skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, April 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Tribal advocates keep up legal pressure for fair political maps; 12-member jury sworn in for Trump's historic criminal trial; the importance of healthcare decision planning; and a debt dilemma: poll shows how many people wrestle with college costs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Civil rights activists say a court ruling could end the right to protest in three southern states, a federal judge lets January 6th lawsuits proceed against former President Trump, and police arrest dozens at a Columbia University Gaza protest.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural Wyoming needs more vocational teachers to sustain its workforce pipeline, Ohio environmental advocates fear harm from a proposal to open 40-thousand forest acres to fracking and rural communities build bike trail systems to promote nature, boost the economy.

Will FCC's Net Neutrality Game Plan Help KY?

play audio
Play

Wednesday, May 12, 2010   

WHITESBURG, Ky. - The war rages on, but a battle has been won by groups pushing to put high-speed Internet service in the hands of more Kentuckians. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says it plans to change how it regulates Internet service, by treating Internet access with some of the same powers it now uses to regulate telephone service.

Mimi Pickering, director of the Appalshop Community Media Initiative, says if the FCC follows through, it could offer real solutions to people who live in parts of Kentucky underserved by Internet providers.

"The maps will say, like in Whitesburg, there is high-speed Internet available. And that is true, but that doesn't mean it's available out in the hollers."

Pickering believes one way to ensure more high-speed Internet access for more people is to establish a fee for Internet use, similar to the fees that users already pay for telephones. It would require changing the current Universal Service Fund to include online access, or setting up a separate fund.

"And that goes to subsidize cost of providing phone service in rural areas. This would be a similar form of that."

For Net Neutrality proponents, she says, the task moving forward is to see that the talk turns to action.

"It's important for us to all be vigilant and watch this, and I think, if the Universal Service Fund goes through, we definitely should see a lowering of cost for basic, high-speed Internet service."

The FCC's move is one way around a recent appellate court decision that said the agency lacks the authority to enforce Net Neutrality, the term for preventing telecom companies from blocking or slowing certain kinds of Internet traffic. Internet providers say the action could limit future investment and innovation.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
The Bureau of Land Management's newly issued Public Lands Rule is designed to safeguard cultural resources such as New Mexico's Chaco Culture National Park. (Photo courtesy SallyPaez)

Environment

play sound

Balancing the needs of the many with those who have traditionally reaped benefits from public lands is behind a new rule issued Thursday by the Bureau…


Health and Wellness

play sound

Alzheimer's disease is the eighth-leading cause of death in Pennsylvania. A documentary on the topic debuts Saturday in Pittsburgh. "Remember Me: …

Environment

play sound

Arizona conservation groups and sportsmen alike say they're pleased the Bureau of Land Management will now recognize conservation as an integral part …


Social Issues

play sound

The need for child care and early learning is critical, especially in rural Arkansas. One nonprofit is working to fill those gaps by giving providers …

Workers harvest a field before the annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. (Jeff Huth/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

An annual march for farmworkers' rights is being held Sunday in northwest Washington. This year, marchers are focusing on the conditions for local …

Social Issues

play sound

A new Gallup and Lumina Foundation poll unveils a concerning reality: Hoosiers may lack clarity about the true cost of higher education. The survey …

Environment

play sound

As state budget negotiations continue, groups fighting climate change are asking California lawmakers to cut subsidies for oil and gas companies …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021