If you think access to high-speed fiber broadband is the norm for city residents and it's just rural consumers who are getting left behind, think again... at least in Ohio.

Data drop: Majority of housing units in ten biggest Ohio central cities can’t get fiber Internet

City residents have the best broadband, right?  Everybody knows it's just rural residents who are getting left behind, as Internet providers roll out their state-of-the-art fiber optic networks to com...

connectyourcommunity.org

ISP prices are trade secrets.

ISPs' long nightmare of having to list all the fees they charge is finally over

FCC lets ISPs stop listing all fees after companies complained it was too hard.

arstechnica.com

New blog post at Connect Your Community.

Court says Natl Digital Inclusion Alliance has standing to sue to restore Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program, but priority for racial and ethnic minorities must be "severed" from program. NDIA's response... /1

The Fight for Full Inclusion Continues: NDIA Responds to the Latest Digital Equity Act Ruling - National Digital Inclusion Alliance

Contact: Kristenn Fortson, press@digitalinclusion.org  Court Halts Trump’s Attempt to End Grant Program for Digital Equity  National Digital

digitalinclusion.org

Relentless. And we're looking at two more years of this shit, no matter who controls Congress. The FCC has been a pathetically weak Internet regulator by design since the 90s. Mostly it just preempts consumer protection by states. Maybe Dems should be calling to strip FCC of that role.

FCC to end Biden-era rule that forces ISPs to list all their fees

FCC to let ISPs stop listing all passthrough fees, give single "up to" price.

arstechnica.com

I believe this is the first time cleveland.com has reported on any angle of the Slavic Village hyperscale project. Maybe because all along they've had this story in the oven, catching multiple City Hall players in a, well, *disingenuous* response. So who else knew about this year-long site search?

Cleveland gave developer the OK to pitch hyperscale data centers in the city, letter shows

Long before the developer’s pitch was rejected, Cleveland's electric utility gave the company the green light to pitch data centers in the city.

cleveland.com

It's kind of niche-y, but if you're in this particular niche it's pretty hilarious. But -- Github takes stuff down? (Look at the comments on Sascha's post for an updated version.)

Sascha Meinrath@saschameinrath.bsky.social · last mo.

TELECOM TAKEOUT -- CANADA DAY SPECIAL: See the issue the caused this weekend's witchhunt, was taken offline, but survives still in the Internet Achive... WHAT DON'T THEY WANT YOU TO SEE!?! web.archive.org/.../1996trut...

"In April, the House in a rare bipartisan move passed a bill to extend TPS for Haiti for three years, but it’s unlikely to overcome the 60-vote threshold in the GOP-controlled Senate." Media needs to ask Gov DeWine what he's doing to push Husted and Moreno on this.

US Supreme Court rules Trump administration can end legal protections for 350,000 Haitians • Ohio Capital Journal

The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday allowed the Trump administration to move forward with its plans to strip temporary legal status from 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, a move that opens them up to de...

ohiocapitaljournal.com

"Cleveland needs an identity,” IBEW Local 38’s Mike Bremmer told council members... “We could be the tech capital of the Midwest." Funny, I thought you guys settled on Blockland. Or maybe it was Believeland (as in The City That Will Believe Anything).

Cleveland 3-month data center pause heads to City Council vote

Cleveland is preparing to put a hold on new data centers as it writes zoning rules for the high-tech projects. Read more.

signalcleveland.org

That includes about 40,000 rural Ohio households. /.1

How Trump Screwed Rural Americans to Help Musk Become a Trillionaire

Trump’s rewrite of rural broadband rules helped Musk steer public money toward Starlink to strengthen SpaceX and screw rural Americans.

washingtonmonthly.com

Thank you @theverge.com for a great piece by @karlbode.com and @seangon.bsky.social. This is a big untold story in rural Ohio, especially some Appalachian counties. Maybe some reporter could do a little digging at BroadbandOhio instead of writing that umpteenth datacenter backgrounder.

Karl Bode@karlbode.com · last mo.

Over at @theverge.com, @seangon.bsky.social and I wrote about how billionaires hijacked a generational $42.5 billion program intended to dramatically improve internet access. Republicans stripped away all affordability and equity requirements, and are turning it into a slush fund.

Since March, Vivek Ramaswamy has traveled to Portugal, Greece, the Bahamas, Port Clinton and Akron aboard the new private jet that he worked hard to hide ownership of. Full logs, here: www.rooster.info/p/vivek-rama...

Every flight Vivek Ramaswamy took on his secret private jet in 2026

Ramaswamy has a new private jet, accruing an estimated $243,219 in fuel costs over 54 flights from Columbus to places like Akron, Port Clinton, Portugal and Greece in 2026.

rooster.info

Amazon LEO pulls out of BEAD commitment in Nebraska "due to changes in their business plans”. Hmmmm. Amazon LEO (fm Kuiper) was picked for more than 280K BEAD locations in 25 states, despite big questions about their satellite readiness. How many more are subject to those "business plan changes"?

Some BEAD Winners Are Walking Away. What Happens Next? | The Broadband Community

With BEAD awards moving into the contract execution phase, a small but growing number of proposed subgrantees are deciding not to proceed. In some cases, companies are walking away voluntarily. In ano...

broadband.io

Let the [BEAD] defaults... BEGIN!!! www.broadband.io/c/get-broadb... Did we not learn from the RDOF default fiasco: lowest-bid contracts yield extremely high default rates unless you have *meaningful* repercussions for defaulters. Mark my words, this will get much worse over the next 18-24 months.

