The Agriculture Department is handing out nearly $310 million in stimulus money to bring high-speed Internet connections to 14 rural communities around the country.

Monday's awards are the latest — and largest — round of government funding for broadband to be announced since Congress included $7.2 billion for high-speed networks and adoption programs in last year's stimulus bill.

The money is intended to bring jobs and economic opportunities to rural communities, poor neighborhoods and other parts of the country that are falling behind in the information age. It is also intended to pay for the network infrastructure needed to deliver telemedicine services, offer online classes and provide other applications that require a lot of bandwidth.