyer of Accel Partners, Donald E. Graham of The Washington Post Company, and Peter Thiel of Clarium Capital and Founders Fund.

More than 500 e-mails detailing efforts by Northwestern University journalism students to free a man serving a life sentence must be turned over to prosecutors, a Chicago judge ruled.

The e-mails are communications between former Northwestern University professor David Protess and students at the Medill School of Journalism. Cook County Judge Diane Cannon ruled that the students were "acting as investigators in a criminal proceeding," and Judge Cannon said that makes the information "subject to the rules of discovery." Northwestern, however, has resisted handing over the e-mails, arguing that the information is protected under the Illinois Reporter's Privilege Act. Protess says his students never interacted with attorneys and reporting decisions were made at Medill. He says the real issue is that an innocent man has been behind bars. The school has 10 days to appeal.