Thursday, May 16, 2013

State and Local Public Finance: Budget Practices in Law Enforcement

Public safety is a major primary function of local government. ?Keeping residents and visitors safe while they go about their daily lives requires a police force that represents and understands the populations it serves. ?Unfortunately, police departments of all sizes come with a hefty price tag and are a major line item for city budgets. ?

According to the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics, local police department operating budgets totaled $55.4 million in 2007, across 12,575 local jurisdictions in the U.S. ?The average tax cost per resident is $260 annually?a number that shoots as high as $385 per resident in cities with over one million residents.

LAW ENFORCEMENT IN MINNESOTA

Within the state of Minnesota, there are 450 distinct law enforcement agencies, ranging from state agencies such as the State Patrol to tribal police to county sheriff?s offices and local police departments.
Minneapolis is the most populous city in the state (387,753 residents in 2011, according to the US Census Bureau) and serves as the economic engine for the region. ?The city?s annual expenditure budget totaled $1.22 billion in 2012, with the majority of its $1.17 billion in revenues (77%) from four main sources: local property taxes, sales taxes, service fees and a general grant from the state called Local Government Aid.
The Minneapolis Police Department?s (MPD) total budget in 2012 was $135.4 million, with salaries and benefits account for the majority of the budget--$105.3 million, or 78%. ?At the time of budget preparation (fall of 2011), the department projected to have 967.8 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, both sworn and civilian. ?According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the MPD?s budget exceeds the BJS 2007 average of $93 million for departments serving between 250,000-499,999 residents and also exceeds the per-employee average cost by 15%. This may be for several reasons, including the fact that Minneapolis is a strong pro-organized labor city and the vast majority of the MPD?s employees have union representation. ?Research from the BJS states that jurisdictions that are unionized start officers at a salary that is $10,900 higher than those departments that do not have organized labor. ?The MPD?s union, the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis (?Federation?), is a strong union that has traditionally been able to negotiate competitive wages and benefits, although MPD officers are far from the highest paid in the state. ?In 2008, the Federation successfully negotiated wage increases to bring officer salaries into the top third of the highest paid departments among metro-area suburbs with 25,000+ residents and the city of St. Paul.

The table below compares similarly-sized jurisdictions and similarly-populated cities:

CITY

POPULATION (2011 estimate)

NUMBER OF FTE?s

2012 POLICE BUDGET (in millions)

PERCENT OF GENERAL FUND

Minneapolis

387,753

987

$135.4

37.8%

St. Paul

288,440

777

$77.8

36.5%

Madison, WI

236,901

579

$60.7

25.2%

Cleveland, OH

393,806

1736

$172

34%

Tulsa, OK

396,466

875

$78.1

32%

There are multiple factors that may influence the size of the police department and its budget, such as the amount of crime, other jurisdictions in the area (such as the University of Wisconsin Police Department that operates in Madison) and political and community circumstances. ?Ensuring public safety is essential, but also highly political--and highly scrutinized. ?For these reasons, the budgeting process for a police department is particularly difficult.

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS:

2. ?Utilize Volunteers. ?While it is not uncommon for many police departments to have a police reserve unit comprised of unpaid volunteers, how departments utilize those services varies greatly. ?In Minneapolis, reserve officers are greatly underused--they are typically called to action for major special events such as parades and races. ?By contrast, the Ramsey County Sheriff?s Office has approximately 400 active volunteers that assist with water patrol, traffic control, and non-enforcement activity such as aiding officers on vehicle tows. ?Using volunteers in this manner saves the sheriff?s office money and frees up deputies to conduct other enforcement activities. ?In Minneapolis, reservists could be activated for traffic control for sporting events such as Twins baseball games, assisting on DWI?s by waiting for tow trucks while officers process the arrestee, and helping with crowd control at special events--tasks currently done by paid officers at considerable expense to the department.

