Zayo took over support responsibilities and network oversight of Colorado intergovernmental broadband provider EAGLE-Net Alliance, the company said in news release Friday. Zayo Treasurer Scott Reardon told us that the agreement "doesn't have anything to do" with the suspension of a $100 million federal grant to expand educational broadband in the state given to EAGLE-Net, after issues with the project and much congressional scrutiny (see 1212100042). Reardon said that Zayo is stepping in as a "natural partner" for EAGLE-Net and is "in discussions about [further] expanding the partnership." EAGLE-Net didn't respond to a request for comment.

Mayor Bill de Blasio Thursday said New York City will be investing up to $10 million in providing free broadband services for Housing Authority developments in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. The program comes two months after the Democratic mayor promised to invest $70 million in achieving universal broadband by 2025. The investment "in free, high-speed Internet access in NYCHA developments across the city is part of that commitment, is part of building out a city where there is truly broadband access for all," de Blasio said, according to a transcript of the speech posted online. The effort is going to reach more than 16,000 people living in public housing, he said.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission extended to Aug. 13 the reply deadline on possible revisions to 911 rules in response to recent legislation as well as events that affected 911 network reliability in Colorado, including recent catastrophic fires and floods (see 1505290056), said a notice from the PUC mailed on Thursday.

TeleCommunication Systems received a contract to provide Maryland's Department of Human Resources with statewide technical operations support services, said a company news release Friday. TCS is headquartered in the state. The contract base-award term is three years with two one-year options, which if exercised have a total contract value of $11.3 million, it said.

New York's geographic diversity -- from dense urban areas in the east and south, to suburbs moving west, to rural conditions in central and upstate -- represents a full range of coverage needs and conditions that should be considered when building out the nationwide public safety broadband network (NPSBN), said Dave Buchanan, FirstNet director-state consultation in a blog about the organization's initial consultation meeting in New York. Among the discussions at the meeting was how interoperable communications and data sharing can benefit first responders in the early moments of an incident, he said. It also featured a number of briefings about the importance of having access to voice, video and data services during emergencies and about incidents from a variety of jurisdictions, Buchanan said. The meeting gave FirstNet additional information on what New York considers its top priorities as the group moves to implement the NPSBN, he said.

The FCC’s Connect2Health Task Force plans events Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 in Jacksonville and Miami to show how broadband-enabled health technologies can "transform health and care for seniors, children and people with disabilities," said a public notice from the FCC. The events are part of the task force’s “Beyond the Beltway Series” to reach out broadly about how broadband technologies and next-generation communications services can improve access to healthcare services throughout the country, especially in rural and underserved areas, it said. The FCC will partner with the Mayo Clinic and AARP for the events, which will feature Chairman Tom Wheeler, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and the Connect2HealthFCC Task Force, it said. The trip will also include a site visit to the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Telehealth Command Center to explore a telehealth operation, the notice said.

The FTC filed a joint complaint with the Florida Attorney General charging New York-based Lifewatch with using "blatantly illegal and deceptive robocalls to trick older consumers into signing up for medical alert systems with monthly monitoring fees," a news release from the FTC said Monday. The U.S. District Court in Orlando late last month halted an Orlando-based operation that the FTC and Florida Office of the Attorney General said "bombard[ed] consumers" with "massive robocall campaigns designed to trick them into paying up-front for worthless credit card interest rate reduction programs" (see 1506290049). Since 2012 Lifewatch has been bombarding consumers -- primarily elderly consumers -- with millions of unsolicited robocalls, the complaint said. Last year one of Lifewatch’s telemarketing firms, Worldwide Info Services, agreed to be banned from making robocalls or engaging in other deceptive conduct, to settle charges brought by the FTC and the state of Florida, the release said. The FTC and Florida's AG allege that Lifewatch knew of, and is responsible for, the illegal activities in that case, and that Lifewatch simply continued its telemarketing campaign using a variety of other telemarketers after Worldwide was shut down, the release said. “This company violated the Do Not Call Registry to deceive seniors, not only in Florida but across the country,” state Attorney General Pam Bondi said. The agencies are seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the defendants’ use of illegal robocalls and deceptive telemarketing claims, plus funds for eventual restitution to victims. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court in Chicago, one of the locations where the firm does business.

Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications filed a joint application July 2 to execute a transfer and encumbrance with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, said a notice from the commission. Anyone who wants to intervene in or participate as a party in the proceeding needs to file a petition for leave to intervene, or under the commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, file other appropriate pleadings to become a party, within 30 days after the date of the notice, the filing said. Commission staff must file any objection, notice of intervention or other appropriate pleading within seven days after the notice expires, it said.

With the addition of Boise, Idaho, the Next Century Cities initiative has reached 100 communities, said a blog post from the organization. Next Century Cities is a bipartisan initiative of mayors and city leaders dedicated to ensuring the availability of next-generation broadband across the country, the post said. "As momentum grows around gigabit-level Internet, more mayors and municipal leaders are joining together to show what’s happening in their communities and to join together to help one another realize the full power of truly high-speed, affordable, and accessible broadband," it said.

The FBI is investigating the Tuesday cutting of a group of three fiber cables in Alameda County, California, as part of a series of 11 fiber cable-cutting incidents across the San Francisco Bay Area over the past year, a spokesman confirmed Thursday. Level 3 Communications and Zayo Group have both said their cables were affected in the Alameda County incident and that they restored service by Wednesday. The perpetrator of the Alameda County incident is believed to have accessed the cables through a manhole, the FBI spokesman said. Outages caused by the Alameda County incident and the other 10 cable-cutting incidents have been concentrated in the Bay Area but have stretched to as far away as Sacramento, the FBI spokesman said. The FBI has noticed similarities among the 11 cable-cutting incidents, the spokesman said. The FBI sought the public’s help last month in identifying the perpetrators in the 10 earlier cable-cutting incidents, which occurred between July 6, 2014, and June 9. Five of the 10 incidents occurred in Fremont, while two others occurred in Walnut Creek. The FBI in June said the perpetrators “may appear to be normal telecommunications maintenance workers or possess tools consistent with that job role.”