Rural Broadband

Hundreds of thousands of Virginians lack access to high-speed internet— there are gaps in just about every county in the Commonwealth. There are also dozens of projects underway to get people connected, including one in Pulaski County.

The Appalachian Regional Commission will be awarding is making available $73.5 million to projects that include multi-state cooperation. “We should be working together to lift up our region,” said Gayle Manchin the federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission, which oversees the funding.

Appalachian Power filed a proposal last week with the state Virginia State Corporation Commission to add fiber cables on their utility poles in Bland and Montgomery Counties. It’s part of a regional project to bring high-speed broadband to people in southwest Virginia.

Virginia’s governor and both U.S. senators were on hand, today, for big news about broadband. With an influx of federal money to supplement state and local spending, the Commonwealth expects to provide high speed Internet to 90% of residents.

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission has been slowly moving fishermen, the oyster industry and now commercial crabbers to mandatory online reporting of their daily catch.But in rural Tidewater, where many go without good cell coverage or internet, that’s a problem.

Rural broadband may be coming to a farm near you, thanks to new money from the United States Department of Agriculture.Speaking on the floor of the House…

Some residents of Virginia still hear that annoying dial up when they connect to the Internet. The state estimates more than 600,000 residents don’t have…

Efforts to bring broadband internet service to rural areas in Virginia could get a big shot in the arm.Governor Ralph Northam says he will designate $46…

Southern Virginia's economy has been devastated by the loss of the tobacco and textile industries that sustained it through much of its history.Now with…