Wisconsin PSC Opens Broadband Infrastructure Program Grant Round
The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) announced the Broadband Infrastructure Program grant round is now open.
August 2023
Daily Digest 8/16/2023
Submitted by dclay@benton.org on Wed, 08/16/2023 - 10:57Daily Digest 8/16/2023 (Broadband Champions)
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Wed, 08/16/2023
Today's top broadband news
Your State Needs Broadband Legislative Champions. Just Ask Louis Riggs
In 2016, representatives from the northern region of Missouri met in Brookfield to talk about the issues they were facing. Stakeholders of all kinds—economic developers, USDA employees, elected officials, county commissioners, and mayors—from every county north of I-70 complained bitterly about everything their communities were going without. As the meeting progressed, five topics were written on a board, five ways to find solutions to these communities’ needs. Broadband was listed as number one. The attendees never got to number two.
An Assessment of the Affordable Connectivity Program: Keep it, Scrap it, or Modify it?
The Federal Communications Commission's Affordable Connectivity Program has the potential to be a socioeconomic equalizer that helps close the gap between those Americans with access to broadband and those without. So far, the ACP has proven remarkably effective at making that happen. Despite only existing for over a year and a half, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) calculates that nearly 20 million people have already enrolled in the program at a cost of just $14.2 billion in funding.
X Slows Down Access to Some Rival Sites
X, the social media service formerly known as Twitter, slowed down access from its platform to rival sites such as Substack and Facebook, but has begun reversing an effort to restrict its users from quickly viewing news sites. The slowness, known in tech parlance as “throttling,” initially affected rival social networks including Facebook, Bluesky and Instagram, as well as the newsletter site Substack and news outlets including Reuters and The New York Times.