Jersey Shore School District to Avoid Bankruptcy Due to Tax Hike
The New Jersey Department of Education adopted a spending plan on behalf of the Toms River Regional School District late last week. The budget, which included a general-fund tax levy of about $222.9 million — including a 15.4% increase, according to a letter penned July 3 by Susan Naples, the acting executive county superintendent for Ocean County.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNET
a minute ago
- CNET
Gig Speeds for Every American? Trump FCC Moves to Drop One of the Group's Most Ambitious Goals
One of the federal government's most ambitious broadband targets may soon be abandoned. On August 7, the FCC will vote on a proposal to drop its goal of gig speeds for every American. In March last year, the Democratic-led group voted to raise the definition of minimum broadband speeds from 25Mbps download and 3Mbps upload speed to 100/20Mbps. It also set a more ambitious long-term goal of increasing the benchmark to 1,000Mbps download and 500Mbps upload speed. Trump's pick for FCC chair, Brendan Carr, has consistently advocated for a 'technology neutral' approach to broadband subsidies. There's only one broadband technology that can currently reach 1,000/500Mbps, and that's fiber internet. Carr's proposal repeatedly points to the previous, Democrat-led FCC's goals as outside the bounds of Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which requires the FCC to 'encourage the deployment' of telecommunications service 'on a reasonable and timely basis' to all Americans. "Not only is a long-term goal not mentioned in section 706, but maintaining such a goal risks skewing the market by unnecessarily potentially picking technological winners and losers," Carr's plan says. Locating local internet providers While Carr was critical of the increase to the minimum broadband threshold when it passed last year, there is no mention of rolling back the 100/20Mbps requirement. Changes in how we measure broadband progress Another notable departure from the 2024 report is how the FCC could measure broadband deployment going forward. Last year, for example, the Commission determined that 7% of Americans did not have access to 100/20Mbps speeds. Carr's proposal argues that this is a flawed way to measure progress toward closing the digital divide. It all hinges on one key sentence used in Section 706: 'The Commission shall determine whether advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.' Carr's proposal argues that the FCC has been (wrongly) measuring where broadband has been deployed already, not where it is in the process of being deployed. 'We believe that the prior Report's binary interpretation of the threshold for issuing a passing or failing grade in the ultimate section 706 finding effectively read the 'reasonable and timely' language out of the statute,' Carr's proposal says. 'That interpretation seemingly found anything short of 100% was insufficient to warrant a passing grade and thus disregarded Congress's use of the present progressive tense in 'is being deployed.'' The interpretation of that phrase could have huge repercussions. Section 706 requires that if broadband is not being deployed to all Americans, the FCC must 'accelerate deployment of such capability by removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by promoting competition.' With $42.5 billion in federal funding through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program currently being deployed to states, the FCC can reasonably argue that broadband is in the process of being deployed to all Americans. If the question was whether all Americans have access to broadband speeds -- as the Democratic-led FCC previously interpreted -- the answer would be a resounding no, and the FCC would be required to take concrete action to achieve that goal. Broadband affordability is no longer an FCC goal It's easy to miss the affordability aspect in Carr's proposal, but it could have far-reaching impacts. It says that the previous FCC read 'several extraneous universal service criteria' into section 706. In a footnote to that sentence, it defines these criteria as 'deployment, adoption, affordability, availability and equitable access.' In last year's report, the FCC determined that, 'The legislative history of section 706 further supports the view that Congress expects us to examine more than physical availability, and explicitly identifies affordability in describing the goals of section 706.' Carr vehemently disagreed with this interpretation, writing in a dissenting statement, 'That cannot be right. For one, those terms appear nowhere in Section 706.' Most broadband experts agree that cost is the main reason people don't have home internet, not a lack of availability. That was borne out when 23 million Americans enrolled in the Affordable Connectivity Program, a federal subsidy to help low-income families pay for internet that expired one year ago. "As folks in this space like to say, if it's not affordable, it's not accessible," Sean Gonsalvez, a director of communication with the advocacy group The Institute for Local Self-Reliance, told me in a previous interview. A 2021 Pew Research Center survey found that one in five people who don't have a broadband subscription cited cost as the main reason -- the highest of any answer and well above the number who said service isn't available. Another study found that "for every American without broadband service available, up to twice as many have service available but still don't subscribe." Even though affordability was outlined as a goal in last year's report, the previous FCC did not make much progress on the issue. Instead, it's been largely left up to states to legislate. In New York, for example, internet providers are required to offer low-income residents plans as low as $15 per month. In mid-December, the Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to the law. One month later, AT&T announced it would be removing access to its AT&T Internet Air service in New York.
