FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin terminated the Standard/Tegna hearing proceeding, said an order Thursday in docket 22-162. Tegna and Cox Media Group withdrew from the proceeding last week, and Tegna filed the formal withdrawal of its transfer applications Wednesday. Standard said it's ready to continue litigating the matter. “It is not in the public interest to expend the time and resources to continue this hearing as an academic exercise,” wrote Halprin. The proceeding "is therefore terminated,” said the order.

CTIA questioned the conclusions in a May NTIA report arguing that dynamic sharing and the citizens broadband radio service should be a model for future spectrum use (see 2305010063). Filings were due Wednesday but hadn't been posted by the NTIA. The Wireless ISP Association supported the findings in the report (see 2305310062).

The Senate Commerce Committee’s plan for moving on President Joe Biden’s trio of FCC nominees remains fluid amid uncertainty about whether there will be bipartisan appetite to move Anna Gomez, the White House’s new nominee for the vacant fifth commission seat, together with sitting Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks (see 2305220065). Gomez told members of the U.S. delegation to the upcoming Nov. 20-Dec. 15 World Radiocommunication Conference last week she plans to stay in her existing State Department appointment to lead the group (see 2301260072) until the Senate confirms her as a commissioner.

Here are last week’s most-read stories on court proceedings affecting telecom, tech and media that were covered in-depth by our sister publication Communications Litigation Today. Current subscribers can click the reference number hyperlink or search the story title. Nonsubscribers can gain access by signing up for a complimentary preview.

The world is falling behind in its push to lower the digital gender gap and get more women connected globally, GSMA said in a report released Wednesday. ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin said the numbers from GSMA are critical as policymakers work to close the gap.

As the FCC mulls a framework for direct-to-handset satellite service, satellite interests told us discussions about service rules are a relatively low priority. Service rules came up in comments last month in the agency's supplemental coverage from space (SCS) framework NPRM (see 2305150007), but many SCS interested parties were silent.

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska declared an emergency, with the state USF set to dissolve later this month. The 5-0 statement at a partially virtual meeting Wednesday tees up the RCA to expedite rules to extend the looming Alaska USF sunset by three years to June 30, 2026. RCA members convened after receiving comments on last-minute Department of Law (DOL) draft regulations that could allow the extension (see 2305100061 and 2305080035).

The FCC’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) shares “many of the same concerns” top Republican leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees voiced in early May about the commission's management of broadband money it received for the affordable connectivity program (ACP) during the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2305080067), acting IG Sharon Diskin told the GOP leaders Tuesday in a letter we obtained. House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Senate Commerce ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, sought information from the FCC OIG about ACP’s administration, citing ongoing debate about extending its life.

Texas legislators passed broadband funding and consumer privacy bills before adjourning Monday. Gov. Gregg Abbott (R) has until June 18 to consider many of the bills. "This was a big, important session for rural telecom,” said Texas Telephone Association (TTA) Executive Director Mark Seale in an interview Tuesday.

Forcing tech companies to pay usage fees to European ISPs could be “discriminatory” and damage net neutrality, NTIA argued in the European Commission’s public consultation on EU investment in digital communications networks.