Businesses that contributed to state-level candidates and/or political committees are more likely to get bigger economic stimulus contracts than other businesses.

That's according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, which compared the list of stimulus contract recipients with its list of political campaign contributors.

It found that businesses that made political contributions received $7.6 billion in stimulus contracts, or 14 percent of the total amount awarded, even though these firms represented only 4 percent of the 14,818 businesses and nonprofits that received stimulus contracts.

State officials decided who would get many of these contracts.

The institute excluded $3.8 billion in awards to CH2M Hill, an international construction and engineering firm, from its analysis because its numbers were so high it would have skewed the averages.

Large political contributions didn't necessarily result in large stimulus contracts, however. Florida Power & Light was the only company that made the top 10 lists for both state-level political contributions and stimulus contracts. AT&T made $8.3 million in campaign contributions in 41 states but got only $837,549 in stimulus contracts.

By contrast, SAIC-Frederick Inc., which operates the National Cancer Institute's laboratory in Frederick, Md., made only $13,600 in state-level political contributions but received $319 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contracts.

"While we did not find a huge overlap of contributors and recipients of contracts, this information provides a necessary baseline as the nation watches how the rest of the ARRA funds are spent," said Edwin Bender, executive director of the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

HHS awards IT grants to 45 health networks

The Department of Health and Human Services awarded $84 million in economic stimulus funds to help 45 health center networks adopt electronic health records and other information technology.

The centers, which provide health-care services to low-income and uninsured individuals, were selected through a competitive process.

"These funds will help safety net providers acquire state-of-the-art health information technology systems as they work to provide quality health care to millions of people in need," said Mary Wakefield, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Health professionals who practice at health centers may be eligible for incentive payments provided through Medicare and Medicaid if they demonstrate meaningful use of electronic health records.

The American Medical Association, however, contends that many physicians won't be able to afford investments in health information technology unless Congress fixes the Medicare payment formula. A 21 percent cut in reimbursement rates went into effect June 1, after the Senate failed to follow the House's lead and come up with money to avoid the reduction.

$29M awarded for weatherization training

The Department of Energy awarded $29 million in economic stimulus funds to expand eight existing weatherization training centers and start 26 new ones around the country.

This will more than triple the number of weatherization training centers funded by the agency. The centers will provide training to workers on energy-efficiency retrofits and weatherization services through a combination of classroom, online and hands-on learning.

The stimulus bill provided $5 billion to support weatherization projects in the United States.