Category Archive

Laketown, MI (July 3, 2018) – For Connie Valkema, at-home internet has been an integral, but unreliable part of her livelihood for years. When Valkema, a resident of Laketown Township for about the past five years, found out Comcast Corp. was expanding its network to bring high-speed internet service to most of Laketown and Saugatuck townships, she became emotional. “I got …

By Lauren Gibbson, MLIVE.com Twin Lake, MI (July 1, 2018) – Like most people these days, Wanda Finkler relies on the Internet to stay connected. Finkler lives in Twin Lake in Muskegon County, Mich., and shops online, does her banking online, uses social media to connect with her friends and family. So, as she built a new home in the area, …

Austin, TX. (July 1, 2018) – There are times when volunteer firefighter Jerry Bell could really use a broadband internet connection to find water or to pull up Google Maps for a better fix on his location. But because Bell and his fellow Lake Palo Pinto Volunteer Fire Department members often find themselves battling a blaze miles from town, that’s not …

Twin Lake, MI. (June 28, 2018) – A lack of reliable, speedy internet can impact several aspects of a community’s success, including access to educational and economic development opportunities, said Eric Frederick, executive director of Connect Michigan. Connect Michigan is a nonprofit that works with the Michigan Public Service Commission to track broadband access in the state. Getting people access to that infrastructure and educating them on …

(June 20, 2018) – Click the image below to read the full speech by Brendan Carr, or visit the FCC website here.       

(June 20, 2018) – Key to advanced tech Stu Johnson, executive director of the technology non-profit Connect Ohio, says both bills are needed. And he says the entire state needs broadband in order to take advantage of more advanced technologies. “The fact is that all of these things that we look at, whether it’s precision agriculture or autonomous vehicles or sensors …

Iowa, (June 20, 2018) – Like everyone else, rural Americans need broadband. They rely on their internet connections for many of the same reasons urban Americans do: to find doctors and look for jobs, pay bills and do homework, get the news and watch movies. But outside of cities, where great distances separate residents from social services, employers, and neighbors, …

Beltrami County, MI. (June 6, 2018) – Access to, and use of, high-speed Internet is critical for today’s communities. Across rural Minnesota are stories of communities putting in the hard work necessary to bring the benefits of broadband home. These stories illustrate the impact that broadband investment can have on a community’s vibrancy. Blandin Foundation commissioned Ann Treacy of Treacy …

Columbus, Ohio (June 6, 2018) – Expanding broadband in Ohio is so important to those living in the Buckeye State that more than 20 people submitted testimony on June 5, 2018 to the Senate Finance Committee in support of Senate Bill 225. The bill seeks to create the Ohio Broadband Grant Program, which would provide funding opportunities for broadband expansion …

By Matt Dunne, Center on Rural Innovation. This article was published on June 3, 2018. A seismic shift is happening in rural America. The opioid epidemic is disabling a segment of the workforce, retail jobs are giving way to ecommerce platforms, and college graduates are moving to cities in search of higher pay. But arguably the biggest change is workforce …