more like the fcc. if you talk to engineers, which it is has been very consensus driven, but as the community has changed, people think it is very dysfunctional. it is as phied, consensus doesn't work when there is so much hetergeneity. there is no magic design or we would have found it a long time ago. we have this unruly workable sort of muddling through approach about trying to play off different institutional strengths against each other. >> all right, jim had a comment. >> yeah. in practical terms, i think it is asking a lot to ask any bureaucratic entity to reform itself or to reconsider, you know, the core fundamentals of its existence. i mean, institutions just don't do that. that's why the congress actually, you know, has responsibility here. it created the agency. it wrote the law s under which t operates. if there is going to be a fundamental re-examination of the mission and the role of the fcc going forward, it has to come from the congress. and i can give you two quick examples. one of the

just to set the stage, you called the fcc's action, quote, one of the darkest days in recent fcc history. now, do you really believe that or were you just taking poetic license for dramatic effect after just having quoted shakespeare before that? >> well, when you're writing a 30-page dissent with 30 footnotes, you have to put something in there to keep the reader's attention. a little bit of rhetoric doesn't hurt any now and then, so -- >> i want to quote again from your decision and obviously have no fear. we're not going have time to explore all 33 pages, but -- and of course, a lot of it turned on the -- on your analysis of the commission's legal authority with which you disagreed with the majority and the commission had authority to promulgate these rules. we may talk a little bit about that, but put that aside. that, but put that aside. i just want to give you a years. this gets to the heart of the matter. commissioner mcdowell said, quote, using these new rules as a weapon politically favored companies will be able to pressure their political appointees to regulate their rivals to

i think it is time for the fcc to give congress a deadline. and it should simply announce you have as much time as you need to make a very, you know, it is a hard decision on some level, but it is also very simple. you allocated to commercial, to public safety, it should not take more than a year or 18 months. that's how long it takes to actually do an auction so the fcc might as well start tomorrow. tomorrow is saturday. can't do that. monday and just say, we're going to start planning for commercial auction. that's the current law. if congress wishes to reallocate it differently, that's fine. but let's not get to a point where a year from now congress decides not to do it and then we have to wait aol yenother year half before an auction can be held. i would urge the fcc and congress, and, by the way, if you're a supporter of public safety, it is in your interest that that happen because that's the only way to get to that kind of state of urgency which would cause congress to actually act. >> always hard to follow blair. first, let me start b

more like the fcc. if you talk to engineers, which it is has been very consensus driven, but as the community has changed, people think it is very dysfunctional. it is as phied, consensus doesn't work when there is so much hetergeneity. there is no magic design or we would have found it a long time ago. we have this unruly workable sort of muddling through approach about trying to play off different institutional strengths against each other. >> all right, jim had a comment. >> yeah. in practical terms, i think it is asking a lot to ask any bureaucratic entity to reform itself or to reconsider, you know, the core fundamentals of its existence. i mean, institutions just don't do that. that's why the congress actually, you know, has responsibility here. it created the agency. it wrote the law s under which t operates. if there is going to be a fundamental re-examination of the mission and the role of the fcc going forward, it has to come from the congress. and i can give you two quick examples. one of the

i am pleased now to have with me the fcc commissioner, robert mcdowell. we had commissioner meredith baker providing the opening notes and it is nice to have the commissioner with us. i recognize a lot of the audience members from the last two conferences. bers from the last two conferences. commissioner mcdowell, i mentioned this morning this was the third annual fr state conference. so now i have no conpunction, because we now have a ring of permanence. the first two occupants of the chair that you are sitting in was blair levin. he was past fcc chair and the incoming -- he was on the verge of becoming the broadband czar, the executive director of the commission's national broadband plan team and then last year we had in your chair, eddie lazarus who was the current fcc chief of staff. i was very honored to have is both of those gentlemen, of course, and we had great conversations, as many of you can attest, but i guess this is really a step up the ladder, right? for us to have an fcc commissioner here, wouldn't you agree? >> blair is sitting right ther

welcome, harmful commissioners and chairman of the fcc. you are all great individuals, you are all very bright. i disagree with the majority of you and your net neutrality regulation you have put in place. but i'm impressed by your intellect. mr. chairman, i'll put my statement into the record, but suffice it to say that i do not see how this commission with the intelligence that they have could have adopted the rule that they did on a 3-2 partisan vote, knowing that there is probably going to be -- knowing that there has been a change in the congress and that every candidate ran on the net neutrality principle that they tried to establish was defeated, and knowing that the majority of this committee and the majority of the congress on both sides of the aisle oppose the rule that they now have put into place. we have two hearings going on simultaneously, so mr. of deny and others will be up and down and back. i hope to come back in time the question the commission and try to delve into why they did what they did when they did it, knowing t

