NCL Members, Thanks everyone for a GREAT meeting and Awards event last night. As soon as I get the photos from Gabe I will post them somewhere for you. In the meantime I have attached last night’s program to this email. And thanks for the kind words, both yesterday and last night. I’ll have more to say about this later… but first wanted to pass along a couple of things now while I had a moment: (1) Funding The CR passed the Senate a short time ago by a vote of 72 to 26, following a resolution of the Flint funding issue that caused the Democrats to block the bill yesterday (Senator Reid and Senator McConnell worked out a deal to provide help for Flint in the lame duck session after the election). The House will turn around and approve it fairly quickly. I assume the bill is therefore is essentially the same one that was being advanced yesterday: extends current funding until December 9th, provides $1.1 billion to fight the Zika virus, $500 million for flood relief, and funds the Department of Veterans Affairs for the full fiscal year. It also contains a very small 0.496% across-the-board cut to all discretionary spending. (You’ll recall that a small cut is required because they have to keep discretionary spending below the FY 17 mandatory caps.) So now Congress will return home and won’t come back until after the election, for what is known as a “lame duck” session. During the lame duck they will have to pass a final funding bill for fiscal year 2017 before the CR expires on December 9th. It is expected that they will consider either a larger omnibus funding package, or several smaller mini-bus packages. As discussed yesterday, mini-buses (instead of one big “omnibus” bill) are the least desirable option from our perspective: Since Labor-ED-HHS is the hardest bill to do, it probably gets put together last after everyone else has, in effect, gotten their cut. I reckon the education community will probably come out in favor of taking an omnibus approach. I’ll keep you posted. (2) Webinar on Developing a National Broadband Research Agenda Thanks to Gwen Weaver for passing this info along: http://us12.campaign-archive1.com/?u=b8f06a885587335ee5c6b1717&id=1aa52a1e45&e=1416faad74 <http://us12.campaign-archive1.com/?u=b8f06a885587335ee5c6b1717&id=1aa52a1e45&e=1416faad74> Join the Conversation! Interactive Webinar on Developing a National Broadband Research Agenda September 29, 2016 1 pm - 2:30 pm EDT REGISTER <https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7683103958475144449> The SHLB Coalition and the Benton Foundation are excited to co-host an interactive webinar about the U.S. Broadband Research Agenda. In the first half, NTIA's Doug Kinkoph, Karen Hanson, and Francine E. Alkisswani will outline the Request for Comment <http://www.ntia.doc.gov/request-comments-national-broadband-research-agenda> and answer questions for those who are considering submitting comments. Prominent researchers will then provide their insight to help SHLB and the Benton Foundation develop recommendations for a National Research Agenda on Broadband. Finally,John Windhausen, SHLB Coalition, and Amina Fazlullah, Benton Foundation, will moderate an open discussion, and everyone can contribute to the engaging and informative conversation. This webinar is free and open to the public. BACKGROUND In March 2015, the Broadband Opportunity Council (BOC) called on better data collection, analysis, and research on broadband to keep pace with the country's massive digital changes. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are currently developing a National Broadband Research Agenda to address these needs. But they need your help. NTIA and NSF recently issued an RFC <http://www.ntia.doc.gov/request-comments-national-broadband-research-agenda>to help shape the Broadband Agenda. The RFC seeks input from four specific areas: Broadband technology Broadband deployment, adoption, and utilization by individual, business, and institutional users Assessment of economic and social impacts Opportunities for federal leadership in data collection, research, and overall coordination Help shape the future of broadband research by sharing your best practices, recommendations, and solutions to current challenges. MODERATORS John Windhausen - Executive Director, SHLB Coalition Amina Fazlullah - Director of Policy, Benton Foundation OPENING PRESENTERS Doug Kinkoph - Associate Administrator, Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications, NTIA Karen Hanson - Director, Partnerships and Interagency Affairs BroadbandUSA/NTIA Francine E. Alkisswani, Ph.D., Telecommunications Policy Analyst NTIA, U.S. Department of Commerce Tweet at @SHLBCoalition <https://twitter.com/SHLBCoalition> and @Benton_fdn <https://twitter.com/benton_fdn> to follow along online. UPCOMING WEBINARS In addition to this webinar, SHLB hosts an informational webinar every month in its Grow2Gig+ Webinar Series <http://www.shlb.org/action-plan/webinars>. Stay tuned for more information on the upcoming webinars that will address the following topics: October - Reducing Costs: Competition & Infrastructure November - Government Funding and Networks December - Subsidies and Rural Broadband Needs January - Beyond CAIs: Partnerships and Broadband Adoption