Republicans COVID-19 in SC Cases statewide: 663 new, 110,658 total get their turn Cases in the Lakelands Greenwood - 1,634 Saluda - 507 McCormick - 149 to persuade Abbeville - 385 Laurens - 1,411 Deaths statewide: 8 new, 2,380 total voters Deaths in the Lakelands Greenwood - 25 Saluda - 9 McCormick - 3 Page 5A Abbeville - 8 Laurens - 49 VOL. 102, NO. 159 indexjournal.com 2 SECTIONS, 14 PAGES MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 2020 DAILY $1, WEDNESDAY | SUNDAY $2 Lakelands areas in need of broadband internet By JAMES HICKS high-speed internet overlap the rural own their own broadband internet Rep. John McCravy said Thursday term. In the meantime, some hope for
[email protected] areas. With more students attending service. he has been passionate about rural broadband access might come from virtual classes and employees working His plan is similar to what is advo- broadband access for years. the CARES Act. Connecting rural areas with broad- from home because of the pandemic, cated by the Municipal Association of “In my opinion, we need to give In the first round of federal funding band access has been on the state’s this issue has become more critical. South Carolina. strong tax incentives to a lot of these from the CARES Act, the state legisla- radar for years. Now, with the novel The Broadband Accessibility Act “We believe that local governments, cable and fiber companies,” McCravy ture allocated $50 million to the Of- coronavirus pandemic reshaping dai- or S. 1076 was introduced in Febru- be they cities or counties, ought to said. fice of Regulatory Staff to be used to ly life, the issue of rural broadband has ary to allow electric cooperatives to be allowed to provide broadband He said access to broadband is im- assist COVID-19 affected individuals, moved to the forefront.