Bill would bring Internet, e-books to low-income students

Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) introduced a bill today to expand a federal Internet program to bring e-book readers and residential broadband services to students.

Markey was the author of the original e-rate program, a $2.25 billion annual fund used to finance broadband projects for schools. Since the bill passed in 1996 as part of the Telecom Act, schools wired for Web access rose to 95 percent from 12 percent...