Web Development Live

Linux is set to make a major impact in the mobile computing realm, the executive director of the Linux Foundation stressed at a conference Monday morning.

Speaking at the Open Mobile Exchange portion of the O’Reilly Open Source Conference (OSCON) in Portland, Ore., Jim Zemlin, executive director of the foundation, touted the trends and technologies pushing Linux into a leadership position in mobile systems. He was followed by Jason Grigsby, Web strategist at mobile and Web design firm Cloud Four, who emphasized the coming influence of the mobile Web but countered that developers are not ready for it.

“It’s clear that Linux is going to be a leader in the mobile space,” Zemlin said.

Linux, according to Zemlin, offers a unified product platform, flexibility, and a software stack. It also has experienced an increase in the volume of software content, with the lines of Linux handset code doubling every year.

“Really, what’s happening in mobile is instead of having a hardware-up approach, you’re starting to see a software-down approach,” with the software experience driving the mobile marketplace, he said.

By supporting Linux, developers don’t have to contend with compatibility issues of supporting different platforms. The industry wants to get away from that, he said.

“It’s just a nightmare to support all these different OSes and try to maintain some degree of compatibilty,” Zemlin said.

Different middleware packages and application development frameworks are available for Linux. “There’s a huge freedom to mix the core Linux kernel,” he said.

Business drivers for Linux include reduced deployment costs, room to differentiate, and an ecosystem of development around phone platforms. “It’s obviously a royalty-free platform. That’s a huge business driver, Zemlin said.

“Linux really allows device manufacturers and new people to come in and create their own brand,” he said.

Symbian’s move to open source has had a negative impact on Microsoft Corp.’s Windows, leaving it the only royalty-based mobile platform, Zemlin said .

Linux application development is starting to coalesce around initiatives such as Google’s Android and LiMo, he said. Other Linux efforts are afoot such as Openmmoko, to create a smart-phone platform, and Ubuntu Mobile, Zemlin said.

“There really isn’t any major player from a corporate point of view who doesn’t have their foot in some way in the Linux camp,” other than Microsoft, Zemlin said.

Grigsby, meanwhile, emphasized that the mobile Web is coming, but Web developers are not ready yet.

He lauded the capabilities of Apple Inc.’s iPhone and what it has done for mobile computing. “The iPhone is really the Mosaic of the mobile Web,” opening people’s eyes to opportunities on the mobile side the way Mosaic did with browsers, Grigsby said.

But the mobile Web is being held back by UI issues and access to the device characteristics on the phone. Standards and performance also are issues.

The designation of the Goose Pond and Beehunter Marsh Fish and Wildlife Areaa as federal and state supported wetlands will drive new tourism traffic to the region, adding to the already strong attractions of equine sports and hunting-related activities, she said.

To help spur and sustain strategic growth, the economic development corporation retained The MEK Group in Indianapolis to develop a multi-use brand to help site selectors and visitors quickly grasp the opportunities inherent in the county.

“Given the fact that the Goose Pond is expected to become an international migration point and bird-watching has grown into a $2 billion industry, we wanted a distinctive mark and brand to define the superb attributes of the county to a large potential market,” Bethell said.

Funding social infrastructure and workforce development represents a critical component for sustained economic growth, so the Greene County Foundation joined with GCEDC in creating a new open presence both online and in the region to create higher awareness of the county’s new forward-looking vision.

Community direction and feedback largely governed the development of an all-new Web site for the Greene County Economic Development Corporation, now live at www.gcedc.us.

The Web site, which includes a section specially developed to attract site selectors, features the new mark and positioning for Greene County.

“This distinctive look is quite different from our neighbors in the region and highlights the attributes of the county in a strategic way,” said Bethell.

The logo can be easily adapted for use by other county entities.

The Greene County economic development site, designed and built by The MEK Group, includes a visitor’s section with an interactive map that easily and quickly illustrates major points of interest for visitors.

The tourism map is sponsored by the Greene County Foundation. The site will include an updated online calendar of events which is funded collaboratively between the Foundation and the GCEDC. The map and tourism calendar is under development and will be released shortly.

