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January 20, 2004
GovPro Newsletter
Tuesday, January 20, 2004 Volume 3, Issue 3
Welcome to the GovPro Newsletter brought to you by the Penton Government Media Group. Look forward to news, resources, product and supplier information, and links relating to the government market.
If this message was sent in error or you wish to unsubscribe, see the unsubscribe information below.
Sponsored by CareerBuilders.com
CONTENTS
One Million Requests and Counting Public-Private Partnership to Recycle Electronics State Laws Offer Comic Relief City and State Unite Crime Tools Home Computers to Predict Future News of The Weird Win a Digital Camera and MP3 Player
FEATURES
BALTIMORE CELEBRATES CUSTOMER SERVICE REQUEST MILESTONE
The City of Baltimore today announced that Baltimore's Department of Public Works' Bureau of Solid Waste will log the city's one-millionth customer service request via its Customer Service Request (CSR) system that went live three years ago, January 2001. The milestone follows the city celebrating the one-millionth call at its 3-1-1 Center last August. The system, named "CitiTrack" by Baltimore city officials, is significantly enhancing the city's ability to manage and respond to citizens' requests for city services.
"Providing accurate and timely information to all our city agencies greatly enhances our ability to serve the citizens of Baltimore," said Mayor Martin O'Malley. "The CSR technology has already proven to be a valuable and essential asset to our operations by increasing the accountability of city employees and supporting the rapid deployment of resources."
Motorola's CSR is an enterprise-wide system that enables local governments to manage the intake, routing and resolution of citizen's requests for services. For full text, visit: http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.7t99.2.4czv.6563
EPA AND PRIVATE SECTOR TO TEST ELECTRONICS RECYCLING
At the annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Jan. 8-11 in Las Vegas, NV, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a new partnership with Staples and the Product Stewardship Institute to test a pilot "take-back program" as a new approach for recycling used electronics. The new partnership is part of EPA's "Plug-In To eCycling" campaign that promotes electronics recycling by working with manufacturers and retailers, including AT&T Wireless, Best Buy, Dell, Envirocycle, Inc., Intel, JVC, Lexmark, Nxtcycle, Panasonic, Recycle America Alliance (a wholly owned subsidiary of Waste Management, Inc.), Sharp, Sony, and Staples, to increase public awareness and sponsor collection events.
"EPA is looking to other manufacturers and retailers to follow the partnership lead in providing Americans more convenient access to safe recycling of their old electronics," says Barry Breen, EPA's Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response, who officially unveiled the new partnership.
For full text visit: http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.7t99.3.4czw.6563
CareerBuilders.com puts jobs in front of poised job seekers, wherever they areat home or at workin print and on the Internet. CareerBuilders.com is the nations leading recruitment resource, with presence in more that 130 local newspapers and more than 26 million unique visitors to its newspaper Web sites each month. Visit: http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.7t99.4.4cyv.6563
NEED A LAUGH? STATE LAW BOOKS OFFER COMIC RELIEF
Don't mispronounce the name of the state of Arkansas. It's AR-kin-saw by state law.
The legislature established the proper pronunciation of Arkansas in 1881, and it's only one of thousands of odd state laws on the books across the country.
Be careful, for example, not to hunt birds from an airplane in Tennessee; its illegal. And dont think of popping a champagne cork in Colorado on Christmas Day.
As 36 legislatures meet this month, lawmakers will be focused more on writing new laws than on ridding the statute books of bizarre or obsolete rules. But the dusty dinosaurs of the legal code--while good for a few laughs and even the basis of a board gameare a bugaboo for a few fussy statehouse watchers who want to clean the slate.
Erasing odd laws has been a life's work for former Colorado state lawmaker Jerry Kopel. Once a copy editor for the Rocky Mountain News, Kopel, 76, combs the Colorado law books, which now measure 34 inches end-to-end, and annually urges the legislature to repeal outdated statutes. Last year, he inspired lawmakers to get rid of a law that encouraged cities to build housing developments for World War II veterans.
For full text visit: http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.7t99.5.4czx.6563
MEYER PRODUCTS
Meyer Products offers more than 35 steel and polyethylene snow plows to fit exact vehicle frame and weight specifications for exceptional performance in all applications. Choose from 7 spreaders for sidewalk to highway coverage. Visit: http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.7t99.6.4cyw.6563
NEWS
STATE, CITY UNITE ANTI-CRIME TOOLS
Illinois is merging its criminal database into the Chicago police department's computer system so as to spot crime patterns more easily and analyze suspicious activity throughout the state, according to officials. "Information gained by making a dozen phone calls now will be a mouse click away," notes Chicago Police Supt. Philip Cline.
