Network

Centre County Commissioners have voted to advance broadband expansion project proposals from two Internet service providers. The county will apply for part of $200 million in state funding for the final proposals.

The Detroit Parks Coalition, along with the city and Connect 313, announced that they will be installing Wi-Fi at five parks as part of a $265,000 program aimed at closing the digital divide.

Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, the Indiana Broadband Office and the Office of Community and Rural Affairs have announced that Ohio and Dearborn counties, the town of Moores Hill, the town of Dillsboro and the city of Rising Sun are the newest Broadband Ready Communities.

Plus, Mississippi nets more federal funds to connect residents to affordable Internet, Connecticut directs $10 million to upgrade its senior centers, and more.

Sen. Joe Manchin announced the addition of some 86,000 unserved locations to West Virginia’s portion of the FCC broadband map. The map will be used to distribute funding to areas in need of Internet expansion.

In two California localities, the city of Fresno and Merced County, partnerships with a private company have helped to create an ecosystem that enables the advancement of digital equity initiatives.

Plus, Ohio launches a workforce program to support broadband deployment, New York aims to improve digital literacy for older adults, and more.

With staffing issues and few resources, rural counties are most likely to have missed the deadline for correcting the broadband map, meaning they will miss out on millions of dollars in federal funding meant to bring the Internet to rural America.

A fiber-to-home broadband project in the village of Poplar was one of 24 to be awarded a 2023 State Broadband Expansion Grant. The $523,423 grant for the project will be matched by the ISP overseeing the work.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday signed an agriculture and broadband spending bill into law. The new law earmarks $100 million in funding for rural Internet expansion.

Hundreds of residents in the mostly rural areas of east Seminole County face excruciatingly slow and data-restricted Internet service because of the lack of reliable broadband options.

Plus, San Francisco launches a new initiative to support awareness for the Affordable Connectivity Program; Charter Communications commits another $1 million to a digital education initiative; and more.

Yakima County, Wash., has been awarded more than $11.3 million by the state's Broadband Office as part of $121 million in grants awarded to 19 projects in underserved communities statewide.

Officials have been unable to access important data for a week because their server host has been unable to connect with its server farm. Several other counties across the Midwest are also experiencing outages.

Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, the Indiana Broadband Office, and the Office of Community and Rural Affairs announced Decatur County has been designated as the state's 77th Broadband Ready Community.

Plus, a new report continues to emphasize the value of a unified approach to broadband, Cleveland finds a nonprofit partner for a citywide broadband network and more.

Residents in rural Marion County likened Internet service to “a dead turtle” while offering officials feedback on the state of broadband in the region. The input was gathered as part of a six-county listening session.

One option would provide an affordable monthly broadband plan through a local nonprofit, while the second option would come through a proposed agreement with SiFi Networks to build fiber-optic lines across the city.