Here’s the news from our latest newsletter. It’s mostly a compilation of Minnesota-related stories from the blog in the last month – but sometimes it’s nice to have it compiled.

Minnesota News from the Blandin on Broadband Blog

Blandin Stimulus Funding Call for Partners
Blandin Foundation intends to submit an application for federal broadband stimulus funds to expand and extend the delivery of the community assistance and services currently offered in Rural Minnesota through the Broadband Initiative’s existing suite of programs. http://tinyurl.com/cus8to To prepare for the application, Blandin held a meeting of interested parties http://tinyurl.com/caml6s and has worked with the Minnesota Broadband Coalition to set up an area on LinkedIn to discuss potential projects. http://tinyurl.com/ctp5cs

Ultra High-Speed Broadband Task Force April Meeting
When Minnesota Task Force met in April, much of their time was spent in small groups with writing assignments. A highlight was Task Force member Mike O’Connor’s video interviews with Vint Cerf and Robert Stevens. The videos are available online. http://tinyurl.com/c8y4ca  

The FCC approves Money for Minnesota
The FCC approved funding for the build-out of five broadband telehealth networks, including Heartland Unified Broadband Network; Minnesota is part of that network. http://tinyurl.com/ctcn38  

No Online Gambling in MN
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division (AGED) has asked 11 national and regional telephone and ISPs to not allow access to 200 known gambling sites. http://tinyurl.com/ccva8e

Bemidji
Visiting Bemidji on his race for the Governor, Matt Entenza mentions broadband as a key tool for schools and small businesses. http://tinyurl.com/c5zofd  

Ely, Tower, Cook
Pay phones are disappearing in Northeastern Minnesota faster than cell coverage is picking up the slack, leaving some areas unserved. http://tinyurl.com/d6czhd  

Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids Area Nonprofit Directors are working together to better use technology. They have started by all using Google Calendars. http://tinyurl.com/c2d4vh  

Northfield
Northfield City Council appointed a workgroup to pursue a federal stimulus grant application for a Fiber to the Premise (FTTP) project based on information from their feasibility study (funded in part by Blandin Foundation). http://tinyurl.com/csce67

Pine City
Pine City is home to a blogger who writes about her self-sustained life despite not having broadband access from her home (or home-based business). http://tinyurl.com/dj8c8r  

Red Wing
Red Wing City Council approved a proposal to support Hiawatha Broadband when Hiawatha applies for broadband stimulus dollars. http://tinyurl.com/d33yel  

Rochester
The Mayo Clinic unveiled the Mayo Clinic Health Manager, an online tool where patients can store medical records. http://tinyurl.com/c8ar2k  

Windom, Jackson, Lakefield, Round Lake and other area communities
Representatives from Windom, Jackson, Lakefield, Round Lake and other area communities met with Congressman Tim Walz to talk about the possibilities of pursuing federal funding for a fiber network. http://tinyurl.com/db8osr  

Coleman’s Corner

Broadband is in the news these days. Stimulus funding, the state broadband task force, municipal networks, new technologies are all topics for discussion – not just for techies anymore. Some skeptics are right to ask, “What’s the point?”

My answer is, “The point is to become more intelligent, as individuals, communities, regions and countries.” This morning, I cast my vote as a jury member for the international Intelligent Community Forum (www.intelligentcommunity.org) awards. I was privileged to review the applications and community reviews for seven communities around the world. Casting my vote was both difficult and exciting. All of these communities are combining efforts to develop robust networks and create a culture of use. Strategies for broadband development included a blend of private, public and private-public networks. Strategies for increasing use focused on schools, senior citizens, entrepreneurs, research universities, health care and government administration and citizen participation.

The international rankings for broadband deployment have had the U.S. falling in recent years. As I read about how these communities are using broadband for community and economic development, it seems clear that we are also falling behind in application development and usage. At the recent MHTA Spring Conference, Marc Lautenbach, IBM’s North American General Manager, talked about a smarter planet and how the world is changing. His primary question to the audience was “How are you changing?” It was a definite wake-up call that we all need to think smarter and act more quickly to keep up with the global pace.

We need advancement, not just on broadband infrastructure. We need better services over the infrastructure. We need more people using broadband. We need those people to be doing more and more sophisticated applications over the network. I ask you and your community’s leadership, “How are you changing?”