Roger Hannigan Gilson and Katie Kocijanski are reporting in the Register-Star U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said Wed., May 11, he will seek to retrieve untapped federal funds to expand broadband service in New York. The funding was scheduled to be rerouted to other states after Verizon Wireless failed to use the money in New York. The funding came from the Federal Communications Commission’s Connect America Fund. The six-year award, totaling $170 million, was intended to expand broadband service to rural areas. The money was offered to Fairpoint Communications, Frontier Communications, Verizon Wireless and Windstream, Schumer said. The reason behind Verizon’s failure to use the federal funds is unknown, Schumer said. The Connect America Fund money was available for the eastern two-thirds of Columbia County and the area of Greene County that borders Delaware County, according to the FCC. Columbia and Greene counties have the worst broadband coverage in New York, according to July 2014 data from the state Broadband Program Office. Read the full story in the Register-Star.