Millennium mania struck the globe — but predicted computer problems failed to create chaos as the clock struck midnight to usher in the New Year. Over 100 state officials gathered at the Iowa National Guard’s STARC Armory Friday — watching time march across the globe — and applauding when it was midnight here in Iowa. The group checked on state government operations and crucial statewide systems like electric power and phone service. Early in the New Year — at 1:15 a-m — Governor Vilsack said so far, most everything gets a green light. After three years of preparation and the expenditure of millions of dollars, predictions of computer-related problems as the date changed did not come to pass. Vilsack says the preparation, though, was not in vain.Vilsack says gearing up for Y-2-K helped state government agencies ramp up their computer systems and allowed state agencies to develop many relationships among themselves and companies outside state government.Vilsack says he can’t give the all-clear for state government until they get through the rest of this month.While the President was at the Mall in Washington welcoming the New Year and New York City’s Mayor watched the ball drop in Times Square, Iowa’s Governorwas in the state emergency management “bunker” at the Iowa National Guard’s STARC Armory when midnight struck in Iowa.There was one small computer glitch in state government which popped up shortly after midnight. It was an e-mail problem in the Iowa Workforce Development agency, but it will NOT affect unemployment checks.
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