The Agriculture Department announced that $759 million will be made available in the form of grants and loans to enable rural communities access to high-speed internet. The announcement came (yesterday/Thursday) from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack during a visit to North Carolina. There are 49 recipients in 24 states, Kansas and Oklahoma are included. Vilsack in his press conference said, “Rural America needs this.” He went on to say, “Rural communities are the backbone of our nation, but for too long they’ve been left behind and they have been underrecognized,”