New Hampshire
New Hampshire is All-In for Broadband
Friday, September 9, 2022
Weekly Digest
You’re studying the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society’s Weekly Digest, a recap of the largest (or most ignored) broadband tales of the week. The digest is delivered by way of e-mail every Friday.
Spherical-Up for the Week of September 5-9, 2022
Broadband is the way forward for New Hampshire, we reported in June because the state was one of many first to win approval from the U.S. Treasury for plans to make use of Capital Tasks Fund help to increase the attain of broadband networks. On September 8, we realized that New Hampshire is as soon as once more main the way in which—now it’s the first state to achieve approval for a second wave of Capital Tasks Fund help. New Hampshire’s plans are designed to attach 80% of places within the state nonetheless missing high-speed web entry.
In June we realized of New Hampshire’s Broadband Contract Program, which gives broadband service suppliers a monetary incentive to deliver service to unserved and underserved addresses in the state—areas/addresses the place it might be financially detrimental for suppliers to aim to broaden. On the time, New Hampshire hoped that the Broadband Contract Program might join half of the state’s unserved places with $50 million (40%) of the state’s Capital Tasks Fund allotment.
This week Treasury accredited New Hampshire’s second plan to spend money on broadband infrastructure to offer high-speed web to places that lack entry to ample service. In whole, New Hampshire is utilizing $122 million—100% of its Capital Tasks Fund funding—for broadband infrastructure to achieve an estimated 24,000 places, or 80% of places nonetheless missing high-speed web entry within the state. In whole, New Hampshire’s plans for Capital Tasks Fund help will assist join greater than 24,000 houses and companies to reasonably priced, high-speed web.
New Hampshire is launching a second program, the Broadband Matching Grant Initiative, a aggressive grant program designed to fund broadband infrastructure tasks to deliver high-speed web to areas at present missing service of 100/20 Mbps. The Broadband Matching Grant Initiative will present a state match to both a broadband web entry service supplier or a New Hampshire municipality to construct web infrastructure in areas of the state that, due to their topography, location, or price, haven’t been capable of entry broadband web. This system’s match is designed to alleviate the fiscal influence of community-driven broadband funding for each the broadband suppliers and municipalities, in addition to scale back the reliance on bonding.
New Hampshire’s packages are designed to offer web service with speeds of 100/100 Mbps symmetrical to households and companies upon undertaking completion. Upon completion, the operator(s) of those networks will take part within the Federal Communications Fee’s new Reasonably priced Connectivity Program which helps make sure that low-income households can afford the high-speed web they want for work, college, healthcare, and extra by offering a reduction of as much as $30 monthly. The operator(s) should embrace at the very least one low-cost choice provided at speeds which can be ample for a family with a number of customers to concurrently telework and have interaction in distant studying.
As with the Broadband Contract Program, the Broadband Matching Grant Initiative will likely be overseen by the New Hampshire Division of Enterprise and Financial Affairs. Funding networks have to be deployed by December 31, 2026.
This previous summer season, the New Hampshire Division of Enterprise and Financial Affairs issued a request for proposal looking for contractors to conduct a statewide broadband construct to attach as many unserved and underserved addresses of residents and companies as doable. To this point, the state has obtained seven proposals. The profitable bidder will likely be awarded a portion of the allotted Capital Tasks Fund funds, to not exceed $50 million. The continued operation and upkeep of the undertaking would be the sole duty of the awarded applicant.
The proposals will likely be evaluated on a 100-point scale: a most of 35 factors for total technique and strategy, 25 for expertise and {qualifications}, 20 for provided speeds, and 15 for price per unserved location.
The New Hampshire Division of Enterprise and Financial Affairs expects to inform the profitable bidder by September 23, 2022.
Fast Bits
Weekend Reads (resist tl;dr)
ICYMI from Benton
Upcoming Occasions
Sep 12—Supporting Households Throughout Again to College: The Baby Tax Credit score & Reasonably priced Connectivity Program (White Home)
Sep 13—Workshop On Environmental Compliance And Historic Preservation Overview Procedures (FCC)
Sep 13—Creating Connections Convention (Community:On)
Sep 14—Web for All Webinar Sequence – Overview High FAQs of the Enabling Center Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program Utility (NTIA)
Sep 14—Letter of Intent Learnings & Greatest Practices – Session 1 (Colorado Broadband Workplace)
Sep 15—Technological Advisory Council Assembly (FCC)
Sep 15—Letters of Intent Learnings & Greatest Practices – Session 2 (Colorado Broadband Workplace)
Sep 19––Spectrum Coverage Symposium (NTIA)
Sep 20—Broadband Options and Latest Insights: What We’ve Discovered This 12 months (LightBox)
Sep 22—fortieth Annual Parker Lecture & Awards Ceremony (United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry)
Sep 24—Capital Tasks Fund Grant Plan Deadline (Division of Treasury)
Sep 24—ACP Signal Up Day (Black Church buildings 4 Digital Fairness)
Sep 25-28—The Proper Connection (CENIC)
Sep 26—Good Cities Join Convention & Expo (US Ignite)
Sep 28—Native Coordination in NOFOs (NTIA)
Sep 29—September 2022 Open Federal Communications Fee Assembly
Sep 30—Enabling Center Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program Purposes Due
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New Hampshire
Vermont stabbing suspect captured in New Hampshire
BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – The UVM men’s soccer team is marching on to the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 for a third straight year after dominating Iona 5-0 on a wet Thursday night at Virtue Field.
