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theodp writes: Facebook may be facing the threat of a multi-billion dollar FTC fine for privacy lapses that included allowing companies to obtain users' email addresses from their friends, but that didn't discourage Bill Gates from taking to Twitter to urge his 46.5 million followers to give up the names and email addresses of teachers so they can be contacted by tech-bankrolled Code.org for a chance to receive a "Computer Science Scholarship" (attend Professional Development workshops). Or Amazon. Or Google. "The success of our professional learning program depends on the work of our partners to spread the word," explained Code.org in a Medium Post. "Corporate partners like Amazon, Infosys, and Google are rallying their employees and communities to nominate a teacher, and so are fellow teachers, parents, and students. We couldn't do it without you! [...] Code.org (and these scholarships) are supported by: Amazon, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Facebook, Google, Infosys Foundation USA, Microsoft [...] Code.org has prepared almost 100,000 educators to teach our courses, and they give our program rave reviews. We welcome teachers from all subject areas-no CS experience needed!"

In May, Code.org announced it was crowdsourcing a database of U.S. K-12 schools that teach -- or don't teach -- CS, with a goal to "gather data for 100% of U.S. schools by the end of 2018." The database would be used by the nonprofit and the CS community to "make our shared vision [for every school to teach computer science] a reality." Several months later, Amazon disclosed its involvement with the data collection effort, explaining it "will help us bring access to the schools that need it most." Amazon on Thursday announced it had selected 1,000 high schools to receive Amazon-funded CS classes and will be tapping another lucky 1,000 schools in the next few months. An Amazon press release said the company hopes to "inspire and educate 10 million children and young adults each year from underprivileged, underrepresented, and underserved communities to pursue careers in the fast-growing field of computer science and coding" through its Amazon Future Engineer program, which the e-tailer describes as "a four-part, childhood-to-career program."

As expected, Amazon said on Thursday that it was canceling plans to build a corporate campus in New York City [The link may be paywalled; alternative source]. From a report: The company had planned to build a sprawling complex in Long Island City, Queens, in exchange for nearly $3 billion in state and city incentives. But the deal had run into fierce opposition from local lawmakers who criticized providing subsidies to one of the world's richest companies. Amazon said the deal would have created more than 25,000 jobs. Amazon's NYC educational investments will continue.
Amazon's statement: "After much thought and deliberation, we've decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens. For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term. While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.

We are disappointed to have reached this conclusion -- we love New York, its incomparable dynamism, people, and culture -- and particularly the community of Long Island City, where we have gotten to know so many optimistic, forward-leaning community leaders, small business owners, and residents. There are currently over 5,000 Amazon employees in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island, and we plan to continue growing these teams."

theodp writes: Commenting on reports that Amazon is reconsidering its plan to bring 25,000 jobs to a new campus in New York City following a wave of political and community opposition, Amazon issued the following statement: "We're focused on engaging with our new neighbors -- small business owners, educators, and community leaders. Whether it's building a pipeline of local jobs through workforce training or funding computer science classes for thousands of New York City students, we are working hard to demonstrate what kind of neighbor we will be." Yep, it'd be a shame if something happened. The Washington Post earlier reported that New York State Sen. Michael Gianaris, a strong opponent of the Amazon HQ2 deal, described the possibility that Amazon would pull out of the deal -- which totals up to $3 billion in state and city incentives -- as akin to blackmail. "Amazon has extorted New York from the start, and this seems to be their next effort to do just that," he said. "If their view is, 'We won't come unless we get three billion of your dollars,' then they shouldn't come." Over at Vice, Ankita Rao examines what Amazon infiltrating America's school system might look like.

The Washington Post is reporting that Amazon has picked New York's Long Island City and Arlington County's Crystal City neighborhoods as the company's second headquarters (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source). The two locations will split the duty and will reportedly bring the cities an infusion of jobs and tax revenue. From the report: Amazon will open major new outposts in Northern Virginia's Crystal City and New York City, splitting its much-sought investment of up to 50,000 jobs between the two East Coast sites. The choice of Crystal City in Arlington County as one of the winners would cement Northern Virginia's reputation as a magnet for business and potentially reshape the Washington region into an East Coast outpost of Silicon Valley over the next decade.

It also represents a victory for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D), who had joked that he would change his name to "Amazon Cuomo" if necessary to land the prize. Amazon's decision to split the project rather than open a second headquarters on par with its Seattle campus has angered some who said the company had ginned up competition among cities only to change the rules midstream. Some said it was unfair that the company seemed to be considering only sites in more affluent communities. Updated on November 13, 15:10 GMT: Amazon on Tuesday confirmed that it had selected New York City and Northern Virginia for new headquarters. In a statement, Jeff Bezos said, "We are excited to build new headquarters in New York City and Northern Virginia. These two locations will allow us to attract world-class talent that will help us to continue inventing for customers for years to come. The team did a great job selecting these sites, and we look forward to becoming an even bigger part of these communities."

theodp writes: In addition to a monetary commitment of $10 million in cash and donations to Code.org, Amazon reports it's also accelerating the effort to bring computer science to all U.S. high schools by having employees spend time at Code.org, while maintaining employment at Amazon. According to the company's Day One blog, Amazon has lent its employees to help the tech-bankrolled nonprofit "gather data about computer science programs, or lack thereof, at every single school across the country." (There are over 133,000 schools in the United States.) Amazon added: "Putting this data on a map and combining it with what we know about the school's population, lets us see whether access to computer science courses are concentrated in wealthier schools or schools that are less diverse, and will help us bring access to the schools that need it most. [...] It will also ultimately support the much-needed pipeline for workers who are well versed in computer science."

Earlier, Code.org noted it was compiling the national database for use by the nonprofit and the CS community to "make our shared vision [for every school to teach computer science] a reality," but didn't note the involvement of Amazon, which committed $50 million last fall to the White House's new computer science push (part of a larger $300 million tech sector commitment). Execs from Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Infosys occupy four of Code.org's nine board seats and have contributed $33+ million to the nonprofit (Facebook has kicked in another $10+ million). Hey, it's what parents want!