Washington Post

Theodore Marcus once was an in-house lawyer for AT&T, tasked with reviewing whether the company was overcharging schools and libraries for Internet and telephone service. Marcus came to believe that AT&T did not charge low prices required by law, misled the government about its compliance with the rules of a federal program (E-Rate), and then rebuffed his concerns. A few months before he left AT&T, Marcus handed what he thought was damning information to a lawyer suing the company, with the expectation that he might share in the payout if the suit was victorious.

School by Screen | School systems in America are not done with remote learning. They want more of it. School systems across the country are looking at remote learning as a way to meet diverse needs — for teenagers who have jobs, children with certain medical conditions, or kids who prefer learning virtually. It has also emerged as a way to expand access to less-common courses. If one high school offers a class in Portuguese, students at another school could join it remotely.

Compared with its developed-world peers, America has always been a study in contrasts, a paradox of exceptional achievement and jaw-dropping deprivation. Rarely have the disparities been rendered as vividly as in recent weeks and months. Historic breakthroughs in science, medicine and technology coexist intimately — and uneasily — alongside monumental failures of infrastructure, public health and equitable access to basic human needs.

Thirty House and Senate Democrats unveiled a new $94 billion proposal to make broadband Internet access more accessible and affordable nationwide, aiming to remedy some of the digital inequalities that have kept millions of Americans offline during the coronavirus pandemic. The new effort, chiefly authored by Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), marks one of the most expensive, ambitious broadband packages proposed in recent years.