“Soon after coming to Greene County, I found that there was no central point of contact or reference for many positive aspects of

Greene County,” said Bethell. “The economic development site and the new foundation Web site will help correct this.”

Both Web sites feature a comprehensive editing tool that will enable staff to quickly make changes and update information. The county statistics site is fully automated with a direct link to STATS Indiana, run by Indiana University. “The automation of that section ensures that it will never be out-of-date, and will also not require extensive and expensive time to track and make changes,” Bethell said.

A final step in the GCEDC site development process was a review by nationally-recognized former site selector, Robert Ady. Indiana Municipal Power Association sponsored the professional site review by contracting with consultants, Ady International. The outcome was an eighteen page report on recommendations. They indicated that the site was well-designed and most of the recommendations are minor and simply smooth the research process for a site selector using the site to research for potential business relocations.

The Foundation, which has grown to more than $4 million in assets, has aggressively leveraged community foundation funds and support to create new leadership and workforce training opportunities, as well as help create economic development-related grassroots operations for county residents and businesses.

Bethell, who served in a senior economic development role in Arizona before coming to Indiana in 2006, assembled a development group from Greene County leadership to set in motion community outreach.

Direction and suggestions from the group was augmented by broad

community feedback across a wide spectrum, particularly regarding the construction and deployment of an all new economic development Web site for the county.

The Greene County Foundation retained Hirons in Bloomington to design a new Web presence for the foundation, which now features an expanded capacity for donors to make planned giving decisions.

In addition, the Web site features a searchable database that has a complete listing of donations made in memory and recognition of others.

“One of the best ways to introduce the foundation is to encourage small gifts in recognition of others. The foundation provides a service for donors of all capabilities those who can make small gifts as well as those who can make large gifts,” said Kerry Conway, executive director of the Greene County Foundation.

Both sites are considered to be works in progress.

“While we’re initially pleased and satisfied with the new online presence that both sites present for Greene County, we will always be considering and implementing new functionality and features to help better promote the county,” Conway said.

The North Carolina Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development has launched a $500,000 marketing campaign to promote golf in the state.

The program features a Web site, Golf.VisitNC.com, that markets North Carolina golf destinations.

Lynne Minges, executive director of the tourism division, said in a statement that a Golf Digest study found that 73 percent of golfers use the Internet to plan their travel. The new Web site, a spinoff of the tourism division’s VisitNC.com, is a way to tap into that market.

“We are dedicating as many resources as possible to go where the golf travelers are increasingly looking for their information,” Minges’ statement says.

The Web site offers a course finder with more than 400 course listings, travel packages and seasonal offers across the state. It notes courses that have hosted national tournaments and provides course rankings from Golf Digest.

The tourism division is running commercials promoting the Web site in several regional markets including Washington, D.C., and Richmond and Norfolk, Va. A media tour will also promote the site in additional markets.

PUBLIC radio is drawing its largest audience ever, some 28 million listeners nationwide each week. But if it’s a golden era, you wouldn’t know it from the frenetic activity to remake the genre.

In WNYC’s antiquated downtown Manhattan studios, the veteran National Public Radio and NBC journalist John Hockenberry and his co-host, Adaora Udoji, formerly of CNN, are rehearsing to find a comfortable rapport for their new live morning news program, which begins Monday. Flush from a $2 million Knight Foundation grant, this program, “The Takeaway” is designed with it partner, Public Radio International, and collaborators including The New York Times, the BBC World Service and the Boston public station WGBH, to be a stark counterpoint to the taped interviews on NPR’s venerable “Morning Edition.”

In the Chicago area, an 11-month-old FM station, :Vocalo, never mentions that it is affiliated with Chicago Public Radio. There’s no “All Things Considered” or “Car Talk”; instead hosts weave together interviews, commentary, reports and music, culled from user submissions to a companion Web site, vocalo.org.

NPR itself started the Web-radio hybrid “Bryant Park Project” last fall, hoping younger listeners would like to hear lively hosts banter about news and culture. And NPR’s year-old midday talk show “Tell Me More,” anchored by the former “Nightline” correspondent Michel Martin, aims at diverse new voices.

