At This Site, Russian Nerds Get Together, Virtually
Parent Volunteers Give Affluent Schools an Advantage Hard to Duplicate
GTE Discloses 3 Big Deals in Growth Bid
2 Phone Companies Deny Report on 10,000 Job Cuts
FCC Expected to Back Off On Business Phone Line Fee
AT&T Could Lose $350 Million in 2001 To Calls Via Internet
Reaching Out To Pass Over Someone
FCC (Daily Digest)
GTE to Buy Internet Firm BBN Corporation
1 in 6 U.S. Adults Regularly Online, Study Indicates
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Title: At This Site, Russian Nerds Get Together, Virtually
Source: New York Times (A4)
Author: Michael Specter
Issue: International
Description: While real world cafes are still slow to catch on in Russia,
cybercafes are tres chic. Virtual World is a popular Internet access point
with big skylights, cold beer, and some cafe lattes. It is frequented by
international students, business people, and kids.
Title: Parent Volunteers Give Affluent Schools an Advantage Hard to Duplicate
Source: New York Times (A28)
Author: Abby Goodnough
Issue: Education/Low-Income
Description: The number of parent-volunteers in schools is rising, but
rising much faster in wealthy districts. Poor districts don't have enough
people to provide the services once covered by government. In New Jersey,
Governor Whitman has put a cap on how much wealthy districts can spend on
education in the hopes that this limit will let poor schools catch up.
Experts argue, however, that suburban parents "will not let that happen
because they will always pitch in to provide the special programs their
school budgets cannot cover." Low-income parents would be more likely to
spend time at schools if the schools provided day care for other children
and free meals. Other experts argue that poorer districts just don't do a
good enough job recruiting volunteers.
Title: GTE Discloses 3 Big Deals in Growth Bid
Source: New York Times (D1)
Author: Seth Schiesel
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: The country's biggest local phone carrier, GTE, is going to
pay $616 million to buy the BBN Corporation, one of the country's biggest
Internet providers. GTE is also buying a chunk of a nation-wide fiber
optic network constructed by QWest and is entering a partnership with Cisco
Systems, a producer of networking equipment.
Title: 2 Phone Companies Deny Report on 10,000 Job Cuts
Source: New York Times (D4)
Author: Mark Landler
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: Bell Atlantic and Nynex announced that their merger would not
result in loss of 10,000 jobs as reported in news stories yesterday. The
companies said they plan to cut only 3,000 management jobs within three
years of the deal.
Title: FCC Expected to Back Off On Business Phone Line Fee
Source: Wall Street Journal (A2)
Author: Dow Jones News Service
Issue: Universal Service
Description: As part of its reorganization of universal service subsidies,
the FCC is expected to accept a plan that would charge business $2.75 for
each telephone line. Originally, the agency had planned to charge $4 a
line, but pressure from businesses made the FCC back off. The costs of the
$2 fee are supposed to be offset by drops in long distance charges.
Title: AT&T Could Lose $350 Million in 2001 To Calls Via Internet
Source: Wall Street Journal (B7)
Author: WSJ Staff Reporter
Issue: Industry Trends/Internet
Description: Currently there are 12 million US citizens on line. In four
years there should be 44 million, and many of these people could be using
the Internet to make international phone calls. In the year 2001, long
distance companies could lose between $620 and $925 million in
long-distance charges.
Title: Reaching Out To Pass Over Someone
Source: Washington Post (C10)
Author: Michelle Singletary
Issue: Low-Income
Description: When NationsBank customers call the bank's toll free service
number, the system assesses which customers are very lucrative for the bank
(lots of accounts, loans, etc.) and passes those callers along to specially
trained service representatives. Regular customers may have to wait a
little bit longer to talk to someone. "Using new technology, bankers are
increasingly gauging customer profitability and are tailoring their service
levels and marketing accordingly. . . Those [customers] with accounts that
don't generate much income or non customers will find it tougher to get
service or may be charged higher fees . ." Other banks think that
Nations tactics are not good for the community and are trying to use
new technologies to serve the average customer better.
Title: FCC (Daily Digest)
Source: Washington Post (C10)
Author: WP Staff
Issue: Universal Service
Description: The FCC is expected to vote today to charge businesses $2.75
per month per phone line as part of its reorganization of universal service
policies.
Title: GTE to Buy Internet Firm BBN Corporation
Source: Washington Post (C10)
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: Big telephone company, GTE, is going to buy BBN, "one of the
companies that founded the Internet, having helped develop common software
technology for the network 28 years ago . ."
Title: 1 in 6 U.S. Adults Regularly Online, Study Indicates
Source: Washington Post (C10)
Author: Elizabeth Corcoran
Issue: Internet
Description: Close to 1 in 6 adults, greater than 31 million Americans, use
the Internet regularly. Users rank the Internet as everything from
indispensable to very difficult to use (though those terms are not
necessarily mutually exclusive). "About 35 percent of Internet users said
that they are watching less television. More than 25 percent of Internet
users are spending less time on long-distance telephone calls. Sixteen
percent of Internet users say they spend less time with magazines,
newspapers, and other personal computer applications." Also, using the
Internet seems to make people not get as much sleep.
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