Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawai‘i, announced the state will receive $56.5 million in Federal funding to provide extra academic support for students in low income communities.

Fifteen Democratic Senators penned a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on August 20, pushing Chairman Ajit Pai to increase funding for and improve transparency about rural healthcare operations.

A bill reintroduced in the Senate Oct. 24 aims to increase the reach of emergency alert communications on national and state levels by preventing some alert opt-outs on mobile phones, requiring that alerts issued by the White House or the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) be run repeatedly by television and radio stations, and exploring how to create a system to offer emergency alerts on audio and video online streaming services.

A group of 24 technology organizations banded together to urge the Senate to pass S. 3157, the STREAMLINE Small Cell Deployment Act. In a letter released today, the group said the legislation “will modernize wireless infrastructure regulations for next-generation 5G wireless networks” and will unlock “significant consumer and economic benefits.”

The NIST Small Business Cybersecurity Act, S. 770, is heading to President Trump’s desk where he is expected to sign it into law soon.

Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, on June 28 introduced S. 3157, the Streamlining the Rapid Evolution and Modernization of Leading-edge Infrastructure Necessary to Enhance Small Cell Deployment Act (STREAMLINE Small Cell Deployment Act), to mixed reviews from industry groups.

A bipartisan group of 30 senators wrote to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on May 30 regarding their concerns about several aspects of a program the agency is conducting that will provide funding to help bring 4G wireless broadband service to primarily rural areas of the U.S.

States are beginning to feel neglected in the creation process of FirstNet, a broadband network intended to provide wireless communication for first responders, according to witnesses at the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet hearing.