North Carolina’s governor Bev Purdue (D), with great restraint, recommended only eight stimulus applications and highlighted one, a $40 million project called MCNC to extend a fiber network that was built for universities into rural areas as a middle mile project. The request is for $29 million and is supported by a cash match of $8 million and in-kind infrastructure worth $3 million.
I also like MCNC — and so may ISPs — as this looks like infrastructure that will be truly open for competition.
The governor made some tough choices with regard to public computer center applications — I don’t know the cities involved and cannot really say what should be done here.
In the sustainable broadband adoption area of the stimulus, I’ve seen some very flaky and strange proposals, but the one endorsed by Purdue, McDowell County Schools, looks very good to me.