Senator Amy Klobuchar
Arrowhead Electric Cooperative Inc. will welcome U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 6 to speak to the benefits of broadband in unserved and underserved areas such as Cook County. The presentation will take place at the Arrowhead Electric Cooperative office at 5401 W. Highway 61 in Lutsen.
Cook County has been ranked 87th out of 87 counties in broadband availability in the state. Arrowhead Electric Cooperative is endeavoring to change that, however, and propel Cook County to the top of the list. With the assistance of a federal stimulus award totaling nearly $17 million dollars from the Rural Utilities Service and up to $4 million in local Cook County 1 percent sales tax funding, the cooperative is excited to begin delivering high speed Internet, telephone and TV services to its members.
“Senator Klobuchar’s continued efforts in support of bringing high-speed, high-capacity broadband services to rural Minnesota have been simply remarkable,” according to the Cooperative’s General Manager Jeanne Muntean. “The value of information available on the Internet is endless and its applications for use in educating our children, delivering critical medical information, telecommuting and enhanced energy services are just a few of the important reasons this project is so critical to our region,” said Muntean.
Joining Klobuchar at the Cooperative’s office will be Cook County superintendent of schools Beth Schwarz, who will address the benefits of broadband in education and the Cooperative’s director of member & broadband services, Joe Buttweiler, who will speak to the direct impacts on the importance of the project in Cook County.
More information on the project can be found at www.aecimn.com/broadband-project/
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