Agenda

Texas’ Democratic candidate for attorney general says, if elected, he would investigate whether SpaceX got preferential treatment in receiving $109 million in state broadband grants. The remarks by Nathan Johnson, a state senator, come after the state revised its broadband grant process following the Trump administration’s restructuring of a $42.45 billion federal broadband expansion initiative. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is dominating the news of late, and stakeholders around the world weighed in this week. The United Nations (UN) convened an Independent International Scientific Panel on AI to assess how AI is transforming lives globally.

A new rule proposed by the White House Office of Management and Budget would fundamentally overhaul the way federal grants are awarded and overseen — a sweeping change that one scientific society said “would all but end the use of scientific merit in the selection of grants and programs across the government.” Proposed in late May, the rule would give political appointees unprecedented control over f

The E-Rate program, which helps connect schools and libraries to the internet at discounted rates, is under review by the Federal Communications Commission. Educators and advocates are bracing for the funding to shrink or be eliminated. The agency's recent focus on the program has left educators including David Thurston on edge. Thurston oversees technology for the 33 school districts nested inside California's San Bernardino County.

Old copper landlines are going the way of so many other aging pieces of technology as smartphones have become the way many people surf the web, pay bills, watch movies and keep up with friends and family. But some residents of L.A. and California—particularly those who live in fire-prone areas—are determined to hold on to their traditional phones. As telecommunications giant AT&T accelerates its push to retire landline service to about 184,000 households and 15,000 businesses across the state, hundreds of Californians have voiced alarm in public comments.

The White House in late May proposed a rule that would cement its control over essentially all federal grant making, including research funding and Education Department grants. Among other changes, the proposal from the Office of Management and Budget says political appointees, not peer reviewers, would be the primary deciders of who gets grants, and says officials could yank funding even after it’s