The urgency to find new formats is driven by audience research that can be read as glass half-empty or half-full. The 28 million weekly public radio listeners recorded by Arbitron in spring 2007 topped the previous high of 27.5 million in 2004. But the research also showed that the listeners were tuning in for shorter periods.

Public radio “had an enormous surge in listening over about a 10-year period from the mid ’90s up through about 2003, principally driven by a huge response to public radio’s news and information programming,” said Tom Thomas, co-chief executive officer of the Station Resource Group, a public radio consortium. But since 2003 “the audience has essentially been flat,” he said.

To address this, the consortium recently received a Corporation for Public Broadcasting grant to identify ways to get the audience growing again, and “Everything is on the table,” Mr. Thomas said.

Last year some 1,400 people entered the Public Radio Talent Quest, an online search for new hosts run by the Public Radio Exchange, a Web site, prx.org, where independent radio producers market their content. None of the three winners — a science blogger, a slam poet and a nonprofit executive who is a storyteller — reflect that typical public radio sound, said Jake Shapiro, the exchange’s executive director.

Executives stress that the new programming won’t abandon in-depth news, just “get away from a tone that feels too clubby,” said Graham Griffith, executive producer of “The Takeaway.” Nor do they want to tinker with existing programs; they just want more options for more people.

“A lot of the research that guided public radio’s direction in the last 30 years focused on us discovering a niche we could serve and serve well,” of highly educated, news-craving listeners, said Maxie Jackson, WNYC’s senior director for program development. But, he added, that formula “didn’t appeal to people of color.” He called it an issue of tonality.

“The Takeaway,” Mr. Jackson said, could be a model. It will be interactive, he said, and multicultural, with “voices, perspectives, contributors and stories that are relevant to a wide swath of people.” Its tone, he said, “has to be more compelling, with more verve.”

“People want to feel that the hosts are committed to the topic,” he added.

At a recent run-through, an Iowa State University economist discussed global food riots, and an assistant professor at Morehouse College dissected the Atlanta Ballet’s collaboration with the hip-hop star Big Boi. Listeners were encouraged to comment online about how fuel costs would affect vacation plans.

The morning hours where radio thrives have become a battleground, even though NPR’s “Morning Edition,” with 12.9 million listeners a week, is the second-most-listened to national radio program, behind Rush Limbaugh’s.

NPR itself created “Bryant Park Project” because the organization is “mission-driven, and if we can reach more people, great,” said Ellen Weiss, NPR’s vice president for news.

The program had a tough start. One host, Luke Burbank, quit just before the first day, Oct. 1, although he didn’t leave until mid-December. The Remaining host, Alison Stewart, is on maternity leave. Online listening is growing, and with few broadcast stations carrying the program, a plan to go Internet-only has been discussed. Ms. Weiss said that would not happen but declined to discuss coming changes.

Meanwhile in February, with competition looming, NPR cut the fees to carry “Morning Edition” that stations had long complained about by a total of $5 million (to take effect next fiscal year).

Still, stations in Boston, Cape Cod, Baltimore, Miami and across Wisconsin have committed to give “The Takeaway” a try, although “Morning Edition” will still be widely available in those places. On WNYC “Morning Edition” will shrink to five hours between the AM and FM stations, to make way for two hours of “The Takeaway.”

By June 30 the new program will be broadcasting four hours daily, although not all stations will carry the whole thing. Mr. Griffith envisions “The Takeaway” as a “breakfast table,” where a nationwide conversation can take place. Mr. Hockenberry uses a more high-tech metaphor, calling it in an interview “a massive multiplayer game, the rules and title of which are, basically, curiosity.”

Seeds of Hope plans to build a new 4,200-square-foot community center on Casa Grande’s west side and organizers have begun a capital campaign to raise the $600,000 needed for the project.

The campaign will be a focal point during Seeds of Hope’s annual fundraising dinner on April 25, as the nonprofit agency celebrates its history and future in Casa Grande. John Perkins, president of the John Perkins Foundation and the inspiration for Seeds of Hope in Casa Grande, will be the keynote speaker for the event.

