[imgbelt img=broadbandcover.png]The big broadband news of the day, of course, is the unveiling of the Federal Communication Commission’s national broadband plan. The plan will be released today (right now — 9:46 Central — in fact) at an open meeting of the commission. See it here.  Or get more detail on the plan here.  In the next few days, we’ll have a more detailed analysis of what the plan could mean for Rural America.In the meantime, the Washington Post reports that the FCC will tap the universal phone service fund to provide $8 billion a year to extend broadband service. “In the past, rural carriers that rely on the fund successfully opposed attempts by lawmakers and the agency to redirect its resources,” reports the Washington Post’s Cecilia King. “The FCC plan proposes more than $20 billion in new government spending, including $12 billion to $16 billion for a new wireless network for police and firefighters and ‘a few billion dollars per year over two or three years’ for broadband lines in rural areas,” writes the Wall Street Journal’s Amy Schatz.