April 11, 2008

Headlines

Missouri bill would expand public-private partnerships
Lawmaker seeks legal opinion on public money for Bible Park
Georgia patients’ records exposed on Web for weeks
UI officials may privatize bookstore
NY rejects LNG terminal

News Summaries

Missouri bill would expand public-private partnerships
A Missouri House panel has unanimously approved a bill that would
encourage more public-private agreements for transportation projects
throughout the state. The measure would authorize the state to enter
into agreements for projects that include roads, bridges, airports,
railroad and mass transit facilities. Land Line
Lawmaker seeks legal opinion on public money for Bible Park
Tennessee’s attorney general has been asked to weigh in on the legality
of whether Rutherford County officials can authorize the use of public
money for a religious business, such as the proposed Bible Park USA.
Developers want the county to forgo about $27.9 million in property
taxes in TIF to pay for bonds taken out to build the park. Based on the
developers’ projections, the county would receive $122 million in sales
and property tax revenue during that 22-year agreement. WBIR(Knoxville)
Georgia patients’ records exposed on Web for weeks
A company hired by the State of Georgia to administer health benefits
for low-income patients is sending letters to notify tens of thousands
of residents that their private records were exposed on the Internet
for nearly seven weeks before the error was caught and corrected, a
company spokeswoman said on Thursday. This is the second time in a year
that records for Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids participants in
Georgia have been compromised. Last April, the Department of Community
Health announced that a different private contractor had lost a
computer disk containing data on 2.9 million people. The disk, which
was apparently lost in the mail, was never recovered. The New York Times
UI officials may privatize bookstore
Officials at the University of Idaho are considering outsourcing
management of the school’s bookstore. Not everyone is sold on the idea.
Student body President Jonathan Gaffney says he thinks the bookstore
runs fine now, and students are worried that turning the operation over
to a national chain would drive up prices and lower customer service. Fox12Idaho
NY rejects LNG terminal
New York’s governor on Thursday rejected a proposal by energy companies
Shell and TransCanada to build a liquefied natural gas platform in Long
Island Sound, saying it was "fundamentally wrong" to privatize open
water. Reuters

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