Patrons use free Wi-Fi at a public library in Chicago. For nearly 30 years, the E-Rate program has helped connect schools and libraries to the internet, but the Trump administration is reviewing the program. (Photo Robbie Sequeira/Stateline) A multi-billion-dollar federal program that helps schools and libraries afford broadband internet is under review by the Trump administration, leaving education officials and advocates worried about potentially significant cuts. The E-Rate program provides about $3 billion annually for internet access and telecommunications to more than 100,000 schools and 11,000 libraries across the country. It is the fifth-largest stream of federal funding for schools nationwide, according to the Schools Superintendents Association (AASA). The Federal Communications Commission said it is reviewing “whether the program should be narrowed or otherwise reoriented to reflect the extent to which its connectivity objectives have been achieved.” The agency is accepti...
NYPD officers walk down a street in downtown Manhattan as part of the 25th anniversary of 9/11 memorial on Sept. 11, 2026. (Photo by Shalina Chatlani/ Stateline) Powerful U.S. officials past and present faced families, survivors and first responders Friday at ceremonies to honor the 25th anniversary of the day 2,977 Americans died in terrorist attacks in Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania. At the Pentagon, Condoleezza Rice, who was serving at the time under President George W. Bush as national security advisor, told the crowd she wanted to share something “deeply personal.” “Those of us in authority on that day did not see the nature of the danger in time to prevent the attack of 9/11. We did what we knew to do, but by definition, it was not enough. … I will always carry deep personal remorse for the pain that you, the families of the fallen, still feel, and for the trauma that our country endured,” she said. Speakers at all three Sept. 11 milestone anniversary events recounted sto...