“His message that evening will be on developing self-sufficiency in local neighborhoods,” said Mark Vanderheyden, executive director for Seeds of Hope. “He hopes to inspire pastors, churches, business leaders and individuals to become an active part in what Seeds of Hope is doing on the west side of Casa Grande.”

Seeds of Hope is a faith-based organization with a mission of breaking the cycle of poverty while strengthening communities. It started in Casa Grande in 1992 and operates out of an 1,100-square-foot, single-family house on Melrose Drive, where Web Development Software it runs an after-school program for neighborhood children between the ages of 5 and 12. Seeds of Hope also has a peer leadership program and literacy classes and provides activities and support for grandparents raising their grandchildren. It also operates a six-day-a-week hot lunch program for the homeless, disabled and working poor, serving up about 11,000 meals annually.

A new tax preparation assistance program, VITA, which started this year in partnership with United Way of Pinal County, helped 132 residents with free tax filing services. VITA resulted in an estimated savings of $13,200 in avoided tax preparation fees, according to Vanderheyden.

Through its various programs and services, Seeds of Hope impacts the lives of thousands of Casa Grande residents ranging from the homeless, school children and seniors, Vanderheyden said.

Establishing a facility in a neighborhood where it is needed is part of Seeds of Hope’s success, he added.

“The idea is go to those neighborhoods, rather than having people come to us, and have the people tell us what they need,” Vanderheyden said.

While community needs have increased over the years, Seeds of Hope’s resources have not and its current accommodations have become inadequate to efficiently serve its clients. A small kitchen at its current site makes it difficult to prepare snacks for children in the after-school program. The four bedrooms restrict the number of people who can participate in activities and an awkward layout makes it difficult for too many people to move around the house at one time. As well, being an older house, the current community center is in constant need of maintenance and repair, Vanderheyden said.

The new community center will be in Albert Cruz Park and Seeds of Hope has negotiated a 50-year agreement with the city of Casa Grande that allows the organization to pay a nominal fee to lease the land and construct the building.

It is to be designed with an open meeting area, a large kitchen with an adjoining dining area and four large classrooms, which will allow different programs to operate simultaneously. Its location in the city park will allow children at the center access to the playground and open space areas.

With those features, Web Development Software Seeds of Hope plans to add additional programs to accommodate broader community needs.

“This multigenerational facility will allow Seeds of Hope to expand and collaborate with other churches and organizations in bringing additional services to the west side,” Vanderheyden said.

The organization has raised about $100,000 toward the new building and hopes to raise another $500,000 by June. Vanderheyden knows the goal will be a tough one to achieve.

“There are other campaigns going on, other organizations trying to raise money,” he said. “We’re going along on faith.”

The theme for this year’s fundraising dinner is “Planting Seeds - Building Hope,” which Vanderheyden said illustrates Seeds of Hope’s wholistic approach to community development that not only attempts to lift people out of poverty but encourages young people to stay in the community once they have grown and to use their education and talents locally.

“Seeds of Hope is about building relationships and raising up leaders in the neighborhood,” Vanderheyden said.

To help celebrate the organization’s accomplishments, Perkins will return to Casa Grande and talk about how communities nationwide have come together in addressing community development and racial reconciliation through churches.

Perkins is an international speaker on racial reconciliation, leadership and community development. He has dedicated his life to ministering to the poor and in 1960 founded several community development projects including low-income housing, child care centers, adult education programs, cooperative farming programs, thrift stores, health centers and others. He is the founder and board chairman of the Christian Community Development Association and has written six books and many articles and has lectured at more than 150 colleges.

Vanderheyden said that the keynote speech is aimed at delivering a powerful message and encouraging cooperation in bringing about and sustaining changes in the community.

Music for the dinner will be presented by the Greater Evangelistic Temple Choir and the Seeds of Hope children’s choir directed by Mary Vandervort. Several businesses have donated door prizes for the event.

