WASHINGTON, Jan. 7, 2025 – Three more states this week opened the door to applicants seeking funding under a federal program designed to close the digital divide in rural America.
That announcements by Arizona, Arkansas, and New Hampshire meant that at least 20 states have reached the same application milestone under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 set aside $42.5 billion for getting broadband to every home and business in the country, with states and territories getting individual allocations to dole out themselves. Arkansas began taking applications for funding Tuesday, with Arizona and New Hampshire getting started on Monday.
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Arkansas and Arizona received $1.02 billion and $993 million respectively, while New Hampshire, with a relatively smaller and less remote unserved population, took home $196 million. The eligible location count is 84,000 in Arkansas, 184,298 in Arizona, and 9,527 in New Hampshire, according to data from the states’ challenge processes. States had to accept and adjudicate challenges to government broadband data before funding projects under the program.
Arkansas and Arizona are both planning on multiple rounds of applications in an effort to ensure universal coverage. States can also negotiate directly with providers.
At least three states have put forward their preliminary awards under the program, spending plans that will have to be approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration before projects get underway. NTIA chief Alan Davidson is stepping down Jan. 20, and it’s not clear who will head the agency under the incoming Trump administration.
Republicans have strongly criticized the program, in part because of its preference for fiber broadband. That and satellite ISP-owner Elon Musk becoming a close advisor to Trump have sparked speculation that rules might be changed going forward but states have been moving ahead under the current project selection rules.
States can fund non-fiber projects when fiber exceeds a cost threshold they decide on, or if no fiber providers show interest in a given area. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, has promised to “review” the fiber preference and other spending provisions in his new role.
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In the states that have made tentative awards—Louisiana, Nevada, and Delaware—fiber has been the go-to technology, covering at least 80 percent of eligible locations in each state. Louisiana and Nevada did award money to satellite providers, with Nevada tapping Amazon’s nascent Project Kuiper service. Louisiana was still hammering out the terms of the deal when it released its draft spending plan and hasn’t said which satellite provider it’s going with.
Massachusetts is set to open its application window Wednesday, with Michigan following Thursday.
CONCORD, N.H. – New Hampshire lawmakers have moved to reject a Republican-backed proposal to launch an impeachment inquiry into the lone Democrat on the state’s five-member Executive Council.
On Friday, a key committee of lawmakers delivered a unanimous 17-0 vote against an impeachment inquiry into Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill of Lebanon, N.H.
The vote on House Resolution 41 followed an abbreviated public hearing, after the bill’s sponsor withdrew his support for the proposal and instead asked lawmakers on the committee to recommend killing it.
The push for Liot Hill’s impeachment was led by Representative Joe Sweeney, a Salem Republican and the deputy majority leader in the New Hampshire House.
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At issue were several emails Liot Hill had sent from her official account to help a partisan law firm identify voters impacted by a new state law. The law tightened voter ID requirements for absentee ballots.
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Sweeney had previously called Liot Hill’s correspondence “political lawfare run out of a taxpayer-funded inbox.” In December, a review by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office found that Liot Hill’s conduct was not illegal and did not constitute a misuse of office, clearing the complaint against her.
Reached by the Globe on Friday, Sweeney, who was not present at the public hearing, said in a statement he preferred to let voters decide whether Liot Hill should continue to serve in the upcoming November election.
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“After reviewing the matter and hearing the discussion, I believe the appropriate course is to move forward and allow the voters and the political process to do their work,” he said.
“The purpose of filing the resolution was to ensure that the constitutional questions raised were addressed seriously and transparently,” he said, noting that he stands by the process and the decision to recommend killing the resolution.
In an interview, Liot Hill said she was pleased with the unanimous vote from the House Judiciary Committee.
“The committee vote, I think, sends the message that there was no merit to this,” she said.
The proposal now heads to the full House of Representatives, which has the power to approve the committee’s recommendation to reject it.
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Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.
A woman has been arrested in connection with the death of her baby whose body was found in a pond in Manchester, New Hampshire last year. Hepay Juma, 26, of Manchester, is now charged with reckless second-degree murder.
The New Hampshire Attorney General said Juma was arrested for “causing the death of Baby Jane “Grace” Doe, her child, under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life.”
On March 27, 2025, the baby’s body was found floating in the water at Pine Island Park in Manchester. The baby’s death was treated as suspicious following an autopsy.
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Investigators have not released any information about how they made the arrest or how the baby died.
Hepay Juma, 26, of Manchester, NH, is charged in connection with the death of her baby.
Manchester, NH police
At the time, Manchester Police Chief Peter Marr said the baby’s death was “extremely tragic.”
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Police asked the public for help after the baby’s body was discovered. They wanted to know if anyone saw someone discarding anything in the water in the previous 14 days, or if anyone knew a pregnant woman who gave birth during that time who needed medical help.
A funeral was held for baby Grace Doe last May, and the public was invited to pay their respects. “The way she was discarded is heartbreaking, and it is important that we give her a proper farewell,” Chief Marr said last year.
The baby was named Grace by police “to celebrate the kindness extended to her by those who refuse to let her life go unrecognized.”
Juma is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday in Manchester District Court.
