Monthly Archives: November 2025

Minnesota Public Broadband Alliance Meeting: Federal look at BEAD from Gigi Sohn

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The Minnesota Public Broadband Alliance is an interesting group of community leaders who are interested in broadband in their areas. The group includes folks who are technical and folks who understand the need. We get some examples of how broadband is making municipal life easier – such a remote meter reading, which means no more meter reader knocking on the door. And we learn about the ins and outs with partnering with different types of organizations to build better networks. Very creative!

Gigi Sohn often joins the call, which is a fantastic glimpse at what’s happening at the national level and often a sneak peek into some of the inner workings. I have high level notes from the meeting below.

Notes from Gigi Sohn

  • 18 BEAD plans are OK’ed but only one has NIST approval
  • NTIA is tinkering with benefit of the bargain, then best and final offer – where lowest wins no matter what. Apparently, NTIA is making folks do a second “best and final offer” round.
  • NTIA has sights out for public broadband and cooperatives
  • On Friday Executive Order that will require all states to pre-empt all local AI regulations before getting fed funding. This may be a stopper.
  • Nondeployment money could be used for adoption et al when first introduced but now – seems like the states will have to give back all or most of the unused (nondeployment) funds
  • Some in congress is writing bills to give the money back to the federal government
  • Benton is working on a letter (125 legislators have signed) to let states keep their designated funds
  • Recommended reading: From Promises to Performance: BEAD Enforcement Tools States Need Now
  • Recommended webinar: Building Smarter Cities and the Cost of Doing Nothing

Questions:

How can we support Gigi?
Get MN policymakers to sign the Benton letter

Are here any community networks interested in private funding?
Sounds like a disaster

Notes from OBD

  • MN did not accept non-use of waivers. We think we have support on some of the waivers.
  • There is more than $200 million in nondeployment
  • There is support in Congress to let states keep their money
  • It seems like NTIA wants to push too far – get to a point where providers won’t sign a contract
  • Minnesota’s proposal is close – but the slow down is likely the waivers
  • NIST is an issue.
  • LEO is a hiccup when you want to build to the future
  • Line Extension is due next week (Nov 25)

Questions:

Is there a template or model we can create for counties to show what BEAD can look like?
Yes, very close

What could the unintended consequences be on border to border program?
We need to do education on what federal funding means versus state funding. Providers are also looking at the cost of federal funding.

Next Meeting Dec 17 – and that could be a very important meeting.

EVENT Nov 20: Building Smarter Cities and the Cost of Doing Nothing

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A webinar jointly hosted by ILSR and AAPB…

Consider this your invitation to the next installment of the ILSR and AAPB Webinar Series!

Slated for November 20th from 12 to 1:00 pm ET, the livestream event will feature the theme “Building Smarter Cities and the Cost of Doing Nothing” – an eye-opening conversation about what it really means to be a smart city, what it takes to build one, and why doing nothing has real costs.

Hosted by ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks team and the American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB), the webinar will feature guest appearances by Fiber Optic Sensing Association Dr. Paul Dickinson, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Professor Dr. Bento Lobo, Vice President Engineering for Huntsville Utilities Stacy Cantrell, and Municipal Fiber Manager for Pulse Fiber Brieana Reed-Harmel.

Registration is free.

OBD Updates Nov 19, 2025: Line Extension bids due Nov 25, 2025

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From the Office of Broadband Development…

Broadband Matters: Office of Broadband Development Updates

  • BEAD updates
  • Line Extension Connection Program update + bids due 1:30pm 11/25/25
  • Broadband Task Force, November meeting recap
  • National Rural Health Day, celebrating the power of rural!
  • Broadband in the news

BEAD updates

This week, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced the approval of 18 Final Proposals for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. Although Minnesota was not included in the first tranche, its plan remains on track for approval by December 4, 2025, consistent with NTIA’s 90-day review timeline. Submitted on September 4, the plan is currently in the “curing” stage, during which NTIA requests adjustments or clarifications. The 90-day review period ends on December 4, and approval is expected on or around that date.

Continue to watch for updates! The OBD BEAD webpage will be undergoing changes, along with new and additional resources being added.

