With three months to go before the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline begins accepting calls and texts via 988, promotion and efforts at raising public awareness will be decentralized, with a national campaign geared to the public possible next year. 988 services are to be available nationwide effective July 16. The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) told us 988 won't be available nationally before then, so it recommends not promoting its use to the public in advance.
A coalition of advocacy groups asked the FCC to condition any extension for providers on applying the affordable connectivity program benefit to any of their plans "on necessity and not convenience," in comments posted Wednesday in docket 21-450. Groups including National Consumer Law Center, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, National Digital Inclusion Alliance, Next Century Cities, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, Public Knowledge and MediaJustice submitted comments in response to petitions filed by AT&T (see 2203290046) seeking 120 additional days, and the Competitive Carriers Association (see 2204010040) seeking 60 days. "It is both disappointing and unfortunate that so many of the larger providers are seeking an extension on one of the main advantages of the ACP over [the emergency broadband benefit program]," the groups said. If a provider can "demonstrate that timely compliance is not feasible," the FCC should require that provider to notify existing and new ACP customers about their extension and allow customers to apply their benefit to any participating provider's service, the groups said. Providers with an extension should also list the new date that they would start complying with the rule, provide notice that the benefit is portable and instructions on how to port the benefit, and provide information about the ACP complaint process, they said.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and his Mexican counterpart said they have a plan to finalize "expanded access to the entire Mexican market no later than May 15 for all U.S. table stock and chipping potatoes according to the agreed workplan."
Konstantin Malofeyev, a Russian oligarch, was charged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York with violating U.S. sanctions in his efforts to establish television networks in Russia and Greece and acquire a television network in Bulgaria, DOJ announced April 6. Malofeyev is charged with conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions and violations of U.S. sanctions relating to the hiring of U.S. citizen and television producer Jack Hanick to set up the networks. Malofeyev allegedly transferred a $10 million investment from a U.S. bank to a business associate in Greece in violation of the U.S. asset freeze on the oligarch.
Konstantin Malofeyev, a Russian oligarch, was charged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York with violating U.S. sanctions in his efforts to establish television networks in Russia and Greece and acquire a television network in Bulgaria, DOJ announced April 6. Malofeyev is charged with conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions and violations of U.S. sanctions relating to the hiring of U.S. citizen and television producer Jack Hanick to set up the networks. Malofeyev allegedly transferred a $10 million investment from a U.S. bank to a business associate in Greece in violation of the U.S. asset freeze on the oligarch.
Trade groups want the FCC to continue a flexible approach to accessibility rules, but consumer groups want Congress to expand the agency’s authority to keep up with shifts in technology, said comments filed by Monday’s deadline in docket 10-213 responding to the FCC’s call for feedback on accessibility under the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (see 2202170052). The CVAA requires the FCC to create a biennial report to Congress on progress in technology access.
Trade groups want the FCC to continue a flexible approach to accessibility rules, but consumer groups want Congress to expand the agency’s authority to keep up with shifts in technology, said comments filed by Monday’s deadline in docket 10-213 responding to the FCC’s call for feedback on accessibility under the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (see 2202170052). The CVAA requires the FCC to create a biennial report to Congress on progress in technology access.
If the Bureau of Industry and Security’s new undersecretary doesn’t quickly prove he can make progress on export controls for foundational technologies, Congress should consider moving the authority to a different agency, said Derek Scissors, a China economics expert with the American Enterprise Institute. Although lawmakers have previously threatened to revoke BIS’s authority under the Export Control Reform Act (see 2111170064 and 2110250035), Scissors said they should wait to first hear whether newly confirmed undersecretary Alan Estevez has a plan to speed up the agency, which has been criticized for moving too slowly on the controls.
The administration should continue to levy new sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for human rights abuses, including a permanent ban on exports of crowd-control equipment to Hong Kong police, the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China said in a report last week.
Three years after Amazon’s effort to build a second headquarters in New York were quashed, partly over unionization concerns, the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), founded in Staten Island, New York, became Amazon’s first union Friday in a 2,654-2,131 vote.