December 2022

Massachusetts officials revealed an effort to close last mile broadband gaps in 53 un- and underserved towns in the western half of the state is nearly complete after seven years of work. Launched in 2016, the state’s Last Mile Program offered grant funding to support co-investment in broadband network rollouts to cover 44 unserved towns in western and central Massachusetts and nine communities only partially served by cable. Governor Charlie Baker (R-MA) said service is now available in all 53 last-mile towns.

Before Elon Musk bought Twitter, slurs against Black Americans showed up on the social media service an average of 1,282 times a day. After the billionaire became Twitter’s owner, they jumped to 3,876 times a day. Slurs against gay men appeared on Twitter 2,506 times a day on average before Musk took over. Afterward, their use rose to 3,964 times a day. And antisemitic posts referring to Jews or Judaism soared more than 61 percent in the two weeks after Mr.

SpaceX has launched Starlink in Alaska. Alaskans who have signed up for the service said they’re eager to try it. Some expect Starlink to provide faster, cheaper service than GCI, the state’s largest telecommunications company. But Starlink is just one of several ongoing efforts that could transform telecommunications in the state, where more than 200 villages lack city-quality internet service. North Pole resident Bert Somers said that he’d give the service a B so far.