Columbus Telegram

Loup Power District is developing a funding resolution that can lead to the construction of a 300-mile backbone network to help area farmers receive high-speed broadband. The effort will affect residents in four rural counties: Boone, Colfax, Nance and Platte (NE). The power company is developing a funding resolution that would be executed by each public entity involved in a potential backbone network in the four-county area.

The Nebraska Public Service Commission denied funding for an innovative public-private partnership to expand broadband infrastructure. The implications of that decision for other entities considering similar partnerships -- such as Platte County (NE) and Loup -- remain unclear.  The Nebraska Broadband Bridge Act set up a fund of $40 million to be awarded to broadband infrastructure projects in Nebraska by the public service commission. The $40 million will be distributed in two grant cycles, one in 2021 and the other in 2022. There was $20 million up for grabs in the 2021 cycle.

Platte County and Loup Power District have joined a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for broadband infrastructure development, investigating a public-private partnership to bring higher quality broadband to the rural area. The partnership is the brainchild of Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) Special Assistant to the Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Innovation Pat Pope. Since retiring from his longtime position as the president and CEO of NPPD in February 2020, Pope has been working on rural broadband development.

For pregnant women in rural areas, local resources supporting maternal health may be strained, and the nearest hospital is often far away, putting mothers and their babies at serious risk. That’s why I was proud to join my colleagues, Sens Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Todd Young (R-IN), and Brian Schatz (D-HI) to introduce the bipartisan Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act. This legislation would require the Federal Communications Commission to use data mapping to identify areas in the US that have both internet access gaps as well as high rates of poor maternal outcomes.