KSTP-TV: Response to coronavirus exposes lack of high-speed internet across Minnesota

EXCERPT: “Louis Parenteau often jokes with his children, saying they are ‘living like hillbillies’ in their northern Minnesota home. The family lives 10 minutes from Mountain Iron, along a two-lane highway, but has no access to the internet. ‘We basically have to use a hotspot from our [cellphone] service and it is limited,’ Parenteau said. With both of his sons home for an extended period due to the state-mandated closure of schools, the family faces tough decisions about who can use their limited data to get online. ‘If my wife is trying to talk to her family in Germany and my son is trying to do his homework, we kind of have to make a choice,’ Parenteau said. School leaders across the Iron Range are now trying to figure out how their rural students can learn online when they can’t even get online.” FULL STORY: https://fluence-media.co/33BQs4x