Ryan Womack

Bush Administration Department of Commerce official Bruce Mehlman, now co-chairman of the Internet Innovation Alliance, says the federal government and broadband grant seekers should be careful as they seek policy to ensure it doesn't hinder the spreading of high-speed communications system across the nation.

ZeroDivide, an investor in community enterprises leveraging technology to help underserved communities, is looking for non-profit partners to apply for broadband monies that are part of the national economic stimulus plan.

Broadband advisors to Washington state's governor have issued a request for proposals on the state's broadband mapping project.

Speaking at the Virginia Summit on Broadband Access at the Piedmont Virginia Community College, Larry Strickling, the top official at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said that now is "a new era" for broadband data, including public data about carriers that provide high-speed Internet service.

Members of Congress on Thursday questioned the efficacy of the grant criteria set out last week by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Rural Utilities Service. During a hearing before the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development, Biotechnology, Specialty Crops, and Foreign Agriculture, representatives expressed skepticism over ill-defined criteria in the joint Notice of Funds Availability the agencies released last week.

What broadband crisis?

More than two-dozen separate organizations joined to reinvigorate the public library as a community "watering hole" for broadband access as the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition held a launch event Thursday at Washington's Martin Luther King, Jr Library.

The Broadband Technology Opportunity Program can be put back on a faster schedule if state governments are used as a main points of contact for grant applicants, National Association of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners president Fred Butler of New Jersey and Communications Committee chairman Roy Baum of Oregon wrote Friday.