Source: http://pa5113.blogspot.com/2013/05/budget-practices-in-law-enforcement.html

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Hagel informed Obama of latest sex abuse case

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks during a joint news conference with Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, Monday, April 29, 2013, at the Pentagon. Hagel said the U.S. and its allies are still trying to figure out details of Syria's suspected use of chemical weapons against its own people, also saying U.S. and allied intelligence agencies are "continuing to assess what happened, when, where and so on." (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks during a joint news conference with Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, Monday, April 29, 2013, at the Pentagon. Hagel said the U.S. and its allies are still trying to figure out details of Syria's suspected use of chemical weapons against its own people, also saying U.S. and allied intelligence agencies are "continuing to assess what happened, when, where and so on." (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

(AP) ? Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel informed President Barack Obama of the latest sexual assault allegations against a soldier who was assigned to prevent such crimes ? the second soldier involved in similar accusations ? and the president made clear he wants that behavior stopped, officials said Wednesday.

Hagel spokesman George Little told reporters that Hagel's staff is working on a written directive that will spell out steps aimed at resolving a problem that has outraged lawmakers.

"The president has made very clear his expectations on this issue," Little said, adding that Hagel told Obama on Tuesday about the allegations facing an Army sergeant first class at Fort Hood, Texas. The sergeant is facing allegations involving three women, including that he may have arranged for one of them to have sex for money, according to a defense official.

The accused soldier, whose name has not been made public, was assigned as a coordinator of a battalion-level sexual assault prevention program at Fort Hood. He has been suspended from all duties but has not been charged with any crime.

Little said Hagel and Obama see the sexual assault problem in the same light.

"They expect prevention measures at all times, and when prevention isn't achieved, then both expect accountability," Little said. He said those are the "core principles" of Hagel's approach to resolving the problem within the military.

The allegations at Fort Hood are only the latest in a string of cases. A defense official in Washington said it was not yet clear if one of the three women was forced into prostitution.

The official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, said that the sergeant is also being investigated for allegedly sexually assaulting one of the other two women. The allegations involving the third woman were not known.

The case, along with another one involving an Air Force officer, highlights a problem that is drawing increased scrutiny in Congress and expressions of frustration from Hagel. Lawmakers said it was time for Hagel to get tough with the military brass.

"This is sickening. Twice now, in a matter of as many weeks, we've seen the very people charged with protecting victims of sexual assault being charged as perpetrators," Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said. "It's an astonishing reminder that the Pentagon has both a major problem on its hands and a tremendous amount of work to do to assure victims ? who already only report a small fraction of sexual assaults ? that they are changing the culture around these heinous crimes."

"Secretary Hagel needs to act swiftly to re-examine sexual assault services across the department to ensure that these disturbing betrayals of trust are ended," Murray said.

Hagel said he was directing all the services to retrain, re-credential and rescreen all sexual assault prevention and response personnel and military recruiters, spokesman Little said after Tuesday's announcement that the Army sergeant was accused of pandering, abusive sexual contact, assault and maltreatment of subordinates.

The soldier was being investigated by the Army Criminal Investigation Command. No charges had been filed, but officials say they expect them fairly soon.

Little said Hagel was angry and disappointed at "these troubling allegations and the breakdown in discipline and standards they imply." He said Hagel had met with Army Secretary John McHugh and ordered him to "fully investigate this matter rapidly, to discover the extent of these allegations and to ensure that all of those who might be involved are dealt with appropriately."

The Fort Hood soldier had been assigned as an equal opportunity adviser and coordinator of a sexual harassment-assault prevention program at the Army's 3rd Corps headquarters when the allegation arose, the Army said.

"To protect the integrity of the investigative process and the rights of all persons involved, no more information will be released at this time," an Army statement said.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., said in a statement he was "outraged and disgusted by the reports out of Fort Hood."

McKeon, noting he has a granddaughter in the Army, said he saw "no meaningful distinction between complacency or complicity in the military's latest failure to uphold their own standards of conduct. Nor do I see a distinction between the service member who orchestrated this offense and the chain of command that was either oblivious to or tolerant of criminal behavior. Both are accountable for this appalling breach of trust with their subordinates."

