Community Broadband Media Roundup - May 18

California

Partnerships can close the digital divide by Apoorva Pasricha & Kevin Frazier, GovTech

Colorado

In the City: Connexion provides WiFi to students without Internet by Colman Keane, Coloradoan

Kansas

USDA invests $71 million in high-speed broadband for rural Kansas and Oklahoma, USDA

Kentucky

Internet service providers should give free service in rural Kentucky to shrink digital divide by Peter Hille, Lexington Herald Leader 

New Hampshire

USDA invests $2 Million in high-speed broadband in rural New Hampshire, USDA

South Carolina

Partnership helps bring broadband to rural Georgetown County, South Strand News

Utah

'People used to think it was a luxury': Internet use is surging and so is UTOPIA Fiber by Ryan Miller, KSL.com

Washington

State, partners setting up drive-up Wi-Fi hotspots to expand broadband to rural areas by Amy Edelen, The Daily Chronicle

The public-private partnership formed to install the hotspots is in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which highlighted the importance of Internet access for distance learning, remote work, telemedicine and essential services, according to the department.

PUD launches survey on broadband access, The Daily Chronicle 

Wisconsin 

The broadband gap leaves rural Wisconsin behind in the COVID-19 crisis by Peter Cameron, WisContext

General

For tribal lands ravaged by COVID-19, broadband access is a matter of life and death by Darrah Blackwater, AzCentral

No Internet access means no access to the economic opportunities the Internet holds. In 2018 alone, the Internet sector accounted for $2.1 trillion of the U.S. economy. But during this pandemic, many residents of rural Indian Country don’t have the luxury of dreaming up online business plans.

Tribes have many government programs available for supporting broadband amid the coronavirus, say officials by Elijah Labby, Broadband Breakfast

The Pentagon's fight to kill Ligado's 5G network by Marguerite Reardon, CNET

FCC ignoring consumer broadband complaints, POTs and PANs 

It’s conceivable that the FCC no longer has the power to resolve complaints and just doesn’t want to publicly say so. When the agency voided their ability to regulate broadband, it’s likely they also voided their ability to intervene on any topic related to broadband – the agency effectively gelded themselves.

Did the FCC get the right answers on broadband deployment?, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society