AMD and its ATI Radeon HD 3400, ATI Radeon HD 3600 and ATI Radeon HD 3800 graphics products and the AMD 780G integrated graphics chipset has been delivered with the first full DisplayPort certification of PC graphics products by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA).

MD has been a driving force in the development of DisplayPort, said Bill Lempesis, Executive Director, VESA. he ATI Radeon HD 3000 series of graphics cards are the first source devices to achieve DisplayPort certification.The certified AMD products support Dell new DisplayPort offerings including the UltraSharp 3008WFP and 2408WFP Widescreen LCD Monitors. he ATI Radeon HD 3000 series represents the world first fully certified line of discrete and integrated graphics solutions, said Bruce Montag, Office of the CTO, Dell.

he VESA DisplayPort Certified Logo assures customers that DisplayPort products interoperate and provide a great digital display experience.According to AMD, this certification gives PC consumers next-generation display capabilities today. The company also added saying that, they will remain honored by being committed to deliver the ultimate visual experience to consumers with superb display technologies.

CARACAS, Venezuela Venezuela said Monday that it will take control of three foreign-owned cement businesses, but will let the current owners keep minority shares.Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez made the announcement after talks with representatives of Mexico’s Cemex SAB, France’s Lafarge SA and Switzerland’s Holcim Ltd.President Hugo Chavez announced the nationalization of the country’s biggest cement businesses last week, and Ramirez told state television it could be handled much like the nationalization of oil projects last year: “That’s to say, a share of participation by the Venezuelan state of a minimum of around 60 percent.”The foreign companies have not yet indicated if they would accept the terms and stay on as minority partners. Ramirez said the talks will lead to “agreements for us to move to a scheme of control.”Chavez said Sunday that he had been contacted by the concerned owners of some small cement businesses in the western state of Zulia, and they have been assured that the nationalization will not affect them.”I asked for them to be told that, ‘No, what we’re going to do is nationalize what was privatized’” in the past, Chavez said. He called those being nationalized “the big cement companies that were taken away, practically given away - those big plants that are property of the state, (and) always have been.”Ramirez said Venezuelan officials told representatives of the foreign companies that they aim to establish state “control of some basic businesses that are fundamental for carrying out our entire national development plan.”Chavez has accused foreign-owned cement companies of restricting domestic supply and boosting exports to maximize profits. He has assured the companies they will be fully compensated for their assets.The cement takeover is Chavez’s most significant nationalization move since last year, when the government took control of telecommunications and electricity companies, along with the country’s last remaining privately run oil projects.Government officials argue cement supply has been a problem in the past and they note that Venezuela has suffered from a severe housing shortage for decades.Cemex runs three cement plants in Venezuela that produce about 4.6 million tons annually, as well as 13 distribution centers and four maritime export terminals.Holcim has two plants that produce 3 million tons a year. And Lafarge has two plants that produce 1.5 million tons a year, according to the company’s Web site.On Friday, Holcim spokesman Peter Gysel said the Zurich-based company had not yet been contacted by Venezuelan authorities and Cemex spokesman Gerardo de la Torre also said his company had not been officially notified of the plan.Miguel Octavio, executive director of BBO Servicios Financieros, a Caracas brokerage, estimated the Venezuelan assets of the three companies are worth US$1.8 billion (euro1.1 billion) to US$2.2 billion (euro1.4 billion).

