News from Rockies, Midwest

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Common Core testing for thousands of students had to be delayed after computers were hacked at a Colorado school district, officials said.

School districts in New Jersey and Florida reported similar problems in recent weeks, as the new, computerized assessment tests developed by several states were administered.

Colorado Springs School District 11, which has more than 28,000 students, was hacked on March 11, district officials said.

The attack involved a heavy increase in traffic from outside the school system that overloaded computers and shut down service across the district, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported (http://tinyurl.com/od6yz3l ).

The Common Core benchmarks adopted by a majority of states around the nation have come under fire in recent years, largely from conservatives who decry them as a federal infringement on school policy.

The standards were approved for implementation by individual states, though the U.S. Department of Education encouraged their adoption through initiatives like Race to the Top.

The Colorado tests involved the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, also known as PARCC.

Robert Curran, assistant superintendent and chief information officer for the district, said the attack forced standardized testing to be postponed for an unknown number of students.

Students who started testing were able to finish, but students waiting to begin could not do so, Curran said.

Testing was suspended and rescheduled for a backup date at the individual schools.

"We're not sure where it came from or why it happened," Curran said. "We were never able to tell, and our Internet service provider wasn't able to answer that either."

The district has worked to prevent such a problem from occurring again, he said. He cited security reasons for not providing further details.

Students in other districts reported a lag time in what they were seeing on the computer screen versus what they were typing on the keyboard, and some students were not familiar with the programs.

"They were certainly issues we would not have experienced in the paper and pencil world," said Cheyenne Mountain School District 12 superintendent Walt Cooper.

LINCOLN, Neb. — The Nebraska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission will not allow residents who live more than a half-mile radius from a proposed disposal site for a Sioux County injection well to testify at a public hearing.

The Lincoln Journal Star (http://bit.ly/1Cz6mfJ ) reports that about two dozen people and corporations qualify as interested parties, and will be allowed to testify before the three-member commission on March 24. Oil and Gas Director Bill Sydow said the commission is merely following the rules by blocking some people from testifying.

"We're going to go on the rule of law," Sydow said. "This hearing is about the technical merits and engineering merits of this well bore. It is not about policy, because policy is set on this at the federal level."

Ronda Rabe Hasenauer, of Harrison, said in a phone interview that "They are trying to shut off the opposition."

Terex Energy Corp., a subsidiary of Bloomfield, Colorado-based T-Rex Energy, has put an application before the commission to convert an unused oil well into an injection well to dispose of saltwater left over from hydraulic fracturing.

Opponents are concerned about the effects a spill could have on ground and surface water, as well as increased traffic on roads to the site that are near schools.

Advocacy groups Bold Nebraska and the Nebraska Sierra Club criticized the commission for not allowing more public input.

"It's a disgrace for a public entity of our state to consider a potentially toxic proposal for our water to not allow the public to comment," said Bold Nebraska Director Jane Kleeb. "We have open meeting laws for a reason. We have public hearings for a reason, so the public can give their input to officials they really don't know."

Terex's application says that the company expects the disposal site to process 80 trucks a day hauling 130 barrels of brine for a total of 10,000 barrels of brine. Brine that naturally occurs in the ground can be brought to the surface during the fracking process.

T-Rex Energy CEO Don Walford said the site is not likely to reach that total due to a slowdown in the oil and gas industry.

"As a business we would love to do 80 trucks," he said. "(But) oil drilling is down considerable as you probably know. There probably won't be that much business around. We can't even estimate now ... 20 or 30 trucks, I'd be excited to get that in a day."

Walford says that Terex has spent $1.5 million on the project so far.

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner is defending the $250,000 salary for a former Chicago charter schools executive who's spearheading his top education initiatives.

Education secretary Beth Purvis is making more than double what her predecessors received. She's the highest-paid member of a Cabinet already under scrutiny for its lofty paychecks.

Speaking in Chicago on Friday, Rauner said Purvis is "well worth every penny."

The Republican says Purvis is tasked with leading a transformation of education and vocational training in Illinois. He says she's "one of the few leaders that can pull that off."

Purvis holds a doctorate in special education and served as CEO of the Chicago International Charter School network from 2003 through last year.

She previously served on education advisory councils under the last two Illinois governors.

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin added jobs at half the national average, ranking it 40th in private-sector job growth for the 12-month period that ended in September, according to figures released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The state has lagged the national average since July 2011, bad numbers for Gov. Scott Walker as he talks about his record while ramping up for an expected presidential bid. Walker, who took office in January 2011, has called the quarterly jobs numbers the "gold standard" by which his accomplishments should be measured.

Walker was in South Carolina on Thursday and Friday for a series of stops related to his likely presidential campaign.

"Wisconsin's economy is growing and we are moving in the right direction," Walker's spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said in a statement, noting that the unemployment rate has dropped from 8.1 percent to 4.8 percent over his time in office.

"Governor Walker's policies are working and our unemployment rate is down for the right reasons," she said.

The 4.8 percent figure is based on monthly data that can fluctuate wildly, and Walker has said in the past that his performance should be judged based on the more-reliable quarterly figures.

The latest jobs number, based on a survey of nearly every employer in the state, were down from the previous quarterly report in which Wisconsin ranked 31st in job growth.

