Duluth News Tribune reports…

A year in, and we shop online, work online, go to school online, and even play online. Our clear need — no longer just a nicety or luxury — for fast, reliable internet service, even in the far reaches of wooded, rural northern Minnesota, has grown out of necessity.

No wonder it’s a lobbying priority for the city of Duluth at the Minnesota Capitol this year. And no wonder there are proposals in both St. Paul and in Washington, D.C., to meet our growing broadband demand. Even after COVID-19, a public investment now in its infrastructure, much like the electrification of America a century ago, will be deemed a worthwhile necessity and will be embraced and appreciated as a new normal.

The pandemic has “put an exclamation point” on the need for all Minnesotans and all Americans — of all income levels and in all areas — to be able to be productively online, as Sen. Amy Klobuchar said in an interview last week with Forum News Service.