By Marshall Griffin, St. Louis Public Radio
Jefferson City, Mo. – Hundreds of people from across Missouri are in Jefferson City for a two-day summit on expanding broadband Internet access.
Educators, business leaders and Internet service providers are taking part in the summit. Missouri Office of Administration Commissioner Kelvin Simmons told the crowd on opening day that Missouri has done a good job of getting federal dollars to spread Internet access to more rural areas.
"In total, our broadband partners, our non-broadband partners, have been able to bring (in) more than $300 million in broadband grants, loans, and investment dollars," Simmons said.
Meanwhile, Governor Jay Nixon says the summit will focus on expanding broadband access not only to rural areas in general, but specifically to rural hospitals and law enforcement offices.