Duluth New Tribune reports…

In September, Rep. Rob Ecklund of International Falls was able to meet virtually with the News Tribune Editorial Board — without having to leave his house. Even just a year ago, he said, he would have had to go “in town” for a reliable-enough connection.

Progress certainly is being made on Minnesota’s multiyear mission of achieving true border-to-border broadband availability, even in rural areas. And during his seven years in the Legislature, Ecklund certainly has been one of the cause’s leading champions.

Eligible voters in the Nov. 8 election can reelect Ecklund to a fifth term to continue his successful work — on broadband and other important issues — and his effective representation of massive Minnesota House District 3A, which runs up the North Shore from just outside Two Harbors and then covers the Canadian border from Grand Portage to west of Northome.

“We still have a ways to go, but I think (broadband) is important, because, as the pandemic showed, many people can work from home,” Ecklund said in the interview. “It’s a new facet of our economy, and I think going on into the future, we’re going to see more and more at-home work and less and less people working in big office buildings in cities. Minnesota can’t be left behind.”

Ecklund’s largely rural district stands to benefit greatly from better broadband. But it’s far from the only matter where he has made a mark for those back home.