that is the essence of antitrust law, and my concern about the fcc has done is to fold. first of all, i do not believe that they have the legislative authority, the existing authority under the law to be essentially view the internet from a common carrier status point of view and stepped in to regulate in this area. but second the coming and more important, for many of my friends who, as i do, believe in open access and support this regulatory approach with the fcc is doing with net neutrality, ic to then be careful what you ask for, because this is a massive new intrusion that could lead to far greater tentacles of regulation of the internet than currently exists. one of the most dynamic things about the internet, one of the most of all things about what has grown has been its lack of regulation, its lack of excessive taxation and that freedom has caused the internet to become the dominant force in people's lives and the dominant force in the growth of our economy, and we don't want to lose that by turning over to a bureaucracy, a regulatory process. antitrust law the a

the fcc has done what it is -- what it has done. get on top of hearings of how we will build a city on fiber-optic systems so we can get around what the fcc just did. we need to do it soon. another point is that this monday there will be a meeting at the sfpuc about the san francisco electric reliability plan, and new plan. i think lafco should get into that and agendas that so we are talking about it. there are some differences from the group's as to where it is headed right now. the final thing i would say, and i say it on behalf of myself as an individual organizer, most of you got an e-mail from me. i think this is the right way to go. you might be surprised to hear a radical pit bull like me suggest that. with one of the keys to cca being green jobs and uplifting communities with those brain jobs, i think it would be a real important thing for lafco to do to outreach to district 10 so that crown 04 green jobs -- so that ground zero for green jobs -- so we're bringing district 10 firmly into this conversation. as a move forward,

i think even people at the fcc would agree with this. i know the women here last week -- there should be more variety in radio. thank you very much. president chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> the stars from heaven shall fall. their powers shall be eventually it shaken. then, there will see the son of man in the clouds, power and great glory. yes, the stars of heaven shall fall. the towers of heaven shall be shaken. the will see the son of god in the clouds. we are in the 777th week from the jubilee. maybe abraham lincoln's birthday. is it time? i am of the studied opinion that the 1335 days in the book of daniel -- there were 108 days for the conclusion of these days, which i interpret as 28 7 0-year cycles from christ, probably 5108 days, which ended on either the last day of the sabbatical cycle or the first day of the sabbatical cycle. jerusalem is 10 hours ahead of us. god is obviously shouting that the return of jesus christ will be in this cycle that will end in the spring. but what you're will he return? i speculate it will be in

. >> host: if you could redesign the fcc -- [laughter] where would you start? >> guest: i would start with spectrum policy. spectrum policy, which seems to be about spectrum, about how we manage spectrum -- i'm sorry. >> host: you can just keep talking. >> guest: all right. spectrum policy is actually about the state of radio engineering circa the early 1930s. and the way we managed spectrum was to say one and only one antenna can broadcast on any given spectrum in any given locale because we have no way to know how to manage interference. there's one little slice of spectrum where that didn't matter which was 2400 gigahertz because it is the radio -- it is the frequency which water vibrates, the microwave frequency. they said, oh, fine, garage door openers, microwave ovens, do what you want there. and this one little section is where wi-fi showed up which is, plainly, the most incredible change in networking technology in the last ten years, and if i could redesign the fcc, i would make it clear that when the engineering changes, the regulatory apparatus chang

anita was an extraordinary person who worked very closely with so many people at the fcc. she was known by all as a generous person with not only a brilliant intellect but also we warm spirit and incredibly positive attitude every day. even through her illness when she continued to work at the fcc making her friendships participate in all the activities here at the agency. anita had been at the fcc since 1995 when she joined the predecessor as part of the honors program. she worked with the commission and several rolls over the years, always working hard, always committed to doing the right thing to come always working on behalf of the american people. she was the original author of the fcc's troup and billing rule, and over the course of her time here at the fcc worked on a variety of matters including lifeline healthcare issued in the timber. she worked very closely with all of the people on making the first presentation anita was an inspiration to her colleagues in the lawyer line bureau and throughout the fcc. at her memorial service this weekend, literally hundreds of

