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As the British government announces huge cuts in spending, the BBC discloses that the nation’s rural broadband trials will proceed, costing about 530 million GBP (834 million USD).
“It
will help encourage the growth of our creative industries as a key part
of the new economy we are seeking to build,” said the government’s
chief finance minister, George Osborne. The first phase of the UK’s
rural broadband initiative, using fiber optic technology, will take
place in the Highlands, North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Herefordshire.
• On Monday two postal employees were shot and killed in Henning, Tennessee, pop. 970.
“You’d
think when you’re in a government building you’d be safe, but I guess
you’re not safe anywhere anymore,” Percy Williams, 64, a retired police
patrolman, told the (Memphis) Commercial Appeal.
Union
officials said that after their requests for security cameras at the
post office had repeatedly been denied, a “dummy” camera was
installed. Currently, there are no suspects in the murders.
•
Speed limits on many rural portions of Virginia’s Interstate highways
will increase from 65 to 70 by the end of this year. Virginia Governor
Bob McDonnell said acceleration “will help Virginians arrive at their
destinations quicker and safer and will speed the delivery of goods and
services throughout the commonwealth.”
There’s considerable
evidence that increasing speed limits in other states has lead to more
rural highway fatalities, especially in the years immediately following
the increase. See this study from Alabama.
A Georgia study
found that “in states that raised rural interstate speed limits, about
400 lives are lost each year because of the higher limits.”
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