The Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Commerce initiated an audit of FirstNet, said a letter sent in December to the FirstNet board secretary. The audit will evaluate FirstNet's processes for entering into, monitoring and closing its interagency agreements, the letter said.
Connected Nation Exchange received a contract to work on behalf of Warren County, Kentucky, to help provide fiber-based broadband services throughout the county, said a news release from CNX Wednesday. CNX will develop technical and financial models to find the best path for establishing public-private partnerships to invest in infrastructure and provide broadband services to county residents, businesses and community anchor institutions such as schools, libraries and public safety agencies, it said. The effort was accelerated by the start of construction of the state's new KentuckyWired middle mile network, which is designed to provide every Kentucky county faster, cheaper high-speed networks locally, it said.
The Arizona Supreme Court chose not to consider a case seeking the removal of former Arizona Corporation Commissioner Susan Bitter Smith because her resignation rendered the effort by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) irrelevant, said minutes from the court. Brnovich had wanted Bitter Smith removed, saying her work for Southwest Cable Communications Association was a conflict of interest making her ineligible for office. Bitter Smith resigned last month (see 1512180034) -- effective Monday -- because the case was “causing great distraction” from the commission’s work. “The Court’s refusal is not a victory for the AG," she said in a statement Tuesday. "The issue of whether a conflict arises from relationships with those businesses that are affiliated with regulated businesses remains alive. This question will cause concern for every candidate for the [commission] and for the businesses that have affiliates regulated by the [commission].” Brnovich said in a statement that he wouldn’t have moved forward with the case if he and the other people in his office didn’t believe Bitter Smith had a clear conflict of interest. "After Bitter Smith’s resignation, we asked the Arizona Supreme Court to dismiss the Petition for Special Action because the conflict no longer existed," he said.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) is partnering with the Department of Homeland Security to strengthen the protection of critical infrastructure and government services, a Wednesday news release from his office said. Inslee signed an executive order creating a state Office of Privacy and Data Protection, it said. Both were announced at the Governor’s Summit on Cyber Security and Privacy in Seattle, the release said. The DHS partnership is a pilot to develop a "playbook of critical infrastructure defense strategies" that states and local governments can adopt, Inslee's office said. DHS and the state Office of Cyber Security will establish an advisory board of experts from government, critical infrastructure providers and intelligence organizations to guide development of the playbook. The Office of Privacy and Data Protection will build on work being done by state Chief Privacy Officer Alex Alben, Inslee's office said. The office will provide privacy training and best practices to state agencies as well as consumer outreach and education for Washington state residents, it said.
Hawaii's initial consultation meeting with FirstNet focused on natural disasters, the challenges that exist in being an island state and having predominantly rural demographics, said a Wednesday blog post from FirstNet. More than 80 public safety representatives from Hawaii met with the FirstNet team. Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) said the consultation was an opportunity to discuss building a network that will let state responders fulfill their public safety missions, the post said. A case study presented on Hurricane Iselle showed the need for the state and counties to get communications to the many areas without commercial cellular coverage, the post said. It also proved there's considerable support for the nationwide public safety broadband network to address some of the state’s coverage needs, the post said.
NARUC has petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to review the FCC's June decision giving interconnected VoIP providers direct access to phone numbers (see 1506180060). The FCC ignored the plain text and the structure of the Telecom Act by extending the rights and obligations of telecom common carriers to unclassified service providers, the state regulatory group said. "The FCC has fomented a host of potentially unnecessary proceedings and litigation over the scope of NARUC's member State commissions both with respect to numbering conservation and a range of other issues." The FCC did not immediately comment Tuesday.
The South Washington County Telecommunications Commission plans a hearing 7 p.m. Jan. 28 in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, as part of the cable-TV franchise process, said a SWCTC notice Monday. The hearing will include representatives from CenturyLink, which applied for a cable franchise in the commission's area. SWCTC is a Minnesota municipal joint powers commission including the cities of Cottage Grove, Grey Cloud Island Township, Newport, St. Paul Park and Woodbury. The commission set the hearing to allow interested persons and organizations to comment on the recommended cable franchise.
A 36-hour fall test of a public safety LTE band 14 demonstration network involved more than 200 people, including state and federal law enforcement officers and special agents from Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), Colorado State Patrol, Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, and Idaho Springs Police Department, said a blog post from FirstNet Monday. Colorado’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) and the CPW installed the temporary network in support of a hunter checkpoint along a chain-up area in the Idaho Springs, Colorado, area, it said. The network provided a convenient method of data entry using touch-screens and barcode scanning through smartphones that had wireless connections to local servers supporting multiple databases with no outside connectivity, said FirstNet. The band 14 demonstration network is an early example of a vehicular network system showing the value of these types of platforms in isolated locations, where a large contingent of public safety personnel require interoperable communication support, said FirstNet.
The new proposed Oklahoma map for Lifeline meets the needs of the Sac and Fox Nation, the Native American tribe said in a letter to the FCC Wireline Bureau and the Office of Native Affairs and Policy posted Thursday in docket 11-42. The concerns the tribal nation expressed during an FCC initial consultation meeting were addressed and included in the latest map, Sac and Fox said. Companies such as Cox Communications asked the FCC to extend the Feb. 9 deadline for implementing the new map so Lifeline providers in the state can implement the rule change correctly (see 1512220043).
Jupiter Broadband is launching wireless Internet in rural and suburban Florida and Georgia, and, through a strategic partnership, in similar communities nationwide, a news release from Jupiter said. All told, the coverage area served by the Jupiter Broadband network will be almost 50,000 square miles, the release said. Jupiter Broadband has both residential and dedicated business Internet service. Jupiter Broadband is also in negotiations for the construction of four more fixed wireless towers that would give the company expanded coverage in Georgia and Alabama, the release said.