New Orleans launches free wireless
Internet part of recovery bid
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - To help boost its stalled economy, hurricane-ravaged New Orleans is offering the nation's first free wireless Internet network owned and run by a major city.
Mayor Ray Nagin said Tuesday the system would benefit residents and small businesses who still can't get their Internet service restored over the city's washed-out telephone network, while showing the nation "that we are building New Orleans back."
The system started operation Tuesday in the central business district and French Quarter. It's to be available throughout the city in about a year. Hundreds of similar projects in other cities have met with stiff opposition from phone and cable TV companies, which have poured money into legislative bills aimed at blocking competition from government agencies - including a state law in Louisiana that needed to be sidestepped for the New Orleans project.
Highest wage states are in the East, lowest in the South
WASHINGTON (AP) - Americans have been migrating south and west for decades, but it appears they've been leaving some high-paying jobs behind.
While there are many pockets of wealth in the South and West, the states with the highest wage earners line the East Coast, according to Census data released Tuesday.
Connecticut, with a median household income of $56,409, supplanted New Jersey as the country's highest wage state in 2003, the most recent year available. New Jersey slid to second, at $56,356, followed by Maryland, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Mississippi had the lowest median income, at $32,397. West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana and Montana rounded out the bottom five. The median household income for the nation was $43,318. Census figures show that Southern and Western states have been growing in population much faster than those in the Northeast and Midwest.
But despite those population shifts, the list of wealthiest - and poorest - states in 2003 looks a lot like the list from a decade before.
Fox signs Cowell to long-term deal continuing his participation on 'American Idol'
NEW YORK (AP) - There will be at least five more "American Idol" winners - and insult-wielding Simon Cowell is booked to do his part in selecting each one.
Fox on Tuesday announced a deal for five more editions of the nation's most popular television program, with plans to help ardent fans keep in touch with the talent contest over the Internet and on cell phones. Key to the deal was the settlement of a lawsuit against Cowell by fellow British pop impresario Simon Fuller, creator of "American Idol."
As the judge alongside Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, Cowell is the show's breakout star, unafraid to take the villain's role in offering blunt assessments of young people trying to become singing stars. His contract was due to expire at the end of the season that starts in January; Tuesday's deal extends the show for four years after that.