He called on Hagel to conduct a review of the military and its civilian leadership "to determine whether they continue to hold his trust and his confidence to lead in this area."

Just last week an Air Force officer who headed a sexual assault prevention office was himself arrested on charges of groping a woman in a Northern Virginia parking lot.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said his panel was considering a number of measures to counter the problem, including changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and will act on them next month.

"Tragically, the depth of the sexual assault problem in our military was already overwhelmingly clear before this latest highly disturbing report," Levin said.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said she intends to present new legislation on Thursday to overhaul the military justice system by removing chain-of-command influence from prosecution of sex abuse crimes.

"To say this report is disturbing would be a gross understatement," Gillibrand said.

"The sad thing is that this is not a unique case," Anu Bhagwati, former Marine captain and executive director of the Service Women's Action Network, said in an interview. "Week after week, we're hearing of cases across the branches of military leaders taking advantage of their positions of authority."

The Pentagon is struggling with what it calls a growing number of sexual assaults across the military. In a report last week, the Defense Department estimated that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, based on survey results.

Of those, fewer than 3,400 reported the incidents, and nearly 800 of those simply sought help and declined to file formal complaints against their alleged attackers.

There also is an ongoing investigation into more than 30 Air Force instructors for assaults on trainees at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, as well as the recent arrest of the Air Force's head of sexual assault prevention on charges of groping a woman.

An Arlington County, Va., police report said Air Force Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski was drunk and grabbed a woman's breast and buttocks in a parking lot earlier this month. The woman fought him off and called police, the report said. A judge has set a July 18 trial date for Krusinski.

Such cases and two recent decisions by officers to overturn military juries' guilty verdicts in sexual assault cases has precipitated a storm of criticism on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is holding up the nomination of Air Force Lt. Gen. Susan Helms, tapped to serve as vice commander of the U.S. Space Command, until McCaskill gets more information about Helms' decision to overturn a jury conviction in a sexual assault case.

___

Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor, AP Radio correspondent Sagar Meghani and AP Radio editor Mike Gracia contributed to this report.

___

Follow Robert Burns on Twitter: https://twitter.com/robertburnsAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-05-15-Army-Sexual%20Assault/id-6ee6b34c2e1b4e8496cd961f108dfa6d

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Veteran Chavez powers Snakes past Braves

Associated Press Sports

updated 7:25 p.m. ET May 15, 2013

PHOENIX (AP) - Tim Hudson threw Eric Chavez a steady diet of cut fastballs and sliders Wednesday and the Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman feasted.

Chavez drove in three runs, Paul Goldschmidt hit three doubles and the Diamondbacks beat Hudson and the Atlanta Braves 5-3.

With the Diamondbacks trailing 3-1 with one out in the fifth, Jason Kubel pinch-hit for Kennedy and walked. Gerardo Parra reached on an infield hit and Didi Gregorius followed with an RBI single.

Hudson struck out Goldschmidt looking and had two strikes on Chavez before his one-time Oakland Athletics teammate doubled to left, scoring Parra and Gregorius to make it 4-3.

"He was throwing me a lot of sliders today," Chavez said. "I'm not really sure why. I don't know if they picked up something on film. "He told me that was a really good at-bat and I told him I was (mad) because he broke two of my bats. It was just good old fun. I love Huddy like a brother."

Hudson agreed he may have gone to the cutter one time too many.

"I thought I made some good pitches to Chavez, especially the last one," Hudson said. "But he stayed with it and hit it the other way. I felt like I really had him where I wanted him. Looking back, we might have gone back to that cutter a little too much in that at-bat."

Cody Ross added an RBI single to cap the fifth as the Diamondbacks won the final two games of the series after a 10-1 loss in the opener.

Ian Kennedy (2-3) yielded three runs and five hits in five innings. He struck out seven and walked three for his first win since Opening Day.

"It's been awhile since it was a win," Kennedy said. "I'll take any one. After a while, it does get frustrating. I want to get my innings up but I didn't have my best stuff."

Heath Bell pitched the ninth for his sixth save in eight chances.

