State

A federal judge in July gave digital equity advocates a partial victory against President Donald Trump, stopping his attempt to unilaterally kill a multibillion-dollar grant program Congress created. But U.S. District Judge John D. Bates, in a 35-page opinion, also agreed with the administration that it was unconstitutional for the government to use race or ethnicity as the basis to award money under a program created to expand internet skills and access.

Every morning, as Mike Hesse gets ready to go out the front door of his family farm, he has a rude awakening. Right at the edge of his property stands an orange and white pole that looks like a PVC pipe. It’s a utility cap for a fiber-optic internet line that cuts through his front yard. “That’s how close fiber internet is to my home here,” he said, standing on his porch.

I can think of only three sources of locations that the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program missed the first time around. One group of locations is those being turned back to State Broadband Offices when BEAD awardees decide not to accept a BEAD grant. The broadband offices have been trying to find other internet service providers to take these locations at the original award price. But I already know of several examples where there are no takers—at least at the dollar level of BEAD that was awarded after the Benefit of the Bargain round.

The North Carolina Department of Information Technology announced a $1 million notice of funding opportunity for the Broadband Satellite Resiliency Grant program designed to strengthen local resiliency and provide high-speed internet redundancy for public and community institutions serving North Carolinians.

More than four million annual visitors, students and residents in New Mexico will soon have public Wi-Fi access at city parks, state parks, public housing, civic spaces, community centers and senior centers after the state’s broadband office awarded nearly $6 million in grants. The Office of Broadband Access and Expansion has approved nine Wi-Fi grants through its American Rescue Plan Act Community Wi-Fi Project, a newly launched program designed to help municipal, county, and regional governments and state agencies expand Wi-Fi service.

TikTok has rejected ads from Meta that call on TikTok and other tech platforms to join Meta in settling with U.S.

Governor Gavin Newsom signed landmark bipartisan legislation strengthening California’s nation-leading protections for children online and when using artificial intelligence (AI). The new laws strengthen safeguards for companion chatbots, prohibit social media platforms from offering addictive features to users under 16, and expand privacy protections for children. The bills will protect children by:

Broadband programs spend years in planning, mapping, applications, and approvals. But eventually, the work has to move from paper to the field. That is where Washington state finds itself now. Jordan Arnold, Director of the Washington State Broadband Office, discusses how the state’s broadband strategy is taking shape. Arnold stepped into the role in January 2026, just before Washington received federal approval for its final Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment proposal.

ConnectLA is taking a proactive approach to permitting coordination to help broadband projects move efficiently from planning to construction. By being intentional and well-prepared in the permitting process, projects are able to move forward more efficiently, helping Louisiana reach full coverage by 2028, if not sooner. Since March, ConnectLA has hosted more than 150 permitting coordination and outreach events, engaging nearly 600 permitting agency contacts.

Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed two bills (Senate Bill 813 and Assembly Bill 1405) strengthening California’s AI safeguards by establishing first-in-the-nation standards for third-party audits and independent assessments of AI systems—increasing transparency and accountability as the technology rapidly advances. The Governor signed Senate Bill 813, authored by Senator Jerry McNerney (D – Pleasanton), which establishes a first-in-the-nation framework for independent verification organizations that can assess AI systems and models for compliance with state law.