Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) led a group of 15 senators in urging Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to increase funding for and improve the operations of the Rural Health Care (RHC) program, which helps expand access to telehealth services in hard-to-reach and economically depressed communities. “Cash-strapped health care providers are looking to the RHC Program for help to defray these costs, but you have so far not taken steps that would allow health care providers to receive additional support through the program,” they wrote.

The City of Champaign (IL) is pleased to announce the installation of new equipment to provide wireless Internet connectivity to Champaign Unit 4 students living in the Shadowwood Mobile Home Park. Through a collaborative project, new wi-fi equipment is being installed in Shadowwood Aug 19-21, 2020, with the goal of having the equipment fully operational to support online learning by the start of the fall semester. The City of Champaign is coordinating the project with cooperation from Unit 4 Schools, i3 Broadband, Mesh++, Ameren Illinois, and Shadowwood Mobile Home Park.

On July 30, 2020, numerous Members of Congress wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajti Pai to request that the FCC extend the 2.5 GHz Rural Tribal Priority Window by 180 days — until Feb 1, 2021 — while not delaying further necessary proceedings associated with the auction in order that it stay on track.

Verizon has partnered with the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and Gov Greg Abbott’s (R-TX) Operation Connectivity initiative to provide up to 18.9 million students in Texas and 15 neighboring states with a simple and quick way to access critical distance learning technologies.

The Federal Communications Commission has promoted several emergency measures to boost broadband connectivity during the coronavirus pandemic, which has required millions of people to rely on inadequate at-home internet connections for work and school. But without an immediate expansion of the agency’s E-Rate program — a K-12 school-based broadband subsidy created in 1996 — students around the country will continually be locked out of their virtual classrooms, said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), awarded over $35 million to more than 50 rural organizations across 33 states as part of a sustained federal effort to increase access to high-quality care in rural communities. The awards reflect investments in key areas including telehealth, health workforce training, health research, technical assistance for vulnerable rural hospitals and HIV care and treatment. The awards include:

Rolling Wi-Fi-enabled school buses into neighborhoods and distributing personal hotspots to families were part of Washington's Central Kitsap School District's rapid response to getting families online once schools closed in the spring. But such programs have limitations and don’t always provide students the high-speed connections they need for Zoom classes and completing assignments — especially if there are multiple students in the home. While the problem permeates much of rural America, the lack of broadband can even be an issue for students living in tech hubs.

In the last few decades, the received wisdom among global elites has been that technology tends to make the world flatter, smaller, more open, and more equal. This now seems increasingly false, or at least simplistic. Countries are vying for dominance in technologies that could give them a strategic advantage: communications, energy, AI, surveillance, agricultural tech, cybersecurity, military tech … and now, amidst a global pandemic, medicine, and manufacturing.

American tech titans flew high before the coronavirus pandemic, making billions of dollars a year. Now, the upheaval has lifted them to new heights, putting the industry in a position to dominate American business in a way unseen since the days of railroads. A rally in technology stocks elevated the S&P 500 stock index to a record high even as the pandemic crushes the broader economy.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing nearly $3 million to provide broadband service in unserved and underserved rural areas in Missouri. This investment is part of the $100 million in grant funding made available for the ReConnect Pilot Program through the CARES Act. In rural Missouri, Big River Broadband will use a $2.9 million grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network to connect 4,839 people, 54 farms, 27 businesses, two public schools and one fire station to high-speed broadband internet in Cape Girardeau County.