A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee oversight hearing this morning in Washington will focus on “whether taxpayers are getting their money’s worth” out of $7.2 billion in broadband grants and loans under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Two northern Minnesota projects were singled out in the hearing memo for the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology: a $1.7 million grant to the Leech Lake Reservation Busi...

New report shows municipal network fails to generate sufficient revenue to pay for operations and debt service         The City of Monticello has put bondholders on notice that the municipal broadband network once hailed as a national model is unable to meet its financial obligations with revenue generated from FiberNet Monticello customers. Instead, city leaders now will discuss how to restructure payment of $26 million in revenue bonds to save the faltering broadband networ...

A little publicized federal court case being heard on Tuesday in US District Court in Minneapolis, however, takes the divisive issue away from state lawmakers and propels it to the national level, with the potential to end or embolden what some call compulsory unionization, once and for all.