The Diamondbacks finally responded with runners in scoring position. After going 5 for 56 of its past eight games, Arizona was 5 for 8 with runners in scoring position.

"We hope it gets much better," said Arizona manager Kirk Gibson. "I saw better approaches as well."

Hudson (4-3) had been 7-0 in nine career starts against Arizona before he got tagged. He allowed five runs and eight hits in five innings - he's given up 11 runs over 8 2-3 innings in his last two starts.

Freddie Freeman doubled twice and singled for the Braves.

The Braves put runners on first and second against David Hernandez in the eighth but Jordan Schafer flied out and Goldschmidt fielded a hard shot by Andrelton Simmons to first base to end the inning.

After cruising through the first two innings, Kennedy was undone partially by a botched defensive play in the third.

Schafer reached on a two-out infield single and Simmons followed with a line drive toward third base. Chavez jumped, but the ball bounced off the palm of his glove and fell to the ground as Simmons sprinted to the bag for an infield single.

Kennedy then walked Justin Upton on five pitches to load the bases, then walked Freeman on four pitches to score Schafer for a 1-0 lead.

Freeman hit a two-run double in the fifth that put Atlanta ahead 3-1.

"For losing two of three, you feel like we won a couple of those games the way we hit the ball," said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. "It's just the way it goes sometimes. I don't know how many times I felt like the ball was going to go through the infield and it was a line drive at somebody."

Arizona took a 1-0 lead in the first when Goldschmidt doubled and Chavez singled.

NOTES: Chavez has hit safely in six of his past seven games and is 9 for 18 in that stretch. ... Upton went 1 for 3 with a pair of walks to finish his first series back at Chase Field 5 for 10 with a home run. ... Goldschmidt's 11 doubles make him the first NL player with at least 10 doubles and 10 home runs. ... Freeman has 14 RBIs in 21 games since coming off the disabled list on April 22. ... Both teams have off days on Thursday. ... Diamondbacks RHP Trevor Cahill (2-4) will get the start Friday at Marlins Park against Kevin Slowey (1-3) and Miami. Braves LHP Paul Maholm(4-4) faces Hyun-Jin Ryu (4-2) and the Dodgers at Turner Field on Friday. Cahill was allowed two runs or fewer in four straight starts.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Jays finding their groove?

HBT Daily: The Toronto Blue Jays are in the midst of a four-game winning streak, slugging the ball better this week than any other this season. HBT?s Craig Calcaterra thinks the Jays may be busting out of their slump, but also credits their success to an underperforming Giants pitching staff.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/51897943/ns/sports-baseball/

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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Prince Harry tours Jersey Shore to see Sandy recovery

By Victoria Cavaliere

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, New Jersey (Reuters) - Prince Harry toured the rebuilding efforts underway at the Jersey Shore on Tuesday amid crowds gathered for a glimpse of the young royal, and to say goodbye to a popular roller coaster - a symbol of Superstorm Sandy's destruction.

Chilly sea breezes carried the scent of fresh-cut lumber, as the newly repaired boardwalk, still covered with sawdust, quickly filled up with people. There were about 100 spectators - and even more reporters, photographers and TV crews - awaiting the prince and his escort, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

"It's great exposure for the Shore," said Roger Gibson, 27, a manager of a boardwalk staple, Jimbo's Bar & Grill. "It lets people know we are open and ready for business."

Crowds pressed against metal barricades draped with the red, white and blue British Union Jack. Visible in the ocean behind them was the towering frame of the Jet Star roller coaster, washed out to sea by Sandy.

Crews will start work on Tuesday to dismantle and remove the Jet Star and other amusement park rides submerged nearby.

"We are here to say goodbye," said Kim Stone of Bayville, New Jersey.

Her husband, Mark Stone, said the sight of the Jersey Shore landmark stranded in the ocean would certainly leave an impression on Prince Harry. "I'm sure he doesn't want to see it like that," he said.

Casino Pier, which owns the amusement rides, said the removal would take about 48 hours.