Fast Company
a minute ago
- Fast Company
Alphabet's Q2 revenue beats estimates as cloud computing surges
BY Alphabet beat Wall Street estimates for its second quarter on Wednesday, and cited massive demand for its cloud computing services as it hiked its capital spending plans for the year to about $85 billion. The search giant beat estimates for quarterly revenue and profit on the back of new AI features and a steady digital advertising market. Google Cloud's revenue growth surged nearly 32%, well above estimates for a 26.5% increase. 'With this strong and growing demand for our Cloud products and services, we are increasing our investment in capital expenditures,' CEO Sundar Pichai said in an earnings release. Shares of the company, which have risen more than 18% since its previous earnings report in April, were down 1% in extended trading. Google had earlier pledged about $75 billion in capital spending this year, part of the more than $320 billion that Big Tech is expected to pour into building AI capabilities. The companies have defended their aggressive AI spending amid rising competition from Chinese rivals and investor frustration with slower-than-expected payoffs, saying those massive investments are necessary to fuel growth and improve their products. Alphabet reported total revenue of $96.43 billion for the second quarter ended June 30, compared with analysts' average estimate of about $94 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Google's advertising revenue, which represents about three-quarters of the tech major's overall sales, rose 10.4% to $71.34 billion in the second quarter, beating expectations for $69.47 billion, according to data from LSEG. —Deborah Sophia and Kenrick Cai, Reuters The super-early-rate deadline for Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Awards is this Friday, July 25, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today. Sign up for our weekly tech digest. SIGN UP This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Privacy Policy
Fast Company
a minute ago
- Fast Company
Wendy's and Netflix's ‘Wednesday' team up for a not-so-happy meal
What happens when the wittiest fast food chain in the country and one of television's sassiest characters come together? A not-so-happy meal. Restaurant chain Wendy's announced a forthcoming collaboration with Netflix's Wednesday ahead of the show's new season release. In Wendy's disruptive fashion, the brand did not shy away from irreverent packaging and gothic names, with plans to launch a 'Meal of Misfortune' on August 11. The collaboration comes after a series of announced administrative changes at Wendy's, a company currently valued at $2.1 billion. On July 18, the company's CEO, Kirk Tanner, stepped down after a little over a year in the position. Ken Cook, Wendy's chief financial officer—who had less than a year in that position and no previous restaurant experience— took over as interim CEO while the board continues to look for a permanent replacement. In addition to the C-suite changes, Wendy's has seen positive growth in its share price, up by 4.06% the time of publishing. The uptick follows the previous day's announcement of Pete Suerken as Wendy's new U.S. president, who will report to the current CEO. Online chatter has also helped the stock, with increased mentions on the popular retail investment subreddit r/wallstreetbets. The subreddit, which identifies itself as 'like 4chan found a Bloomberg Terminal,' plays an outsized role in promoting so-called meme stocks. Just this week, several stocks have seen surprising gains thanks in part to online retail investors, including a boost for retailer Kohl's and donut maker Krispy Kreme. 'Nothing happy about this meal' The Wednesday Addams collaboration is set to feature various Addams-family-inspired treats. For instance, the collab's dips are named 'You Can't Hyde,' 'This Will Sting,' 'Grave Mistake,' and 'Nowhere to Woe,' an ode to the character's dark humor. The meal will also include an order of nuggets dubbed 'Rest in 10-Piece,' 'Cursed & Crispy' fries, and a 'Raven's Blood' Frosty. 'This isn't a typical collaboration, because not just any brand could scheme up a Meal of Misfortune with Wednesday Addams,' Liz Geraghty, Wendy's International Chief Marketing Officer, said in a statement. The meal's packaging also boasts Addams fashion, featuring a black and purple color palette for the containers, as well as a carrier bag veiled with the fictional character's iconic white collar and black dress combo. The phrase 'there is nothing happy about this meal,' accompanies the bag's design, an irreverent nod to the iconic Happy Meal from competitor McDonald's. 'For a brand that's proudly customer-obsessed and unapologetically bold, it was a match made in dark, dry-witted heaven,' Geraghty added.
