Baltimore Sun

Since Comcast is doing so well, one might think they could afford to be a good corporate citizen and community partner when it comes to bridging the digital equity divide. But apparently Comcast officials don’t have to play nice when they are the dominant game in town. Instead, the company has been at constant odds with Baltimore City officials and advocates over access to the internet services Baltimore children need for online learning.

An estimated 324,000 rural Marylanders don’t have access to high-speed internet, according to a 2019 report from a state task force.

Baltimore’s (MD) streets are dotted with more than 600 “small cell wireless facilities” on streetlights and utility poles, making the city one of the first areas in MD to welcome the new technology. The sometimes box-like equipment delivers cellular signals faster than traditional cell phone towers, paving the way for 5G service. The wireless industry and local governments have faced off on the issue in the General Assembly, and could again in 2020.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) of Baltimore, a committee chairman known for his devotion to Baltimore and civil rights and for blunt and passionate speechmaking, died of longstanding health problems on Oct 17, his office said. He was 68 years old. Rep Cummings was a key figure in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump as chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. He had been absent from Capitol Hill in recent weeks while under medical attention.

The Technology Policy Institute conducted a survey of 1,275 people on Comcast’s Internet Essentials service to explore what having service at home means to low-income households. The research shows that once people subscribe to broadband, school-age children use home access for schoolwork and streaming educational media. Their parents also quickly get hooked, using the internet to search for jobs and to manage their lives more efficiently.

The Baltimore (MD) City Council is considering asking voters to block the sale of Baltimore’s 700-mile, century-old underground conduit system, a move supporters say could encourage a public broadband system in the future. The terra cotta system dates to 1898 and contains telephone, electric and fiber-optic cables. Owning the system leaves open the possibly for the city to create a public broadband network. Council President Bernard C.