Digital Divide

Many use high speed internet every day, but for some people in rural areas around Siouxland, an internet connection can be hard to get. The Federal Communications Commission is now trying to fix that. Sen Roy Blunt (R-MO) says when it comes to internet access, Missouri is a black hole. "We're behind the rest of the country on this, and I am not satisfied with that," he said. Sen Blunt says without broadband access everyone from farmers to students suffer.

Bidding in the Connect America Fund Phase II auction concluded on August 21, 2018. There were 103 winning bidders in the auction, with the 10-year support amount totaling $1.488 billion and covering 713,176 locations in 45 states. Of the 974,223 locations in the 30,033 eligible census block groups (CBGs), approximately 73 percent of the locations are covered by winning bids. While winning bids are for a range of performance tiers, winning bids for downstream speeds of at least 100 megabits per second (Mbps) cover 53 percent of these locations.

This book aims to reframe workforce development efforts as investments that can result in better economic outcomes for individuals, businesses, and regions. The book is divided into three volumes: Investing in Workers, Investing in Work, and Investing in Systems for Employment Opportunity. Within each volume are discrete sections made up of chapters that identify specific workforce development programs and policies that provide positive returns to society, to employers, and to job seekers.

The untold story of rural broadband is that over the past seven years, independent broadband networks have proliferated. Today, some of the fastest, most affordable internet in the country can be found in small communities. Despite small customer bases and razor-thin (or non-existent) margins, tenacious broadband providers across the country are proving that especially when unencumbered by competition-stifling legislation, they can bring world-class internet to their communities.

Alethea Varra is the director of National Tele-Mental Health Hub continental region who said “our providers are giving this care to people who would not be getting it otherwise.” It’s a network of 29 clinicians providing online care to veterans. The program needs high-speed internet to work. On Aug 23, Varra met with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to talk about broadband speeds in some of the most remote areas in Utah.

In June, Arkansas began rolling out a controversial change to its Medicaid program. Under a new state plan, all recipients who are able to work will have to log 80 working hours each month, or risk losing access to their health care. But finding a job might not be the biggest hurdle for many people. In order to stay eligible for Medicaid, Arkansas’s recipients must report their working hours each month, and it must be done online—the state doesn’t offer a way to do it via mail, telephone, or in person.

Congress is angling to impose some training wheels on the Trump administration when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars on broadband deployment. Lawmakers are eyeing the reconciliation process for the farm bill as a way to check the Agriculture Department, which manages various telecom subsidies through its Rural Utilities Service (RUS). “Appropriate guidance in the farm bill being reconciled and the department’s continued vigilance are critical to avoiding another boondoggle,” said a Senate GOP aide, referring to past alleged waste in the program.

According to a 2017 Federal Communications Commission Broadband Deployment Report, 92 percent of the total US population has access to both fixed terrestrial services at 25 Mbps/3 Mbps and mobile LTE at speeds of 5 Mbps/1 Mbps. But for those living in rural areas, only 68.6 percent of Americans have access to both services, compared to 97.9 percent of urban dwellers."These are big challenges that call for another rural electrification administration approach.

Much has been made of the digital underpinning of many of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals – gender equality, good health, quality education, industry innovation, and smart and sustainable cities – and the need to set ICT sub-targets for them.

Gov Bruce Rauner (R-IL) signed into law a bill designed to increase broadband access for the state's growing, but less-connected older population. The bill establishes a 21-member Broadband Advisory Council tasked with figuring out why more seniors aren't using the internet, creating digital literacy programs to overcome those barriers and exploring new technologies to increase broadband connectivity for residents 65 years and older. Among the council members is the secretary of innovation and technology, a spot currently filled by state Chief Information Officer Kirk Lonbom.