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Plus, the White House directs more funds toward rural Internet, Michigan announces statewide campaign to increase Affordable Connectivity Program enrollment, and more.

The company announced this week plans to expand 5G technology in the Parkston, Aberdeen and Pine Ridge areas. The upgrades also include improvements in the Three Forks region of the Black Hills.

Residents of several Alaska communities have been experiencing Internet and cell service interruptions this week after a subsea fiber-optic network cable was cut. The cut might take up to two months to repair.

Following an audit by the state comptroller, a school district in New York has identified and disabled unneeded accounts that belonged to former employees, as those represented potential entry points for cyber criminals.

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.