MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2005
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 17A
NATIONAL
Teens auction time over eBay
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — First, they auctioned off a week of their time online for a fraction of what they had hoped to make.
Then, college-bound students Chip Davis and Chris Pullen learned the identity of their eBay "buyer": Davis' mother, Mary.
"Like I'm going to let some pedophile or whatever win? I don't think so," she said Friday. "I would have paid $5,000 for the safety of those two, no question."
"After finding out the winner was from St. Joseph, I was disappointed," Chip Davis said. "But now I'm even more disappointed to find out it was my mom."
The auction concluded Monday, Davis, 18, and Pullen, 19, found out Mary Davis' secret on Thursday, dashing any hopes that they would at least get to travel because of the auction.
Mary Davis used a screen name the two would not recognize, and checked the family's computer in secret to make sure she had the winning bid.
She said she planned to gether money's worth out of the two, who will start classes later this month at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
"It's a legal contract," she said, "so the longer they put it off, the longer the list of work will get."
The list, compiled with Pullen's mother, Janet, already includes lawnmowing and room-cleaning duties.
"With Chip's mom, you never know what she'll make us do," Pullen said. "But I don't have any doubts we'll get it done. We don't go back on our word."
The Associated Press
Crawling along
The auction generated plenty of fan mail, and some job offers that Pullen said have raised the possibility of a second auction.
The Associated Press
A lady bug climbs along the under side of a sunflower's petals Friday, Aug. 12, 2005, in a Garden City, Kan., yard's flower bed.
EDUCATION
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Debate over dollars
TOPEKA — With one major battle in a six-year-old school finance lawsuit behind them, the school districts that sued the state want other districts to help them hold legislators accountable to the Kansas Supreme Court's July 8 ruling.
Schools for Fair Funding, a coalition of 14 Kansas school districts, are inviting others that fared well under the state's $290 million funding increase that resulted from the court's order to join the litigation. Fred Kaufman, leader of the group and superintendent in Hays, said the group has had informal discussions with districts, including Lawrence, about joining.
"We want broader participation, and we would appreciate the financial support," Kaufman said. "We think it's critical. It won't go away this legislative session."
The coalition, led by the Dodge City and Salina school districts, filed a lawsuit in 1999 against the state, claiming the formula for distributing aid to 300 public school districts was
unfair. In particular, the lawsuit took issue with how the money was doled out for districts with high percentages of poor and minority students.
The Kansas Supreme Court upheld a Shawnee County District Court ruling in favor of the districts, ordering legislators to increase funding during the 2005 session. Legislators responded by increasing spending by $142 million, targeting funds at special education, bilingual programs and students at risk of failing academically.
Justices said that wasn't enough and told legislators to increase spending by an additional $143 million to more than $3 billion and to conduct a cost study to determine how much _ if any _ additional funding is necessary during the 2006 session. Lawmakers wound up passing a $148.4 million funding boost.
"Nothing has been done to help education for the last 10 years, probably longer, until this lawsuit came along. The Schools for Fair Funding districts should be congratulated," said Alan Rupe, a Wichita attorney repre
sending the plaintiffs. "It's probably time for some of the other districts to step up to the plate."
That may be difficult for some districts. A new law prohibits districts from spending state aid on lawsuits and lobbying. Any expenditures for those activities must come from local tax dollars or private sources.
The basis for much of the justices' ruling was a 2001 study conducted by consultants Augenblick & Myers that said the state was underfunding education by roughly $850 million annually. Legislators largely rejected that study.
Kaufman said it's critical to monitor progress on the new study and how legislators respond.
"The study, if that study is done legitimately, it may make Augenblick & Myers look small," Kaufman said.
But he's concerned that lawmakers will have the study conducted in a way that will make it look like schools don't need more funds.
"If it gets out of hand,it can be used as a tool to limit school funding." he said.
Sprint completes Nextel purchase
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Sprint Corp.'s long awaited takeover of Nextel Communications Corp. was completed Friday, with executives from the wireless leaders now preparing for the unified company's introduction to some 40 million customers.
It was the last formal step to the creation of Sprint Nextel Corp., the sum of a $35 billion deal pairing two companies with disparate strengths and customer bases that their backers say make them a perfect fit as the country's third largest wireless provider.
"Communication is changing and we are not only ready for it, we will lead it," said Timothy M. Donahue, the former Nextel president and CEO who is chairman of the new company.
It will be a number of weeks before consumers notice new signs going up at retail outlets, marketing aimed at exposing the new brand, additional service plans and handsets and other outward signs that the deal is sealed.
All of this is being carefully rolled out in time for the crucial holiday shopping season. Some will see signs of change sooner.
Investors traded shares of FON, which closed down 24 cents Friday at $26.38 and NXTL, down 64 cents to $33.85.
for the last time, with the ticker symbol S to begin on Monday.
Employees will receive instructions on how to get identification badges, stationary and business cards with the new company logo.
And Donahue steps back as Sprint's Gary D. Forsee emerges as president and CEO.
"Getting bigger is a large reason for doing this deal," said Avi Greengart, an analyst with Sterling, Va.-based Current Analysis. "But in terms of these two companies matching, they matched their customer demographics very well."
It's clear why the two companies worked so hard to pair up.
Overland Park-based Sprint,
whose campus now becomes
the operational headquarters, is known for its focus on consumers and its emphasis on technology, from downloadable cell phone games to live television on your handset.
Reston, Va.-based Nextel, whose suburban Washington base is the new corporate headquarters, is popular with businesses of all sizes and is the leader in push-to-talk technology that makes cell phones like walkie talkies.
As a joint company, the advances of both Sprint and Nextel will likely lead to new consumer offerings.
One area Sprint Nextel wants to emerge as a leader is wireless broadband.
Using what's known as 2.5-gigaertz spectrum to send
a signal, wireless broadband would be a wider use of the technology that has brought wireless "hot spots" to airport terminals and coffee shops.
It would make it possible to take a train trip coast-to-coast without disconnecting from the Internet.
"Iimagine it being like Wi-Fi on steroids," said Scott Stoffel, a Sprint spokesman. Stoffel says the unified company owns 2.5-gigahertz coverage for about 80 percent of the U.S.
Berge Avazian, chief research officer for the Yankee Group, said such offerings will be important from Sprint Nextel as well as the top two wireless companies, Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless.
The Associated Press