Senate adopts changes in lobbying and ethics rules

James Kuhnhenn, Knight Ridder… Senate adopts changes in lobbying and ethics rules

James Kuhnhenn, Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON — The Senate, prodded by influence-peddling scandals that have given Congress a black eye, voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to deny senators gifts and meals from lobbyists and to tighten lobbyist reporting requirements.

In a 90-8 vote, senators also restricted, but didn’t eliminate, their ability to insert the special-interest provisions, or “earmarks,” that find their way into massive spending bills.

Sponsors of the bipartisan legislation praised it for making Senate business more transparent and less susceptible to backroom deals and high-priced wining and dining.

But it has no enforcement mechanism, and its limits on special-interest “earmarks” have a loophole that would exclude millions in targeted spending from its restrictions.

The House of Representatives has yet to act. The Senate could impose several of the provisions, including the ban on gifts and meals, on itself later if the House fails to enact the legislation.

Community college embraces podcasts as teaching tool

Douane D. James, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Broward Community College students soon may be able to get their education “on demand.”

The school is experimenting with podcasting, a new digital technology that allows students to download lectures and other course material for listening on the go.

“Often a student will miss a class and ask, ‘What did I miss?'” said speech professor Robert Buford, who is leading the effort at BCC. “Well, it’s a one and a half hour class. You can’t put that in an e-mail. But you can with a podcast.”

BCC has ordered new equipment to meet the demand for audio and video recording and digital storage. Buford recently began conducting workshops to train interested faculty and estimates more will begin podcasting in the fall.

National Forest sale would be buyers’ boon

Kevin Murphy, Knight Ridder Newspapers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Picture this: Peace and quiet amid timber, rolling hills, scattered grassland, maybe even a stream or two.

It could all be yours, for a price, under President George W. Bush’s plan to sell an estimated 175,000 acres of National Forest land in Missouri and 34 other states to sustain a fund for rural schools and roads.

The idea has drawn the wrath of everyone from conservationists to Missouri Republican members of Congress who say the state would get a paltry return for the sale. But the proposal promises to be hugely popular with one particular group — buyers.

Rural property is in high demand in states such as Missouri, where up to 21,566 acres of Mark Twain National Forest could be put on the block. Real estate agents and landowners said the forest land would go quickly — and for a high price.

“Land is just snapped up in a heartbeat around here unless they’ve got an incredible price on it,” said Clete Baxter, a real estate agent who quickly sold 10 acres for $5,499 an acre recently near one of the Mark Twain parcels southeast of Columbia that could be for sale.

U.S. Forest Service officials said they have heard from people who want the land — commonly in 40-acre parcels or more — for hunting, farming, residential or investment purposes. Adjoining landowners also want it, they said.

The price of rural land jumped about 10 percent in 2005 and nearly that much in 2004 in the seven states within the jurisdiction of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, according to its data.