"Minor" Miscalculation? Or Conspiracy?

A story has appeared on the OWH and LJS websites that says there isn't going to be quite as much budget surplus here in Nebraska as first though in November. (LJS article) However, the difference isn't a couple million dollars, it's almost $40 million. The Legislature says that the difference in projections is because of increased funding to schools to the tune of $39.2 million. $39.2 million dollars is being adding to state aid? And that wasn't known two months ago? This sounds a little fishy. Metro area residents know that the Learning Community is a source of contention between metro school districts and the legislature. I'm not saying that miscalculations happen, but almost $40 million? Even $10 million would've only garnered a shrug. But it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Will this be a card for the legislature to play to push the Learning Community? At one time OPS had sued the state because of it's perceived flaws in the state aid system. Will that affect the lawsuit? Stay tuned...

This OWH article from May 2007 is a Q & A that includes info on the Learning Community and some info on the lawsuit.

More Local News Reports:

Omaha:

WOWT: Schools to Squeeze Budget

KETV: Education Department Needs Millions More for '08

KPTM: State Budget to Take Hit From Higher School Costs

Lincoln

KOLN/KGIN: Schools Require Larger Budget

Now Google Wants to Share

In education, we are really starting to take notice of what Google has done with all of their free applications. With Docs, Earth, Notebook, etc., it could really cut your budget by switching to their systems (there's quite a few important reasons why I wouldn't, but many of you don't care). However, I found this Google Earth blog post very interesting: Frank Taylor, the author, thinks that Microsoft, the company whose applications Google has taken aim at, should share their Bird's Eye pictures with Google Earth. Why? You are offering all of these quality programs for free, directly competing (in most cases) with Microsoft. So Microsoft spends money to make their products better, and now you want them to share? Now, I don't want to have to start paying for Google, but I see little to no incentive for Microsoft to even consider.

I just thought that was kind of a funny suggestion by Mr. Taylor. Have a Happy Holiday season.

Westroads

Since it was such a big story in the area, I thought I'd drop a few comments about the Westroads shooting. I would be remiss if I didn't start by saying God Bless all of the families affected.

Police, Fire and EMTs: I have not heard of anything that could have been done differently. Congratulations on the quick, appropriate response.

Most Local Media: Morons. Proving once again what made the Omaha TV Blog so popular, I have never been so embarrassed. You prompted the lady of the house to talk when she shouldn't have. I realize that she takes some blame for that (and police officials for not finding her and keeping her quiet), but you asked "Was there anything else you could've done?" What do you think? How dare you ask that during this point of time? Competent or not, she is still grieving and trying to comprehend what happened. All you want is a story. Worse yet, who's idea was to put an immature "friend" on the TV? Did you honestly think that child would have something intelligent to say? And then you kept going...As much as the first responders made me proud to live in the area, you made me embarrassed to even have visited.

The Mother: I really do feel for you and your family, but it really scares me that you told a national news organization (who had been scrambling to bring anyone to NYC, including "friends" of the shooter) that you knew he took the gun the night before and was just hoping he'd get caught for stealing. He can't get caught if no one tells the police. I realize hindsight's 20-20, but if a gun is missing from my house, I don't care who took, I want to know where it's at and why.

Gun Law Proponents/Opponents: Everyone having a gun at Von Maur would not "stop the rampage." It would only have created more confusion as to who the actual gunman was. No one having the ability to carry a gun wouldn't have prevented him from getting a gun. This type of thing happens, unfortunately. Even if his step dad didn't have a gun, he would've found one somewhere else.

This was definitely a huge tragedy for the city and I'm glad to see that we are trying to get back to "normal."

The next post will deal with more "current" events, but I had to get some of that off my chest.

Hello Again?

The House has decided to make another attempt at jumping back into the world of blogging. We've been doing some blogging in more of a work related fashion, but life has been here, there and everywhere. As I was looking through my bookmarks a few weeks ago, I found the House again. You may be curious as to why I lost it. Well, the last posts corresponds with the new computer I had bought and a transition into a new job (still in education, more technology, thankfully). In September, the new computer was apparently desired more by someone else because it was stolen from the house. So we are finally settling down a little bit and wanting to do some more writing...for a bit. We will be adding another addition to the House in February, so who knows if we'll be able to maintain parenthood and bloggerhood.

So, we'll do some updating of the site, hopefully get some more thoughts out in the open, and see what happens. There's lots to discuss...