Fed funds rural broadband networks

WASHINGTON — The federal government will soon start handing out the first $4 billion from a pot of stimulus funds intended to spread high-speed Internet connections to more rural communities, poor neighborhoods and other pockets of the country clamoring for better access. The challenge is that the government has received $28 billion in requests.
So the reviewers at the Commerce and Agriculture Departments who will award the broadband money must make hard choices.

The 2,200 applications each envision something different — more fiber-optic lines, for example, or computer labs or municipal wireless networks. But they all promise that their proposals will create jobs and bring new economic opportunities...