The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on March 22 voted to approve the Next Generation Telecommunications Act with strong bipartisan support.

Top officials from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said they briefed more than 13,000 industry stakeholders on March 22 about the Federal government’s latest warning about possible Russian cyberattacks that may be directed against U.S. critical infrastructure sectors.

Thirty-six percent of state and local government employees are considering changing jobs after  working through the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from the MissionSquare Research Institute.

The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) announced a July 31, 2022, deadline for Round 2 COVID-19 Telehealth Program (COVID-19 Program) funding recipients to purchase eligible devices and implement eligible services.

While state and local government agencies were working to deploy digital services and improve the delivery of constituent services before the pandemic, the urgency accelerated by ten-fold over the past two years as citizens in every state and jurisdiction needed government services delivered quickly and remotely. They needed and expected a holistic, digital experience with the same easy access, responsiveness, and transparency that they have in other aspects of their lives.

Bowdoin College in Maine announced the launch of its Digital Excellence Commitment (DExC), which will provide all current and future students with a suite of Apple technology products, as well as access to a range of course-specific software “designed to advance learning, inspire innovative teaching, and create digital equity across the student body in the use of tools essential for success in the twenty-first century.”

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is busy deciphering how to best distribute $48 billion of new broadband funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, which the head of the NTIA said is a “once in a generation opportunity” to close the digital divide.

Over the last year, the Federal government has allocated billions in funding to help close the digital divide nationwide. Multiple Federal entities, including the Treasury Department and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), have been tasked with overseeing the allocation of Federal funds.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is getting an early start on reminding Congress that the First Responder Network Authority – which oversees a contract under which AT&T is building out a nationwide broadband network for first responders – needs to be reauthorized by lawmakers by 2027.

The state of Montana has taken two major steps to help close the digital divide. Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte announced both that the state released a new statewide broadband service map, and has opened applications for its ConnectMT Program.