Governor Kay Ivey was in Hamilton Thursday, May 3, along with Congressman Robert Aderholt and the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to announce a USDA grant of almost $3 million to Tombigbee Communications (a subsidiary of Tombigbee Electric Cooperative) for rural broadband internet expansion. Tombigbee has been marketing its broadband service under the name Freedom Fiber. The company has been actively stringing fiber optic cable to homes in Hamilton and Winfield for the past several months. Plans are to expand the coverage to the Haleyville area sometime later this year.