The fiber's smokin' ('cause we're not)

Network World Fusion has a piece detailing how the state of Virginia is using much of the funds from its $500 million plus settlement with the tobacco industry to help wire the state with fiber optics. They've already spent more than $20 million on the projects, with another $10 million plus on the way, the article says.

We wrote a little about one of the projects, which ends up in Big Stone Gap, a small Appalachian town that's pretty literally in the middle of nowhere. The fiber has already helped keep jobs in town, we found.