The Department of Agriculture (USDA) made its first investment under its ReConnect pilot program to support broadband availability, offering $2.85 million to a local service provider in Tennessee, the department announced October 18.

Detroit announced it will hire Joshua Edmonds as its first director of digital inclusion to help make computer and internet access more accessible to the city’s citizens.

Through collaboration, conversations, and expertise, the West Virginia Broadband Enhancement Council has helped to bring faster internet connectivity to the state through both traditional and nontraditional internet providers, as members of the council discussed on November 14 at Bloomberg’s Next.2018 event.

NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association, a broadband industry group that represents more than 800 independent and community-based telecommunications companies in rural and small-town America, announced Friday that it elected new board members at its fall board meeting.

In a report released Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) could do more to expand broadband access on tribal lands. The GAO offered three recommendations to the FCC, which the agency agreed with.

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., highlighted the benefits of broadband services for rural areas, and with Democratic control of the House coming in January, offered an optimistic view on the prospects of bipartisan broadband expansion legislation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today launched a new webpage highlighting the importance of rural e-connectivity, as well as ways USDA is helping to deploy high-speed broadband infrastructure in rural America.

The Federal Communications Commission said this week it is seeking public comment through Sept. 10 on its annual report to determine whether “advanced telecommunications capability”–typically referred to as broadband service–is being deployed “to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.”

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.