We are writing to thank you for your commitment to the BEAD program for rural broadband deployment. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that established the BEAD program was passed three-and-a-half years ago—and yet not a single household has been connected to high-speed internet through the program. To fulfill its long overdue mission of connecting all Americans, we urge you to both eliminate the unnecessary and burdensome program requirements imposed by the Biden Administration and enable the States to move forward quickly with implementation. Our members are the companies that have been the boots on the ground building, maintaining, and supplying the equipment for the broadband network infrastructure in rural America, and we cannot overstate the importance of getting the BEAD program on track. These rural communities have waited long enough for next-generation broadband that will unlock massive economic opportunities, and they cannot afford more program delays. The BEAD program was designed for the States to carry out, and the States should remain in the driver’s seat, empowered to use their expertise in determining the best broadband technology solutions for their residents. We recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to solving rural broadband challenges and that every technology will have an important role to play in BEAD. At the same time, BEAD is a golden opportunity to drive as much fiber infrastructure as feasible into our country, which will help advance your Administration’s important connectivity, AI, and advanced manufacturing goals. We are confident that under your direction, BEAD can unleash economic opportunity for America’s rural communities, and we appreciate your leadership in moving the program forward. 

Over 33,000 households in Oakland are estimated not to have residential broadband internet service. Deep, active community engagement starting during the pandemic shed light on the root causes of this digital divide: Internet affordability, access, and performance are the main barriers. Meanwhile, a duopolistic marketplace has resulted in a lack of investment in broadband infrastructure, leaving many Oaklanders paying more for less while the problems persist. This is digital exclusion in Oakland, and it overwhelmingly affects low-income families and Black and brown communities. The City of Oakland’s Broadband Master Plan (BMP) serves as a blueprint for addressing digital exclusion and its impacts on Oaklanders. It presents a solution: a municipal broadband network designed to achieve more equitable access to affordable, high-speed internet. By leveraging existing public infrastructure, prioritizing un/underserved communities, and fostering partnerships with Oakland Housing Authority, other affordable housing providers, as well as community-oriented Internet service providers that can advance digital inclusion, the BMP demonstrates the potential for a Municipal Broadband Networks (MBN) in Oakland to improve outcomes in the community by managing as a utility for economic, educational, and social progress. The OaklandConnect MBN will not, on its own, solve the digital divide. As they say, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Much more work—perhaps even tougher—lies ahead. Nonetheless, the BMP provides a roadmap to a more connected, inclusive, and resilient future.

Eruptions from the sun are shortening the lives of satellites in Earth orbit, particularly large constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink—which could be both beneficial and a cause for concern. The sun goes through an 11-year cycle of activity, peaking with a period known as solar maximum, which most recently occurred in late 2024. During these periods, increased eruptions from the sun can create geomagnetic storms that heat our planet’s atmosphere, causing it to swell outwards in size and increasing drag on satellites. Now, Denny Oliveira at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and his colleagues have investigated how much of an effect this was having on Starlink. “We found that when we have geomagnetic storms, satellites re-enter faster than expected [without solar activity],” he says. During solar maximum, the lifetime of a satellite could be reduced by up to 10 days, the researchers say. This effect is only becoming apparent now because of a boom in satellite launches, particularly by SpaceX.

Although much of the recent focus regarding the press being under siege has been on President Trump’s Federal Communications Commission, FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez cited “an administration-wide effort” involving multiple agencies intended “to chill speech” and stifle dissenting voices. With the FCC under Trump’s handpicked Chairman, Brendan Carr, Commissioner Gomez has few avenues to formally push back against the Republican majority. Because of that, she said, it’s incumbent upon her to publicly push back against what she called a “campaign of censorship and control” carried out in part through “sham investigations against broadcasters because of their editorial decisions.” Noting that President Trump had previously fired Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission, Commissioner Gomez conceded that she doesn’t know why she’s still in her position, before adding that any attempt to remove her before her term expires would be illegal. Explaining her goal, she said, “If I get fired, it isn’t because I didn’t do my job, it’s because I insisted on doing it.” She referenced Trump’s lawsuit against “60 Minutes,” and the pressure brought to bear against its corporate parent Paramount Global, as an example of the work being done against journalists to “tone down their criticisms” of the Administration.

Agentic AI has quickly become one of the most active areas of artificial intelligence development. AI agents are a level of programming on top of large language models that allow them to work towards specific goals. Perhaps the most exciting future for agentic AI will come in the form of personal agents, which can take self-directed action on your behalf. Leading companies are already offering prototype personal AI agents to their customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders, raising challenging business and technical questions. Most pointedly: Can AI agents be trusted to act in our best interests? How will we know? While there are many serious risks, there are also ways to address them. Here are three key steps to ensuring trustworthy personal AI agents, some of which is already in development:

1. Treat AI Agents as Fiduciaries
2. Encourage Market Enforcement of AI Agent Independence
3. Keep Decisions Local

[Blair Levin is currently a Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institution and Policy Advisor with New Street Research. Larry Downes is a co-author of Pivot to the Future: Discovering Value and Creating Growth in a Disrupted World.]