Line Extension Connection Program update + bids due 1:30pm 11/25/25

The Round 4 Line Extension bidding window opened, September 26, 2025 and bids are due by 1:30pm CST on November 25, 2025. 
OBD expects the round to have $3.5M in Capital Projects Fund (CPF) dollars available to grant. Information and resources on Line Extension are posted to the OBD Line Extension Connection Program webpage. OBD also expects to run a fifth round of Line Extension with state project funds.

While the window for residential and business sign-ups to be included in the bidding for Round 4 of the Line Extension Connection Program has closed, registration will remain open for future rounds if and as funding is available.

Questions on Line Extension can be sent to deed.broadband@state.mn.us or (651)-259-7610.

Broadband Task Force, November meeting recap

The Governor’s Task Force on Broadband met virtually on November 13 and heard a presentation from Digitunity. Executive Director, Scot Henley, and Senior Director of Programs & Strategic Partnerships, Karisa Tashijan, shared on their work increasing computer ownership and a methodology for a sustainable computer ownership ecosystem, as well as components of supply, preparation and deployment. Thank you to Digitunity to presenting!

More information on this and past meetings can be found on the Broadband Task Force webpage.

National Rural Health Day, celebrating the power of rural!

November 20, 2025 recognizes National Rural Health Day, which is an opportunity to honor and celebrate the resiliency of rural healthcare providers, communities, organizations, and other partners dedicated to meeting the healthcare needs of Americans who live in rural communities. Minnesota’s Office of Rural Health and Primary Care (ORHPC) has more information on how to get involved and learn more on their webpage.

A 2025 Rural Health Care in Minnesota Chartbook is also available online as a resource for data on rural Minnesota’s health care system, workforce, availability of services, use, and financing. Additional data from the ORHPC includes a 2024 Telehealth Spotlight, with results from telehealth workforce surveys about providers, patients, and services. 

Broadband in the news

Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual STEAM summit for students

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KIMT 3 News in Rochester MN reports…

32 schools from around southern Minnesota took part in the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual STEAM Summit at the Rochester Community and Technical College (RCTC) on Tuesday, Nov. 18.

The event aims to connect students with businesses and higher education institutions that offer hands on examples of how they can use science, technology, engineering, art and math in their future careers.

Around 2,500 students participated this year getting to learn about subjects like civil engineering, manufacturing, healthcare among others.

The FCC and Congress make moves to streamline broadband permitting at federal level

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State Scoop reports…

The Federal Communications Commission and Congress are considering reforms to numerous broadband permitting processes across the country, with the aim of accelerating deployment. Most changes would potentially preempt state and local government rules.

The House Energy Subcommittee on Communications and Technology on Tuesday heard amendments and marked up 28 bills that would streamline broadband permitting, passing several Republican-led measures to rollback regulations.

And the FCC this week has formally kicked off consideration of new measures to reform broadband permitting. That process includes public comments solicited through a notice of inquiry published in September. The agency’s deadline for initial comments passed on Monday, and reply comments are due in mid-December.

Both efforts follow frustrations over the last several years with the broadband infrastructure permitting process, magnified by billions of dollars of federal investment across the states. The Biden administration created a number of federal broadband programs to expand access to high-speed, broadband internet through the former president’s Internet for All initiative, which was created by the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.

The article goes on to explain the impact on some proposed changes on state and local role…

Following roll call votes, the subcommittee voted favorably on seven bills, sending them to the full committee for consideration, including one that would set “shot clocks” for permitting, giving state and local agencies 150 days to approve or deny new construction permits, and 90 days to respond to permit applications to modify existing broadband infrastructure. Requests that don’t receive responses within those timeframes would be automatically approved.

Minnesota applies for $1B in rural health care funds to offset Medicaid cuts especially in rural MN

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I wrote about the $1 billion application earlier; MPR News takes a deeper look…

Minnesota has applied for a share of $50 billion in federal funding for rural health care that was approved by Congress as part of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The Minnesota Department of Health applied for $1 billion over five years. Its 62-page application lays out detailed plans for the funds, including fellowships aimed at getting more medical students training and working in rural areas, adding more telehealth opportunities and providing more preventative care screenings in local venues, such as schools, pharmacies and tribal clinics.

