Access goals hitch ride at light speed

Public broadcasters joined more than 2,000 first-round applicants racing to pitch their broadband dreams for funding from the telecom piece of the government's stimulus outlay. PBS seeks $8.7 million for a Broadband Communities initiative to expand its Digital Learning Library for schools, encourage public use of its video portal and establish broadband education outreach. Florida Public Broadcasting requests $22.8 million for a statewide high-speed HELPS (Health, Education, Local, Public Safety) Network. The National Black Programming Consortium put in for $11.5 million to build on the media skills training of its Public Media Corps.