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Presenting the Virtual Highway: Update September and October 2013 <br /> October 14,2013 <br /> Update regarding the Virtual Highway Project: <br /> Since our last update(see pages 1 to 4) BUILDING A <br /> ent <br /> 1. Cheryal Hills,Bob McLean,and Stacey Stockdill met with <br /> Commissioner Tingerthal, Commissioner Zelle and Region <br /> Commissioner Siben.They requested a budget for the Rural <br /> Broadband Impact Assessment.We have submitted one and <br /> are waiting for a response from them regarding next steps. <br /> 2. Yuri Hupka(resident of Little Falls,Finishing his MA in Applied Economics at SCSU)was hired <br /> by UMN CURA/CAP to assist with the Rural Broadband Impact Assessment. He is focusing on <br /> the ROI questions and trying to locate successful rural projects. So far he has only been able to <br /> find one in England and in China(none in Rural USA). <br /> 3. Michelle Adkins continues to volunteered her time to begin to help us: a)update the telehealth <br /> impact literature and b)to start to drill down on what is and is not reimbursable by VA,Private <br /> Insurance,Medicare and Medicaid. <br /> 4. Dr.Chad Couette(ED,NJPA)has agreed to serve as Resilient Region Theme Champion for <br /> Education and Workforce Development and on the Resilient Region Broadband Taskforce.He <br /> and Cheryal Hills(ED,R5DC)have agreed to distribute a broadband/PC inventory for K-12 and <br /> LUGs respectively. The DRAFT survey was submitted for review and is being finalized. <br /> 5. Stacey met with Bill Coleman and Roxy Traxler,Project Director for the East Broadband <br /> Taskforce.They agreed to send out a similar needs assessment for the counties they serve. We <br /> also talked about working with them to host a spring Broadband Summit in the region. <br /> 6. Stacey has set up a meeting to meet with Kim Nagle, Director,Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe <br /> Economic Development,on the Leech Lake Broadband Taskforce work—on November 1. <br /> 7. Great News! WTCA was identified as one of 7 Smart Rural Communities!! Their celebration will <br /> be held October 24 from 5-7 at Blueberry Pines in Menahga. <br /> September 11,2013 <br /> Update regarding the Virtual Highway Project: <br /> Hi all: <br /> So much has been happening since our last update! <br /> The Connectivity Champions(now joined by Kevin Larson CTC)have been exploring a number of <br /> options for next steps. <br /> 1. Cheryal Hills(R5DC,Champion for Education and Workforce Development), Deanna <br /> Hemmesch(CMHP, Champion for Housing),Robert McLean(HUG,Champion for HealthCare) <br /> and Stacey Stockdill met with Commissioner Tingerthal (MHF),Warren Hansen(GMHF)and <br /> iviatgalct Kaplan.That meeting resulted 1i1: <br /> a. An exploration with Representative John Ward and his staff regarding the degree to <br /> which GO Bonds could be used for broadband infrastructure. It was learned that at this <br /> time—this does not seem to be the best approach to increase broadband infrastructure <br /> �'' VIRTUAL HIGHWAY UPDATE: 10/17/2013 III <br />