President Donald Trump’s recent firings at the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board were illegal based on congressional intent and the Constitution, a federal judge ruled Wednesday (see 2502250052). Fired PCLOB members Travis LeBlanc and Ed Felten sued Trump, the PCLOB, PCLOB board member Beth Williams, PCLOB Executive Director Jenny Fitzpatrick and White House Deputy Director of Presidential Personnel Trent Morse in February. Fired FTC Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya are seeking an expedited decision and reinstatement from the same court, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (see 2504110049). The firings of LeBlanc and Felton were illegal “because although the plain text of the PCLOB’s organic statute does not include an express textual removal restriction, the Board’s structure and function clearly indicate that Congress intended to create such a restriction on the President’s removal power,” wrote U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton.

Oklahoma is aiming to bring high-speed internet to 95% of its residents by 2028 in a major push to close the digital divide, said Oklahoma Broadband Office Executive Director Mike Sanders during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar Wednesday. Sanders outlined how the state is using a mix of federal funding, tribal partnerships and strategic planning to expand fiber coverage (see 2505050060). "We'll be north of that" 95% mark, Sanders said, "but it's going to take all the other federal programs and the flexibility for our state to achieve that."

Infrastructure companies need consistent rules on 811 and call-before-you-dig requirements, Common Ground Alliance President Sarah Magruder Lyle and other experts said Wednesday during a Broadband Breakfast webinar.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, offered positive but different interpretations of President Donald Trump’s apparent endorsement Tuesday (see 2505200058) of the spectrum language cleared in the lower chamber's One Big Beautiful Bill Act budget reconciliation package (HR-1). The two leaders were vague about whether Trump’s statement makes it more difficult for Cruz and other senators to press for potential changes to the spectrum proposal (see 2505130059). Meanwhile, the House Rules Committee was still debating Wednesday afternoon plans for bringing HR-1 to the floor.

Bandwidth executives met with staff from the Public Safety and Wireline bureaus on interconnection issues (see 2503100030), according to a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-479. “Bandwidth supports the transition to all-IP networks and wants to work with the Commission to speed the transition to IP while ensuring that all calls, and especially calls to 911, are delivered without interruption during that transition,” it said. The executives discussed “the ongoing difficulties faced by companies like Bandwidth that seek to continue to successfully deliver E911 calls nationwide as the industry transitions to more [next-generation] 911 service arrangements.”

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is defending cuts to the agency’s workforce and other actions in written testimony ahead of the House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee’s planned Wednesday hearing on commission oversight. Carr also urges Congress again to restore the FCC’s lapsed auction authority, as House GOP leaders aimed to pass, as soon as Wednesday night, their One Big Beautiful Bill Act budget reconciliation package with spectrum language included. The House Appropriations Financial Services hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 2358-A Rayburn.

HERSHEY, Pennsylvania -- FCC officials speaking Saturday at the FCBA's annual seminar expressed confidence that the agency will regain spectrum auction authority. Chief of Staff Scott Delacourt said the commission expects at least one auction, AWS-3, within the next year and is taking steps to ensure it can support that auction, such as preparing necessary IT, he said. Commissioner Nathan Simington said Congress sees midband spectrum as a priority, so a significant auction should be teed up by year-end.

The Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) said Thursday that it received notice from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that its $5.3 million digital equity capacity grant was canceled as of May 9. VCBB said it's in contact with the Vermont Attorney General's office and "is exploring legal options." NIST's letter explains that President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick "agreed" that the program is "unconstitutional and grants issued pursuant to it were created with, and administered using, impermissible and unconstitutional racial preferences." The "decision is final and there is no right of administrative appeal," the letter said. Vermont had planned to use the funding to implement its digital empowerment (DE) program. “Vermont’s DE program was going to improve the lives of Vermonters who can’t access the internet," said VCBB Executive Director Christine Hallquist. "Taking this funding away now will severely limit our work and will mean many Vermonters will be left behind, unfortunately the most vulnerable," Hallquist added.

Attorneys general from nine states on Friday opposed CTIA’s request for a rulemaking to update regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The proposal faces extensive opposition (see 2505010019), but CTIA said it found broad support for moving forward. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has promised to focus on streamlining regulation and cutting red tape (see 2503030040). Reply comments were posted Friday in RM-12003.

The FCC on Friday announced commission approval of Verizon’s $20 billion acquisition of Frontier, in an action by the Wireline Bureau (see 2505160024). The approval came immediately after Verizon filed a letter at the FCC agreeing to get rid of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, a recurring focus of President Donald Trump. DEI defenders criticized the order. Industry officials told us one reason FCC Chairman Brendan Carr probably didn’t seek a commissioner vote was because of the DEI provisions and concerns about opposition from the two Democratic commissioners.