Governor Kay Ivey (R-AL), along with state and local leaders, gathered on the banks of the Alabama River to mark a practical milestone in Alabama’s broadband buildout: the Alabama Fiber Network’s middle-mile line has crossed the J. Lee Long Bridge on Alabama Highway 29, one of the final major spans before the statewide backbone is finished. The ceremony took place in Camden, Gov Ivey’s hometown in Wilcox County. AFN, the rural-electric-co-op-led consortium building Alabama’s statewide middle-mile, now has service available in all 67 counties as of the end of October, with full project completion still tracking for February 2026, according to the Governor’s Office. The backbone totals roughly 3,500 miles and is designed to lower transport costs, add resiliency, and shorten timelines for last-mile internet service providers extending service to unserved and underserved areas.

When most people picture smartphone users, they might imagine teenagers glued to their screens or busy professionals checking emails on the go. But in Philadelphia, older adults are quietly rewriting the script. Their approach to smartphones is both practical and innovative, revealing new trends in how technology shapes community life across generations. It turns out that older adults in Philadelphia are using their smartphones for much more than calls and messages. Many have embraced apps for managing health appointments, ordering groceries, and even participating in neighborhood watch groups. Some have become savvy at using voice assistants to set reminders or find information quickly. As seniors get more comfortable with smartphones, some will turn to online gaming for entertainment. The convenience of having everything in one device has made smartphones an essential tool for independence, peace of mind, and entertainment.

The City Assembly of Toyoake, Japan, a city with 68,000 residents, recently introduced a rule limiting the use of digital devices to two hours per day outside of work and school. The idea was introduced by mayor Masafumi Kouki. He’s grown concerned that residents, particularly children, have become addicted to digital devices. The new law has no penalties for exceeding the 2-hour limit, and the government will not be tracking cellphone and tablet usage. The hope is that in a society that has social pressure to follow official guidelines, the amount of device usage will drop. While it has not yet been officially recognized as a psychological diagnosis, youth phone addiction is a growing concern for many health officials. Excess phone usage has been linked to declining grades, social withdrawal, anxiety, and depression.

Governors and local leaders in the Midwest and South say they're hopeful that AI will supercharge stagnant economies and create new jobs despite questions over whether the AI revolution is all it's cracked up to be. Policymakers, industry leaders and local organizations gathered at the "Big Bets for America" event in Oklahoma to promote the benefits of AI for economies outside of the East and West coasts. Heartland Forward, the nonprofit that co-hosted the event with the Rockefeller Foundation, launched an AI caucus to try to make sure legislation is designed to accelerate economic growth. It's also launching a research and program development hub to "enhance investor confidence" in the region. 

Retirements since the start of the Trump administration could impact permit reviews, said Jill Springer, the top permitting official at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The agency has been working to streamline the federal permitting process for participants in its $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. “This is a thing that I am worried about,” she said. “Since January many of the federal permitting agencies have lost a lot of staff, and they’re trying to reapportion people and figure that out.” She said agency capacity and preparation were an important part of efforts to streamline permitting processes, something multiple agencies are working on. “We can have all these great changes that have happened,” she said, “but if they’re either not getting communicated down to the people who are actually pushing the paper, or worse yet, if there’s not somebody there to be processing that, then we have different problems that maybe we didn’t pay enough attention to.”