[EricH]

One note that the newspaper doesn't cover at all...

Putting on a FIRST event doesn't just cost $100,000. We'd see a lot more if it did. A typical regional can run to a quarter-million easily. So that's less than half of the cost of a regional. And it isn't "pork" because it benefits a lot of schools in a lot of districts. ("Pork" typically refers to very specific grants to a small group of people, especially in the wrong type of bill or in a very limited area.)