Books and ebooks are sold. And now todays Senate Commerce committee hearing, lawmakers examine the effect the pandemic is having on keeping rural is having on keeping Rural Communities connected via broadband. From this morning, this is about 2 1 2. Come to order. Welcome, welcome. Today, the committee convenes to discuss the state of broadband and thank them for appears. Today, we will hear from mr. Steven berry, and miss shirley bloomfield. Chief executive officer of mtca, the Rural Broadband association. Mr. Gene kimmerman who will be appearing and testifying remotely and mr. Jonathan spolter. As the administration and centers for Disease Control and prevention encourage social distancing to prevent the further spread of the virus, normal activities like school and Health Care Services are kreinsingly taking place online. This has caused a huge uptick in the use of broadband. One estimate shows average Broadband Usage is up by 47 since the pandemic began. Good news is that theres be
[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] this hearing will come to water. Welcome, welcome. Today the committee convenes to broadband during the covid19 pandemic. I extend my appreciation for my colleagues attentions attendance and participation. I welcome our distinguished panel of witnesses. Mr. Y we will hear from stephen barry, president and chief executive officer of the competitive cares organization and the chief executive officer of the Rural Broadband association. Mr. Gene kimmelman, Senior Advisor on public knowledge, who will be appearing, testifying remotely. Jonathan spalter, of u. S. T and ceo broad,. Covid19 crisis has changed life dramatically for almost every american. As the administration and the centers for Disease Control and prevention encourage social distancing to prevent spread of the virus, normal activities like work, school, Healthcare Services are increasingly t
Everything. But as mordecai reminded her, we all are are an obligation to do our part when danger gathers. And those of us with power or influence have a special responsibility to do whats right. As ellie elie said, silence encourages the tormenter, never the tormented. So, my friends, let us never be neutral or silent in the face of bigotry. Together lets defend the shared values that already make america and israel great. [applause] let us do the hard work necessary to keep building our friendship and reach out to the next generation of americans and israelis so the bonds between our nations grow even deeper and stronger. [cheers and applause] we are stronger together, and if we face the future side by side, i know for both israel and america our best days are still ahead. [cheers and applause] thank you so much [cheers and applause] 234rb. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our morning program. Please turn your attention to the screens for an important programming update. Finish.
Where thousands have been infected by the zika virus. Coming up, what we know and dont know about its consequences so, then, first to the conflict in syria. The blame game is on after talks in geneva to end the war is suspended. On the ground Government Forces are closing in on the rebels, the regime making inroobs into territory held by the opposition. With no political solution, the focus is moving to humanitarian assistance. 70 World Leaders are gathered in london, hoping to drum up 9 billion in aid. At the moment well have the latest on fighting near the syrian border. First more on the conference from barnaby phillips, who is in london. Barnaby, the failure of the talks in geneva makes the focus of talks where you are at all the more important. Yes, it does. And it only confirmed the depressing assumption, i think, which underlines this donor appeal, which is that this terrible problem of syria, and the millions of displaced people will be with the International Community for year
Paying attention to these sites and one of the strategies that we are bringing in more resources to the board, our recent new hiring of five mu can an can ustodians. Now its going to be all day long at the parks where these people are going. We are soon going to be having a manager vacancy. One of these parks is slated for renovation. Finally two of these parks are unusual properties. They are the two park ways in our system. They have a typical use and typical needs in terms of maintenance. They take a new, the department brings to bear a new way of looking at them. We have completed finally the four 4 miles of edging along lower grade highway to make that once more available to our users. So we are getting there and we are putting our eye on these properties. This shows the parks that are scoring very high in the dark and parks that are scoring less. There is a percent between all the parks on the top and low end. All Parks Service areas are scoring about that 85 percent threshold wh