EXCERPT: “Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, children in parts of Minnesota without high-speed internet have struggled to log on to remote classes, while businesses and employees who lack broadband have strained to connect to customers and co-workers. As Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, told Minnesota lawmakers last week: ‘We knew (broadband) was important before the pandemic hit, but boy we sure know how important it is now.’ ‘That helps telemedicine, that helps learning, that helps job creation,’ Kashkari said. Thirteen years after Minnesota first established a broadband task force to study how to bring the internet to everyone within its borders, COVID-19 has not only highlighted how critical broadband is for rural communities throughout Minnesota, it’s also reinforced how difficult and expensive reaching that goal has become.” FULL STORY: https://fluence-media.co/2LBiUzb
