The Internet has complicated life for Wash. property owners fearing govt. land grabs, said state Attorney Gen. Rob McKenna (R). He and Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) introduced a request for 2007 legislation requiring earlier notice to owners before property can be taken for public use. To save money, some state and local agencies simply put notice of public meetings to discuss possible property condemnations on their websites, but even that’s not uniform practice, AG Outreach Dir. Luke Esser told us. Landowners were notified by mail and newspaper notice only after property was condemned. This would be the first time that Wash. law required agencies to directly tell landowners their property is under consideration for condemnation, “making sure they have access [to agency deliberations] while there’s still a chance to affect the decision,” he added. “We shouldn’t expect people to click through hundreds of Web pages every week to make sure their property isn’t being considered for condemnation,” McKenna said. The requested bill would require property owners be sent a registered letter and a legal notice be published in a “local newspaper of record,” stating when the agency involved will hold a public meeting to consider the condemnation. A certified letter costs $4.64, McKenna said. The move arose from a 2006 Wash. Supreme Court decision in Sound Transit v. Miller, which upheld the regional transit agency’s argument that Web posting of a property considered for condemnation was adequate notice to the landowner.
The State Department has issued a notice extending the comment period until January 7, 2007 (from December 18, 2006) and provides an additional venue through which to make comments (via email to PassportCardComments@state.gov) on its October 2006 proposed rule that would set forth the format and requirements for obtaining PASS Cards (also referred to as passport cards). The State Department has previously stated that PASS Cards would serve as a lower cost means of establishing identity and nationality for U.S. citizens in the following limited situations: (1) when crossing U.S. land borders, and (2) when traveling by sea between the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, or Bermuda.
Taxpayers -- and everyone else -- soon will be able to “Google” whatever NASA is up to. A memo of understanding announced Mon. means “unbelievable data” from NASA missions will fuel Google Earth and other services so the public can “feel the excitement of space travel” virtually, NASA Ames Research Center Dir. Pete Wharton said in a conference call.
Ft. Bend County, Tex. tapped Eagle Broadband for a portable SatMAX emergency communications system to build into its emergency operations center, Eagle Broadband said. The county wants a nonterrestrial communications system to back up land-based networks, Eagle Broadband said. SatMAX units tap Iridium’s satellite network.
Ft. Bend County, Tex. tapped Eagle Broadband for a portable SatMAX emergency communications system to build into its emergency operations center, Eagle Broadband said. The county wants a nonterrestrial communications system to back up land-based networks, Eagle Broadband said. SatMAX units tap Iridium’s satellite network.
CBP has posted to its Web site a notice announcing the 2007 tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) for the exported products provided for under the U.S. Jordan FTA in HTS Chapter 99, Subchapter IX, Notes 3, 4, 5, and 6 listed below:
Codemasters and Introversion are the latest game makers to support Philips’s amBX “ambient experience” peripheral technology, joining Kuju Entertainment, Revolution Software, Sumo Digital and THQ. Philips told Consumer Electronics Daily in late Oct. it was working with Codemasters and Introversion (CED Nov 2 p3) but the deals weren’t official until now, we were told Wed. No terms of the deals with the U.K. game companies were disclosed.
A N.Y. state appeals court upheld a trial court rejection of a property owner’s claim that the town of Ft. Ann and individual residents owed him compensation for interfering in a wireless tower siting deal. Farmer Lee Harris said he had leased a tower site to Cingular Wireless in 2000, with a clause allowing Cingular out of the lease without penalty if it couldn’t get approval to construct the tower. A group of neighbors organized to block the tower construction filing. On learning the town was going to side with the tower opponents, the lawsuit said, Cingular changed its plans and studied other locations on Harris’ 37-acre farm. But it found none suitable, so it ended the lease in 2003. Harris sued the town and tower opponents, claiming they unlawfully interfered in his lease with Cingular. He lost at trial and appealed. The N.Y. Supreme Court, Appellate Div., rejected his claims (Case 500348), saying citizens have the right to urge their town to take a particular action, even if it would make Harris lose a lucrative lease. The court said opponents’ efforts to persuade the town to deny the tower permit don’t give Harris a right to suit for tortious interference with contract. He also claimed the town had made a de facto taking of his land through its wireless tower regulation. But the court said Harris “utterly failed” to show how blocking one cell tower site rendered his property unusable for any purpose to which it is reasonably adapted, so no taking occurred.
Viacom’s MTV Networks created a division to oversee its “male-skewing” brands, it said. The new unit, called MTV Networks Entertainment Group, will manage cable networks Comedy Central, Spike TV, TV Land and Web properties AtomFilms.com, iFilm.com, GameTrailers,com and Xfire. Doug Herzog will be group president.
Viacom’s MTV Networks created a division to oversee its “male-skewing” brands, it said. The new unit, called MTV Networks Entertainment Group, will manage cable networks Comedy Central, Spike TV, TV Land and Web properties AtomFilms.com, iFilm.com, GameTrailers,com and Xfire. Doug Herzog will be group president.