St. Louis Park moves ahead on Wi-Fi plans: The city had its rollout of 400 access points hit the skids when their first 16-foot pole was unveiled and citizens freaked out. It has to be tall to reduce the footprint needed and pierce the dense canopy in the town, as well as be clear enough to receive solar power to charge the units. The city painted the poles dark brown, and the delay and changes cost $150,000 and added six weeks. The network should be up and running in October. St. Louis Park is one of the few cities in the country to spend its own dollars, and even more uniquely is charging for the service. The few other city efforts are free.
Wireless Philadelphia distributes first computers to welfare-to-work recipients: The five women received laptops as a kind of reward for holding a job for a year. The group plans to distribute machines to 500 low-income workers this year, and thousands over the initial five years of the project. Pretty great stories about the recipients, too. One went to work when her husband became paralyzed; he used to work two jobs just to make ends meet for the family.