The first list of ARRA broadband awards is out. One grant was made in Minnesota:
MINNESOTA: Regents of the University of Minnesota, $2.9 million grant with matching funds of $741,000 to enhance broadband awareness and use for residents in four federally-designated poverty zones in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
I wrote about this project earlier when it was featured in the Liberian Journal. Congrats to the U of M! Rah, rah, rah, for Ski-U-Mah!
No Minnesota projects received BIP (RUS) funding but this is the first announcement. Announcements are expected to continue through February. Today’s awards total $182.7 million taken from the original pool of $7.2 billion. So there are plenty of decisions left to be made.
Blandin on Broadband 
One interesting note from the folks at BroadbandBreakfast –
“All BTOP and BTOP/BIP programs were recommended by the states in letters to the NTIA, except Minnesota. I have called the recipient and asked if they were on Minnesota’s preferred list. They said they would get back to me. Because states weren’t asked to comment on BIP, none of the BIP recipients today are listed as preferred.”
– as you may recall MN’s list wasn’t made public – so the author doesn’t know whether MN recommended the UofM. I don’t know that the UofM will know if they were listed.
Thought that was interesting. You can read more here: http://broadbandbreakfast.com/2009/12/state-preferred-broadband-stimulus-projects-sweep-day-1/
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