Some of the system will be available by the end of 2004 as part of a three-year integration project, putting Illinois' Law Enforcement Agencies Data System into Chicago's Citizen Law Enforcement Analysis and Reporting System. Money will come from state funds, with $2.5 million coming from the state police. The system will also provide real-time information to officers in the field; some information cannot be accessed by current squad car data terminals, but police officials are looking at wireless devices. Chicago's system currently offers access to 195 agencies, most of which are suburban police departments, but the merger would give all of the state's 1,200 local law-enforcement departments access.
Source: National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC).
HOME COMPUTERS MAY PREDICT THE FUTURE
Soon we may have supercomputers in our homes powerful enough to predict at least some aspects of the future, and our kids already may own the ancestors of these crystal balls.
So says a Los Alamos National Laboratory computer scientist who spoke about predicting the future.
Andy White of the Laboratory's Computer and Computational Science Division says, "We want to predict the future because we want to make good decisions, from wearing the right clothes for the weather to evacuating people from danger.
White has examined the last hundred years of progress in predicting the future, emphasizing computer models of weather and wildfires.
"For some things, we have a long way to go, but for others we have achieved 'perfection,'" he says. "Long-range weather prediction is generally considered impossible, yet there are some ways to beat these odds."
NEWS OF THE WEIRD: Bizarre but true stories about real people. http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.7t99.7.4cyx.6563
. WE'RE GIVING AWAY A SAMSUNG DIGIMAX 35 DIGITAL CAMERA AND MP3 PLAYER! Tell us about your planned purchases of mobile communications equipment and systems for 2004. Your valuable input will help us understand current usage and future needs in the marketplace. http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.7t99.8.3wpr.6563
LINKS Fargo Electronics offers ID card printers, encoders, membership badges, secure photo cards, smart cards, and complete access control system. Visit: http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.7t99.9.47xr.6563
You may qualify for a FREE Magazine Subscription
Complimentary subscriptions to Government Product News, a product-driven resource, and Government PROcurement, editorial targeting the public sector purchasing professional are available to those who qualify.
To subscribe to Government Product News visit: http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.75qj.15.1jf8.5c17
To subscribe to Government Procurement visit: http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.75qj.16.1jf9.5c17
Copyright 2003 Penton Media, Inc.
Welcome to the GovPro Newsletter brought to you by the Penton Government Media Group. Look forward to news, resources, product and supplier information, and links relating to the government market.
If this message was sent in error or you wish to unsubscribe, see the unsubscribe information below.
Sponsored by CareerBuilders.com
CONTENTS
One Million Requests and Counting Public-Private Partnership to Recycle Electronics State Laws Offer Comic Relief City and State Unite Crime Tools Home Computers to Predict Future News of The Weird Win a Digital Camera and MP3 Player
FEATURES
BALTIMORE CELEBRATES CUSTOMER SERVICE REQUEST MILESTONE
The City of Baltimore today announced that Baltimore's Department of Public Works' Bureau of Solid Waste will log the city's one-millionth customer service request via its Customer Service Request (CSR) system that went live three years ago, January 2001. The milestone follows the city celebrating the one-millionth call at its 3-1-1 Center last August. The system, named "CitiTrack" by Baltimore city officials, is significantly enhancing the city's ability to manage and respond to citizens' requests for city services.
"Providing accurate and timely information to all our city agencies greatly enhances our ability to serve the citizens of Baltimore," said Mayor Martin O'Malley. "The CSR technology has already proven to be a valuable and essential asset to our operations by increasing the accountability of city employees and supporting the rapid deployment of resources."
Motorola's CSR is an enterprise-wide system that enables local governments to manage the intake, routing and resolution of citizen's requests for services. For full text, visit: http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.7t99.2.4czv.6563
EPA AND PRIVATE SECTOR TO TEST ELECTRONICS RECYCLING
At the annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Jan. 8-11 in Las Vegas, NV, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a new partnership with Staples and the Product Stewardship Institute to test a pilot "take-back program" as a new approach for recycling used electronics. The new partnership is part of EPA's "Plug-In To eCycling" campaign that promotes electronics recycling by working with manufacturers and retailers, including AT&T Wireless, Best Buy, Dell, Envirocycle, Inc., Intel, JVC, Lexmark, Nxtcycle, Panasonic, Recycle America Alliance (a wholly owned subsidiary of Waste Management, Inc.), Sharp, Sony, and Staples, to increase public awareness and sponsor collection events.
