Connecting to what matters
This story by the Wilkes Journal-Patriot details the radio show on rural broadband that our broadband expert Christopher Mitchell participated in for WAMU.… Read More
Longmont’s success leads to dozens of followers: When is ‘crazy fast’ internet coming to your town?
In this story for WGBH Denver Channel, the reporter details our data that keeps track of the communities in Colorado that have voted to opt out of SB 152 in order to investigate their own possibilities for Internet infrastructure investments.… Read More
How Cities Can Save Small Shops
In this story, this CityLab reporter interviews our own policy researcher Olivia LaVecchia on the impact that small businesses offer for their local economies — including the vital economic development potential that they offer for Main Streets across America.… Read More
What’s Inside a Neighborhood in a Box?
For CityLab, writer Dan Glass interviewed David Morris on the trend of Silicon Valley corporations to try and replace the real interactions of small and local businesses, such as the new startup Bodega.… Read More
Country Connection: Rural Residents Ask FCC To Improve Internet Access
In preparation for the Appalachian Broadband Connectivity Summit, Ohio Valley ReSource reporter Benny Becker reached out to Christopher Mitchell, a speaker at the summit, on the different local solutions to broadband access that communities have.… Read More
Grocery union claims Amazon’s $13.7B Whole Foods acquisition will hurt consumers and workers
In the wake of the release of our landmark Amazon Stranglehold report, GeekWire cites our report as a fundamental cog in the story of Amazon’s growing dominance.… Read More
Amazon: A ‘multi-headed beast’ dominating the economy?
In this story by Fox Business, the reporter reached out to Olivia LaVecchia, an ILSR researcher for her thoughts about Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods and the growth of the e-commerce giant in general.… Read More
Visa Boldly Ushers in the Cashless Future (Where Everyone Uses Visa)
Slate‘s Henry Grabar covers a new development by Visa to eliminate cash payments at brick and mortar businesses, here’s our contribution: “According to a 2016 survey of independent retailers conducted by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, the median share of revenue spent on swipe fees was 3 percent. Small businesses pay more in swipe fees than they make in profit in many cases, ILSR co-director Stacy Mitchell said, meaning that the banks and payment companies make more money from those businesses than the owners do. Not surprisingly, the survey found strong support for a federal cap on swipe fees, which add up to more than $50 billion a year for U.S. retailers.”… Read More
The Return of Monopoly
Monopoly is ineffable and all around us argues Matt Stoller in The New Republic, Stoller also cites our work and anti-monopoly researcher Stacy Mitchell for her insight.… Read More