Since 2020, the digital navigator model has spread like wildfire. Programs with trusted guides who assist community members with ongoing, individualized support for accessing affordable and appropriate connectivity, devices, and digital skills are now in hundreds of communities across the U.S. Thirty-nine states and territories included digital navigator programs in their state/territory digital equity/opportunity plans, many of whom included libraries as key community partners. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is one of the reasons this model was developed and went to scale so quickly. On March 31, staff at the Institute for Museum and Library Services were placed on leave, meaning there are no staff to manage current grants. Small and rural libraries with limited local funding will feel the loss of their IMLS grants the hardest. Losing millions of dollars in grant funds from IMLS will drastically impact the ability of these anchor institutions to deliver critically needed services for their community members—from getting people online to teaching them the skills they need to support workforce development, education, and telehealth.

Jim Stritzinger, Director of the South Carolina Broadband Office, likes “to think of the work we’re doing as an Olympic relay race.” The first leg, he said, was the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The second leg was federal funding like the US Department of Agriculture’s ReConnect Loan and Grant Program and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. The third leg was the American Rescue Plan Act. And the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program is the fourth and final leg. Continuing his relay race analogy, Stritzinger said, “While we have been executing and running the third leg of the race, we’ve also been planning for BEAD.” Because the ARPA funds had to be fully deployed by the end of 2024, that was the state’s front-burner issue even as they prepared for the BEAD Program. Stritzinger said South Carolina was happy to take the BEAD process slowly. By taking one set of funding at a time, South Carolina has dramatically reduced its number of locations eligible for broadband. “It’s tough to do the exact math,” said Stritzinger, “but if I had to wager, in July 2021 we probably had north of 300,000 [underserved and unserved] locations in the state.” Today, as the state prepares to launch its BEAD application portal, that number is down to about 29,000.

T-Mobile said it modified, changed and ended some of its diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in its bid to receive regulatory approval for its deal with EQT for fiber operator Lumos. A day after T-Mobile filed its letter outlining the changes, the Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau approved T-Mobile's Lumos transaction. And on April 1, T-Mobile said it closed its deal with EQT for Lumos. "You instructed companies within the FCC's jurisdiction to evaluate their DEI programs to identify and eliminate any invidious forms of discrimination," Mark Nelson, T-Mobile's EVP and general counsel, wrote in T-Mobile's letter to Carr. Nelson outlined T-Mobile's specific changes:

• "Our new supplier development program no longer focuses on specific categories of diverse businesses and instead is directed at fostering opportunities for small businesses."

• "We have eliminated specific targets or goals for diverse spend in our procurement policies and instead made clear that it is T-Mobile's policy that purchases and contracts are awarded based on the best qualified and most competitive suppliers to enable T-Mobile's success.

• "We dissolved as planned our External Diversity & Inclusion Councils, which were created five years ago in partnership with civil rights organizations to advise the company on workforce recruitment, procurement, community investment, and corporate governance."

House Commerce Committee Democrats launched an investigation into Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s attacks on the First Amendment and his weaponization of the independent agency. Committee Democrats blasted Carr for illegally targeting broadcast networks and media companies perceived to be unfavorably covering the Trump Administration—wasting critical agency resources on bogus investigations in the process. The lawmakers further questioned Carr’s commitment to his agency’s independence, given his frequent trips with the President to Mar-a-Lago and his targeting of entities that the President has criticized or sued in his personal capacity. The Committee leaders demanded information about the FCC’s actions by April 14, including:

• All documents related to its investigations of media entities, including letters of inquiry, subpoenas, and similar official requests for information;
• All communications between Carr and current White House officials and between Carr and other Trump Administration officials that relate to investigations of these or other media entities;
• All communications between Carr and third parties related to investigations of these or other media entities;
• An accounting of the staff time Carr has directed toward the investigations identified in the letter and an estimate of the cost associated with that time; and
• All records related to travel with the President on government aircraft and travel to the President’s personal residence in Florida for meetings with the President or other White House officials.  

Elon Musk’s chaotic foray into politics has put a huge dent into his company Tesla, which faces protests and plummeting sales on two continents, and has lost nearly half its market value since his DOGE operation began storming Washington in January. The luxury electric car, once a flashy symbol of progressive values, has suddenly become politically toxic with a huge swath of Americans. But for liberal critics hoping to see Musk’s fortunes truly damaged, the influential billionaire has an ace up his sleeve: the growing Starlink satellite broadband service, owned by Musk’s SpaceX. On both the national and global stage, Starlink is in a far different situation from Tesla: still on a growth arc, less associated with Musk personally, and in a position to win big government contracts. And unlike Tesla, Starlink is miles away from its competitors, offering cheaper, faster, and easier-to-use satellite internet. It’s a reminder that in the tech industry, which often seems clouded by brands and personalities, the technology still actually matters.