Community Broadband Media Roundup - May 11

California 

CPUC moves to help close digital divide for students by Bruce Mirken, Post News Group

High school district grapples to bridge digital divide by Kate Bradshaw, Mountain View Voice

Missouri

Community partnership uses school buses to provide free Internet access in Perry County, Mo. by Amber Ruch, KFVS12

Best case scenario: Early broadband build-out leaves some rural areas prepared for online work and school by Anna Brugmann, Columbia Daily Tribune

Minnesota

Rural America lags on fast Internet. Now small co-ops are building it by Richard Mertens, The Christian Science Monitor 

“Co-ops in my mind are the unsung heroes of broadband rural deployment,” says Christopher Ali, a professor of media studies at the University of Virginia who is writing a book on the subject. “Co-ops are much more responsive to needs of their local communities.”

New Mexico

USDA to spend $23M to expand broadband in NM by Scott Turner, Albuquerque Journal

North Carolina

Wilson community broadband proves valuable during coronavirus outbreak by Mandy Mitchell, WRAL

North Dakota

Why North Dakota has the best Internet in the United States by Karl Bode, Vice

Past ISLR studies have shown that mindlessly throwing subsidies at the nation’s biggest telecom monopolies isn’t an effective way to fix the problem. In part because US broadband mapping is a notoriously terrible, but also because feckless oversight routinely means such funds often never reach the smaller, rural communities they were intended for. 

South Carolina

South Carolina electric co-op to invest $50m in broadband by Gene Zaleski, Government Technology 

Tennessee 

Gig on the mountain: Power co-op takes over high-speed telecom service at Jasper Highlands by Dave Flessner

Vermont

Northeast Kingdom one step closer to having high speed broadband, WCAX3 

Virginia

Electric cooperatives make it step up during pandemic, Jackson Newspapers

General

Conexon launches RDOF Mapping Platform for FCC auction success, BBC Wires 

Nation needs better broadband, Augusta Chronicle Editorial

“We are the country that created the Internet. We think of ourselves as the most affluent nation on Earth,” Christopher Mitchell told CNN. Mitchell is director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. “We should be embarrassed that millions of people have to drive to a closed library or a fast-food restaurant in order to do their jobs or do their homework.”

Fiber optics generally a better option than wireless, even in rural areas, says municipal broadband advocate by Emily McPhie, Broadband Breakfast

While more Americans rely on parking lot Wi-Fi, many public libraries do not have adequate broadband, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society 

Commerce: $1.5 Billion in CARES Act funding includes broadband by John Eggerton, Multichannel