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Despite opposition from some in its own party, the bill isn’t entirely dead yet - Kolodin, who voted against the bill, motioned to have the bill be reconsidered within the next two weeks for another vote.

A Republican bill that would require Arizonans to submit a government-issued ID to a website operator before accessing pornography online was defeated after some GOP lawmakers said it might be unconstitutional - but that doesn’t mean the measure is completely dead. Read more»

Test scores across the region show post-COVID improvement in English Language Arts.

Remember that drop in student test scores during the pandemic that would no doubt take us eons to recover from, leaving an entire generation academically wrecked? It's just taken a year to start getting back on track. Plus more in local government meetings this week. Read more»

The bill takes its definition from a section of Arizona law that makes it a crime for Arizona teens and children to send sexually explicit messages on social media and through text message.

A Republican bill would require Arizonans to submit a government-issued ID to a website operator before accessing “sexually explicit material” online, but the bill is written so broadly that critics say it could require the same of major streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu. Read more»

Second-grader Winona Begaye uploads homework in her family’s vehicle near Piñon in this photo from 2020, when schools were closed by the pandemic and families without reliable internet had to drive to public hotspots to get their schoolwork. Federal officials called that a 'national teaching moment' highlighting the importance of broadband access.

The Treasury released $99.4 million in broadband funding to Arizona, money that officials said could bring broadband internet service to an estimated 127,807 households and businesses around the state. Read more»

A $10 million federal grant awarded to the Tohono O’odham Nation will help connect more businesses, schools and farms to high-speed Internet, Charlene Fernandez, the USDA rural development director for Arizona, announced Thursday. Read more»

The Office of Indian Economic Development aims to fund between 15 and 27 grants, ranging in value from $100,000 to $175,000.

Tribal nations can now apply for the 2022 National Tribal Broadband Grant Program - designated to support feasibility studies for the installation or expansion of high-speed internet within tribal communities - to help them develop or extend broadband services. Read more»

Compared to online audiences, partisan TV news consumers tend not to stray too far from their narrow sets of preferred news sources.

Roughly 17% of Americans are politically polarized – 8.7% to the left and 8.4% to the right – based on their TV news consumption - three to four times higher than the average percentage of Americans polarized by online news. Read more»

The Pima County Board of Supervisors will vote on how to address the affordability crisis in the Tucson-area rental market.

The Pima County Board of Supervisors is set to vote on a five-part plan to tackle the affordable housing crunch in the Tucson area. It's a step but tens of thousands of affordable units are needed. Plus more in local government meetings this week. Read more»

Local governments are finding that cyber insurance costs have jumped, as have the requirements they must meet to get a policy.

Across the United States, many local governments and states — as well as private companies — are discovering their cyber insurance premiums have skyrocketed and that they must meet stricter guidelines if they want to get coverage or renew their policies. Read more»

A $2 million federal grant to Tohono O'odham Community College will be used to improve broadband Internet access near the Sells campus, officials said. The college was one of five awarded $11 million through a pilot program. Read more»

Once all the grant projects are complete, the Arizona Commerce Authority said they will increase connections for homes, businesses, public safety agencies, medical facilities, schools, libraries, and more.

Nearly two dozen broadband projects in 12 Arizona counties - including 3 projects in Pima County - received funding as part of the state’s plan to spend $100 million in federal money expanding high-speed internet access in underserved areas. Read more»

Latino students were also more likely to attend high-poverty schools that participated in remote learning for longer.

70% of Latino parents believe their children experienced significant learning challenges during the pandemic, and nearly half said they do not have people or resources in their community to overcome those challenges. Read more»

In recent months, the center of activity in the 5G saga has been the FAA, which is now led by an interim chief.

The upgrade to 5G was supposed to bring a paradise of speedy wireless - but a chaotic process under the Trump administration, allowed to fester by the Biden administration, turned it into an epic disaster - and the problems haven’t been solved. Read more»

The city of Tucson's website went offline Tuesday afternoon and was not restored until Thursday morning, cutting access to online services such as water bill payments. City officials said "suspicious activity" may be related to the crash. Read more»

The Gila River Indian Community received a $4.4 million dollar grant from the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan to help improve access to and use of broadband internet service among tribal citizens. Read more»

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