USDA announces Investment Fund to Grow Small Businesses, Create Jobs in Rural America

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2014%2F04%2F0067.xml&navid=NEWS_RELEASE&navtype=RT&parentnav=LATEST_RELEASES&edeployment_action=retrievecontent

The USDA today announced the creation of a new investment fund that will help propel the growth of small businesses across rural America.

Joe Freddoso writes in WRAL Techwire how last week was ‘gigafied’.

http://wraltechwire.com/the-broadband-report-it-was-one-gigafied-week/13566533/

Joe Freddoso writes in WRAL Techwire how last week was ‘gigafied’ and how NC is a leader in fiber to our schools.

Expect More Talk About Peering

http://gigaom.com/2014/04/04/as-the-comcast-time-warner-cable-merger-process-gets-going-expect-more-talk-about-peering/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OmMalik+%28GigaOM%3A+Tech%29

Early next week Comcast file an application with the FCC for a formal review of the proposed Time Warner Cable transaction. And once that happens, the Federal Communications Commission will have an excellent opportunity to get some of the data it will need to decide if it should regulate interconnection agreements between last-mile ISPs such as Comcast and other companies selling bandwidth or content over IP.

This isn’t about content, it’s about access.

Tennessee Close to Approving FREE Community College for HS grads

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/tennessee-close-to-approving-free-community-college-to-all-high-school-grads-212301676.html

Tennessee Gov. William Haslam has proposed that his state use lottery funds to provide high-school graduates with two free years of education at community or technical colleges.

The NY Times covers Wilson, NC

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/03/technology/personaltech/for-the-tech-savvy-with-a-need-for-speed-a-limited-choice-of-towns-with-fiber.html?_r=1

Wilson, NC, gets coverage in the NY Times as being a ‘Town with Fiber.’ The article points out that tech savvy entrepreneurs, as well as those with existing businesses who require greater speeds (in particular upload speed), are moving to the towns across the nation that have fiber to the home (FTTH). Check out the article at the link above.