It is in reaction to losing funds in other places…

The Minnesota Hospital Association estimates that the state could lose $2.4 billion in federal health care funding in the first year alone, fiscal year 2028. The MHA also finds that 140,000 Minnesotans on Medicaid could lose their healthcare coverage while another 60,000 Minnesotans will likely drop their ACA health insurance because of the rising costs.

It sounds like the impact could be harder felt in rural Minnesota…

About 30 percent of Minnesotans live in rural areas of the state, where the health care system has been severely strained in recent years.

There’s a shortage of physicians, nurses and other medical professionals, and the number of rural medical clinics and hospitals closing is on the rise. The MDH wrote in its application for the Rural Health Transformation Program funding that 34 out of Minnesota’s 95 rural hospitals are financially distressed, which means they’ve had four or more years of negative operating margins in the past eight years. Just this year, Mayo Clinic Health System announced it was closing six rural clinics in southeast Minnesota.

According to the application, Minnesota’s rural residents on average must travel 64 minutes for medical-surgical care, whereas people in the state’s urban areas travel just 19 minutes on average for care.

EVENT Nov 20: Legislative Commission on Data Practices

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From the MN Leg calendar...

Room: G-3 State Capitol
Chair: Rep. Sandra Feist, Rep. Peggy Scott
Agenda:

  1. Approval of October 15, 2025, Minutes
  2. Modern data privacy best practices around data minimization, retention, and maintenance
  3. Current challenges with data retention
  4. Treatment of geolocation data
  5. Intersection of HIPAA/HITEC, the MN Health Records Act, and the MN Consumer Data Privacy Act
  6. ALPR and Body Camera reporting requirements
  7. Data privacy as it relates to the interplay of state and federal government
  8. Adjourn

If you wish to testify or submit written testimony on an agenda item, please contact Sally Olson at sally.olson@lcc.mn.gov by 4:00 PM on Wednesday, November 19th identifying the specific agenda item on which you would like to testify.

For more agenda information, click here

INTERPRETATION SERVICES, ACCESSIBILITY, AND ACCOMMODATION REQUESTS:

  • To request legislative services for live language interpretation in Hmong, Somali, or Spanish, please contact the Committee Administrator 72 hours in advance of when the service is needed.
  • To request legislative services for American Sign Language (ASL) please contact the Committee Administrator a minimum of one week before the services are needed.
  • To request legislative services for Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) closed captioning services please contact the Committee Administrator a minimum of two weeks before the services are needed.
  • For information on accommodations please visit Accessibility Frequently Asked Questions.
  • If you have accessibility or usability comments to share on any Minnesota Legislature website, please submit your comments using the Accessibility & Usability Comment Form.

Hermantown City Council was exploring the possibility of a super data center in the community but plans have been paused

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Last month, the Hermantown City Council voted yes on a zoning change that open a door for a super data center to be built in the area. The very next day, the community, specifically a group called Stop the Hermantown Data Center, filed a petition with the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) that would delay progress.  Clearly there are two different views on what a data center could mean to the community of Hermantown.  

Last week, the developers “hit a pause button” with plans to hold an open house to address community concerns. “Hermantown’s Wicklund said if the city determines that additional environmental study is not required, the planning and zoning commission could take up the permits at its next meeting on Nov. 18.” That meeting has been cancelled and apparently the topic is no longer on the City Council’s agenda for its Dec. 1 meeting.

Data centers have been a controversial topic in a few other towns in Minnesota too, such as Farmington. Why is it controversial? There are pros and cons. For sake of brevity, I’ll just pull out two perspectives. (You can find many more, for both sides in the articles below.)

Proponents say:

  • From MPR: The city has not revealed who is behind the project, saying only that it is a “U.S.-based Fortune 50 company.” The $650 million project would be built over eight to ten years. Proponents say it would create hundreds of construction jobs and at least 40 permanent positions, while generating up to $1 million a year in commercial tax revenues, according to the city.

