From today's Palladium-Item:

Center City Richmond has created what local officials believe is the largest free Wi-Fi hot spot in Indiana. At 10 a.m. Wednesday, the Innovation Center will hold a "wire cutting" to officially open the free "hot spot."

Over the past year, committee members Phil Quinn of KICKS 96, Mike Dickerson of Summit Computers, Rich Cody of Parallax Systems, Police Chief Kris Wolski and Renee Oldham, Main Street Richmond Wayne County (MSRWC) and the Urban Enterprise Zone, have worked to implement this initiative.

The Center City Wi-Fi District will provide free wireless Internet access to businesses, retailers, students, residents and visitors in an area encompassing the city's central business district. Also included in the network are the Historic Depot District and the Old Richmond District.

For more, read the full article.

The Richmond News Review is a podcast that highlights the news and opinion being published in print and online throughout the week in and around Richmond and Wayne County. Join us for the next RNR Live show on Wednesday, October 1st 2008 at 8:30 PM.

You can just listen or join our live show chat room, but you can also call in with your phone or computer to share your thoughts - learn more about participating in our live broadcasts. The number to call is (724) 444-7444, and just enter call ID 27821 and press the pound key.

We hope you'll join us for conversation about issues affecting Richmond and Wayne County!

A few people have asked me recently about the state of ProgressiveWayneCounty.org, and given the ups and downs of site activity, it's only fair that I provide a bigger-picture update on its status. About a year ago, this site was created to promote and chronicle the efforts of progressive people around Wayne County. It's been successful in the sense that now a medium exists with that focus, and anyone can easily submit their news and events, start a blog, or join in our discussions and chat.

However, as we've noted a few times, the site's usefulness and interestingness depends a lot on those activities actually happening - we need people to use the site as intended in order for it to fulfill its purpose. It's kind of a chicken and egg problem...people tell me "I would visit more often if it there were more activity," but I suspect there is an equal number who also think, "I would submit news and events and blog entries more often if there were more people visiting and participating."  continue reading »

A new episode of the Richmond News Review podcast has been published. This episode features interviews with a local attorney regarding the Scott Porter case, as well John Dalton from local WCTV. Chris is also starting another iPod giveway, so give it a listen!