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1/
👋🏼 @GovMattBevin, we’re back.
Here’s that investigative journalism you were so skeptical about a few months ago… turns out, it *does* involve your administration. 👉🏽 propub.li/2Vdlv0J
Don’t worry, we’ll walk you through it...
👋🏼 @GovMattBevin, we’re back.
Here’s that investigative journalism you were so skeptical about a few months ago… turns out, it *does* involve your administration. 👉🏽 propub.li/2Vdlv0J
Don’t worry, we’ll walk you through it...
2/ When it comes to the rate of high-speed internet use, Kentucky is 5th worst in the nation.
In 2014, KY legislators unfurled a plan, KentuckyWired, for a statewide info superhighway. W/ @courierjournal, we found it’s years late & millions over budget. propub.li/2Vdlv0J
In 2014, KY legislators unfurled a plan, KentuckyWired, for a statewide info superhighway. W/ @courierjournal, we found it’s years late & millions over budget. propub.li/2Vdlv0J
3/ @GovMattBevin took office days after the KentuckyWired deals were all signed.
First, he said he’d scale the project back — the funding gaps were too great. Then, he said he had solved the funding gap, but didn’t explain how.
First, he said he’d scale the project back — the funding gaps were too great. Then, he said he had solved the funding gap, but didn’t explain how.
4/ Really, @GovMattBevin’s boldest move to dig Kentucky out of the technological quagmire has been hiring an old Army buddy, Chuck Grindle, to advise him as the state’s IT chief - the highest paid in the US.
5/ We interviewed dozens, and looked through thousands of pages of records obtained through open records laws w/ @courierjournal.
(Keep up w/ the series here: go.propublica.org/miswired-social)
Here’s some of what we found...
(Keep up w/ the series here: go.propublica.org/miswired-social)
Here’s some of what we found...
6/ AT&T is deeply entrenched in KY. Grindle said he prefers working with “trusted partners” such as AT&T.
He’s seemingly willing to let KentuckyWired die an expensive death.
He’s seemingly willing to let KentuckyWired die an expensive death.
7/ More than three years after taking office, Kentucky’s current administration continues to send mixed messages about how it will solve Kentucky’s broadband boondoggle.
8/ But for folks in rural Kentucky, the issue could not be more urgent, and they’ve lost faith that KentuckyWired will ever arrive.
Folks like this...
Folks like this...
9/ Meet Tina Sparkman, from rural Letcher County.
She pays $69 / month for the only internet service available: satellite. Each month, she can download the equivalent of 3 e-books before her bandwidth is throttled.
On cloudy days, she’s lucky to get service at all.
She pays $69 / month for the only internet service available: satellite. Each month, she can download the equivalent of 3 e-books before her bandwidth is throttled.
On cloudy days, she’s lucky to get service at all.
10/ “We can’t wait 10 more years for internet,” she told us.
11/ The internet arrived in some parts of eastern Kentucky on the back of a mule named Old Bub.
In 2009, a rural coop in Jackson and Owsley counties jumped at a chance to get federal stimulus money, and $50 million later, 18,000 residents had access to fiber optic cables.
In 2009, a rural coop in Jackson and Owsley counties jumped at a chance to get federal stimulus money, and $50 million later, 18,000 residents had access to fiber optic cables.
12/ Coal jobs have plummeted in those counties, and its unemployment rate is still double the national average. But w/ the advent of internet, call center jobs have begun to make up for those losses.
“We’re seeing our economy change,” coop president Keith Gabbard said.
“We’re seeing our economy change,” coop president Keith Gabbard said.
13/ Just as that project finished in 2014, lawmakers proposed a Kentucky-wide version, to be completed by 2018. kentucky.com/news/business/…
But @UTsharon, a rural broadband expert, said the timeline was “wildly aspirational.” Here’s where it's reached so far.
But @UTsharon, a rural broadband expert, said the timeline was “wildly aspirational.” Here’s where it's reached so far.
14/ The 1st hurdle? Cables had to be hung from existing utility polls, and for each poll, the state had to negotiate w/ whatever companies were already using it.
The state estimated it’d have to negotiate w/ its main competitor, @ATT, over 5k polls. Instead, it was 13k.
The state estimated it’d have to negotiate w/ its main competitor, @ATT, over 5k polls. Instead, it was 13k.
15/ And, according to its public-private partnership w/ a company called @Macquarie, the state had 3 wks to negotiate those deals. It ended up taking more than 7 months. Those and other delays meant $92 million in penalties from the state to @Macquarie.
16/ Then the state realized that $14 million annually they thought they’d be able to use was unavailable due to the conditions of the federal grants the money came from.
People in state gov't had warned about that, and been ignored.
People in state gov't had warned about that, and been ignored.
17/ Meanwhile, the state auditor conservatively estimates that Sparkman and other Kentucky taxpayers over the next 30 years will be on the hook for $1.5 billion — 50 times what they were originally told. courier-journal.com/story/news/inv…
18/ Kentuckians were promised internet. What they got: $1.5B information highway to nowhere propub.li/2Vdlv0J
To get notified every time a new part of this investigation publishes, sign up for the Miswired newsletter: go.propublica.org/miswired-social
To get notified every time a new part of this investigation publishes, sign up for the Miswired newsletter: go.propublica.org/miswired-social