Opponents Say:

  • From WDIO: “The biggest concerns I have besides everything else people have said: property value going down. My kids are 9 and 7. My husband and I will not be there once they’re graduated. Last one graduates in 2036. Who’s going to want to buy my property if this building is, this big data center is there? Nobody. They might for a very nice price, but I’m not going to get my money’s worth.” said resident Anna Estep.

It seems that two other sticking points are that the potential owner of the data center has not been revealed. Also, the community seemed unaware of negotiations happening between the City Council and outside developer.

This is a story in its earlier chapters; I thought a timeline might help.

  • Jan 2, 2025: Hermantown lands $2 million grant for developing industrial park at former Superfund site
  • May 7, 2025: Mystery developer proposes 1.8M-square-foot industrial park in Duluth suburb
  • May 21, 2025: A massive development is proposed for a northeastern Minnesota city. Local officials aren’t saying what it is.
    “The industrial project proposed for Hermantown carries some hallmarks of a data center.”
  • May 27, 2025: Potential 200-acre industrial development proposed for Hermantown
    “Recent flyers asking Hermantown residents if they’d be willing to sell their properties is sparking questions about a new development that could be coming to the southwest part of the city.
    Roughly 200 acres of land west of Midway Road could become the site of a big industrial project, according to a preliminary environmental review document.
    The document released by the city states that the project could span a total of 1.8 million square feet of light industrial development.
    Hermantown city officials confirmed the city has signed a nondisclosure agreement with Minneapolis construction firm Mortenson.”
  • June 28, 2025: Reader’s View: Protect Minnesota resources from data centers
    A letter from a reader starts, “Hermantown officials seem to be stonewalling residents over an issue that could affect citizens around the region.”
  • September 9, 2025: The Herman Industrial  AUAR is published
    “This EAW form is being used to delineate the issues and analyses to be reviewed in an Alternative Urban Areawide Review (AUAR). Where the AUAR guidance provided by the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) indicates that an AUAR response should differ notably from what is required for an EAW, the guidance is noted in italics.”
    This document includes a wealth of correspondence related to the proposed project including:
    March 24:      A memorandum from Kimley Horn, “Kimley-Horn was contracted by [redacted] to complete a level 1 desktop review of the Project Loon – Hermantown study area for potential wetlands and waterways.
    Sept 4:     Minnesota Department of Natural Resources writes to City of Hermantown- Community Development Director about the Hermantown Industrial Alternative Urban Areawide Review (AUAR)
  • October 6, 2025: Hermantown OK’s data center review plan
    “On October 6, the city of Hermantown officially confirmed what’s been long speculated by the public: the possibility of a data center being built within the city – drawing both support and skepticism from the community.
    According to the Alternative Urban Area Review (AUAR), a 400-plus page document laying out details to be reviewed for the project, the proposed site being studied totals 403 acres, and could include over 1.8 million square feet in construction. The plot is located in the southwest part of the city, on Midway Road.”
  • October 20, 2025: Packed Hermantown meeting draws hundreds ahead of data center re-zoning vote
    This real-time report captures the mood in the room: “City officials say the project could create hundreds of jobs and generate millions in tax revenue for the region.
    But not everyone is on board. A crowd of more than 200 people filled City Hall to capacity Monday night, with many more gathered outside.
    Most who spoke during public comment opposed the proposal, raising concerns about noise, environmental impacts, and the loss of Hermantown’s rural character.”
  • October 21, 2025: Controversial northern Minnesota data center proposal advances despite opposition
    “A controversial proposed data center in northeast Minnesota received a key approval Monday evening, when the Hermantown City Council voted for a zoning change that allows the massive development to continue to move forward.
    The 4-0 vote to rezone the property about eight miles west of Duluth came after a marathon meeting that lasted nearly six hours and ended just before midnight. More than 50 residents of Hermantown and nearby communities addressed the council, most pleading with council members to reject the zoning change, or at least table it.” (The rezoning was required for the project to move forward.)
  • October 22, 2025: After contentious zoning approval, Hermantown now delays controversial data center’s permits
    Opponents (Stop the Hermantown Data Center)  “filed a request for additional environmental review of the proposal less than 24 hours after the Hermantown city council unanimously approved rezoning more than 200 acres for the project about eight miles west of Duluth.”

