White House pledges another $800 million for broadband stimulus

engadget.com

Usually, when we see "stimulus" and "broadband" in the same sentence it's because someone turned off our Google SafeSearch filter, but today we have one such item that is totally safe for work.

According to Information Week, the $7.2 billion in broadband grants and loans that we've already seen will be buttressed by an additional $800 million.

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Feds announce latest round of broadband stimulus projects

President Obama announced today $795 million in USDA and Commerce Department grants and loans under the stimulus to bring high-speed Internet service to unserved or underserved areas. The projects (PDF) are expected to create 5,000 jobs up front and spur economic development in some of the nation's hardest-hit communities, according to a White House news release.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said late Thursday the grants from his department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration would build the "middle mile" connecting communities to sources of broadband, while Agriculture Secretary Vilsack said the money from USDA's Rural Utilities Service would connect end-users like homes, hospitals and schools to the middle mile.

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Obama mentions broadband stimulus during Ohio visit

Washington Post

President Obama traveled to swing state Ohio Friday to showcase the stimulus measure he pushed through Congress 16 months ago -- a sign the administration is fretting over enduring criticism that the $787 billion package has failed to generate enough jobs.

Obama presided over the inauguration of a highway construction project in Columbus. The administration says it is the 10,000th road project to begin with stimulus money, one of many milestones it intends to mark throughout the summer and heading into the fall mid-term election season.

He promoted clean energy, broadband Internet, and other investments to encourage new areas of economic growth - "not the infrastructure that we inherited from our parents and our grandparents."

The Obama Way: Nationalizing the Internet - Pejman_Yousefzadeh’s blog - RedState

Sunday, May 3rd at 4:48p.m.

Meet Susan Crawford, the co-chair for the Federal Communications Commission transition team for Barack Obama, and special assistant to the President in the Obama Administration (she has a blog here). A former law professor at the University of Michigan–one presumes that she has either departed permanently, or is on leave–Professor Crawford has some interesting ideas concerning the Internet. Namely, she wants it treated like a public utility...

Broadband stimulus and the FCC's Internet policy statement - Ars Technica

Broadband stimulus and the FCC's Internet policy statement - Ars Technica: "Despite lingering legal challenges, the Obama administration is slowly turning the FCC's Internet Policy Statement in the law of the land. At least sometimes."

Business Briefing - Obama's Business Report Card

Because the Obama campaign had major financial backing from Silicon Valley and was loaded with advisors hailing from the tech world, many assumed that the White House would hit the ground running with far-reaching technology initiatives...