In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy famously says, "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," after being transported to a fantastic new world. Today's Kansas City Star looks at how the town of Buhler, Kansas has found a way to deliver its own residents to a new world of economic and educational opportunities by bringing them high-speed Internet access. Local Internet service provider IdeaTek has helped fill the gap, helping Buhler's businesses compete online and connecting homes to education, healthcare and commercial outlets previously unavailable:

“It allows us to operate as if we’re just down the street from you no matter where you are,” said Gary Wolfer, the company’s director of technical services.

Such is the power of bringing high-speed Internet to rural America — a difference that can dramatically level the playing field between city and countryside, that can deliver specialized medicine to places that can’t recruit medical specialists, that can open university instruction to people who can’t come to a campus.

Read the full story here.