Swimmers wearing Speedos new LZR Racer have smashed 12 world records in the past fortnight, leading to calls for a debate about their use.
The swimsuit was tested at Otago University, using a special flume, like a wind tunnel with water.
The skintight swimsuit - a far cry from Speedos traditional budgie smugglers - was introduced last month amid a blaze of publicity.
It was developed in partnership with Nasa and has no stitching, using bonded joints based on technology from the space shuttle.
Clad in an LZR Racer at the European swimming championships in Holland at the weekend, Frenchman Alain Bernard broke the 100metre freestyle world record twice in two days.
World swimming governing body Fina has called for a meeting with Speedo over the LZR Racer, while French swimming officials have demanded a debate on them.
Otago University biometrics specialist David Pease, who conducted the testing, said he knew the swimsuits would perform well.
Its not that surprising, just because we know the technology is pretty unbelievable. But theyve probably gone a little bit better than we expected, to be honest.
The swimsuits secrets were a seamless design and a compression zone around the torso that helped swimmers to hold their form when they got tired.
They did not aid buoyancy or propulsion and were approved by Fina, he said.
Cornel Marculescu, executive director of Lausanne-based FINA, said there were two main issues: the thickness of the suit and availability.
Marculescu told SwimNews Web site (www.swimnews.com) there were concerns about buoyancy issues.
We have to review this. But there is no scientific test to say if a suit supports performance, he said.
The number one priority is that all suits are made available to everyone at the moment of launch. Any innovation should be available to everybody.
Under Fina rules, the swimsuits must be available to all competitors at the Olympics.
Bodysuits caused controversy from their genesis about a decade ago, with arguments over whether they broke rules outlawing buoyancy. FINA gave the green light in 2000.
Massive sums are poured into the technology of suit development.
Other manufacturers offer suits with special properties of their own and they too have had their successes, including victories at these championships.
Arena, with world and Olympic champion Laure Manaudou in their line-up, launched their new R-Evolution suit in Eindhoven, and adidas, the brand once worn by the mighty Ian Thorpe, will unveil their new suit shortly.
Swimming NZ has a sponsorship deal with Arena, but chief executive Mike Byrne said that did not mean its swimmers would be locked out of using the hi-tech suits for the Beijing Olympics in August.
Under the deal, theyre able to choose any technical equipment they want, and that includes swimming suits.
He said Arena had just introduced its new Powerskin swimsuit, which could prove just as good as the Speedo.
-with Reuters

Swimmers wearing Speedos new LZR Racer have smashed 11 world records in the past fortnight, leading to calls for a debate about their use.
The swimsuit was tested at Otago University, using a special flume, like a wind tunnel with water.
The skintight swimsuit - a far cry from Speedos traditional budgie smugglers - was introduced last month amid a blaze of publicity.
It was developed in partnership with Nasa and has no stitching, using bonded joints based on technology from the space shuttle.
Clad in an LZR Racer at the European swimming championships in Holland at the weekend, Frenchman Alain Bernard broke the 100metre freestyle world record twice in two days.
World swimming governing body Fina has called for a meeting with Speedo over the LZR Racer, while French swimming officials have demanded a debate on them.
Otago University biometrics specialist David Pease, who conducted the testing, said he knew the swimsuits would perform well.
Its not that surprising, just because we know the technology is pretty unbelievable. But theyve probably gone a little bit better than we expected, to be honest.
The swimsuits secrets were a seamless design and a compression zone around the torso that helped swimmers to hold their form when they got tired.
They did not aid buoyancy or propulsion and were approved by Fina, he said.
Cornel Marculescu, executive director of Lausanne-based FINA, said there were two main issues: the thickness of the suit and availability.
Marculescu told SwimNews Web site (www.swimnews.com) there were concerns about buoyancy issues.
We have to review this. But there is no scientific test to say if a suit supports performance, he said.
The number one priority is that all suits are made available to everyone at the moment of launch. Any innovation should be available to everybody.
Under Fina rules, the swimsuits must be available to all competitors at the Olympics.
Bodysuits caused controversy from their genesis about a decade ago, with arguments over whether they broke rules outlawing buoyancy. FINA gave the green light in 2000.
Massive sums are poured into the technology of suit development.
Other manufacturers offer suits with special properties of their own and they too have had their successes, including victories at these championships.
Arena, with world and Olympic champion Laure Manaudou in their line-up, launched their new R-Evolution suit in Eindhoven, and adidas, the brand once worn by the mighty Ian Thorpe, will unveil their new suit shortly.
Swimming NZ has a sponsorship deal with Arena, but chief executive Mike Byrne said that did not mean its swimmers would be locked out of using the hi-tech suits for the Beijing Olympics in August.
Under the deal, theyre able to choose any technical equipment they want, and that includes swimming suits.
He said Arena had just introduced its new Powerskin swimsuit, which could prove just as good as the Speedo.
-with Reuters

