The lead sentence in an article from a newspaper in the nation's most rural state says it all: "A decision expected early next week by the Federal Communications Commission could result in a major boost for Vermont's efforts to bring high-speed Internet service to the entire state by the year 2010." Daniel Barlow writes that the FCC will vote Election Day on whether to open television "white spaces" — frequencies that will be freed up once TV broadcasts go fully digital — for use for wireless broadband. "That change could be a boon for rural states such as Vermont, where these white spaces are abundant due to the lack of in-state television broadcasters," Barlow wrote.

The use of white spaces for broadband is suited for rural states, Barlow wrote, because the signals pass through walls and trees, making broadband signals available in more isolated parts of the very rural state. A study released by the FCC found that these white spaces could be used for broadband without harming television signals.

Observers say there is an even chance that the FCC will delay its vote on the white spaces issue. Television broadcasters oppose the use of white spaces for broadband. Microsoft and Google favor opening white spaces to broadband providers.

The abuse of opiates is a harrowing problem in parts of rural America. So is addiction treatment. In a letter to the professional journal Psychiatric Services, a doctor in Golden, Colorado, describes how he has been working with rural patients through telepsychiatry. "Over the past two years, I have treated approximately 40 opioid-dependent patients from communities throughout Colorado, all of whom were seen exclusively via telepsychiatry from their own homes or offices," writes Dr. Douglas M. Ikelheimer.

Ikelheimer is among the "relatively small number "of physicians certified to prescribe buprenorphine, a drug recently approved to manage dependence on opiates. Using fairly inexpensive video-conferencing software (like iChat and Skype), he is able to diagnose patients and monitor their conditions, working in conjunction with local doctors, laboratories, and pharmacists. Patients with home computers, Webcams, and the high-speed Internet access they require, can take advantage of this treatment.

"As this process becomes more widely accepted by physicians, patients, and the insurance industry," he writes, "it may well represent the long-sought realization of the potential for telepsychiatry as an efficacious and cost-saving modality with far-reaching implications."

"It's not rocket science, and it doesn't cost a tremendous amount of money" -- How often do you hear those two statements in one breath, when the subject's rural health care? But that's how Ann Rathke of North Dakota University, Fargo, described the state's telepharmacy program.

With rural pharmacies closing all over the state, the legislature amended strict laws on pharmacies in 2001 and opened the way for, now, 67 telepharmacy centers. Dave Kolpack reported on the program for AP, focusing on Arthur, N.D. "Pharmacy technicians" validate prescriptions with full-fledged pharamacists via remote cameras. "Once the prescription is approved, patients have a mandatory private consultation with pharmacists through real-time video and audio."

Texas, Vermont, Wyoming, and other states are considering adopting such a system, an alternative for rural patients who otherwise would have to travel long distances for medicine or order drugs through the mail. According to Rathke, purchasing and installing the necessary equipment for each telepharmacy in North Dakota has cost about $18,000.