Level of Government

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) received more than 160 applications in funding requests totaling more than $2.64 billion for the second Notice of Funding Opportunity in the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program.

Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07), Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Representative David Valadao (R-CA-22) introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation to expand access to digital skills training for American job seekers. The Digital Skills for Today’s Workforce Act would amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to establish a new “Digital Skills at Work” grant program to expand digital skills training within postsecondary education, adult education, and workforce development systems.

A lot of folks have been pleading with the Federal Communications Commission to pick up the tab to continue the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Folks are assuming that the FCC has the ability to take on the ACP program inside the Universal Service Fund.

The Oregon Broadband Office is pleased to announce the awardees of the Broadband Technical Assistance Program (BTAP) grants of up to $150,000 per county which can be used for eligible broadband planning and pre-construction activities, staffing, and grant application support.

Streamlining and accelerating the permitting process is critical to implementing the Internet for All initiative. Since the passage of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that provided a historic $65 billion investment to expand affordable and reliable high-speed Internet access to everyone in America, we heard from stakeholders that permitting is a significant concern in implementing the program.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has now given 48 states the green light to start their required Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program challenge process to refine the list of locations that will be eligible for BEAD funding. The starting point for the states is the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map, based on its Broadband Data Collection (BDC), with the state-run challenge process providing stakeholders the opportunity to make updates and corrections.

County Health Rankings & Roadmaps' (CHR&R) 2024 National Findings Report highlights the importance of civic infrastructure and spaces to connect and be informed, with a focus on access to local news, broadband internet and public libraries. CHR&R calls attention to structural barriers like policies, laws and practices that can create obstacles to forms of participation such as voting and worker unionizing. Key findings include:

The Federal Communications Commission will vote on reimposing Title II authority over broadband at its April 25 meeting. Here are just a few of the things that can happen after the FCC reintroduces Title II regulation:

Life Wireless, the Lifeline Assistance Program’s provider for Telrite Holdings, has vowed to continue accepting applications for their Lifeline Assistance Program after the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) runs out of funding in May. Life Wireless offers free service, data usage, and smartphones to low-income Americans. Subscribers are eligible for Lifeline Assistance Program help if they receive government assistance or if their income level is at or exceeds 135 percent below the federal poverty level.

There’s a common complaint among high school students across the country, and it has nothing to do with curfews or allowances: Internet filters are preventing them from doing online research at school. School districts must block obscene or harmful images to qualify for federally-subsidized internet access under the Children’s Internet Protection Act, passed by Congress nearly 25 years ago. But the records, from 16 districts across 11 states, show they go much further. Some of the censorship inhibits students’ ability to do basic research on sites like Wikipedia and Quora.