Sandy slammed into New Jersey on October 29, ravaging the coastline, causing $30 billion in damage. Prince Harry and Governor Christie began their tour in Mantoloking, a narrow barrier island community between New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean, where all 521 houses were affected.

When Jersey Shore residents were evacuated, most expected they would return after a few days and were stunned when the devastation turned out to be so extreme that it would be months before they could go home.

The storm killed more than 130 people throughout the U.S. Northeast.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Gunna Dickson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/prince-harry-tours-jersey-shore-see-sandy-recovery-155835111.html

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Microbes capture, store, and release nitrogen to feed reef-building coral

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Microscopic algae that live within reef-forming corals scoop up available nitrogen, store the excess in crystal form, and slowly feed it to the coral as needed, according to a study published in mBio?, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. Scientists have known for years that these symbiotic microorganisms serve up nitrogen to their coral hosts, but this new study sheds light on the dynamics of the process and reveals that the algae have the ability to store excess nitrogen, a capability that could help corals cope in their chronically low-nitrogen environment.

"It was a great surprise to find the nitrogen-rich crystals inside the algae," says corresponding author Anders Meibom of the ?cole Polytechnique F?d?rale de Lausanne, Switzerland. "It all makes perfect sense now. The algae suck up the ammonium and nitrate like a sponge when the concentration of these molecules increases, then store this nitrogen as uric acid crystals for later use."

Like all reef-forming corals, the species they studied, Pocillopora damicornis, is actually a symbiosis of two different organisms: the coral provides protection to a species of photosynthetic algae called dinoflagellates, which, in turn, provide sugars and nitrogen to the coral host. The symbiosis allows the coral to thrive in clear, tropical waters that are naturally nutrient-poor. In many places, however, coral reefs are suffering from an excess of nutrients - pollution from sewage and fertilizers that impacts the symbiotic relationship and the health of coral in unknown ways.

To better understand these exchanges of materials and to determine how an excess of nutrients might affect the balance, the researchers exposed pieces of coral to varying concentrations of isotopically-labeled nitrogen-rich compounds. Using the facilities at the Aquarium Tropicale Porte Dor?e in Paris, France, the scientists applied a relatively new analytic technique called nano-scale secondary ion mass-spectrometry (NanoSIMS) to follow the path of the nitrogen. NanoSIMS enabled them to visualize and quantify the uptake, movement, and accumulation of this labeled nitrogen within the coral.

When supplied with nitrogen in the form of ammonium, nitrate or aspartic acid the dinoflagellates responded by rapidly storing the nitrogen as crystals of uric acid within its cells. But the dinoflagellates don't hang onto the nitrogen for long. Starting at about six hours after exposure, the microbes begin translocating nitrogen-rich compounds to the coral host, where the nitrogen is used in specific cellular compartments all over the surface layers of the coral.

This storage and release process helps explain how these corals get through the ups and downs of nitrogen concentrations, says Meibom. "This gives the coral-algae symbiosis a very efficient way to deal with strong fluctuations in nitrogen availability," writes Meibom. "When the nitrogen availability suddenly becomes high, the algae can take-up large amounts of nitrogen on a timescale of a few hours, store it into crystals inside the algae cells and then release this stored nitrogen for metabolic processes and growth when the nitrogen levels become normal again."

To follow up on this work, Meibom says he and his colleagues are now studying how carbon-based nutrients are taken up and distributed in the same coral-algae symbiosis.

###

American Society for Microbiology: http://www.asm.org

Thanks to American Society for Microbiology for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128246/Microbes_capture__store__and_release_nitrogen_to_feed_reef_building_coral

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US senator probing why IRS revealed mistakes at lawyer meeting

By Patrick Temple-West

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The decision by the IRS to reveal to a small room of tax lawyers last week that it had targeted conservative groups is now itself the subject of a Congressional inquiry.

In a letter Tuesday to Steven Miller, acting commissioner of the IRS, Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley asked for all records relating to the decision to reveal its mistakes at a meeting on Friday of an American Bar Association committee instead of to Congress.