MN Office of Broadband Development Performance Report for 2025

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Being honest, I’m not sure when the MN Office of Broadband Development Performance Report for 2025 came out, but it seems to cover what’s been budgeted as well as what’s been spent. Here’s the purpose form the report itself…

This report details the State of Minnesota’s use of its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Capital Projects Fund (CPF) allocation. The State’s goal with the CPF investment is to expand broadband infrastructure to unserved and underserved communities through three broadband infrastructure grant programs and one community facilities grant program. The Minnesota Office of Broadband Development (OBD) administers the broadband infrastructure programs, and the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) administers the Community Facilities program.

And key findings…

Key Outcomes and Opportunities Broadband projects that have been administered utilizing CPF dollars are expected to reach a total of 31,732 passings across the state.

In the dates covered by this report, OBD has processed reimbursements and administered project costs of $29,020,361.20 in grants through B2B, $19,055,545.37 in grants through LD, and $3,244,240.68 through LE. COMPLETION STATUS ACROSS 94 OBD PROJECTS Completed Projects More than 50% complete Less than 50% complete Not started 1 project 11 projects OBD rolled out the third round of Line Extension, which awarded $7,554,872.31 to 16 providers and will serve 1,087 previously unserved locations in Minnesota. OBD plans to use funds from earlier rounds of B2B, LD, and LE projects, that completed under budget to re-roll out a fourth round of Line Extension Fall 2025. See Budget Modification for details.

Key outcomes across the state with broadband projects include:
• Most recent mapping data from December 2024 (Minnesota’s State Program Dashboard) shows the state of Minnesota is overall, 90.32% served (with speeds of at least 100 by 20 Mbps), 7.33% unserved, and 2.36% underserved for wireline service.
• Local partners matched in funding CPF Line Extension Rounds 1 through 3 a total of $5,069,552.87
• Combined total local matching funds for all CPF projects is projected around $151 million

As well as use of funds

OBD Programs
The following table captures the expenditures for the reporting period. CPF dollars have been spent on
administrative costs, which include contracting with grantees, compiling progress reports, monitoring
site visits, compiling progress reports, federal reporting and on-site field validations, as well as infrastructure project costs. Of the total CPF dollars allocated to the state in the amount of $180,702,620.00, OBD has reported total expenditures through FY 2025 of $69,475,144.63 or about 38% of state funds.
FY25 Minnesota Office of Broadband Development CPF funding

Budget Modification
OBD requested and gained approval of a net zero budget modification, increasing the LD and LE budgets, and decreasing the B2B budget to cover the following cumulative budget changes of $1,287,927.00.

The budget modifications were completed to align grant balances with legislative directive and to adjust project funding from the original budget. The modification reflected the opportunity OBD saw in the higher demand for LD and LE, via interest and higher applications, from unserved Minnesotan residents and businesses.
As B2B, LD and LE grants close with unspent funds, OBD plans to regrant out LE funding and will complete budget modifications for any B2B and LD with remaining balances, moving the funding over to the LE program. OBD plans to open a Round 4 LE in the fall of 2025 to utilize these funds prior to 12/31/2026 use of funds deadline.

Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant Program (B2B) and Lower Population Density Pilot (LD) Program
The Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant Program was created in Minn. Stat. 116J.395 in 2014. The legislative focus of this grant program is to provide financial resources that help make the business case for new and existing providers to invest in building broadband infrastructure into unserved and underserved areas of the state. The Border-to-Border Broadband Grant Program has been funded with state general fund revenues and a combination of both state general fund revenues and federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Sec. 604 Capital Projects Funds (CPF).

Round 7 B2B: Among the active projects: 2 grants are 65%-75% complete, 19 grants are 80% to 99% complete and 4 grants are 100% complete. There are 19 field validations that will occur by fall 2025.
Reimbursements to grantees for FY25 were $29,020,361.20, bringing the reimbursement total to 43.4%
of the total $66,901,598.00 obligated funds.
Round 8, B2B and LD: Among the active B2B projects: one grant is 1% complete, one grant is 70% complete, and one grant is 83% complete. Of the active LD grants, one grant is at 25% complete, one grant is 60% complete, 3 grants are 75-83% complete, and 2 grants are at 90% complete. Many of these will be ready for field validations in the fall 2025. Reimbursements to grantees for FY25 were
$19,055,545.37, bringing the reimbursement total to around 42.9% of the total $44,453,612.00 obligated funds.

