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Thousands of low-income Coloradans reliant on public assistance could get a free cellphone under a plan before the state Public Utilities Commission. If approved, the plan by TracFone Wireless in Miami would make Colorado the 17th state it has settled into with free cell service for the indigent, a form of wireless welfare that proponents say taps into one of the last untapped markets for the telecom technology. "Our hope is to have it up and running by September," said Jose Fuentes, TracFone's director of government relations. "Historically, it's a very underutilized service, and we'd like that to change."

http://www.crossville-chronicle.com/local/local_story_172234222.html Russians with 105 pre-paid cell phones draw attention of police. This story caught my attention. What is with all the bulk cell phone buyers?

A bulk purchase of disposable cell phones across The South Plains is turning into a federal investigation. Muleshoe authorities have questioned a man, who according to police reports, confesses to buying 60 pre-paid cell phones that might later be used to detonate bombs in the Middle East. The man reportedly bought the phones from stores like Dollar General, Family Dollar and even Wal-mart's across the region. Lubbock is included in the towns he confessed to buying the phones in. Again, in police reports he admits to a store manager the cell phones would eventually be used as bomb detonators in...

WASHINGTON - Five young Muslim men are stopped by multiple TracFones in the Midwest. That’s not illegal. Yet, they are charged with terrorism. Just weeks later, the charges are dropped. Just a case of Islamophobic law enforcement overreacting to innocents because of Sept. 11. Right? Wrong. There’s a lot more to the story with Adham Abdelhamid Othman, Maruan Awad Muhareb, and Louai Abdelhamied Othman — from Texas with 1,000 cell phones in Caro, Mich. — and Ali Houssaiky and Osama Sabhi Abulhassan — from Dearborn, Mich., with multiple cell phones and $11,000 in southern Ohio. The Texas men had photos...

CARO, Mich. - The FBI said Monday it had no information to indicate that the three Texas men arrested with about 1,000 cell phones in their van had any direct connection to known terrorist groups. Authorities had increased patrols on Michigan's 5-mile-long Mackinac Bridge after local prosecutors said investigators believed the men were targeting the span. Local authorities didn't say what they believed the men intended to do with the phones, most of which were prepaid TracFones, but Caro's police chief noted that cell phones can be untraceable and used as detonators. The FBI issued a news release Monday saying...

Around 1:00am August 11th three men purchased cell phones from the Wal-Mart store on M-81 near the corner of M-24 in Caro. Wal-Mart places a limit on the number of cell phones that can be purchased at once, that number is three. The three men allegedly bought 80 by purchasing them three at time so that an alert wouldn't be triggered by the cash register. They also paid cash. An alert clerk grew suspicious and called Tuscola County central dispatch. The Caro Police Department sent a unit and stopped the rented van on M-81 just east of Caro. The suspects...