WV gov’t may experiment with broadband service as a public
utility  West Virginia is looking to boost economic growth by
investing public funds in …  The West Virginia legislature may
be about to righteously enrage not only Verizon and other
broadband service providers but libertarians everywhere by
offering statewide broadband Internet access as a public
utility, like water and sewer service. This initiative is part
of an overall strategy to boost the state's economy by making it
an attractive place for technology companies.  That bill and the
concept it proposes is called "ETOPIA," which is an acronym for
Electronic Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Act... "We
think that that's the most important part," David Levine,
director of technology and transformation in the Development
Office, said. "The idea is to have a think-tank that explores
the best-known methods for public-private partnerships. Then,
we'd be able to implement those partnerships and the
technologies that are created through those partnersh