COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Council Bluffs has received equipment that will allow it to move forward with plans to offer wireless Internet throughout the city. The Daily Nonpareil reports that the city and its school district agreed to partner months ago in expanding Wi-Fi access from the current, few hotspots that are scattered throughout the community.

Mark Howard who serves as the city’s chief information official says the goal is to give students who may not have access to the Internet the ability to use it for homework or other projects. Most of the students have been issued a laptop by their schools. Howard hopes the Wi-Fi expansion project will finish this year. The first phase of the expansion will occur in the neighborhood around a middle school.