Wireless carriers disagree with public safety over some FCC proposals for revised requirements for wireless emergency alerts, based on comments to the FCC. The Further NPRM, approved 4-0 in April, proposes to require participating providers to ensure mobile devices can translate alerts into the 13 most commonly spoken languages in the U.S. aside from English, to send thumbnail-sized images in WEA messages, and other changes (see 2304200040). Comments were due Friday in docket 15-94.

The U.S. Supreme Court should “unequivocally abandon” the contemporary Chevron deference doctrine “because it contradicts Articles I, II, and III of the Constitution,” said an amicus brief (docket 22-451) in support of the petitioners in Loper Bright v. Raimondo submitted Monday by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., and 34 other Republican members of Congress.

By offering over six motions as bases for dismissal, Old Dominion Freight Line filed a “kitchen sink” motion, said plaintiffs John Kararo, Sean Walker, Tri Minh La and Melvyn Caison in their Tuesday response (docket 1:23-cv-02187) to the company’s June motion to dismiss (see 2306200038) their privacy lawsuit in U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago. Plaintiffs also seek to file a proposed third amended complaint, the filing said.

The FCC contacted the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality and the EPA about their plans about health and environmental risks from lead-sheathed cables used by AT&T and Verizon, which report earnings this week. USTelecom said Friday the telecom industry is working to better understand the extent of the problem (see 2307210056). The cables received lawmaker, industry and public attention after The Wall Street Journal reported this month about telcos, including AT&T and Verizon, having left lead cables underground, underwater and on poles nationwide.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel should act quickly to raise video relay service rates before July 31, said Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-New Mexico, in a letter Wednesday. “I urge the FCC to adopt updated rates this month, and in doing so, account for inflation since the last rate setting,” Lujan said. “Providers cannot afford another year, let alone another quarter, of stagnant reimbursement levels despite rising costs.” VRS providers have face record high inflation and the FCC hasn’t set new rates since 2017, the letter said. The “frozen rates” left VRS providers “struggling” to raise rates for their interpreters and limited their ability to improve their technology to keep pace with advancements in E911 and videoconferencing, Lujan said. “There are roughly 3000 deaf and hard-of-hearing people in New Mexico, and approximately 10 million across the United States,” said the letter. “These Americans deserve the same access to these lifeline services as everyone else.” The FCC received and is reviewing the letter, an agency spokesperson told us.

The FCC and the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) are partnering on a trial of georouting calls to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, the commission said Thursday as commissioners approved 988 outage reporting requirements 4-0, as expected (see 2307130010). Commissioners also unanimously approved an order allowing 14 FM6 stations to broadcast analog signals as an ancillary service and an order giving tribal libraries and other E-rate participants greater access to funding.

The four network affiliate associations are backing a new advocacy group to push the FCC and lawmakers to classify streaming services as MVPDs, said a news release and new website Tuesday from a newly formed coalition. “The Coalition for Local News is dedicated to the belief that local news is essential to the well-being of local communities across the nation and is a vital pillar of American democracy,” said the release, which discusses the disparity between retransmission consent rules for MVPDs versus streaming services. "The market has evolved dramatically and it's time for lawmakers and regulators to act to protect local broadcast news," the release said. The affiliate groups and other broadcasters -- with the support of some lawmakers -- have long called for the FCC to reopen a 2014 proceeding on classifying streaming services as MVPDs (see 2306230062). The FCC’s recent announcement it will refresh the record on carriage rules (see 2307120072) is “an acknowledgment of the need to modernize video regulations in light of a changing marketplace,” the release said. The coalition “will be engaged in an array of advocacy efforts, including working with groups that recognize the vital importance of local news and urging them to get involved in this debate,” the release said. DirecTV pushed back on calls to reopen the virtual MVPD proceeding in an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 14-261. DirecTV is in the midst of a transmission consent dispute with Nexstar, and in the filing condemned the broadcaster for blacking out CW Network programming for DirecTV on both its own and Sinclair-owned stations. “Nexstar’s conduct shows that affiliates’ attempt to regulate online providers has never really been about 'preserving local broadcasting' or anything else of the sort," DirecTV said. “Affiliates simply want the government to give them leverage against the networks.” The “very last thing anybody should want to do is extend today’s dysfunctional retransmission consent market -- one whose dysfunction is caused largely by Nexstar -- into the online marketplace,” DirecTV said. "Nexstar is and always has been in full compliance with FCC regulations, and the allegations raised by DIRECTV in today’s filing are without merit," said a Nexstar spokesperson.

Congress should pass federal right-to-repair legislation to supersede ill-equipped state laws that will soon become obsolete, advocates told House Judiciary Committee members Tuesday.

A group of commercial fishing companies is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to do away with the Chevron doctrine, in a brief filed Monday in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. Many observers consider SCOTUS likely to eliminate or severely limit Chevron deference (see 2306290063). The lead lawyer on the brief (docket 22-451) is Paul Clement, U.S. solicitor general under George W. Bush.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative exceeded its authority in imposing the lists 3 and 4A Section 301 tariffs on China, covering a total of $320 billion worth of Chinese imports, plaintiff-appellants in the massive case against the duties, led by HTMX Industries and Jasco Products Co., argued in their opening brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Appealing the Court of International Trade's decision upholding the tariffs (see 2204010061), the companies said USTR did not have the authority to set the duties since the authority was not directly delegated by Congress, in violation of the "major questions doctrine" (HMTX Industries v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1891).