Mississippi River Flood Plan H

So my Facebook feed and e-mail blew up this week with warnings about a pending public hearing that could fundamentally effect the outcome of a school district that is very close to my wife and I (Orchard Farm).

The Army Corps of Engineers, through the Mississippi River Commission, published a purposed plan (Plan H) in 2008 on its recommendations for flood plain management in the future.

I was hearing a lot of talk about the pending results of this plan and its potential effect on mostly small towns in the lower portion of the Upper Mississippi River Basin. Essentially the plan calls for increased and improved levees along most of the basin, but primarily on the Illinois side of the river. This of course means one side of the river, and its towns, would remain protected, while another side would essentially become a holding tank for water when the river rises (which of course is happening with more and more frequency as man continues to try to manipulate the river).

Of course this news got a lot of folks fired up in "these parts," as well as it should. I did some investigating this week as I wanted to mainly see Plan H for myself. Not only was I able to obtain the plan, I was informed by a representative of the Corps that the plan WASN'T endorsed by the Corps of Engineers or the Assistant Secretary of Army in letters to various congressional committees. Like most commissions, they did recommend continued study for protection of critical infrastructure and reconstructions of existing flood damage reduction systems.

The entire plan is pretty cumbersome, and I still have yet to digest it all, but I would encourage anyone planning to attend the Wed night hearing on Plan H at Orchard Farm High School, to at least do some due diligence on this issue before they attend under the guise that the school district is in danger of disappearing.

You can read the full report for yourself here.

USA Continues Contradictory Approach to I-Gaming

So I read the news about Sporringbet's (full story below) with mixed emotions. I am certainly happy for my friends that are still working (or continue to be shareholders) for Sportingbet as they all will no doubt end up in a very good financial place sooner or later.

On other hand I had to scratch my head as clearly the Department of Justice and the United States Government continues to contradict itself at nearly every turn in its approach to handling the online gambling industry.

First, and most obvious, if want they want from these companies is money, then why not license and regulate them? If this step were taken the $33 million Sprortingbet agreed to pay over the next three years would truly be a pittance.

If indeed they don't want to regulate, then what is with this "selective prosecution?" Clearly we have individuals in this industry with divergent and varying backgrounds, but even their prosecution has cast its net to include individuals with "shady" pasts as well as those with impeccable personal and professional records.

Admittedly I have been relegated to becoming an observer to an industry in which I devoted most of my professional career to during the last decade so I don't have the back story and insight into these stories that maybe I once did, but even on the surface this is a head scratcher for me.

Taking a step back though, and looking at the bigger picture of the industry, the fact that such deals like these are being made with DoJ now is a clear sign of a policy shift in the U.S. government. 5 years ago a publicly listed company paying millions of dollars to be exempt from prosecution would have been out of the question. It was impossible to get to government to even open up dialogue with most publicly listed companies back then.

Maybe key decision makers are starting to realize that it only makes sense (and lots of CENTS) to allow adults in the U.S. to gamble online if they so choose, since the same activity at a brick-and-mortar casino is allowed in more and more states every year.

To read the Business Week story on the deal between Sportingbet and the DoJ, click here.

So do you know who this mystery man is?