Broadband Line Extension (LE) Connection Program
In the 2022 Legislative Session, the Minnesota OBD was directed to create a new program, the Broadband Line Extension Connection Program. The purpose of the program is to award grants for the extension of existing broadband infrastructure to unserved locations. An unserved location is a location that does not have a wired broadband service of at least 25Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. See Appendix B for the summary table of LE projects and below for a status summary.

Round 1 (LE): Construction is complete for all 19 projects. Completion was due by December of 2024. As of 6/30/2025, 17 grants are closed, and 2 grants are pending close. Reimbursements to grantees for FY25 were $2,282,165.48; bringing the reimbursement total to 70.5% of the total $3,238,849.14 obligated funds.
Round 2 (LE): Construction is completed on all 13 projects. Completion was due by June of 2025. As of
6/30/2025, 5 grants are closed, and 8 grants are pending close. Reimbursements to grantees for FY25 were $962,075.20; bringing the reimbursement total to 21.7% of the total $4,430,273.51 obligated funds.
Round 3 (LE): Construction for all 16 projects is to be completed by December 2025; As of 6/30/2025, 7 grants are under 50% completed and 9 are over 50% completed, with 4 of those grants pending close.
No reimbursements have been made to these grantees as of 6/30/2025.

Digital equity advocates ask Congress to release the Affordable Connectivity Program

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Broadband Breakfast reported earlier this month…

Digital equity advocates warned Thursday that inconsistent federal financing threatened to erase broadband adoption gains, and urged Congress to replace the lapsed Affordable Connectivity Program with a stable, long-term consumer subsidy.

Moderated by Revati Prasad, executive director of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, the panel said high monthly costs remained the main reason families lose or forgo internet service.

Any replacement for the ACP must function as a permanent affordability support, not a short-term emergency program, argued Prasad of the Benton Institute, a nonprofit that researches broadband policy and digital equity.

Research show that seniors are least apt to use telehealth as assisted living residents followed by nursing home

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McKnight Senior Living reports…

Residents of assisted living communities and nursing homes have significantly lower odds of using telehealth compared with older adults who use long-term services and supports and live in the community at large, according to a new study. But assisted living residents were more likely to use it than were nursing home residents.

I thought this was interesting because I might have assumed the opposite but…

The study, led by researchers from Indiana University Bloomington and the University of Minnesota, shows that although telehealth offers a promising strategy for improving access to care and health outcomes, where an older adult lives will affect their odds of using it. The findings were published Tuesday in a JAMDA – The Journal of the Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association article in press.

Using data from almost 7,000 participants in the 2021-2022 National Core Indicators-Aging and Disabilities Adult Consumer Survey for LTSS, the researchers found that assisted living residents had 20% lower odds of using telehealth, and nursing home residents had 63% lower odds of using it, compared with their community-dwelling counterparts. Nursing home residents had 54% lower odds of using telehealth than did assisted living residents.

The findings, the authors said, highlight a disparity in telehealth access and delivery across various LTSS settings. The lower use in assisted living communities and nursing homes, they said, may reflect differences in infrastructure, staffing and resident autonomy.

Data center projects in Minnesota are running into issues

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The Minnesota Star Tribune reports…

A company has halted two large-scale data center projects in Minnesota, saying the state would take too long to permit backup generators.

Excelsior-based Oppidan has paused work on data centers in North Mankato and the small city of Hampton in Dakota County. While the company is moving ahead with a data center in Apple Valley, the announcement signals that concerns over Minnesota’s regulatory climate will slow an industry that had been poised for explosive growth in Minnesota.

In May, Amazon abandoned plans for a multibillion-dollar data center in Becker after Minnesota utility regulators ruled the company must get a major state permit for power infrastructure to install 250 diesel generators. Amazon cited uncertain development timelines for permitting and other issues for halting the project.