the fcc is the key focus. supervisor mirkarimi and i have been doing our best to get meetings with usf. but you have to help keep the pressure on. congratulations on being here for three or four meetings to speak about usf. i urge unanimous support for this resolution. thank you. >> i appreciate the support of this resolution. fundamentally, i do not agree that this board of supervisors should be passing resolutions on private sales between two parties. i appreciate the content. i have listened to kusf over the years. it has been a big part of our community. but fundamentally, the fact that we are passing resolutions commenting on private sales between two parties -- it is the slippery slope of foreign policy. i do not think we should be doing that here. president chiu: any additional conversation? >> on item 24 -- supervisor mirkarimi: aye. supervisor weiner: aye. supervisor avalos: aye. supervisor campos: aye. president chiu: aye. supervisor chu: no. supervisor cohen: aye. supervisor elsbernd: no. supervisor

>> i'm not sure i can speak for the fcc. i'll tell you my perspective on it. i think the debate by spectrum caps, at least as i've observed, is entirely predictable. where everyone stands is really obvious and you don't need a two-hour discussion to decide it. bad decisions made in previous auctions and then you shouldn't compensate them for that. people talk about foreclosure value, if you have a lot of spectrum, there's some value in foreclosing your competitors from getting more. people talk about competition policy. i think these are all important factors to consider, but would i agree with tom and kathy both, right, which is that i think the dominant factor is how big is the pie, right? there's a big difference between having a discussion on spectrum caps in ten megahertz versus spectrum caps when you're thinking about 100 megahertz so it's a people tomb discussion to have in the abstract amusing though it is, it's probably more to think about it in the context of specific auctions when we have a better sense of what the supply side looks like. >> okay. s

my concern about what the fcc has done is to fold. first of all, i do not believe that they have the legislative authority, the existing authority under the law, to essentially view the internet from a common carrier status point of u.s. step in to regulate this area. secondly and more importantly, for many of my friends, who believe in open access and support this regulatory approach, with what the fcc is doing with net neutrality, i say to them, be careful what you ask for. this is a massive new intrusion that could lead to far greater tentacles of regulation of the internet than currently exist. one of the most dynamic things about the internet, one of the most phenomenal things about how it has grown has been its lack of regulation, its lack of excessive taxation. that freedom has caused the internet to become the dominant force in people's lives, the dominant force in the growth of the economy. we don't want to lose that by turning over to a bureaucracy a regulatory process. antitrust laws relate to enforcing laws that are on the

to cut -- fcc to cut roughly 600 in staff. is that correct? >> i believe it is, but i will say i think the budget proposal comeing out of the house doesn't put the fcc back to 2008 levels, although it represents a cut off the continuing resolution number. >> if you put it in perspective with the numbers, the total loss of household loss as a result of this great recession has been estimated to be approximately $14 trillion, and the over-the-counter derivatives market is $200 trillion, and the entire world was over $74 trillion, and the flash crash in 2006 wiped out $1 trillion. it seems to me penny-wise and popped foolish not to invest in the agencies required to come forward with the new rules, the new studies, and to prevent the madoff's of the future. now, as i understand it, correct me if i'm wrong, but dodd-frank calls for 95 new rules for the fcc; is that correct? >> depends how you count, but that's in the ballpark. >> and 61 from the ftc; right? >> more in the order of 45. >> 45? okay. >> i don't know. people can count

. >> if you could redesign the fcc, were reduced our? >> i would start spectrum policy -- where would you start? >> i would start at spectrum policy. it seems to be about spectrum, but it is actually about the state of radio spectrum in the 1930's. the way we managed spectrum then was to say that only one broadcast -- there is no way to manage interference. the frequency -- my great frequency -- the microwave frequency, they said do what you want there. that is where wifi showed up, which is the most incredible change in technology in the last few years. i would make it clear that when engineering changes, the regulatory apparatus changes as well. we could get so which more value out of the spectrum the fcc manages at on our behalf if we approached it with 21st century engineering. >> how did and are major from yogurt interested in this? >> by accident. -- how did an art major from the yale get interested in this? >> i was doing some research in the library for a theater company. i heard about the internet and said i would check it out.

