EAS Amber Alerts in the news

[Aaron Read <aread@speakeasy.net>]

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/amberalert03142003.htm

There's nothing in there about EAS Amber Alerts in Massachusetts that most 
of us don't already know, although it's good to know that what we do know 
apparently hasn't changed in the past few months without us knowing about, 
as EAS policy is sometimes known to do  :-)

An exerpt:

State ready for `Amber Alerts'

By Norman Miller
Friday, March 14, 2003

While Elizabeth Smart's parents campaign for a national Amber Alert Bill, 
Massachusetts is one of 38 states ready to respond to a kidnapping report 
at a moment's notice.

"It went into effect late last fall," said State Police Sgt. David Paine. 
"It's never been used.

"There was one, early on, a request, but it was denied because it didn't 
meet the criteria," Paine said.
(snip)
The Senate in January unanimously passed legislation to spend $25 million 
on a national Amber network and provide matching grants to states and 
communities for equipment and training.

The House and the Senate passed versions of the bill last year, as well, 
but were unable to agree on the specifics before recessing.

Locally, the Amber Alert system went online in November.

(the rest of the article is available at the link above)