McALLEN, Texas Once a migrant farm worker and now an important fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton, Alonzo Cantu won’t even take the microphone in his own home to introduce the politicians whose fundraisers he hosts.The South Texas businessman cultivates the image of a wallflower who has only his region’s future in mind while raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for Democrats, mostly Clinton.Cantu does it through his web of businesses that include a construction company, bank and hospital, which together make Cantu one of the wealthiest and most powerful political operatives in one of the nation’s poorest areas.Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-Texas, a Clinton supporter who got Cantu involved in national politics, calls him one of the nation’s rising Hispanic stars.Clinton has campaigned heavily in the Rio Grande Valley this month, trying to secure the Latino vote in the March 4 Democratic presidential primary. She has collected nearly $1 million here, and people who know Cantu say he and his business associates are responsible for much of it.”The people who work for him and under him pretty much know what he wants,” said Billy Leo, mayor of nearby La Joya and a friend of Cantu’s. “He knows how much business he gives them. This guy is not going to call just anybody for money.”Campaign finance records show supervisors from Cantu Construction, bankers from his Lone Star National Bank and contractors on Cantu projects such as the commercial plumber on the Doctors Hospital at Renaissance that he built, wrote checks to Clinton’s campaign.Eight of the top 10 political contributors in Cantu’s north McAllen zip code sit on the hospital’s board or are doctors there. They gave a combined $111,500 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee last year.Through January, Clinton had raised more than $888,000 in the McAllen metropolitan area, compared to $7,450 for her rival Barack Obama, according to The Center for Responsive Politics.It’s not clear how much was solicited and collected - bundled - by Cantu. The Clinton campaign acknowledges only that Cantu is one of their “HillRaisers,” those who raise more than $100,000.Some attribute Clinton’s fundraising edge here to her long-standing ties - 35 years ago she worked to register Valley voters - but many credit Cantu. Clinton visited Cantu’s home in 1999 while she was exploring whether to run for the Senate in New York.Local attorney Charlie Ochoa, who helped coordinate that 1999 visit, said, “There are maybe 100, 150 individuals (nationally) who have raised the kind of money Alonzo Cantu has raised for her.”Cantu says he does it because “politicians listen to two things: money and votes.”For decades, state and federal government neglected the border communities along the Rio Grande. The Valley lagged in roads, health care and education.Cantu, 52, grew up as a migrant worker, picking fruit with his family. His father eventually settled the family and started building a house or two per year when Cantu was a teen. Once Cantu graduated from the University of Houston with a finance degree, he took over the business.Now overseeing real estate development, banking and health care businesses, he is well aware of that neglect.”In the past, South Texas has been ignored by Republicans because it is the blue part of the state, and Democrats have taken us for granted,” Cantu said in his office, a framed photo of him and Bill Clinton in tuxedos behind him.The first phase in changing that was raising enough money to get Washington’s attention; the second phase is voter registration, he said.”That’s the fastest way to change things in the Valley,” he said.Cantu works out of his construction company’s single-story building a mile from his home. With his fireplug build, open-necked shirts and frizzy gray hair, Cantu looks more like one of his construction workers than a slick political operative.But bundlers like Cantu get credit for collecting hundreds of smaller donations. “They’re going to be in the candidate’s Rolodex if they’re elected,” said Taylor Lincoln of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, a watchdog group.Tom Haughey, executive director of the Hidalgo County Republican Party, said Cantu’s vision of a prosperous Rio Grande Valley includes his businesses prospering.”I don’t think it’s just because everyone is magnanimous,” said Haughey, who filed an unsuccessful Federal Election Commission complaint against Cantu in the 1990s. “I think people expect a return on investment.”Cantu’s not shy about acknowledging that: “We give money to those who tour the hospital.” He wants to persuade members of Congress of the benefits of doctor-owned hospitals, which some want to prohibit.Asked if Cantu has political aspirations of his own, Hinojosa, the congressman, laughed.”None whatsoever. The less he speaks the happier he is.”