There are varying views on the impacts of data centers in Minnesota…

The influx of data centers has sparked debate over whether the facilities will help or hurt Minnesota’s ambitions for a carbon-free electric grid. Some data center projects have drawn local controversy for their proximity to houses, potential water use and secrecy. Backers of data centers say they bring construction jobs, tax revenue and, potentially, lower electric bills for everyone.

The Minnesota Legislature approved a package of ground rules for the burgeoning industry. The laws impose new rules on energy and water consumption and other measures meant to shield utility customers from paying for the costs of supplying power to data centers.

Lawmakers also extended lucrative sales tax exemptions, for computers, servers, software, cooling and energy equipment that were set to expire in 2042. But the Legislature eliminated a smaller subsidy, a tax break on buying electricity.

Those views were represented at a recent public meeting on data centers hosted by the Southern MN Initiative Foundation in North Mankato last week. As were views from various community members…

Data center developers are facing other obstacles in Minnesota. The nonprofit Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy has sued several cities considering data centers, saying they hid information about the projects and approved faulty environmental review. North Mankato officials have also said lack of available water for a data center could be a hurdle for projects in their city.

Are existing satellite power rules outdated? Experts discuss at recent conference

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Fierce Network reports from the New America LEO Satellite Policy Symposium…

Power limits – not just lack of spectrum – are a key bottleneck for low earth orbit (LEO) satellite deployment, panelists argued at a New America policy event.

As the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) considers how to update its satellite spectrum sharing rules, it’s also thinking about revamping its Equivalent Power Flux Density (EPFD) limits so that LEO providers can boost their satellite power levels – and in turn up their capacity.

Joe Kane, director of broadband and spectrum policy at ITIF, said revising the existing rules makes sense because they “don’t really envision a world in which we have [thousands of schedules] in multiple different constellations going around the earth all the time.”

The FCC’s EPFD limits are based on standards established by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in the 1990s. The idea was to prevent interference between geostationary (GEO) and non-geostationary satellites.

NDIA looks at why AI is important in digital inclusion

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NDIA reports…

NDIA contracted with MassHire Metro North Workforce Board, the organization that leads the Digital JEDI Consortium in Massachusetts on training and support for their digital navigator program. In thinking through the topic of our last professional development training together, one topic kept coming up again and again: artificial intelligence. However, it quickly became apparent that people wanted not just some basic knowledge about AI – i.e., what do we mean by “artificial intelligence,” and what are some common AI tools that people can use – but also guidance on how to approach the field as digital inclusion practitioners.

I was privileged to be given a lot of freedom by the MassHire team to explore some big questions. How do we talk about bias and misinformation in AI systems? How do we equip our community with sufficient knowledge to decide how and whether to engage with AI tools? How do we talk about how AI is being both used by and on our communities? I wanted to share a couple of themes that surfaced from the research, development, and delivery of the AI training:

They came up with at least two reasons learning more about AI is important:

  • Understanding how something is made opens up deeper discussions on its impacts
  • Practitioners are hungry for conversations about the impacts of AI on individuals and society

The article links to many resources of potential interest.

Industry Association (ACA) wants FCC to preempt state laws on permitting, rates

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Light Reading reports…

ACA Connects plans to submit comments to the FCC urging the Commission to use its authority under section 253 of the Communications Act to preempt state and local laws on permitting and rate regulation.

ACA Connects, the industry group representing small and midsize cable and broadband providers, is hoping to use an FCC proceeding to secure reforms on permitting and rate regulation, issues the group sees as prohibitive to its members.

The FCC in September opened a notice of inquiry (NOI) on “Eliminating barriers to wireline deployment,” seeking industry input on how the Commission can use its authority under section 253 of the Communications Act to preempt state and local laws that “have a prohibitive effect on wireline telecommunications deployments and services.”

ACA expects to submit its comments to the FCC’s proceeding in the coming days, but the group’s leadership held a press briefing on Wednesday (November 12) offering a summary of those comments and ACA’s top priorities.

The priorities, as summarized by ACA’s Brian Hurley, senior vice president of legal and regulatory affairs, include streamlining permitting and public rights of way, broadband price regulation (as in, laws like New York’s Affordable Broadband Act) and enforcement.