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Highway 10

Minnesota (WDAY TV) -- We have all been there. Driving on Highway 10 in Minnesota, as someone comes off a rural county road and shoots across traffic. Now, MN-DOT is selecting sites around the state for a project called: "Reduced Conflict Intersections."

Minnesota (WDAY TV) -- We have all been there. Driving on Highway 10 in Minnesota, as someone comes off a rural county road and shoots across traffic. Now, MN-DOT is selecting sites around the state for a project called: "Reduced Conflict Intersections."

MN DOT even has video to back up its argument for changes at crossings like this. A four lane highway like 10 with a median in the middle. The risk for crashes goes up, as vehicles shoot across two lanes and the median in order to head back another direction.

Jody Martinson/Detroit Lakes: "Traffic coming from both sides, at your very fast traffic on highway ten."

Let's say you are this pickup truck that wants to cross ten from 31 wanting to head west on 10 to Fargo-Moorhead. Under the old plan you would simply cross the median but not under the new.

Under the Reduced Conflict Intersections, the median crossing would be closed off.

Martinson: "You would need to take a right turn here go down make a u turn and come back. And get into the right turn lane and cross. More work for the driver but safer."

State Troopers who see their share of T-bone accidents on four lanes like highway ten, say changes like these can save lives.

Jesse Grabow/Minnesota State Patrol: "Where traffic crosses, most often the t-bone crash, through education, dot, engineers whatever we can to so beneficial a lot of these crashed are preventable."

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MN-DOT selects sites to take part in "Reduced Conflict Intersections"

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. A bill that would add new regulations to Internet dating services doing business in Illinois now one floor vote from passage but is hitting some opposition from Republicans who say theyre concerned about government overreach.

The bill (SB2545) would create the Internet Dating Safety Act, requiring that Internet dating services either conduct criminal background checks on all their members, or post online warnings specifying that they dont conduct such screenings. It has already passed the House, and today passed the Senate Judiciary Committee 6-3.

Proponents say the measure is needed to combat online predators, who can create Internet personas that mask previous convictions for sex crimes. Most states today make such convictions easily searchable through online sex-offender registries.

Illinois lawmakers have tried and failed for years to pass similar legislation. Don't you have an expectation when you pay $30 to find true love that it won't turn out to be a sex offender? Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, asked during one such debate, in 2007, before an earlier version of the idea failed.

Opponents have questioned whether Illinois can effectively police Internet services that arent based in the state, and whether the services themselves might create a false sense of security by saying they do background checks, when there is no way to know how extensive those checks are.

Another, more ideological argument has been put in play by some Republican opponents to the measure.

Its another intervention by the government thinking for us, said Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine, who voted against the measure in committee today. Adults have the ability to make these decisions for themselves.

The full Senate could take up the bill as early as Tuesday.

More:
Internet dating safety bill in Illinois would disclose background check policies

Several Internet groups are gearing up to battle SOPA-like legislation via the Internet Defense League, a new organization intended to protect the open Web.

The League, spearheaded by Fight for the Future and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, is putting together an Internet bat signal of sorts. When the group detects a threat to the Internet - most likely via objectionable legislation - it will send supporters a snippet of code they can add to their website in order to organize the masses in protest.

"Think of it like the Internet's Emergency Broadcast System, or its bat signal," the group said on its website.

According to All Things D, the Internet Defense League has already won the support of WordPress, Imgur, Cheezburger Network, Public Knowledge, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark.

The Internet Defense League will formally launch next week when Congress returns to session. At that point, the Senate could take up the much-maligned CISPA legislation. CISPA is intended to allow private companies to share information with the government in the event of a cyber attack, but detractors worry it will give the feds an all-access pass to your private information. It passed the House in late April, and now moves to the Senate, where it could be addressed on its own or folded into other legislation. The White House has already said it would veto CISPA if it reaches the president's desk.

The Senate is considering at least two cyber-security bills. In February, Sens. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins introduced the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, and a month later, Sen. John McCain unveiled the Secure IT Act. They could combine their efforts into one bill, but according to Nextgov.com, there are "fundamental" differences the senators are thus far unlikely to overcome.

Internet groups like Fight for the Future, meanwhile, have already had some success in going after cyber-security bills. The Internet blackout, for example, resulted in the demise of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). An anti-CISPA campaign, however, did not stop its passage in the House.

Fight for the Future is also backing "Privacy is Awesome," a campaign that encourages people to call their members of Congress and urge them to vote against legislation like SOPA and CISPA.

For more, see the Top 5 Biggest Concerns About CISPA and the Top 5 Objections to SOPA, PIPA.

For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.

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Internet Defense League Crafts 'Bat Signal' for the Web

27-05-2012 14:01 Terry and Frankie break down what the smart grid means for us under the new world order. The Truth About The Smart Grid (previous report):

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NWO Survellience - The Smart Grid - Video

Entertainment One, the film and TV distribution company behind childrens favourite Peppa Pig, more than doubled its profits last year after a licensing deal with Amazons digital movie service, LoveFilm, bolstered revenues.

However, its strong performance was overshadowed by concerns that it could over-stretch itself or dilute its shares in order to buy Alliance Films, a rival film distributor in Canada.

Entertainment Ones sales grew 7pc to 502.7m during the 12 months to April, as the rapid growth of licensing deals to digital movie services helped to offset a slowdown in the money it makes from distributing films to cinemas. Pre-tax profits jumped from 11.4m to 23m.

The company, which is headquartered in Canada and listed on the London Stock Exchange, launched 152 films in the cinema last year including the fourth instalment of the Twilight Saga vampire films, Breaking Dawn, helping to grow film revenues 17pc to 272m.

However, the real lift came from its digital business, which doubled revenues to 66m. Of that, a significant portion came from a five-year deal to license films to LoveFilm, which competes with the likes of Netflix (NasdaqGS: NFLX - news) in allowing users to rent films on-demand over the internet. Digital (Milan: DIB.MI - news) revenues now account for 13pc of Entertainment Ones total income.

The international expansion of Peppa Pig also fuelled growth at Entertainment (LSE: ETO.L - news) One. The cartoon character originally created by British animation firm Astley Baker Davies launched in the US during the period and will make its debuts in the Far East and Latin America later this year.

However, analysts and investors expressed concern about Entertainment Ones potential bid for Alliance Films, after it confirmed that they were in talks.

Alliance, whose properties include What To Expect When Youre Expecting and Piranha 3DD is valued at around $300m, more than Entertainment Ones debt facility which stood at $244m at the end of March, raising the likelihood that the Peppa Pig owner will have to raise more debt and increase its share offering to fund any deal.

Shares in Entertainment One have slumped from around 155p to below 130p amid rumours of the potential bid, although rose 2.4 to 137.9p in afternoon trading.

Darren Throop, chief executive, said Entertainment Ones current share price was kind of ridiculous and had effectively stymied its ability to buy Alliance.

Continued here:
Amazon deal boosts profits at Entertainment One but bid plans weigh on shares