In this first issue of the Weekly Picks from the Desk of David Morris, ILSR’s co-founder details stories of public library system from Dayton, Ohio; features the National League of Cities’ report on state level preemption; an innovative nonprofit in San Francisco’s interaction with the immigrant population; and much more…… Read More
This is episode 286 of our Community Broadband Bits podcast! Community Broadband Bits is a short weekly podcast featuring interviews with people building community networks or otherwise involved with Internet policy.… Read More
This article was originally published in Port Huron Times-Herald on November 14th, 2017. Recently, a Michigan state lawmaker went viral on the Internet — but for the wrong reasons. Last month, state Rep. Michele Hoitenga filed a bill that would preempt … Read More
Louisville has overcome a tall hurdle in its efforts to bring better connectivity and more competition to the community through local control. On August 16th the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky supported the city’s one touch … Read More
If you’re reading energy news of late, you might have come across three new ways that forces are aligning against local renewable energy. State governments are increasingly pre-empting local authority on a range of issues, including energy. Utility companies are undercutting state regulation with their legislative lobbyists. And utilities are also bringing their monopoly market power to bear in previously competitive markets.
Preemption at the state and federal level threatens local telecommunications authority, as we’ve seen in about 20 states. When state laws usurp local governments’ ability to decide how they improve poor connectivity, they disregard an understanding of local affairs that … Read More
Welcome to episode seventeen of the Building Local Power podcast. In this episode, Andrew Gillum, Mayor of Tallahassee, Florida and founder of the advocacy group, Campaign to Defend Local Solutions joins Christopher Mitchell, the director of ILSR’s Community Broadband Network’s initiative and Nick … Read More
In October 2010, David Morris spoke to the Environmental Grantmakers Association at their annual conference in California about the dangers of preemption. The talk may be even more relevant today, a time when red states increasingly are pre-empting the authority of … Read More
In this episode, John Farrell, the director of ILSR’s Energy Democracy initiative, interviews Christopher Mitchell (our usual podcast host) and Lisa Gonzalez of our Community Broadband Networks initiative. The three discuss the power of municipal broadband networks, how the power held in cities is integral to these projects, and the barriers put in place by cable monopolies to prevent these networks.… Read More
