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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

FCC Report: Broadband Economy Needs Bigger Boost in Rural Communities

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Monday, June 20, 2011   

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Job opportunities will elude millions of mostly rural Americans because they lack access to high-speed Internet, according to a new report by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In Tennessee, more than 489,000 residents lack that access.

Sharon Gillett, chief of the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau, says progress in broadband deployment has been made across the nation, but a hefty workload remains - particularly in rural areas.

"We need to continue with our reforms in order to ensure that everybody gets broadband. We still have 26 million people without the standard level of broadband service in this country, and that's too many. We need to close that gap."

According to the FCC report, 8 percent of Tennessee residents live in areas without broadband. Where broadband is available, the FCC discovered another hurdle: Not everyone wants to subscribe. That is why digital literacy projects also are important, Gillett says.

"Often it's cost, but not always. Sometimes it's just that they don't believe it's relevant in their lives. So many aren't subscribing that we also view broadband adoption as an issue we definitely need to be working on."

The FCC is looking to more public and private partnerships to ramp up access, such as those set up to assure telephone service. The agency believes reforming the Universal Service Fund will also help to extend high-speed Internet to under-served areas.

The FCC Broadband Progress Report can be found at www.fcc.gov.


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