Capitol Digest
PORN BLOCKING BLOCKED: A House Commerce subcommittee declined to advance a bill to block pornography on internet-connected devices and create a $5 adult entertainment fee to fund efforts to address human trafficking.
Communications companies questioned the constitutionality of the proposal from Rep. Sandy Salmon, R-Janesville, as well as the logistical challenges that would be created if HF 288 became law.
Representatives of ATT, T-Mobile and CenturyLink pointed out that apps are available to block certain kinds of content. The use of those apps is at the discretion of parents, for example, rather than the internet provider.
âIt would make us the policepersons for content and turn us into criminals if we donât enforce it enough,â said Mike St. Clair, representing the Iowa Communications Alliance of about 130 small broadband providers. âWe donât monitor content and donât wish to be in that business.â
Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy speaks at re:Invent 2018. (GeekWire Photo)
Andy Jassy will have big shoes to fill when he takes over from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos later this year. The chicken wing lovin’ 53-year-old tech executive also will face a host of challenges from labor force issues to a sprawling empire of disconnected businesses to intense government scrutiny.
But one longtime partner thinks there’s an even bigger challenge staring Jassy right in the face. And it connects directly to Jassy’s current day job of leading Amazon Web Services, the cloud juggernaut that earlier this week disclosed a mind-blowing $13.5 billion in operating profit last year. (As GeekWire’s Todd Bishop noted, that figure accounted for more than 63% of Amazon’s entire operating profits for the year),
Contributing Writer
photo by Garry Brandenburg
This trumpeter swan pair are resident birds at the Green Castle Recreation Area. They hopefully will bring off a new brood of cygnets this summer. In the meantime, winter season is hunker-down season, to hang out and take it easy, and to go with the flow of whatever winter weather events Mother Nature throws at them. Swan bodies are covered in over 5,000 feathers. And those feathers do a great job of insulating the bird’s body from heat loss. Swans restoration in Iowa is a conservation success story in part because of donations Iowans have made in the past via their Iowa tax returns. Donations to the Fish/Wildlife Fund, also known as the “Chickadee Checkoff” continues to be a huge benefit for many non-game species.
Iowa DNR to hold online meeting to review hunting and trapping seasons
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will host a virtual meeting at 6:30 p.m., Feb. 23, to review the recently completed hunting and trapping seasons, discuss possible changes to rules and regulations, and address other topics as requested and time allows.
“We want people to attend this meeting, listen to the seasons reviews, ask questions and hear directly from our staff,” said Todd Bishop, chief of the Iowa DNR’s Wildlife Bureau. “Part of the meeting will be devoted to discussing potential rule changes and collecting feedback as we work through the rules process.”