Lois Lerner, the IRS director of Tax Exempt Organizations, "revealed this bombshell" at a lawyers conference "prior to informing Congress, despite multiple Congressional requests for information about these practices," he wrote.

"An IRS official apologized for activities the IRS previously denied," Grassley said in a comment released by his office. "She explained the activities in a detailed way. Why now and why at a conference instead of to Congress?"

Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland also criticized the agency on Tuesday for failing to disclose the news to the Appropriations Committee she chairs before "news outlets began reporting" about it.

On Monday, an agency statement said the IRS specifically wanted to reveal the information in that forum because it knew a report from the IRS Inspector General was about to be released.

"The ABA Tax Section conference was an important meeting for a key part of the Exempt Organization community" and it was "important" for members to "hear first-hand that we made mistakes in handling the process."

Lerner revealed that the agency had singled out Tea Party and conservative groups for scrutiny of their tax-exempt status in a windowless room at a Washington hotel on Friday in response to what appeared at first glance to be a casual question from a member of the ABA Tax Section's Committee on Exempt Organizations.

It allowed the news to get out in a friendly setting of professional colleagues who did not have a chance to follow up instead of in a rowdy news conference or a hostile Congressional committee-room.

But it later turned out to be not as casual as it seemed.

The agency had three press officers on hand to field questions from a handful of reporters who were present.

The question itself came from a long-time professional colleague of Lerner's, Celia Roady, a Washington tax lawyer at the firm of Morgan Lewis who served on the agency's Advisory Committee on Tax-Exempt and Government Entities for a two year term starting in 2010 and has attended numerous professional conferences with Lerner.

In a brief telephone interview Monday, Roady said she was "as stunned as anybody to get a response" to her question.

But she declined to comment when asked how it was she happened to ask the question in the first place, referring Reuters to the IRS, which also declined to elaborate.

While the agency statement said that officials knew a critical Inspector General's report on the subject was due for release, most likely the following week, Lerner's answer to Roady's question made no mention of an inspector general's report.

It took the form of an apology, ultimately generating a first round of headlines that said "IRS apologizes."

Since then, members of Congress from both parties condemned the agency practice and have called for investigations and resignations. President Barack Obama on Monday called the practice "outrageous."

Given the Congressional backlash that ensued, any hope by the IRS to mitigate damage with its tax conference roll-out flopped, said Eric Dezenhall, who has been a crisis public relations specialist in Washington for almost 30 years.

"They made a bet that this would be the quietest way to roll it out," he said of the IRS strategy. "It didn't work."

The IRS's approach put it in a weak position to fend off Congressional criticism, said Scott Talan, a communications professor at American University.

To mitigate damage going forward, IRS officials need to "explain what was going on and what corrective actions will be taken ahead," he added.

(Editing by Fred Barbash; Reporting By Patrick Temple-West. Editing by Andre Grenon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-senator-probing-why-irs-revealed-mistakes-lawyer-212310017.html

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Aereo live TV service refreshes pricing plans, expands to Boston on May 15th

Aereo live TV service refreshes pricing plans, expands to Boston on May 15th

We've been eager to try out Aereo's TV streaming service, which sends live broadcast content to devices over the internet. But the service has at least one significant flaw: it's only available to subscribers in the New York City area. Beginning May 15th, the streaming service will expand to Boston-based users, and rates will change slightly as well. The base plan, which includes unlimited streaming and 20 hours of DVR storage, will remain unchanged at $8 per month, but the $12 monthly tariff will include 60 hours of storage, compared to the 40 hours Aereo previously offered.

And that's it -- no more $1 daily or $80 yearly plans, though that latter option is still available until the new structure goes live on Wednesday. The service is supported on iOS, Chrome, IE 9, Firefox, Safari, Opera and Roku devices, though those geographic restrictions keep the access pool quite limited. New Yorkers can take the service for a spin today, Bostonians will get the green light come May 15th, and the rest of you can see what you're missing in the demo video after the break.

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Source: Aereo

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