Indiana Speaker of the House and DLCC Board Member Pat Bauer met with leaders from the University of Indiana to announce the completion of a 1,178 miles of fiber-optic cable that forms the backbone of the network connecting more than 40 of the state's public and private universities.

The network will provide campus users with Internet connections up to 20 times faster than what they can access in their homes -- allowing researchers to access massive data collections and collaborate with professors from other schools.

The network also will vastly improve distance learning programs by enabling high-quality video streaming and high-definition learning tools like telepresence, a videoconferencing technology that gives users the impression of being in the classroom.

The state also believes that this kind of technological infrastructure will help encourage the opening of new business and the creation of new jobs.

All of which makes this a pretty good investment for $13 million.

I started working at the DLCC three weeks ago, and part of my job is to track the accomplishments of our elected leaders. Last week, I took a look at the Pennsylvania legislature’s website and was immediately touched by the first story listed on the “Week in Review” page.

Gov. Ed Rendell just signed a Senate Bill into law establishing what’s known as the Cancer Drug Repository Program. This bill, identical to Rep. Tim Solobay’s H.B. 186, allows cancer patients to donate their unused prescription medications so that lower-income patients or those without insurance can buy them at a reduced price.

All-too-often cancer patients are prescribed medication in three-month dosages, and before that time is up, there is a change in the doctor’s treatment plan and the old medicine becomes useless. Under the new program those drugs would no longer be discarded, they would be used to benefit less fortunate patients, which to me, makes it not only economical but also potentially life-saving.

Rep. Solobay is becoming a pioneer in prescription thriftiness, drafting another bill that would incorporate prescription drugs of all varieties into this program. While prescription drugs are becoming more expensive and out of reach for those in need, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, literally! Rep. Solobay is on point with these ideas, and I am eager to see what he’ll accomplish next.

Megan Hannigan is a Klindt/Dye Intern for the 2008 Summer Semester