| By Drew Broach | Deputy metro editor
OFFLINE: From rural villages to inner cities, high-speed internet is unreachable for thousands of Louisiana residents. Now the state government has a plan - and some money - to make the connection. The Office of Broadband Development and Connectivity plans to divvy up $90 million among 23 companies seeking to provide service to 215,000 homes and 14,000 businesses in 58 of Louisiana's 64 parishes.
CONTAMINATION: A severely corroded pipeline ruptured and spilled more than 300,000 gallons of diesel fuel in wetlands just outside Chalmette, according to federal records. The spilled fuel contaminated soil and created a large pool of diesel in an environmentally sensitive area just a few hundred feet from the Mississippi River.
NOW WE'RE LONELY: Music lost a Dixie Cup this week. Rosa Lee Hawkins, one of the original singers in New Orleans rhythm & blues vocal trio the Dixie Cups, died Tuesday at Tampa General Hospital in Florida. The group hit No. 1 with "Chapel of Love" in 1964, a year after its future manager "discovered" the trio at a citywide talent show hosted by St. Augustine High School, and also scored with "Iko Iko," "People Say," "You Should Have Seen the Way He Looked at Me" and "Little Bell." Hawkins was 76.
Thanks for starting your day with us. Check the latest news all day on NOLA.com. D.B. | 
