McKenzie School District Needs Your Feedback on Internet Access
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McKenzie School District Needs Your Feedback on Internet Access

ByTom Atkinson

McKenzie School District recently won a Project OVERCOME grant that aims to rebuild and improve internet services in the region. As part of the grant, researchers are looking to understand the positive benefits that better Internet services can have. McKenzie residents are being asked to take a short online survey to help McKenzie School District understand your interest in internet…

Your Web Searches Today Can Help with Wildfire Restoration
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Your Web Searches Today Can Help with Wildfire Restoration

ByTom Atkinson

Ecosia (Ecosia.org), a not-for-profit search engine that uses profits to plant trees, is going to dedicate all revenue from searches today (Tuesday, July 27) towards wildfire efforts in the US, Brazil and Australia as part of its Ecosia Wildfire Relief campaign. This will include launching a new project in partnership with American Forest Foundation to…

USDA Rural Development Funding for Telecommunication Projects
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USDA Rural Development Funding for Telecommunication Projects

ByTom Atkinson

Join us to learn about access to funding and an overview of USDA Rural Development Telecommunication Programs  USDA Rural Development will be holding a region-wide webinar to provide the latest information on the financing of Broadband, Re-connect, and Distance Learning Telemedicine (DLT) programs for rural communities. This is an essential webinar that will provide information…

Spectrum TV, Internet, and Phone Services Restored
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Spectrum TV, Internet, and Phone Services Restored

ByTom Atkinson

Spectrum has announced that after working in conjunction with Lane Electric they have finished rebuilding the more than 30 miles of their network that was destroyed in the fire and have now restored service to an area stretching roughly from Vida to McKenzie Bridge. Work to repair the network began as soon as the area…

Vida Relief Center Now Offering Public WiFi!
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Vida Relief Center Now Offering Public WiFi!

ByTom Atkinson

Good News!  As of Saturday, the Vida Relief Center now offers public WiFi thanks to Matt Sayre and the Oregon Internet Response volunteers. Currently, there is public WiFi access in the Information Center and near the buildings where there are multiple picnic tables available outside.  The Vida Relief Center driveway gate is open only when the relief center is open (Tu/Th/Sa, 10a-4p)  …

Communication Towers Update
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Communication Towers Update

ByTom Atkinson

Residents along the McKenzie Corridor will notice some changes to emergency communications equipment. AT&T will be removing its SatCOLT (Satellite Cell Site on Light Truck) from the Vida area because the AT&T network supporting that area has been restored. AT&T is also working to upgrade its permanent tower to LTE service, which will further improve voice and data…