Dear Air, I thought some of you might be interested in this little news item. White House Slashes Technology Grants Program by 42 Percent VentureReporter.net Tuesday, February 05, 2002, 0:00 AM ET The Bush administration has slashed the high-tech grants program, called the Advanced Technology Program <http://www.atp.nist.gov/>, by 42 percent, from $185 million in 2002 to $108 million next year. The White House said that the program amounted to corporate welfare, and could be easily replaced by private venture funding efforts. New grants would be reduced to $35 million. The program, created in 1988 to prevent the country from falling behind other countries in the areas of high-tech research and development, has averaged $150 million in grants yearly since its launch. Gina Neff Department of Sociology Columbia University ginasue@panix.com 212.568.0965