Officials in the Southern Alleghenies region created the organization in part to sidestep an obscure provision in state law that puts roadblocks in the way of local governments trying to build their own broadband networks.

Everyone in Pennsylvania has access to broadband according to the definition set by state lawmakers in the early 2000s.

An obscure state law could blunt the impact of up to $1 billion in federal funding for Pennsylvania’s broadband expansion.

A corporate tax break in Pennsylvania worth an estimated $280 million per year operates with little accountability and lacks even the most basic data to determine if it’s actually effective, a recent report found.

The inefficiency was caused by state lawmakers who chose to distribute most of the money by population rather than the actual number of renters in each county.

While a long-feared wave of evictions hasn’t come to pass, a lack of coordination between programs and courts leaves some renters in a pinch.

Pennsylvania has more than $1 billion in rental aid available to people who have fallen behind because of the pandemic.

Advocates hope the move will prompt other counties to issue similar orders, guaranteeing that tenants won’t lose their homes while waiting for help.