Rural communities scramble to use tidal wave of public funding
By PETER CAMERON
Ed Risler, 71, doesn't use the internet much, but his granddaughter sure does.
When school shut down during the pandemic last year, 10-year-old Bella spent school days at her grandfather's while her mother was at work. With a home deep in the rolling hills of western Wisconsin's Driftless Area, his internet speeds are "piss poor," says Risler, the chairman of the town board in Drammen, a rural community between Mondovi and Eau Claire. While many kids in the state could do their work digitally, Drammen's poor internet speeds meant Bella had to get paper assignments from school.
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