During the Covid-19 pandemic, Mountain Rural Telephone, Peoples Rural Telephone (PRTC), and Thacker-Grigsby Telephone are providing free hotspots for families that do not have broadband at home. The hotspots are primarily for school, community college, and GED students to complete their nontraditional instruction while face-to-face instruction is on hold.

As jails and prisons suspend in-person visits, most incarcerated people and their families are paying outrageously high costs to simply stay connected. The Federal Bureau of Prisons just made voice and video visitation free in its 122 prisons, and while noteworthy, this isn’t enough to ensure that the majority of families can remain in touch at such a crucial time. The majority of the incarcerated population, upwards of 1.7 million people, are in state prisons and local jails, where they will probably face excessive fees to call home.

The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) announced a new web tool that can assist users in finding free-to-use public broadband locations in their area. These "Emergency Internet" locations are for when a user's own internet is too slow or not available. While many of the identified location buildings are closed to the public, their Wi-Fi connections remain accessible. Users should stay in their vehicles while accessing the Wi-Fi and only use it long enough to access critical services.

Employees at Charter Communications, the internet, cable TV and phone giant known as Spectrum, have been getting sick while adhering to a company policy that has required thousands of them to work in offices and call centers rather than from home. More than 230 Spectrum employees have tested positive for Covid-19 since the pandemic hit the US, apparently. They have fallen ill at a time when some rank-and-file workers and managers have questioned how many Spectrum employees must work in offices and call centers.

This pandemic may define our generation, and the changes in our daily lives required by social distancing have highlighted the importance of broadband and the consequences of internet inequality. I’d like to discuss four points that I think are necessary to address the digital divide in rural America. First, the Federal Communications Commission must fund rural broadband with fixed maps. Second, to address rural connectivity we must incentivize providers to bring future-proof broadband to our communities. Third, we must hold auction winners accountable.

The Federal Communications Commission approved an additional five funding applications for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program. Health care providers in some of the hardest hit areas like New York and Michigan will use this $3.71 million in funding to provide telehealth services during the coronavirus pandemic:

Students who don’t have reliable internet access at home can do their remote learning in parking lots, the School District of Philadelphia (PA) says. “Parking Lot” Wi-Fi is one of the options listed on the distrct website for kids whose households aren’t yet connected.

Rep Grace Meng (D-NY) introduced the Emergency Educational Connections Act of 2020 to ensure that students have internet access during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic emergency. The legislation would create a special $2 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund at the Federal Communications Commission to disburse funds to schools and libraries, and Tribal schools and libraries, to purchase Wi-Fi hotspots, modems, routers, and internet-connected devices for students and patrons.
 

Tens of thousands of journalists are losing their jobs, newspaper chains are going under, and vulture capitalists are picking over the remains. We need a news bailout — but one that overhauls the existing corporate model and pushes the media to put the public before profits. Journalism needs more than just stimulus; it needs a major structural overhaul. And it requires permanent and public support.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA), New America’s Open Technology Institute, the Rural Wireless Association, NTCA - The Rural Broadband Association, the American Economic Liberties Project, and Free Press Action sent a letter calling on Congress to ensure that T-Mobile does not receive COVID-19 recovery funding to meet the merger specific build-out commitments it agreed to when it sought approval of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger from the Federal Communications Commission, Department of Justice, state attorneys general, and state public utilities commissions. “The New T-Mobile has repe