grants

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University Handing Out Grants for Doing Nothing

German school to dole out 3 'idleness grants' of $1.9K each

(Newser) - Getting a university grant sometimes requires an extraordinary amount of work. In this case, not so much. The University of Fine Arts in Hamburg, Germany, is handing out three "idleness grants" of $1,900 each, reports UPI . The name is accurate: The university will pay four people to do...

SCOTUS Not Interested in Planned Parenthood Case

High court rejects NH anti-abortion group's push for docs related to gov't grant

(Newser) - The Supreme Court has rejected an anti-abortion group's bid to force disclosure of confidential Planned Parenthood and federal government records about a contract for family planning services in New Hampshire. The justices on Monday let stand a ruling that allowed the Health and Human Services Department to withhold some...

Perry's Job Program Claims Wildly Inflated

Wall Street Journal looks at the numbers and isn't impressed

(Newser) - Rick Perry often boasts of his $440 million Texas Enterprise Fund, which he says has created more than 59,000 jobs. But the program’s estimates often appear wildly exaggerated, the Wall Street Journal reports. A $50 million grant to Texas A&M for a new Genomic Institute, for example,...

Ground Zero Mosque Applied for $5M 9/11 Grant

Federal funds designed to encourage community projects

(Newser) - The Park51 Islamic center has taken a lot of crap for being located in the vicinity of Ground Zero, but now it’s hoping to cash in on that, too. The center applied for $5 million in federal funding earlier this month, looking to obtain grant money set aside to...

Colleges Encourage 'Gap Year' With Cash

(Newser) - Colleges around the country are making it easier for high school graduates to delay college and instead put in a year or more of public service, the Christian Science Monitor reports. More than 80 schools have partnered with AmeriCorps to give students tuition credits in exchange for such service. Others,...

Would-Be Car-Battery Kings Jostle Over $2.4B From Feds

States seek to become lithium-ion capital of US

(Newser) - Some 165 companies and states are battling for a $2.4 billion Obama administration grant aimed at making the US a leader in electric-car batteries, the Wall Street Journal reports. General Motors, Dow Chemical, and General Electric are among the firms vying for the money; states like Michigan, Kentucky, and...

Feds: Florida Prof Scammed NASA for $3.4M

Research cash blown on cars, condos, charge court filings

(Newser) - Federal agents have seized the property of a University of Florida professor accused of shuttling millions in NASA grants into his family's bank accounts, the Houston Chronicle reports. Nuclear scientist Samim Anghaie, who has worked on developing fuels for future Mars missions, submitted "multiple fraudulent certified contract proposals to...

Gates Gambles Big on Bold Medical Probes

$10M in public-health grants eschew peer review for innovation

(Newser) - The Gates Foundation has awarded more than $10 million to medical researchers with quirky ideas that might not be funded otherwise, the Washington Post reports. The initiative, dubbed Grand Challenges Explorations, offered a simple 2-page application and vetting by entrepreneurs, not medical professionals. “Peer review—by definition almost—excludes...

Rural America Gets Wired
Rural America
Gets Wired

Rural America Gets Wired

US has paid providers $1B to bring broadband to remote areas; progress is uneven

(Newser) - Measured by President Bush's goal—to give every America access to broadband this year—it's not a success. But the effort to wire rural America has made impressive progress, the Economist reports. The US government has given more than $1 billion to internet providers in distant markets in an effort...

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