Here’s a video of comments from former FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani at the Alliance for Community Media Conference in Minneapolis in July.   Gloria spoke on spectrum policy, issues before the FCC, and the recent controversy on Ken Burns’ documentary in Latino communities across the U-S:

One of the great legislative success stories in the fight to preserve community television happened in Illinois this summer. While a statewide cable franchising bill passed, it only did so with major concessions for local regulation, consumer protection and preservation of PEG benefits. Here’s a video of Illinois Senior Assistant Attorney General Susan Satter talking about what happened in Illinois.

For more information about the Illinois bill, go to Keep Us Connected.

After a summer-long hiatus, it’s the return of Scratch Pad!

To get things started off, here’s video of Hannah Sassaman from the Prometheus Radio Project at the Alliance for Community Media national conference in Minneapolis this summer. She’s introduced by Denis Moynahan from Democracy Now!

If you haven’t seen it, there’s a nice article from the Associated Press out of San Jose on the how much community television is used by immigrant communities.

SPNN got some nice news this past week about grant support for a news project we’re developing from the New Voices project of J-Lab. What’s even nicer is other community media and media justice groups (Reclaim the Media, Access SF, Cambridge Community TV) got awards for new projects.

The press release on the awards is here.

Oh my god. I am tired and need some B vitamin after reading Colin Rhinesmith’s blog.

It’s a great compendium of “stuff” surrounding digital culture, law, participatory culture, media arts, and just as importantly, community television.

Oh, and he’s a graduate student working part-time. I remember now. He doesn’t sleep.

How do we clone this guy?

Serving Our Troops, a local volunteer group in Saint Paul, has been leading a support effort for troops and Minnesota National Guard stationed overseas in Kosovo and Iraq the last three years. The latest effort will ship over 11,000 steak dinners from the Saint Paul steakhouse Mancini’s to troops in Iraq in April. Then families in Minnesota will join their loved ones via video teleconference for a family meal together. It’s a great community project.

My thanks to John Marshall for asking SPNN to be a part of this project.

There’s a really nice summary of Friday’s testimony in the MN House on statewide franchising on The Blandin Foundation Broadband blog.  Blandin has been a leader in the philanthropic community in Minnesota in trying to make broadband availability a top state priority.

If you want the video link to see the testimony, go here.

Hey, here’s our standing access production in Saint Paul, All Things Access.   Other episodes are at our website.   Enjoy!

Five Alliance for Community Media related conferences are on my calendar right now…I just need to figure out how to take advantage of my frequent flier miles.

First is the ACM-Northeast Region Spring Conference in late April, hosted by the New Hampshire Coalition for Community Media in Bedford, NH. Dot Grover and the NHCCM have been doing a great job organizing people in the Granite State (did I get that right?), and the Northeast is a hotbed of organizing activity with great work happening in just about every state.

That same weekend is the ACM-Northwest Conference, ENGAGE, ENLIGHTEN, EMPOWER: MAKE OUR MEDIA MATTER” in Olympia, WA.    The Conference will feature the Best of the Northwest video festival.

Soon after that is the WAPC Spring Conference in Madison, WI the weekend of May 4-5. I have a fond place in my heart for my brothers and sisters in Wisconsin. They have built a solid base of PEG centers supporting professional and political education work in the past decade. ACM-Midwest will be co-sponsoring the conference. Meet me for beer on the Terrace.

Then June rolls around, and ACM MidAtlantic holds their Thinking Outside the Box Conference, June 8 & 9 in Edison, NJ. Jersey Access Group is playing host, and again have a great track record of building a statewide professional education group for community access television.

And of course everyone is invited to Twin Cities for the Alliance’s National Conference July 25-28 at the Minneapolis Marriott City Center. The conference will have a special youth producer registration rate, a media camp for children, a Drupal boot camp, a video screening by the Twin Cities Youth Media Network, the Hometown Awards ceremonies at the Walker Art Center, and an evening celebration on the banks of the Mississippi River by historic Saint Anthony Falls. It promises to be a great gathering of community media practitioners from around the U-S! If you want more information about what to do in Minneapolis, go here.

I am still trying to figure out if there will be a Chair’s Polka Party here. Stay tuned.