Barton doesn’t have a hearing scheduled on the topic of legalizing online poker payment processing, but he’s “hopeful I'll be able to get that,” he said in a video posted late last month to the YouTube channel of online gaming data company GamblingCompliance (http://bit.ly/14O5QVV). Legislators are facing more pressure to act on online poker as states -- beginning with Nevada -- are passing their own laws to legalize intrastate online poker, Barton continued. “With the states acting and with some of the court rulings and the Justice Department ruling, time is on our side.” Barton was referring to a 2011 DOJ memo that online poker and lotteries are not prohibited by the Wire Act (WID Dec 28/11 p1). “It’s not a question of if my bill passes, as much as it is a question of when,” he said. Americans play online poker for money and “don’t have the safeguards they would have if my bill were law today,” he said.

Pinnacle Communications “has engaged with tribal leaders” of the former reservations of the Choctaw Nation, which the Oklahoma telco serves, the company said. “While the Chief was unavailable to speak with us, the chief directed their information technology coordinator to visit with us regarding our services and the needs of the tribes” (http://bit.ly/11obcsi). Tribal members were “unavailable for a face to face” visit, but the telco had multiple phone and email discussions about how to address tribal needs, it said. The FCC last year offered guidance on the 2011 tribal engagement obligations imposed on eligible telecom carriers that deal with tribal groups. “The discourse should be between decision-makers on both sides,” the agency’s Office of Native Affairs and Policy said, stating the goal should be to have “an honest dialogue to learn from one another” (http://bit.ly/11ob3EZ). Carriers have said the rules are so burdensome that they might creative disincentives to serve tribal lands (CD Sept 28 p6).

The Wireless Bureau still hopes to issue an NPRM touching on various wireless infrastructure concerns this summer for FCC commissioners to vote on, which would have implications for state and local municipalities, said Spectrum Policy Division Deputy Chief Jeff Steinberg: “That is still our plan.” The earliest timeframe would be August, he said. The NPRM will likely “work off of” the Jan. 25 public notice offering staff guidance. How the NPRM proceeds will also depend on acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn, he said.

Julie Kitka, president of the Alaska Federation of Natives, traveled more than 5,500 miles to get to a hearing on Capitol Hill on the effect of USF reforms on tribal areas. So did Steve Merriam, CEO of an Alaskan telephone cooperative. Alfred LaPaz of the Mescalero Apache Tribe traveled 2,800 miles. Which is why it’s “beyond my imagination,” said Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, that FCC officials weren’t willing to “travel the mile and a half up the road” to “answer the questions that I would like to ask them.”

Increased coal and liquefied natural gas exports were portrayed as both a threat to the environment and sustainable U.S. prosperity, and a huge economic opportunity the U.S. must seize now, at a June 18 House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing on energy export barriers. The U.S. has the potential to become the “preeminent supplier” of energy, and “help take the power back from [Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries],” said Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich. “All that’s missing is the additional infrastructure to make additional exports possible.” Part of the hearing, held by the Energy and Power Subcommittee, focused on barriers to liquefied natural gas exports: the Department of Energy has only granted two permits to export LNG to countries the U.S. does not have a free trade agreement with. There are 20 permits to export LNG to non-FTA countries pending.

Nonprofits, tribes and government agencies can seek low-power FM stations Oct. 15-29 in the first such LPFM filing window since 2001, in what Acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn called a “unique opportunity.” The time to file Form 318s, which were revised for the window, fits with expectations of nonprofits that back low-power radio, their officials said. Officials from groups including Free Press and Prometheus Radio Project said they and others will work to alert would-be applicants. The agency had been working to hold such a filing window by acting on applications for FM translators that dated to 2003 (CD April 19 p10), said an FCC official.

LOS ANGELES -- Ouya, supplier of an Android-based videogame console that ships June 25 at $99, continues to talk with game makers and retailers, seeking additional support, CEO Julie Uhrman told us at E3 last week. It’s “having many conversations” with retailers, she said. So far, Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop and Target will sell the console in the U.S. at launch, including the three brick-and-mortar retailers’ websites and select stores, she said.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act, which would establish a federal system for states that choose to have legal online gambling programs. The bill would create an Office of Internet Gambling Oversight within the Treasury Department, which would oversee states and tribal entities that choose to issue online gambling licenses to operators on the federal government’s behalf, according to a release from King’s office Thursday. The bill has measures designed to protect consumers from compulsive gambling and fraud, including “tough penalties” for unlicensed operators, his office said. A federal standard, such as the one proposed in the bill, “will ensure strong protections for consumers, protect against problem and underage gambling, and make it easier for businesses, players, lawmakers, and regulators to navigate and freely participate,” King said in a statement.

"The Commission should put an end to USTelecom’s continual stream of complaints about the very reasonable and necessary Tribal Engagement rules,” said the National Tribal Telecommunications Association (NTTA), urging the FCC to quickly deny a USTelecom request to scale back the tribal engagement rules (http://bit.ly/ZrCi0d). USTelecom asked the commission to clarify that tribal engagement requirements only apply to Mobility Fund recipients, and not to eligible telecom carriers that don’t receive support specifically targeted to fund development on tribal lands, or whose support is being eliminated (http://bit.ly/ZrC35o). But NTTA thinks the rules should apply to all carriers receiving support for serving tribal areas. “Besides being unreasonable in its initial narrowing of the list of ETCs required to comply, USTelecom has now effectively excluded all price cap carriers,” NTTA said.

The Washington State Broadband Office of the Department of Commerce is giving out $300,000 in broadband access and adoption grants, it said Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/13jAgjn). The office had received 13 applications asking for $770,000, and ultimately awarded money to six counties and 10 tribal communities, the office said. Grant winners included Washington State University, Lincoln County and the Walla Walla Valley Chamber of Commerce. “Successful proposals showed community or region wide collaboration on programs that included everything from training in e-commerce and web site development for small businesses to a region-wide project for underserved tribal lands,” the office said. Grant winners must complete their proposed work by June 30, 2014. The grants come from the federal stimulus money of NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.