PRESIDENT OBAMA TO HOLD TOWNHALL ON FACEBOOK

The White House has announced the Commander in Chief's plans to hold a live streaming Town Hall meeting from Facebook HQ with Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg. The event is set for 1:45PM PST April 20th, and already has 3,400 attendees lined up. Users are encouraged to submit their questions about innovation and the economy via the event's Facebook page, and the comments are already rolling in.

PRESIDENT'S PLAN TO RAISE $28 BILLION AND BRING 4G TO EVERYONE

President Obama announced a plan today to free up 500 MHz worth of spectrum for wireless Internet and mobile network use over the next 10 years. Alleged crowding of the spectrum has been a concern for some time, but Obama hopes to incentivize current users to give up the chunks of spectrum they occupy by giving them a cut of the spectrum's sale at auction, and then using some of that money to reimburse the rollout of wireless and 4G to 98 percent of the country.

By letting the current owners (read: broadcast TV stations) of needed or unused spectrum volunteer their frequencies for auction, Obama hopes to raise funds in the neighborhood of $27.8 billion. He hopes this will offset some of the investments he wants to make in mobile and wireless: $5 billion would go to investment in building out 4G networks into rural areas, $3 billion would go to 4G-related research and development, $10.7 billion would go to building a wireless public safety network, and the balance would go toward paying down the deficit.

Of course, the desired frequencies may not draw that much at auction, and potential buyers like AT&T or Sprint are big enough in size and small enough in number that they could hold out against high prices. Selling frequencies will also be voluntary, at least at first, so it may be tough to get owners to give them up.

The government is doing its part to make sure the program is well on its way: Obama announced that the government will start by freeing up 115 MHz of federal spectrum by using frequencies more efficiently, and it plans to open another 95 MHz the same way.

But space and access to wireless or mobile connections may not be the problem; Free Press research director S. Derek Turner notes that "according to the FCC's own data, 98 percent of households in the United States already have access to wireless broadband service, while less than one-third subscribe to it." Nothing in the plan encourages them to adopt it, Turner said.

OBAMA CALLS FOR $53 BILLION HIGH SPEED RAIL NETWORK

President Barack Obama is calling for a six-year, $53 billion spending plan for high-speed rail, as he seeks to use infrastructure spending to jump-start job creation.

An initial $8 billion in spending will be part of the budget plan Obama is set to release Monday. If Congress approves the plan, the money would go toward developing or improving trains that travel up to 250 mph, and connecting existing rail lines to new projects. The White House wouldn't say where the money for the rest of the program would come from, though it's likely Obama would seek funding in future budgets or transportation bills.

Obama's push for high-speed rail spending is part of his broad goal of creating jobs in the short-term and increasing American competitiveness for the future through new funding for infrastructure, education and innovation. During last month's State of the Union address, Obama said he wanted to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail within 25 years.

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WANTING TO CREATE NATIONAL INTERNET ID PROGRAM

The Obama administration is moving forward with creating a National Internet ID program. The program plans to give every American an online ID as part of an ambitious, and very ambigious, cybersecurity initiative headed up by the U.S. Commerce Department.

According to Commerce Sec. Gary Locke, the program won't be about national id cards or expanding the government, but will provide every U.S. citizen an ID they can use to sign into multiple sites, pages and platforms. Unfortunately, his explanation doesn't really say much and just leads to more questions.

Officially called the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, the program is expected to solidify over the next few months so hopefully there will be more to report in the spring. [CBS News]