competition is a core strategic mission of the fcc. the issues vary as you look at different parts of the broadband economy. one of the many reasons to push wireless to unlease wireless to accelerate the next generation of global 4g which will be much faster with lower latency than 3g which is already pretty good is that it increases the chances that wireless broadband can become a competitive alternative to wired broadband. because most of the competitive issues really are in the wired space. so it's something that we focus on at the fcc. wireless is a big piece of it. consumer transparency is another important piece of it. most people don't know what broadband speeds they have. one the things that we've found in our work when we produce the national broadband plan last year was that the speeds that most consumers actually get at home are much less than the advertised speeds. and so even with the limited competition that we have in wired internet access, consumers don't have the information right now to put pressure on companies -- >>

the fcc has taken steps in the last year to address some key aspects of usf. we have modernize our key rate programs so schools and libraries can get faster internet connections and access to 21st century learning tools like digital textbooks. for updating our world health care programs, patient several clinics can benefit from broadband enabled care like remote consultations with specialists in where in the country. these changes are helping deliver on the national broadband plan's goal of ultra- high-speed broadband to anchor institutions at every community in the country. late last you we propose a mobility fund intended to spur the buildout of advanced mobile wireless networks in areas not served by current and next-generation networks. next month we will be taking up a part of usf called lifeline fleet of which helps low-income americans get connected. and important program that is in real need of reform. and we are also considering proposals to reform the contribution system that supports usf. today i want to discuss the largest part of the usf program,

so why is the fcc interested in street view? in addition to capturing these digital images, the vehicles were also capturing the wifi transmission's as they were driving through those commercial areas, and those residential areas. they might have gone by a wifi hot spot at mcdonnell's and starbucks, most likely advertised on the web, come check us out. but they also went by the wifi hott spots in their private homes, where people work connecting their desktops to the laptop in the kitchen. this is an interesting issue. it is one that the fcc will be looking at more closely this year. they have already announced an investigation. the federal trade commission concluded there there was not anything to investigate. but this is the way the washington works some more times. you have a couple of different cops on the beach. if one misses a problem, sometimes the other picks it up. also on google street view, all those privacy agencies have been looking at that issue as well. we have several countries that have concluded that that servi

at the fcc, the position of chief economist has been vacant for 10 months. at the cftc, the commission of the chief economist was vacant for 11 months before finally being filled this past december. i believe the failure to promptly fill these key positions suggest that economic analysis is not a high priority for our regulators. in the light of the fact that the cost imposed by these rules may cause some americans to lose their jobs, our regulatory agency should make themselves aware of the economic impact of proposed rules before adopting them. while improvements in the rule making process can smooth implementation of dodd-fnk, i'm under no illusions it can offer long term consequences. dodd-frank is going to be very, very expensive. dodd-frank may not raise taxes directly, but consumers will soon feel its cost when they pay high regulatory fees, higher compliance costs, and higher prices for financial services. just this past wk, the president's budget calls for the cftc to impose $117 million in new taxes in the form of user fees to pay for the cost of d

at the fcc, the position of chief economist has been vacant for 10 months. at the cftc, the commission of the chief economist was vacant for 11 months before finally being filled this past december. i believe the failure to promptly fill these key positions suggest that economic analysis is not a high priority for our regulators. in the light of the fact that the cost imposed by these rules may cause some americans to lose their jobs, our regulatory agency should make themselves aware of the economic impact of proposed rules before adopting them. while improvements in the rule making process can smooth implementation of dodd-frank, i'm under no illusions it can offer long term consequences. dodd-frank is going to be very, very expensive. dodd-frank may not raise taxes directly, but consumers will soon feel its cost when they pay high regulatory fees, higher compliance costs, and higher prices for financial services. just this past week, the president's budget calls for the cftc to impose $117 million in new taxes in the form of user fees to pay for the cost

at the fcc, the position of chief economist has been vacant for 10 months. at the cftc, the commission of the chief economist was vacant for 11 months before finally being filled this past december. i believe the failure to promptly fill these key positions suggest that economic analysis is not a high priority for our regulators. in the light of the fact that the cost imposed by these rules may cause some americans to lose their jobs, our regulatory agency should make themselves aware of the economic impact of proposed rules before adopting them. while improvements in the rule making process can smooth implementation of dodd-frank, i'm under no illusions it can offer long term consequences. dodd-frank is going to be very, very expensive. dodd-frank may not raise taxes directly, but consumers will soon feel its cost when they pay high regulatory fees, higher compliance costs, and higher prices for financial services. just this past week, the president's budget calls for the cftc to impose $117 million in new taxes in the form of user fees to pay for the cost

certainly there's criminal acts -- you mean the government or just the fcc. just the fcc. the government does this authority with criminal things going on. as we come up to the anniversary of the telecom act, internet is mentioned in that act a few times. not a lot but a few. i think when congress did not act to explicitly give authority for the regulation of internet network management, that was evident the bept of section is deregulatory. 706 has been used most recently in the internet network management order of december 21st to justify those regulations. i think it's clear from the language and the legislative history and judicial interpretation of it that does not give the commission the authority the majority was seeking. so i thi the commission is hard pressed to find the authority to support its rules. >> okay. the this will be the last question, because i promised commissioner mcdowell that we would end at 2:00. under fcc, tom, we're still close, so we're going to do that. >> the clock stopped. >> lynn, identify yourself and i get the last question. >> no pressure

