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Aug. 9, 2024
Editor, The News-Gazette: I read with interest the July 31 article entitled “Broadband Funding Approved for County.”
I was pleased to learn that after several attempts, the county’s request for funding to extend highspeed internet service to certain remote parts of the county was approved by the commonwealth of Virginia. This is truly good news and shows that the present state administration supports the citizens of rural Virginia.
However, I believe an important bit of information was not contained in the article. While Virginia has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to this effort over the last several years, the Biden administration’s months-long effort resulted in the passage of bipartisan legislation named the Broadband Equity Access & Deployment Program. This has resulted in the appropriation of over $1.4 billion to support the extension of high-speed internet in Virginia.
So as we go to the polls this fall, I ask that you objectively consider what the candidates are doing to support rural America. BRUCE F. WILLIAMS Lexington
