Advocate, The

High-speed internet access is coming to more than 500 homes and small businesses in Livingston Parish, Louisiana. The state's Office of Broadband Development & Connectivity, ConnectLA, awarded Spectrum a $1.73 million grant to help fund the Livingston Parish broadband infrastructure expansion through the Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities (GUMBO).

A last-minute challenge has stalled broadband installation in a poor northeastern Louisiana community that Gov. John Bel Edwards (D-LA) used as a backdrop for the July 25 launch of 67 grants to extend high-speed Internet to underserved rural communities. The effort to quash the successful bid for East Carroll Parish claims that about two-thirds of the homes set to get internet access are already being served. It’s just one of 26 complaints statewide that threaten to delay the delivery of high-speed Internet to about 400,000 people in rural Louisiana.

From rural towns to inner cities, high-speed internet is out of reach for thousands of Louisianans, but with millions of dollars in grants available, a new state initiative aimed at closing the digital divide is gaining significant interest from private companies. With $90 million to distribute, Louisiana’s Office of Broadband Development & Connectivity received $440 million in funding requests from 23 companies in its first round of applications. The proposals cover 58 parishes and aim to provide high-speed internet to 215,000 households and 14,000 businesses.

Residents of St. Helena Parish (LA) have long driven on roads that seem to cave in as quickly as they’re fixed. However, local officials are lauding President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law as a chance for change. Broadband internet and roads — two resources that draw frequent complaints in this rural parish with deeply-rooted infrastructure troubles — are key areas the massive bill targets. It holds $65 billion for internet upgrades nationwide, and $110 billion to refurbish bridges and roads.

Nationwide, nearly two in five homeless youth identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. That adds up to 650,000 young people on our streets who face special risk of bullying, discrimination, and assault. To stay safe, they rely on something simple — a wireless phone. Many homeless LGBT young people are eligible for a program that helps them get wirelessly connected. It’s called Lifeline. For decades, Lifeline has been run by the Federal Communications Commission.