A Final Weekly Digest, and a New Chapter

 You’re reading the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society’s Weekly Digest, a recap of the biggest (or most overlooked) broadband stories of the week. The digest is delivered via e-mail each Friday.

Round-Up for the Week of August 31-September 4, 2026 

For Headlines readers who got nervous for me this morning, I’m fine, but… 

After five years, today is my last day working at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.

When I was in college, one of my professors told me to subscribe to a newsletter, Benton’s Daily Digest (or “Headlines,” to me and to many). I thought it was crazy that such a comprehensive resource was published each morning, five days a week. Less than a year later, it became my job to put Headlines together every day.

Those first days doing Headlines—where a day’s work is covering everything from Universal Service Fund programs to spectrum policy, to a labyrinth of digital inclusion research and resources—felt like learning a new language through immersion. And that’s what it was. Headlines has been the best education I could have gotten on the broadband and digital equity world that I have come to know and love.

I’ve always been a writer. I love the creative space it fosters and the research required before words ever hit the page. Storytelling is the time-tested way that we record our humanity and our collective progress. When we share our successes, our failures, and our dreams with each other, the entire digital equity community benefits.

The past five years of digital equity storytelling have been an incredible gift. A couple of projects stand out to me as work I’m especially proud of. Five months into my time at Benton, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was signed into law. We’ve followed each program the law created every step of the way. The incomparable Kevin Taglang and I summarized every Digital Equity Plan from all 50 states and 6 territories. We wrote about the Digital Equity Act’s unlawful termination, what the cost would be, and how hard states have worked in the meantime to realize the dreams they carefully laid out in their plans. I am so proud to have helped maintain a public record of that work and of all the broadband and digital equity programs that Kevin, Zoe Walker, and I have covered over the years. I look forward to following along as they continue to follow the Digital Equity Act’s programs and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance's fight to bring back federal funding for that work.

Benton studied and defined the Human Infrastructure of Broadband—the people and organizations that help individuals access affordable internet, devices, and the digital skills necessary to use connectivity and fully participate in modern society. Being part of the research team that brought this project to life—dreamed up by our Executive Director, Revati Prasad, and our Research Director, Caroline Stratton—was an unforgettable experience. Working on case studies for the Human Infrastructure of Broadband allowed me to meet digital equity champions working everywhere from statewide organizations to the smallest of libraries.

Lastly, the community development work I’ve been part of here in Illinois through Benton’s Accelerate and Broadband Breakthrough programs has deepened my sense of place in my own state. I loved working with counties across Illinois as they developed their own broadband solutions. I’m so grateful to have done this work with Adrianne Furniss, Benton’s Board Chair, Bill Coleman, and Reid Sharkey. And I’m in awe of the work of our Director of Policy Engagement, Drew Garner, who tirelessly builds state broadband efforts and coalitions through State Connections.

Benton’s greatest resource has always been its people. I think it’s a rarity to have the kind of group that exists here. From the wisdom of our legendary General Counsel, Andy Schwartzman, to the incredible care and support of our Chief Operating Officer, Kip Roderick, I’m grateful to Benton for taking care of me and encouraging me to learn. Thank you to my entire team for all the joys of these past five years.

Connecting with members of this community—my community—will never feel like work to me. It’s what makes me so excited to step into my new role with the Cook County Office of Digital Equity as their Community Outreach Specialist.

Nationally recognized Digital Inclusion Trailblazers, the Cook County Digital Equity team is building on big dreams—strengthening a countywide Community of Digital Equity, investing in that community through its IMPACT Small Grants Program and Digital Navigator Network, and reinforcing the broadband infrastructure that sustains this ecosystem. I’m energized by Cook County’s vision and the challenge of helping strengthen that ecosystem. As a Cook County resident, I am so excited to start working on digital equity programs happening in my community.

One last note about writing. Being a writer is an amazing job; I’ve gotten the incredible opportunity to meet the state broadband directors, librarians, digital equity practitioners, and broadband champions who are changing the world every day. And then I got to share their stories. I’m eternally grateful for all the amazing people who have taken an hour out of their day to sit and talk to me about what they do, why they do it, and what inspires them. For so many in our space, who are doing so much with so little, time is not an easy ask. I’m so thankful for the time I’ve been given. I’m ready to go and make the most of all the time ahead of me.

Two things are certain, come tomorrow: I’ll still be around in the digital equity community, in a new and exciting way. And I’ll be resubscribing to Headlines.

Quick Bits

• House Communications and Technology Subcommittee Advances Six Bills
• Four Principles for Communications Policy
• FCC Chairman Carr Announces New Enforcement Bureau Chief 
• What Do Students Lose When They Stop Writing?

Weekend Reads

• BEAD Supplemental Deployment Policy Notice
• Broadband Deployment: Agencies Should Take Steps to Better Target Underserved Areas and Consider Sustainability
• About half of Americans say they spend too much time on their smartphone
• The Rise of AI Companions 

ICYMI from Benton

• NTIA Opens a Second Round of BEAD Funding for Locations the Program Missed the First Time
• Broadband Heresies: Or, what Twilight, Harry Potter, X-Men, and The Incredibles can teach us about telecommunications policy
• Universal Service is an Ongoing Responsibility
• A Call for a New Communications Act

Upcoming Events

Sept 9––Washington’s Broadband Buildout: What’s Happening Now?

Sept 15—Listening Session on the FCC's E-Rate and Screen Use NPRM (NTIA)

Sept 15––Can communities mitigate their rising concerns about data centers? (Brookings)

Sept 24—25 Hours. One Connected World. (Connected Nation)

Sept 24—A New Compact for Connectivity: Internet Infrastructure in the Public Interest (Benton Institute for Broadband & Society)

Sept 25-26—TPRC54

Sept 30—September 2026 Open Federal Communications Commission Meeting

Oct 7-9—AnchorNets 2026

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, High-Performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy - rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity - has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.

© Benton Institute for Broadband & Society 2026. Redistribution of this email publication - both internally and externally - is encouraged if it includes this copyright statement.

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Kevin Taglang
Executive Editor, Communications-related Headlines
Benton Institute
for Broadband & Society
1041 Ridge Rd, Unit 214
Wilmette, IL 60091
847-220-4531
headlines AT benton DOT org

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