A District of Columbia councilmember shared concerns about social media’s impact on gun violence with tech CEOs of X, Snap, Meta, TikTok and Alphabet. In a letter Friday, D.C. Judiciary and Public Safety Chairwoman Brooke Pinto (D) asked for the “companies’ partnership to play a responsible and focused role in removing dangerous content to keep our communities safe.” Gun violence in the District is “distressingly high,” Pinto wrote. “A number of factors have contributed to this uptick in gun violence, but one that stands out is the impact of social media in spurring incidents of violence.” A recent National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform report “concluded that the motive behind many shootings … is not a traditional gang war but rather interpersonal conflict that often stems from ‘the now ubiquitous social media slight,’” said Pinto. The tech companies didn’t comment.

Allied Telecom Group is too late to challenge a 2015 procurement in which the District of Columbia Public Schools selected the D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) DC-Net program to provide E-rate services, the city said Friday at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (case 1:22-cv-00653-CJN). Last month, Allied said it sought to block the “cozy relationship” between D.C. Public Schools and OCTO. Seeking summary judgment against the telecom company and opposing summary judgment against itself, D.C. wrote: “This is a procurement dispute that could have -- and should have -- been raised in the proper forum at the proper time.” Allied waited seven years to sue, the District said. Also, the Telecom Act precludes “equitable private enforcement of the competitive bidding requirements of the E-rate program,” D.C. said. “But even if that were not the case, Plaintiff is not entitled to summary judgment because it fails to demonstrate any conflict between the federal requirements of the E-rate program and District procurement law generally or the 2015 bidding process related to the E-rate program specifically.”

AT&T is nearing a settlement with the Utah Division of Public Utilities and Utah Rural Telecom Association (URTA) related to the carrier’s $2.26 million overpayment to the state USF. AT&T assessed a higher surcharge than the PSC required for two years (see 2405280028). On Wednesday, the Utah Public Service Commission approved an AT&T motion suspending docket 24-087-02 deadlines except for a hearing scheduled Aug. 13. AT&T, URTA and the division “engaged in settlement negotiations and hope to resolve disputes in this docket through further negotiations and present a settlement stipulation to the Commission” at the Aug. 13 hearing, AT&T said. The parties are “optimistic that a negotiated resolution can be reached,” it said.

Consolidated Communications received Maine’s OK on the telco’s deal with Condor Holdings. The Maine Public Utilities Commission approved a stipulated settlement among Consolidated, Condor, the Maine Office Public Advocate, the Maine Connectivity Authority and the Telecom Association of Maine in a Thursday order in docket 2023-00327. Under the stipulation, Consolidated agreed to extend until August 2026 an existing freeze on provider of last resort rates. Among other pledges, the company said it will offer next year a 50 Mbps symmetrical broadband service for $25 monthly with a customer-supplied router or $35 with a company-supplied router, with that rate applying for at least 12 months. While the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers didn’t participate in the agreement, the PUC found the included parties represented “a sufficiently broad spectrum of interests.” Also, the agreed resolution “provides net benefits to Consolidated’s ratepayers,” the PUC said. In Vermont, the state's PUC held an evidentiary hearing on the same deal Wednesday (docket 23-4353-PET). The New Hampshire PUC is scheduled to hear testimony July 23-24. Charter Communications withdrew from all three state reviews last month (see 2406210040).

California will spend about $88.5 million on last-mile broadband projects using federal funding from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, the California Public Utilities Commission decided at a Thursday meeting. Commissioners voted 5-0 for resolution T-17826 to spend $44.1 million on unserved areas in Imperial, Lassen and Plumas counties. They also voted unanimously for resolution T-17829 to spend $44.4 million on unserved areas in Alameda, San Francisco and Sierra counties, including an Oakland project that especially received support from local officials and community groups in comments during the meeting. Awardees included Golden State Connect Authority and Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications and the cities of Oakland, Fremont and San Francisco. The CPUC proposed the resolutions last month (see 2406070073). "These projects are a shining example of our state's broadband-for-all values and objectives," CPUC President Alice Reynolds at the livestreamed meeting said. She praised the approved projects for exceeding the program's 100 Mbps symmetrical requirements and for focusing on connecting low-income and disadvantaged communities. A top state legislator recently criticized the CPUC for not rolling out last-mile grants faster (see 2406050065). Thursday’s resolutions awarding federal funding account support are the CPUC's first since the agency received 484 applications requesting $4.6 billion from the $2 billion program in January, Executive Director Rachel Peterson said. The commission plans a vote at its Aug. 1 meeting on another resolution that would include $95 million in proposed grants (see 2407010037). Before the meeting, the commission delayed until Aug. 1 voting on a proposed decision related to ratemaking for small local exchange carriers (see 2406070027).

Maryland is the 17th U.S. jurisdiction to get NTIA clearance for volume two of its initial plan for the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program. NTIA’s approval means the state may now access its $267 million allocation, the federal agency said Wednesday. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) applauded the news. NTIA has approved entire initial plans for 15 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. Indiana received the OK Monday (see 2407080022).

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied rehearing en banc a Voting Rights Act case involving the Georgia Public Service Commission. The denial by a majority of 11th Circuit judges follows the U.S. Supreme Court rejecting a petition for certiorari from a group of Black voters challenging Georgia's election methods (see 2406240041). An 11th Circuit panel said earlier this year that elections must remain statewide for the Georgia PSC’s five members, who represent five separate districts. Three 11th Circuit judges dissented from the en banc rehearing decision: Charles Wilson, Robin Rosenbaum and Jill Pryor. Judge Nancy Abudu recused herself. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act "provides a necessary mechanism for challenging state and local electoral schemes that deny voters equal participation in the political process to elect representatives of their choice,” Wilson wrote in his dissent. “In its reversal of the district court's well-reasoned opinion, the panel improperly narrows [section] 2, eroding the guarantees of the Voting Rights Act." Rosenbaum noted that the 11th Circuit panel didn't disagree that "the existing PSC elections result in racial bloc voting that prevents Black voters in Georgia from electing their preferred candidates to the PSC"; however, it ruled against the petitioners because their proposed remedy isn't the same as the state's electoral system. But given that the state's existing system isn't equally open "to Black voters, that's the point,” Rosenbaum said: The panel opinion "ignores binding and long-standing law governing Section 2 cases," inappropriately extends court precedent and "replaces the appropriate framework for Section 2 challenges with its own single-minded test." Petitioners’ attorney, Brian Sells, emailed, “We're still reviewing today's opinions and haven't made any decisions about next steps yet.” Georgia didn’t comment.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D) vetoed a digital equity bill Tuesday. Last month, Green raised fairness concerns about HB-2359, saying it would stunt development of smaller, community-based networks in historically disadvantaged communities (see 2406240030).

Global InterXchange’s (GIX) dark fiber route across the Hudson River is operational, the company announced Tuesday. It said the link is the first privately owned wired line between New York and New Jersey in more than 20 years. It connects telecommunications hubs at 60 Hudson St. in Manhattan and 165 Halsey St., Newark. The route was created in collaboration with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and “sets a new standard for connectivity across the Hudson River,” said GIX President Joe Falco.

Missouri's bill exempting streaming services from paying separate local use fees on top of those already levied on video service providers (HB-2057) was signed into law Tuesday, said Gov. Mike Parson (R). DirecTV, which has lobbied against such fees at statehouses, said Missouri was the 14th state adopting such legislation.