The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition announced both a new board member and the chairs for its 2022 policy working groups.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it is ready to authorize $1,041,074,000 over 10 years in its fifth round of funding for new broadband deployments through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. This marks the largest funding wave to date.

Despite a proclamation over the weekend from Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., that he was a “no” on the existing version of Build Back Better Act legislation, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a Dear Colleague letter today that he plans to keep working on the reconciliation legislation until they “get something done.”

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in New York announced that it has partnered with biotechnology company Moderna to launch the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Academy, an “innovative initiative that will bring to life an immersive learning experience for Moderna employees.”

The University of Rhode Island (URI) announced that it is the first academic institution not based in Massachusetts to join the Massachusetts Green High-Performance Computing (HPC) Center.

The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Dec. 14 meeting yielded a host of rulemaking actions when it comes to hot button topics for the commission, including E-Rate broadband bidding, emergency alerts, and robocalls.

For almost a decade, the California Department of Technology (CDT) has hosted an annual event, usually in December, to provide the vendor community with valuable information on how their companies can partner with the State of California. Needless to say, it has become a very popular occasion for vendors seeking to determine specifics on California’s multi-billion dollar budget for the upcoming year.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, along with Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) Secretary and CEO Missy Hughes, announced a $150,000 grant to bolster  a new pilot program that aims to train teachers and bring computer science into all Wisconsin K-12 classrooms.

As part of its Future of Work pilot program, the University of Iowa has opened a coworking space for its remote and hybrid employees.

This time of year it’s perhaps appropriate to paraphrase Lord Tennyson, “In December, a state CIO’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of new IT funding.”