Last year in December, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) passed new regulations regarding the concept of Net Neutrality. Those rules, set to go into effect this November, require internet service providers to treat all content equally with respect to download speeds, increase their own disclosure and transparency related to network management and reliability, and prohibit providers from blocking any legal content.

Devising and implementing a national broadband policy has been a notable priority for the Obama administration. Since including over $7 billion for the expansion of broadband in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Obama administration has worked primarily through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to achieve this goal.

Congratulations! You put together a competitive proposal under BTOP and were fortunate enough to be funded. Now you are in a position to provide broadband to all these previously underserved communities. There's just one problem: The community anchor institutions (CAIs) in your area do not have the financial resources to implement their broadband-intensive projects. Fortunately, grant programs are available for CAIs to fund their initiatives, which can have a direct impact in increasing demand for broadband infrastructure.

In recognition of the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has recently released its progress report highlighting the achievements that the Department and its many partners have made in carrying out the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations. Created in late 2002, this Commission was chartered to prepare a complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks and to provide recommendations intended to strengthen our nation’s well-being and defense from future attacks. Additional information on this August 2004 report is available at www.9-11commission.gov/report/index.htm.

Grant funding, like any other competition, inevitably results in winners and losers - and unfortunately, the latter tend to outnumber the former. Take for instance, the Investing in Innovation program available from the U.S. Department of Education. This year's competition brought out over 500 applicants for just under $150 million in total funding. It is likely fewer than 30 of these applications will receive funding - making it just as unlikely to receive grant funding as it is to get into Harvard.

September can be an important marker for a lot of yearly transitions - students from kindergarten to graduate school return to the classroom, Fall begins, Monday night Football returns. However, for public agencies and nonprofit organizations, it should also herald the start to a new season of grantseeking.

With Healthcare, one thing you can count on for certain is that it typically trails other industries by at least a decade in terms of the latest trends. While other sectors started moving away from file cabinets and towards electronic records in the early 1990s, the health industry is just starting to see significant uptake of electronic health records. However, it seems that many healthcare organizations are intent on following the latest trends towards utilization of mobile electronic devices, or mHealth. Indeed, many health care organizations are utilizing custom mobile applications to turn smart phones and other devices into personal health assistants.

For many in the first responder community, the looming January 1, 2013 deadline will inevitably mark a day of reckoning. As many of us know, the Federal Communications Commission’s forthcoming narrowbanding requirements call for each current 25 kHz legacy wideband channel to be divided into two 12.5 kHz narrowband channels, thereby resulting in twice the number of available frequencies for communication and information sharing needs to be met. Failure to comply with this narrowbanding deadline will result in a loss of licensed communication and possible FCC fines.

Two years after the onset of the Great Recession, states are still facing monumental fiscal challenges. Brought on by an unfortunate combination of poor budgetary management skills, the worst recession in decades, and growing demand for services and entitlements, it seems most of the states are united by only one thing - red ink.

The United States currently faces twin economic challenges - growing the national economy (more specifically, lowering the unemployment rate) and shrinking the national debt. However, if you were to listen solely to the rhetoric and heated exchanges taking place in Washington, you could be forgiven for thinking our only problem is debt, debt, and more debt. The over 14 million individuals who remain without a job have become a tangential issue to the ongoing debate over debt.