Friday, September 25, 2026
Headlines Daily Digest
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It’s Time for a New Compact for Connectivity
New Mexico awards 23rd Tribal broadband planning grant
Indiana Connectivity Program’s 18th funding round to connect 28 homes
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In the Beckett play Happy Days, the main character, Winnie, begins the play buried to her waist in a mound of dirt. A bell rings. She wakes up. And she announces: “Another heavenly day.” She carries on. She goes through her routines. She talks incessantly. She is adapting to her circumstances. When the second act begins, the mound has risen to her neck. And Winnie keeps adapting, absurdly chirpy as her situation becomes more dire. Supposedly, the play is about mortality and decay, about the human condition, but for me the play's absurd horror is the progressive foreclosure of Winnie's possibilities for action. Her world changes around her. Her freedom to act shrinks and shrinks. And she responds by adapting to each new reality. Sometimes I worry that this is how we are beginning to talk about technology. Another heavenly day. The mound rises. Our imagined possibilities for action get smaller. And we adapt. That is the horror scenario. Not simply that technology changes quickly. It's that we begin to believe we have no role in determining the terms of that change. Nothing I heard here makes me think we need to accept that. In fact, I heard people reopening questions that had supposedly been settled. I heard people proposing institutions that don't exist yet. I heard people asking what existing authorities haven't been used to their full potential. I heard people thinking about what we can build, not merely what we need to defend. So here’s my exhortation to not be Winnie: We are not buried up to our necks; our possibilities of action are not foreclosed. So let’s act accordingly.

The Pueblo of Zia will use a newly awarded broadband planning grant to support fiber connectivity to 193 unserved homes and 12 Tribal community institutions. The New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion has given the Pueblo in Sandoval County a $100,000 grant through OBAE’s Grant Writing, Engineering, and Planning Program. The state grant will help provide high-quality internet connectivity for the Pueblo of Zia’s Tribal Administration and community, installing 12 miles of fiber and related infrastructure.

The Indiana Broadband Office has announced the results of the 18th round of the Indiana Connectivity Program, awarding $133,943 to connect 28 households across 15 counties. The Indiana Connectivity Program pairs unserved and underserved locations with broadband providers and awards them grants to help offset construction costs. The providers have nine months to complete their projects. Indiana Connectivity Program awards are announced every few months, and more are expected. As of the 18th round of funding, the program has awarded more than $14 million, helping provide service to more than 3,600 households, businesses, and community anchor institutions. In the most recent round, these projects were awarded:
- Jackson County REMC: $14,400 for three homes
- Johnson County REMC: $4,800 for one home
- Joink Inc: $33,600 for seven homes
- Mulberry Telecommunications: $9,600 for two homes
- PSC Fiber: $24,000 for five homes
- Southeastern Indiana REMC: $9,143 for two homes
- Surf Internet: $38,400 for eight homes
Benton (www.benton.org) provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, while connecting communications, democracy, and public interest issues. Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually accurate, their sometimes informal tone may not always represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang (headlines AT benton DOT org) and Zoe Walker (zwalker AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
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