Federated Wireless executives discussed the need for changes to the citizens broadband radio service rules in a meeting with staff from the FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology, said a filing posted Monday in docket 17-258. Federated officials discussed “several practical, near-term improvements that can be readily implemented” in the band.
NASHVILLE -- State broadband officials and broadband industry executives repeatedly voiced frustration Monday at Fiber Connect 2025 about BEAD's state of limbo. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's testimony Thursday before the House Appropriations Committee on his department's FY 2026 budget request might give states and providers stronger direction, said Lori Adams, Nokia's vice president-broadband policy and funding strategy, at the Fiber Broadband Association's annual trade show and conference. But concrete guidance from Commerce and NTIA will almost surely take longer, she added. Also at Fiber Connect 2025, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, D-Wash., said the U.S. is squatting on much of its spectrum holdings (see 2506020012).
The Trump administration proposed an increase in the FCC’s annual funding for FY 2026 but simultaneously sought in its budget request, released Friday night, to cut appropriations for NTIA and Agriculture Department broadband programs, including ReConnect. It also confirmed plans to rescind much of CPB’s advance funding for FY26 and FY27 (see 2505280050). Meanwhile, PBS and a Minnesota public TV station sued the administration Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop President Donald Trump’s executive order blocking CPB from distributing funding for PBS and NPR (see 2505020044).
ABC Owned Television Stations promotes David Wurtzel to president and general manager of KGO-TV San Francisco, replacing Tom Cibrowski, who became president and executive editor of CBS News.
Federal budget-cutting could mean degraded quality and timeliness of emergency alerts during major storms and disasters, emergency response and weather experts tell us. A number of advocacy groups, from the Urban Institute to the Natural Resources Defense Council, have raised concerns about budget cuts for the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster response. Others say budgetary issues won't harm emergency alerting, and the system remains robust.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said at a listening session and panel discussion hosted Wednesday by Free Press that she doesn’t expect the agency to “liberally” use a good-cause exception to notice-and-comment rules or delegated authority when it takes action on the “Delete” docket. “I am hopeful that, in fact, a lot of these rules will come up to vote,” she said at the Los Angeles event, which was part of her “First Amendment Tour” (see 2504240064).
A White House OMB spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that President Donald Trump will send Congress a promised $9.4 billion rescissions package next week, seeking to claw back about $1.1 billion in advance CPB funding (see 2504150052). Since January, congressional Republicans have shown growing interest in ending federal funding for public broadcasters amid rancor over what they say is pro-Democratic bias in news coverage (see 2502030064). NPR sued the Trump administration Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block a White House executive order cutting funding for NPR and PBS (see 2505270047).
A U.S. district court judge ruled Friday that a White House executive order targeting Jenner & Block was “doubly violative of the Constitution” and granted a motion for summary judgment and a preliminary injunction blocking it (see 2504280022). “Retaliating against firms for the views embodied in their legal work -- and thereby seeking to muzzle them going forward -- violates the First Amendment’s central command that government may not ‘use the power of the State to punish or suppress disfavored expression,’” U.S. District Court Judge John Bates wrote in the opinion. The executive order “casts a chill over the whole of the legal profession, leaving lawyers around the country weighing the necessity of vigorous representation against the peril of crossing the federal government.” Bates ordered the White House and federal agencies to rescind all guidance and direction on barring Jenner attorneys from federal facilities, reviewing security clearances and requiring federal contractors to disclose relationships with the firm. DOJ and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission must also cease any related investigations of Jenner. The White House is expected to appeal the ruling.
NPR and three public radio stations filed a lawsuit Tuesday that asks the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block a White House executive order cutting funding for NPR and PBS (see 2505020044).
A U.S. Supreme Court opinion late Thursday preventing fired independent commissioners from resuming their work is a strong indication that the high court will allow President Donald Trump to remove FCC and FTC commissioners from the minority party, academics and attorneys said in interviews Friday.