Broadband Office To Hold Meeting Friday at Rison

RISON - Cleveland County Judge Jimmy Cummings and the Arkansas State Broadband Office will host a public meeting at 11 a.m. this Friday, April 7, at the Hall-Morgan Veterans Building in Rison to give an update on what the state's goals are for improving access to high speed internet across the state. Laurie Ringler, broadband project manager for the Arkansas State Broadband Office, said the meeting will be an opportunity to discuss the shared goals of statewide high-speed internet connectivity with individual communities as well as discuss the creation of a County Broadband Committee. In addition to developing a plan to bring broadband service to every Arkansan, Ringler said the state also intends to let everyone using internet services know what is available to them. "The modern world requires high-speed internet for individuals to connect to friends and family, telehealth appointments, digital learning, workforce development, and so much more!," she said in a statement announcing the meeting. Cummings was part of a Cleveland County committee that participated in the Accelerate Arkansas broadband internet program last year. The 15-week program helped five communities across the state, including Cleveland County, to come up with a plan to improve broadband internet service to their respective areas. For Cleveland County, the primary focus was to develop to expand high-speed, fiber optic internet service to county residents outside the county's two incorporated cities, Kingsland and Rison. Shortly before the Accelerate Arkansas program began, Rally Networks, the local internet service provider, announced that it would be installing a high-speed fiber optic network to the cities of Kingsland and Rison. Bruce Grubb, the local manager for Rally Network, said this week the company has completed installation of the fiber network at Rison and has been connecting customers to the high-speed service since late Ja...