Vermont broke the ice less than 20 minutes in on a long range effort from David Ismail, but it was Yaniv Bazini who broke the game open in the second half. The redshirt senior forward curled one around the Gael keeper from outside the box less than 20 seconds into the second half, then made it a brace with a cheeky backheel effort ten minutes later.
“We have a lot of experience,” Bazini said after the Cats’ sixth NCAA Tournament victory in the last three seasons. “I think for every person, when it’s like a do or die situation, everybody gives their best and everybody here is a team. As individuals give their best for everything. So I think this is the recipe that we have for our success.”
Ryan Zellefrow and Maxi Kissel would add tallies of their own for the emphatic 5-0 final score.
“I thought we came up and played really well,” head coach Rob Dow added. “We knew they had strengths. They’re champions of the MAAC, a possession oriented team, and they had a lot of confidence on the ball. We had to endure a few of those moments, but once we broke we knew we could be dangerous. And we had Sydney (Wathuta) going forward. We have Bazini going forward, Marcell (Papp) underneath and David (Ismail) on the right. That’s a really hard four to defend. And all of them had really good games.”
Vermont will head down to Long Island for the next round, where #7 Hofstra is waiting. Kickoff from Hempstead is slated for 5 p.m. on Sunday.
New Hampshire
Child care in N.H. can be even more expensive than housing, food, and health care – The Boston Globe
CONCORD, N.H. — Some New Hampshire families are spending nearly one-third of their income on child care, according to a new analysis from the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire.
Child care costs have gone up significantly in recent years, swelling 48 percent from 2013 to 2023 in New Hampshire, the analysis found. And there was an uptick in costs in the post-pandemic years, growing 12.5 percent from 2022 to 2023.
Take, for instance, a family with one infant and a 4-year-old going to a day-care center. They are spending, on average, $33,257 per year on child care: $17,250 per year for the infant, and $16,007 for the toddler, according to the nonprofit Child Care Aware of America.
With the median family in New Hampshire with children under 5 earning about $112,230, according to the analysis, that means about 29 percent of their income would have to go to child care alone.
In the course of a year, that would make child care the single biggest expense for many families, more than the cost of housing ($11,400 to $20,772), food ($12,456 to $13,068), and health care ($12,876 to $13,068), according to the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute.
“The prices are rapidly increasing,” said Tyrus Parker, a research scientist at the University of New Hampshire and co-author of the analysis.
What is driving that?
“I think the price increase is due to a mix of factors, although I’d be hard pressed to assign a share to any given factor,” said Jess Carson, director of the Center for Social Policy in Practice at UNH and co-author of the analysis.
The increased cost of rent, utilities, food, and cleaning supplies also affects child-care providers, she said. Plus, there are workforce shortages that can drive up wages to recruit and retain staff, she said. If they don’t have enough staff, providers have to decrease their enrollment – but that doesn’t necessarily bring a proportional savings in operating costs, according to Carson.
And, she said, now that pandemic-era aid has wound down, the only way providers can increase revenue is by increasing tuition. The economic impact can ripple out beyond the immediate families affected, taking parents who can’t afford child care out of the workforce.
“Families have to make compromises based on their economic realities,” said Parker.
“Maybe a family would like their child to be in care five days a week, but instead they have to opt for three days, and then one of the parents goes down to working part time just because the cost of child care is too high,” he said.
This story first appeared in Globe NH | Morning Report, our free newsletter focused on the news you need to know about New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles from other places. If you’d like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.
Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.
New Hampshire
Transportation officials warn N.H. customers of ‘smishing’ scam imitating E-ZPass invoice – The Boston Globe
Jennifer Lane received a text message Tuesday afternoon purportedly alerting her to an outstanding “toll invoice” in New Hampshire. If she didn’t pay her $4.15 balance promptly, then a $35 late fee would be added, the message claimed.
Lane knew right away it was a scam. She’s the chief communications officer for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, which manages the state’s E-ZPass electronic toll collection system, and her team had just sent out an alert a few hours earlier to warn customers about the con.
So she did exactly what the DOT’s heads-up had told the public to do if they receive such a message.
“I immediately reported it to my mobile carrier. I did not click on any links,” she said, adding that she would never give out personal or banking information when receiving a request via text message, email, or phone call.
If you know even the basics of cyber security, then you know “phishing” refers to the use of deceptive tactics online to trick someone into divulging sensitive information, such as by clicking a link in an untrustworthy email. When fraudsters use those tactics via texting — i.e., short message service, or SMS — that’s called a “smishing” scam.
The New Hampshire Department of Transportation said it was advised that an unknown number of Granite Staters are being targeted by an apparent smishing scam. It resembles cases that have been reported in other states in recent months, but the local messages are tailored to New Hampshire residents.
“It looks realistic, however the typos are obvious,” Lane said.
In this case, it seems the scammers are targeting phone numbers with 603 area codes, without any apparent insight into whether a number is affiliated with any of the state’s roughly 588,000 E-ZPass accounts, she said.
“Another employee in the office that does not have an E-ZPass received (a smishing message) as well,” she added.
New Hampshire’s E-ZPass will never send text messages requesting payment for tolls with late fees, according to the DOT’s message. Account holders should instead use the official NH Turnpike E-ZPass website or the NH E-ZPass mobile app.
If you receive a smishing text, you can alert your phone carrier by forwarding the suspicious message to 7726 (SPAM) and you can file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, the DOT noted.
This story first appeared in Globe NH | Morning Report, our free newsletter focused on the news you need to know about New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles from other places. If you’d like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.
Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.
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