In the first of a two-part series, Northland News tells the story of broadband need in their area in part by telling the story of a woman who runs her business out of the library because she can’t get adequate broadband at home.

Whitney Crettol works out of the library. She has a 4G hotspot, but uses is judiciously. (I assume because of data caps although the story didn’t say.) She also has two students at home who have each received an iPad at school, which they can’t really use at home or at least can’t get online.

This is what life is like for someone who lives 15 miles outside of Virginia. The story goes on to cite an number of reports and resources, many found in the 2015 Minnesota Broadband Task Force report… (Given many readers will know that report well, I found the first hand story even more compelling.)

She isn’t alone.

In a 2014 report, the Governor’s Task Force on Broadband found nearly 37 percent of rural Minnesota homes are underserved by state-set broadband standards.

Many lawmakers in St. Paul agree: broadband access for those areas is critical for business, especially if the state hopes to meets it goal of being in the top five states for broadband access.

“Minnesota wants to be a leader in certain areas, and this is certainly one of those areas,” said Rep. Erik Simonson (DFL-Duluth).

In 2014 the legislature approved $20 million dollars for 17 broadband projects in 83 Minnesota communities.

“In order to build out Minnesota, on kind of a border-to-border range if you will, is about one to three billion dollar initiative,” Simonson said. “That certainly shouldn’t be all government money, but the Government can certainly take a place in promoting economic development, because you do get a pretty significant return on those investments.”

In fact, a 2014 study found that a one percent increase in broadband adoption could result in 8,307 jobs saved or created and a $517 million growth in the economy.