. >> host: what was your work at the fcc? >> guest: i was the chief of the table table -- not cable television bureau in the broadcast bureau and the common carrier bureau. >> host: what kind of work did you do what you were there? >> guest: of the chief of these girls is the senior civil servant who reports to and makes recommendations to the commissioners about what the polish he should be and also as a personal manager, the implementation of these policies of the various girls. this is going back a very long time now, 30 years by actual count. and the issues in the cable area were essentially whether or not the cable television industry should be permitted much broader latitude to offer services at the time it was somewhat suppressed by virtue of concerns about what it might do to over the air broadcasting's. and in a telephone area it was a whole series of issues some of which are tentative with us even today including the rather current issue of how we deal with transmission companies and the concept of transmission comp

the takeover of -- from having to broadcast a generic a genre of music and was able to convince the fcc to allow them to go on. someone from our disability show has not had a chance. think you very much. >> thank you. >> i am here representing the host of the news report broadcast on sunday afternoon at 12:30 p.m.. the program that we do is the only weekly program that is targeted to the senior disability community in this bay area. we to observe the fairness doctrine and do a lot of political broadcasting. the alert people to legislation that is going on. i would like to echo the sentiments of most of the people that are here. we would like the board of regents to rescind the sale to these sort of corporate parties. but this was as was mentioned by the first speaker, indicative of what is happening with the radio stations for budget constraints. i'm asking you to please suggest that they rescind what is going on. thank you very very much. >> thank you. >> i am here about the article in "the examiner." i also care about the city and like to see if it works properly. they have not done t

they say within 6 inches of those leaders the radiation may possibly violate fcc safety standards. many peace studies have concluded smartmeters are safe. >>> apple may be close to launching a new ipad. there is a new model faster, lighter, thinner, and with a camera. apple has sold some 15 million tablets. >>> the governor of wisconsin today say no to any compromise and a political stalemate that has got to stay for a week -- that has gripped his stage for the week. it would strip the most public employees of bargaining rights. >> it is time for them to come back and participate in democracy. if you want to produce the in democracy, you have got to be in the arena and that is in madison, wisconsin,. >> the governor rejected a suggestion of compromise. >>> police are investigating graffiti that contains death threats against president obama and governor brown. the messages were spotted this morning in santa anna about 1 mile from where spray-painted graffiti threatened the governor last month bbc the obama and brown must die and there are slurs targeting the president,, and mexican

i am asking you to stand with me, defeat the fcc overreach. god bless you. thank you for being here. thank you so much. thank you. [applause] >> yes, they need to stay away from the internet. but under domestic terrorist granted a degree of all kinds of things continue to go on a. were you all inspired by the governments -- the obama state of the union speech not long ago? suddenly and magically he is pro-business. a lot of business coming to the white house. i think with all the business he is inspired by now he should by the wal-mart food court.

the fcc allows the customers to determine that. it is different in every case. i would like your comment on that as well, if you could. >> i am happy to comment on that. we are working very closely together. many more things are the same than are different. >> i picked out some of 50 that have been pointed out. >> we are still at the proposal stage. there is lots of opportunity through our extensive meetings with industry and others to bring these rules closer. when we propose something that is different, we asked people what would be a better approach. is the cftc's approach veteran more realistic? is there a third way to go about dealing with this? i would also say there are differences in the markets we are regulating. the security data -- security- based markets trade differently than the interest rate markets. to some extent, the differences in the marketplace will dictate -- let me please agree with you that where the rules will fall upon institutions that are contracting and working in both markets, it is incumbent upon us to make them as close to identic

