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Momentum Grows for School Choice
Supporters of school choice in Utah are expecting a productive
year ahead. Recent update newsletters from Parents
for Choice in Education and Education
Excellence Utah say school choice gained significant momentum
in the past year and is poised for some breakthroughs in 2005.
Rep. Jim Ferrin is expected to sponsor tuition tax credit legislation
in the upcoming session. With growing support for this legislation
in the House of Representatives, continued strong support in the
Senate, and now a supportive governor, this is the best chance ever
for tuition tax credit legislation to pass.
Rep. Merlynn Newbold will be sponsoring the Carson Smith
Special Needs Scholarship legislation. Last year this bill passed
both houses of the Legislature with strong support, but was vetoed
by Gov. Olene Walker. It would give parents of children with
special needs a scholarship to help pay for private school tuition.
School choice supporters say they won four of six legislative
races they were involved in, and three new members of the State
Board of Education, Bill Colbert, Mark Cluff and Thomas
Gregory, support school choice.
One More Pre-Legislative Fundraiser
House Republican Caucus Reception, Jan. 12, 5:30-7 p.m., Rice-Eccles Stadium Tower Varsity Room, 6th floor, 451 South 1400 East, $1,500 event sponsorship; $1,000 group of four; $300 per person. RSVP: 580-4743.
On-Demand TV Needs Ultra-Broadband
The Wall Street Journal published a fascinating story on Friday,
December 17, about on-demand television. As ultra-broadband Internet
connections (the kind that will be offered by iProvo and
UTOPIA) become more ubiquitous in homes and businesses, the
networks and studios are expected to archive their television, movie
and other video/audio offerings in huge servers and make them available
(in some cases for a fee) to anyone at any time.
So anyone with an ultra-broadband connection will have available at any time an enormous library of movies, TV shows, sports shows, documentaries, and pretty much anything that has ever been recorded as video or audio. Just as billions of documents are currently available on-demand from millions of Web sites, so will top-quality, full-motion video also be available. So it won’t matter if you missed the football game, the news, or your favorite TV show. No need to record it on your VCR or Tivo. Just order it up whenever you please. You want to see an old MASH show, an old Laurel and Hardy movie, or the championship basketball game from last year? You just use your remote control to run through listings and call it up.
In addition, UTOPIA and iProvo will make distribution of locally-produced
video highly viable. High school football games, school plays, and
civic and political gatherings, can easily be recorded, placed on
servers, and be made available for anyone to view at any time. It
will take a while for all of this to happen, but it will come.
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