In this 2021 file photo, a worker with the Mason County Public Utility District in Washington state installs a hanger onto fiber-optic cable as it comes off of a spool. Ted S. Warren/AP
Ted S. Warren/AP
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey last week unveiled a shake-up to a federally subsidized broadband program that gained little notice. That came as no surprise. It sounded like an unremarkable announcement about a government project receiving an extension.
But below the surface, the news marked the first instance of a state taking action at the direction of the Trump administration to upend a multi-billion-dollar