Some BEAD Winners Are Walking Away. What Happens Next? | The Broadband Community

With BEAD awards moving into the contract execution phase, a small but growing number of proposed subgrantees are deciding not to proceed. In some cases, companies are walking away voluntarily. In ano...

broadband.io

Agree with @rooster.info but it's not just rural Ohio. New Albany isn't rural. Hilliard and Dublin aren't rural. Hamilton isn't rural. Lordstown, Niles, Massillon aren't rural. The AWS hypersite in Stark Co is a mile from the Canton city limit. All places Dems need some clear "animating issues".

Data centers are a generational Democratic opportunity in rural Ohio

It will be nothing short of political malpractice without a clear moral stance on a chief animating issue of our times.

rooster.info

You'll want to share this.

Karl Bode@karlbode.com · 2mo ago

I wrote about AI doomsday rhetoric from the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic, what it's really intended to accomplish, and how our lazy press loves to parrot it

That's me at bottom left.

Community Broadband Networks@communitynets.bsky.social · 3mo ago

On the latest Unbuffered pod: a convo about digital equity with a Civil Rights lens, dark money & the fight over Internet access Host @sportshotchris.bsky.social is joined by @seangon.bsky.social @dougdawsonccg.bsky.social & @cycbill.bsky.social take on our “regressive moment” and a way forward

Cleveland.com's Rich Exner reports on the GCP's predictable opposition to a city data center moratorium to review zoning rules, without once mentioning the developer who just quietly applied for a rubber-stamp permit to build a 300,000 SF, 150 MW hyperscale in Slavic Village, and almost got it.

Business group says data center moratoriums send wrong signal

Business group says a data center moratorium is like putting up a

cleveland.com

Genuinely puzzled. Two weeks ago tomorrow, neo-trans.blog revealed that an investment group plans to put a 150 MW hyperscale data center on a vacant lot in a Cleveland neighborhood. Big controversy. But Cleveland.com has still not mentioned it. Are they just sulking about Prendergast scooping them?

And the Trump Administration replied: "They get me!"

Community Broadband Networks@communitynets.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Consumer and civil rights groups last week told the Trump administration that their proposed “reforms” of the FCC’s Lifeline program would undermine efforts to ensure equitable, affordable access to the internet for all Americans, and are based on lies about immigrant fraud Our story here ⬇️💻

Ken Prendergast at NEOtrans, still the only source of actual reporting on this story, says the Lakeland Equity permit application for a hyperscale data center in Slavic Village was nixed because no drawings were included. They can resubmit, but maybe not in time to evade proposed City moratorium.

Duh. But I'm glad somebody is checking.

Some of Ohio’s Satellite BEAD Locations Face Tree Canopy Cover, Analyst Says

NTIA said money could be clawed back if service doesn’t meet standards.

broadbandbreakfast.com

On X and IG. Don't see a release on the City website yet.

It's been a full week since @neotrans.bsky.social broke the story of a permit application being filed for a 150 MW hyperscale data center in the middle of Cleveland's Slavic Village neighborhood. As of today, cleveland.com still hasn't published a word about it. Very weird.

I don't think anyone thought in 2023 that this was likely to work out, but the City Hall consensus was "What the hell, nothing to lose, give it a shot." Three years later, SiFi is officially a dud, 40%+ of Cleveland homes still don't have fiber access, and there's no plan to change the situation.

Cleveland moves to kill citywide ultra-fast fiber network deal  - Signal Cleveland

Cleveland cut a deal in 2023 with SiFi Networks, which promised to lay fiber-optic cable in the city at no cost. The company never started.

signalcleveland.org

Just leaving this here icymi. :)

Watch This NYT "Music Critic" Embarrass Himself...AGAIN

YouTube video by Rick Beato

youtube.com

The Trump administration's anti-civil rights agenda has landed the Digital Equity Act in its crosshairs — but the fight isn't over yet. Read the latest from Broadband Policy Director @alisavalentin.bsky.social: publicknowledge.org/inequity-is-...

Inequity is Not Inevitable: Save the Digital Equity Act

Public Knowledge promotes freedom of expression, an open internet, and access to affordable communications tools and creative works. We work to shape policy.

publicknowledge.org

One year ago today. /1

"Staff members at Slavic Village Development, the local community development corporation, did not respond to phone messages or emails. Councilwoman Deborah Gray, who represents the neighborhood, did not respond to an interview request." Huh. Very careful. Meanwhile, still no story at cleveland.com.

Cleveland's mayor has 'real concerns' as data center proposal surfaces in Slavic Village

A Westlake-based group filed a permit application with the city this week for a $1.6 billion data center campus in Cleveland's Slavic Village neighborhood.

news5cleveland.com

I'm quoted at length here, thanks @seangon.bsky.social.

Community Broadband Networks@communitynets.bsky.social · 3mo ago

In yet another blow in the fight to ensure equitable access to broadband, an appeals court struck down FCC rules this week that aimed to combat digital redlining We break it down, including what's next & how digital inclusion advocates are kicking off a "Month of Action" around digital equity