: chief bats says the transition to that new radio system will begin as soon as the city get as new fcc license. live tonight in oakland, mike mibach. >>> san francisco health and human services agency is notifying thousands of med-cal recipients that their information may have been leaked: the agency says at this point there is no evidence the personal information has been sent to any unauthorized parties. >>> marin county officials are now trying to figure out what sickened 160 people last on a trip to the walker ranch. the health department told ktvu today that water tests came back negative to any contaminants. >>> a private high school in san francisco is set to make history. ktvu's john fowler was there as the senior class learned that they will be the first in the nation to be tested for hiv. john. >> reporter: it's this simple test, a mouth swab that literally takes second. but it could mean a lifetime of change for students at the urban school. >> i'm going to give it to somebody. and you're going to probably live a normal life. >> reporter: aids pioneer dr. marcus conan led a

there is also it's on s fcc gp. org has the application the community challenge grant web page. so, let's see. it's a highly competitive grant. there are 200 officially recognized neighborhoods in the city of san francisco. check it out if you go to sfgov. org and click on agencies and the planning department on the planning department home page there is a spreadsheet they update when they have time of neighborhood organizations that want to be notified. so and many are interested in getting money to improve their neighborhoods. we usually have applications along the order of 2-1/2 times the funding that we have. like we will have 500 thousand dollars available to give out ask and we get 1.3 million dollars worth of applications. it's competitive. we are not hard and fast about breaking down the money between small, medium and large. we are pretty flexible. we like to look at good projects. we always try to fund one large project if it's a hundred thousand we may be might not fund 2 large projects. so, with that, i will quit and invite david and neil and joseph to talk about som

at the fcc, the position of chief economist has been vacant for 10 months. at the cftc, the commission of the chief economist was vacant for 11 months before finally being filled this past december. i believe the failure to promptly fill these key positions suggest that economic analysis is not a high priority for our regulators. in the light of the fact that the cost imposed by these rules may cause some americans to lose their jobs, our regulatory agency should make themselves aware of the economic impact of proposed rules before adopting them. while improvements in the rule making process can smooth implementation of dodd-frank, i'm under no illusions it can offer long term consequences. dodd-frank is going to be very, very expensive. dodd-frank may not raise taxes directly, but consumers will soon feel its cost when they pay high regulatory fees, higher compliance costs, and higher prices for financial services. just this past week, the president's budget calls for the cftc to impose $117 million in new taxes in the form of user fees to pay for the cost

levin's said and what the fcc. previously he served as chief of staff chairman reed hundt from december, 1993 through october, 1997. mr. levin oversaw among other matters the implementation of the historic 1996 telecommunications reform act, the first spectrum auctions, the development of a digital network television standards and the commission's internet initiative. mr. levin also spent eight years as principal telecom, media and tech regulatory strategy analyst at nason and stifel necklace. mr. levin serves as communications society fellow with the aspen institute communications and society programs. please join me in welcoming mr. levin. [applause] >> thank you. it's a great pleasure to be here today and i want to thank my cousin, adam, there he is over there, a native of cleveland. it's a great pleasure to see him and his family. but i'm actually not here just to see family. i'm here to talk about a moment. our nation is having a sputnik moment in late november energy secretary chu suggesting the clean energy

organizers plan to file a petition next week with the fcc. >>> next week the budget act is set to fall on a school district and it could mean the closier of three schools there. we caught up with students and parents from one of the schools on the chopping block as they made a final plea today. a little rain and cold weather could not stop students and parents from making what they say is a final push to save silverwood elementary. dozens march from the school to a nearby intersection. next week the unified school district is expected to weigh in on whether the school will close. >> i will have to move to a different school and i do not want to move to a different school. >> reporter: it's one of three elementary schools on the chopping block. and westwood is also up for consideration. and for now, it appears certain that it will close along side with the middle school. >> we have been here for a couple years. with like the school. and it's a small community so we have grown to know the parents and kids and stuff. >> reporter: the board says the closiers are needed to save $1.5 million

not only is it still around, the fcc now wants to add another one, a new one, a system to broadcast messages from the president, who would be able to get a message to all americans via tv, radio, wireless broadband. the big concern in the government is warning everyone when they first test the system so people don't actually think it's a real emergency. >>> you know the expression the dark side of the moon, well, tonight we have the first images ever of the far side of the sun. in fact these new images from nasa are the first time they have been able to see nearly the entire sun all at once, courtesy of nasa's twin spacecraft that reached positions on opposite and they have been beaming back extraordinary images ever since. at minimum, it's proof that it's round. nasa released some video of mark kelly, husband of arizona congresswoman gabby giffords, training for his upcoming shuttle mission to space. as we reported last week, he decided to return to his day job, return to space, in a few weeks on the shuttle while his wife continues her recovery from the attack in tucson. >>> former preside