"While Gov. Walker continues to campaign across the nation on the taxpayers' dime, Wisconsin families are struggling here at home," Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling said in a statement. She said Democrats, who are in the minority in both the Senate and Assembly, will push proposals to raise wages and job opportunities.

The numbers show that private-sector jobs grew 1.16 percent in Wisconsin during the 12-month period, while the national growth rate was twice as high at 2.3 percent. Wisconsin added 27,491 private-sector jobs during the most recent period compared with 36,732 in the previous report.

All other neighboring states grew at a higher rate than Wisconsin. Michigan was the highest at 2.02 percent growth.

When public sector jobs are included, Wisconsin ranked 38th in growth.

The monthly report released Thursday, put out by Walker's Department of Workforce Development, showed Wisconsin's unemployment rate fell to 4.8 percent in February. That is the lowest since July 2008. The national unemployment rate was 5.5 percent. It is based on information from only about 3.5 percent of employers and is subject to significant revisions. The report showed the state added 13,600 private-sector jobs between January and February.

Walker last week signed a right-to-work law, which he and supporters said would help increase jobs in the state. But critics say the fact that Wisconsin lags other states in job creation shows Walker's policies, including the 2011 law that nearly eliminated collective bargaining for most public workers, are hindering the state's growth.

ALGONAC, Mich. — The U.S. Coast Guard is welcoming spring by breaking up ice that remains on some Great Lakes shipping channels.

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Bristol Bay welcomed aboard members of the media Friday to demonstrate icebreaking on the St. Clair River.

It's all part of an effort to remove unstable ice, provide flood relief and facilitate commerce.

Capt. John Henry and his crew of more than a dozen guided the 140-foot Bristol Bay through the icy waters of the river, which connects Lakes Huron and St. Clair.

Last year, the Bristol Bay was cutting ice well into May. Henry hopes to be done in April this year.

But, as he says: "Mother Nature always does her own thing."

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A new economic study says pending federal regulations to limit carbon emissions from existing coal-fired power plants threaten to hit Wyoming's coal industry hard in coming years.

The Wyoming Infrastructure Authority on Thursday released a study prepared by the University of Wyoming that predicts the federal regulations could force a decline of up to 45 percent in Powder River Basin coal production by 2030.

Wyoming is the nation's leading coal-producing state. It's among several states pressing a federal lawsuit challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposal to require existing power plants to cut carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2030. The case is set for arguments next month in Washington, D.C.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead wrote to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy in December saying that the EPA proposal would cut the demand for coal and drive up costs by requiring more electricity production from natural gas and other sources.

"Wyoming supplies 40 percent of the coal used in the United States — distributed to some 30 states annually," Mead wrote. "The mining industry employs — directly and indirectly — thousands of people in Wyoming."

The UW study says Wyoming would benefit from opening coal exports to Asia. Wyoming has been unsuccessful so far in efforts to access ports in the Northwest for coal exports. The prospect of trains hauling coal through Oregon or Washington to ports there has prompted stiff opposition from environmental groups and state regulators so far.

Mead this month signed into law a bill that gives the infrastructure authority the power to issue up to $1 billion in bonds to finance the construction of coal ports. Loyd Drain, executive director of the authority, said this week that the state is waiting for environmental review of proposed coal-port projects.

Drain said Thursday that he expects the EPA to issue its final rule regarding carbon limits on existing power plants this summer. The new economic study is the first of its kind to evaluate Wyoming's coal industry in over 20 years, he said.

"It's timely relative to new regulations as Wyoming looks to the impact of these new rules that are coming out in the summer," Drain said. It should help shape the direction and emphasis the state needs to place on coal initiatives, such as exports, he said.

According to the report, coal production in Wyoming has fallen by 17 percent since 2008 as result of factors including falling natural gas prices, slow national economic growth and increasing production of renewable energy. In 2008, the state produced a record 466 million tons.

Total state revenue from coal mining is $1.3 billion a year, or just over 11 percent of all government revenues in the state, based on 2012 figures, the report states.

The report analyzes a variety of environmental-regulation scenarios including the prospect of a carbon tax on coal production. It estimates that coal production in the state could drop from 20 percent to 45 percent and that state tax revenues could drop by up to 46 percent. Under the worst-case scenario, it states that one in 10 jobs in the Powder River Basin could be lost.

Exporting 100 million tons a year of coal to overseas markets would mean a $1.2 billion increase in the gross state product and spell an increase of 4,000 jobs at an annual total income of $345 million a year, the report estimates.

TULSA, Okla. — The U.S. appears to be locked in a tornado drought as meteorologists have recorded only about two-dozen twisters so far this year during a period when 100 or more are typical.

And there have been no reports of tornadoes so far in March — a sometimes violent period for severe weather. The last time there were no tornadoes in March was 1969.

Forecasters at NOAA's Storm Prediction Center in Norman have issued only four tornado watches and no severe thunderstorm watches — less than 10 percent of the average 52 tornado watches issued by mid-March.

Warning coordination meteorologist Greg Carbin said there isn't one answer to explain the sluggish start, but that a persistent weather pattern of cold, stable air prevents a tornado's ingredients from coming together.