It is exciting to see Governor DeSantis in Florida taking strong action to protect the people of Florida against discrimination and punishment for choosing to not receive COVID-jabs, standing against mask mandates, and other attempts by the Biden Administration to violate our God-given rights. His popularity is growing. Last summer, and in this year's session, I introduced legislation to prohibit COVID-19 vaccine discrimination, and I plan to introduce similar legislation in the upcoming session. Displaced workers from other states in high-need areas like trucking and health care should come to Virginia!
It is my hope that we will see similar strong action from Governor-elect Youngkin after he takes office in January.
Likewise, I expect strong action from our new Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor to protect the people of Virginia.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has a new book out, The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health. Here is a link to a video interview with Tucker Carlson I found very interesting. https://www.bitchute.com/video/5B9aY7XM3jRs/
RURAL BROADBAND ACCESS FOR ALL LOCAL RESIDENTS!
On Monday, the Commonwealth announced the latest awards of the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI) grants to bring universal broadband service to all currently unserved residents and businesses in Loudoun, Clarke, and Frederick Counties.
I know it’s been a very long and painful process to bring broadband service to all my constituents in Loudoun, Clarke and Frederick Counties. Over the last 8+ years, I’ve heard from so many constituents about the way lack of reliable internet service has hindered their ability to work, learn and enjoy life in the rural parts of the district I serve. I’ve worked with all the local governments, internet providers, and constituents to try everything possible to bring them affordable access to reliable broadband internet. More information on these efforts is on my website at votelarock.us/issues/broadband
The last 18 months have taken this need to a whole new level, as so many people have transitioned to working and schooling at home. Fortunately, this increased need, as well as legislative efforts I and others worked on, has brought us to the point where Virginia was ready to bring public and private investment together to solve this complicated problem for the foreseeable future.
Details of local VATI grants:
Loudoun County and All Points Broadband $17,524,000 award, leveraging $42,376,126 to build fiber broadband to 8,629 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Loudoun County.
Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission and All Points Broadband $95,303,000 award, leveraging $190,759,621 to build fiber broadband to 37,357 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Clarke, Frederick, and several other Counties.
My thanks go to the Loudoun, Clarke and Frederick County Boards of Supervisors, All Points Broadband, Dominion Energy, and the Northern Virginia, Shenandoah Valley, and Rappahannock Electric Cooperatives for working together with VATI staff to bring this necessary service to our communities.
I look forward to working with all my constituents and the stakeholders in this project to finally bring this long-standing effort to a successful resolution in the coming months.
An updated deployment timeframe for each of All Points' projects funded Monday will be announced in early 2022. Residents should visit fiber.allpointsbroadband.com to register their location and to sign up to receive more information about broadband deployment projects in their area.
