Md. agency will broadcast meetings live

The Maryland state board responsible for awarding millions of dollars in state contracts is embracing techonolgy.

The Board of Public Works is working on putting its meetings online so people can listen to them while they are in progress.

But there are still some technical bugs to work out.

Sheila McDonald, the board's executive secretary, said Wednesday that the board transmitted audio of the meeting to a computer in another office two weeks ago. But an attempt to expand that on Wednesday was not a complete success.

McDonald says she hopes to have it working in a couple of months. The goal is to allow anyone to listen to the meetings from the board's Web site.

The board, which consists of Gov. Martin O'Malley, Comptroller Peter Franchot and Treasurer Nancy Kopp, awards hundreds of millions of dollars in state contracts and capital bond grants every year.

-- Associated Press