"EPA is looking to other manufacturers and retailers to follow the partnership lead in providing Americans more convenient access to safe recycling of their old electronics," says Barry Breen, EPA's Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response, who officially unveiled the new partnership.
For full text visit: http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.7t99.3.4czw.6563
CareerBuilders.com puts jobs in front of poised job seekers, wherever they areat home or at workin print and on the Internet. CareerBuilders.com is the nations leading recruitment resource, with presence in more that 130 local newspapers and more than 26 million unique visitors to its newspaper Web sites each month. Visit: http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.7t99.4.4cyv.6563
NEED A LAUGH? STATE LAW BOOKS OFFER COMIC RELIEF
Don't mispronounce the name of the state of Arkansas. It's AR-kin-saw by state law.
The legislature established the proper pronunciation of Arkansas in 1881, and it's only one of thousands of odd state laws on the books across the country.
Be careful, for example, not to hunt birds from an airplane in Tennessee; its illegal. And dont think of popping a champagne cork in Colorado on Christmas Day.
As 36 legislatures meet this month, lawmakers will be focused more on writing new laws than on ridding the statute books of bizarre or obsolete rules. But the dusty dinosaurs of the legal code--while good for a few laughs and even the basis of a board gameare a bugaboo for a few fussy statehouse watchers who want to clean the slate.
Erasing odd laws has been a life's work for former Colorado state lawmaker Jerry Kopel. Once a copy editor for the Rocky Mountain News, Kopel, 76, combs the Colorado law books, which now measure 34 inches end-to-end, and annually urges the legislature to repeal outdated statutes. Last year, he inspired lawmakers to get rid of a law that encouraged cities to build housing developments for World War II veterans.
For full text visit: http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.7t99.5.4czx.6563
MEYER PRODUCTS
Meyer Products offers more than 35 steel and polyethylene snow plows to fit exact vehicle frame and weight specifications for exceptional performance in all applications. Choose from 7 spreaders for sidewalk to highway coverage. Visit: http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.7t99.6.4cyw.6563
NEWS
STATE, CITY UNITE ANTI-CRIME TOOLS
Illinois is merging its criminal database into the Chicago police department's computer system so as to spot crime patterns more easily and analyze suspicious activity throughout the state, according to officials. "Information gained by making a dozen phone calls now will be a mouse click away," notes Chicago Police Supt. Philip Cline.
Some of the system will be available by the end of 2004 as part of a three-year integration project, putting Illinois' Law Enforcement Agencies Data System into Chicago's Citizen Law Enforcement Analysis and Reporting System. Money will come from state funds, with $2.5 million coming from the state police. The system will also provide real-time information to officers in the field; some information cannot be accessed by current squad car data terminals, but police officials are looking at wireless devices. Chicago's system currently offers access to 195 agencies, most of which are suburban police departments, but the merger would give all of the state's 1,200 local law-enforcement departments access.
Source: National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC).
HOME COMPUTERS MAY PREDICT THE FUTURE
Soon we may have supercomputers in our homes powerful enough to predict at least some aspects of the future, and our kids already may own the ancestors of these crystal balls.
So says a Los Alamos National Laboratory computer scientist who spoke about predicting the future.
Andy White of the Laboratory's Computer and Computational Science Division says, "We want to predict the future because we want to make good decisions, from wearing the right clothes for the weather to evacuating people from danger.
White has examined the last hundred years of progress in predicting the future, emphasizing computer models of weather and wildfires.
"For some things, we have a long way to go, but for others we have achieved 'perfection,'" he says. "Long-range weather prediction is generally considered impossible, yet there are some ways to beat these odds."
NEWS OF THE WEIRD: Bizarre but true stories about real people. http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.7t99.7.4cyx.6563
. WE'RE GIVING AWAY A SAMSUNG DIGIMAX 35 DIGITAL CAMERA AND MP3 PLAYER! Tell us about your planned purchases of mobile communications equipment and systems for 2004. Your valuable input will help us understand current usage and future needs in the marketplace. http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.7t99.8.3wpr.6563
LINKS Fargo Electronics offers ID card printers, encoders, membership badges, secure photo cards, smart cards, and complete access control system. Visit: http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.7t99.9.47xr.6563
You may qualify for a FREE Magazine Subscription
Complimentary subscriptions to Government Product News, a product-driven resource, and Government PROcurement, editorial targeting the public sector purchasing professional are available to those who qualify.
To subscribe to Government Product News visit: http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.75qj.15.1jf8.5c17
To subscribe to Government Procurement visit: http://r.pm0.net/s/c?ij.75qj.16.1jf9.5c17
Copyright 2003 Penton Media, Inc.
