Crypto and broadband

Following West Virginia’s senators

The Wheeling Alternative

Senator Capito and internet access

For a number of years, WV Senator Shelley Moore Capito has pushed for increased internet access for West Virginians. Finally in 2022, Congress acted with a provision in the bipartisan infrastructure legislation to promote broadband connectivity. As the senator described on her senate website:

Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee, applauded $5,728,065 in funding for West Virginia, which will be used for deploying high-speed Internet networks and developing digital skills training. . . .

This funding collectively will assist in our efforts to provide communities with the resources they need to improve connectivity overall. In the meantime, I will continue working with leaders on the federal and state levels to make certain that West Virginia’s unserved and underserved areas are accurately represented so we can ensure future resources are directed to the areas that need them the most.

In early November of last year, that funding grew to over $9 million.

So far, so good. But then Donald Trump (with his anti-DEI agenda) became president and last week put an end to the funding:

Huh? It’s about race? No, as The New Republic reported:

The Act does not explicitly mention race. All it says is that people can’t be blocked from using the Act “on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, or disability.” This language is straight from the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

And:

The law provided many red states with grants to create and implement plans to make internet access more accessible. These plans have already been approved in conservative states like Indiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, and Kansas.
Internet access is a massive barrier to education, opportunity, and upward mobility. This legislation attempted to remedy that for people everywhere, especially in regions that went heavily for Trump. How is that a racist, woke handout?

In another article, the magazine’s Greg Sargent explained why Trump likely did this:

So, West Virginia will likely not get help with rural internet because of Trump. And despite this having been a pet project of our senior senator for a number of years, I have yet to see any response from Capito.

Senator Jim Justice and . . . . Bitcoin

So what has WV’s newly-elected senator, Jim Justice, been doing since January? The good news: Justice has been there to vote – at least, most of the time. Govtrackus tells us:

From Jan 2025 to May 2025, Justice missed 11 of 241 roll call votes, which is 4.6%. This is worse than the median of 2.7% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving.

Beyond that, I could find very little evidence of activity beyond his work with the bitcoin crowd. In addition to the article that he wrote for the Bitcoin magazine, there is this:

(It should be noted that the crypto industry gave $3 million to Justice's election campaign.)

And as I’m about to publish – Judge rules in NIOSH favor

I'm seeing conflicting reports on how many will be called back. I will update later.

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May 13, 2025

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