On September 7, 2011, the Senate Appropriations Committee amended, approved, and reported the fiscal year 2012 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill (H.R. 2017), which would provide funding for ICE intellectual property, antidumping/countervailing, and smuggling investigations; additional TSA air cargo inspectors and transportation security specialists; an expanded number of Transportation Worker Identification Credential enrollment sites; etc.

On August 29, 2011, Senators Cantwell (D-WA) and Murray (D-WA) sent a letter asking the Federal Maritime Commission to conduct an analysis of the impacts and the extent to which the Harbor Maintenance Tax and other factors impact the diversion of U.S. bound cargo from U.S. west coast ports to west coast Canadian and Mexican ports.

Sources at U.S Customs and Border Protection state that importers that get new importer of record (IOR) numbers (either for the first time, or replacing an old IOR)¹ may get additional scrutiny from Customs officials.

On September 7, 2011, the Senate Appropriations Committee amended, approved, and reported the fiscal year 2012 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill (H.R. 2017), which would provide $410 million more for CBP than was enacted in FY 2011, including funds for cargo scanning pilots. In its report, the Committee urges CBP to encourage or require brokers to develop “know your customer” programs, consider a U.S. agent requirement for foreign importers, etc.

The National Public Safety Telecom Council’s Broadband Working Group took a stab at clarifying definitions of “mission critical voice” for broadband emergency alerts. “The effort to establish an accepted definition for mission critical voice was undertaken by NPSTC because as public safety transitions to the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Wireless Network, voice communications may transition from today’s Land Mobile Radio (LMR) channelized narrowband voice systems to voice over the broadband network. If this transition is to be accomplished, it is imperative that those companies who will be developing the technology to provide voice over broadband fully understand all of the requirements that make up public safety mission critical voice,” the working group said in a news release Friday with its report (http://xrl.us/bmcbj7). The group said its effort “is not designed to provide a road map for those who desire to build mission critical voice into wireless broadband technologies, but has been written to provide a basis for a common understanding of the meaning of and the multiple requirements of mission critical voice."

Intelsat’s Intelsat-18 satellite was delivered to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to be sent into orbit by Sea Launch, said Sea Launch. The launch, which will be from land, is scheduled for early October, Sea Launch said. The satellite will carry C- and Ku-band transponders to 180 degrees east to serve Eastern Asia, the Pacific, the U.S., French Polynesia, and Eastern Australia, said Sea Launch. The satellite was built by Orbital Sciences.

The Fish and Wildlife Service is announcing that the Wind Turbine Advisory Guidelines Committee will hold a public meeting and webcast on September 20-21, 2011 to discuss the revised Draft Land-Based Wind Energy Guidelines, which incorporate changes based on public comment and committee input. Those wishing to attend in person or via webcast must register by September 13. The Guidelines, once finalized, will recommend measures to avoid, minimize, and compensate for the effects of wind turbines on fish and wildlife, and their habitats.

Senate Commerce Committee leaders urged FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to assess communications infrastructure to ensure it’s ready for emergencies. “We must not allow any more potentially life threatening disasters to occur before our nation’s first responders get the interoperable public safety communications system they need to keep us safe,” Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said in a letter Friday. “And, as the communications troubles following the earthquake reminded us, we cannot require public safety to rely exclusively on commercial networks for their mission-critical, advanced wireless communications needs.” Wireless congestion after last week’s earthquake showed why Congress must pass the senators’ spectrum bill, S-911, Rockefeller and Hutchison said. The bill would reallocate the 700 MHz D-block to public safety and authorize voluntary incentive auctions. “Many first responders were forced to rely on their voice-only land mobile radios because commercial networks are not reliable for mission-critical services during emergencies,” Rockefeller and Hutchison said. “Unfortunately, until we can provide public safety with the spectrum and funding they need to build a dedicated nationwide interoperable wireless broadband network, our first responders and the Americans who depend on them will be at the mercy of increasingly congested networks for their advanced wireless communications needs."

Nintendo of America said it will field a limited edition version of its coming Wii game The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword that will include a gold Wii Remote Plus controller, at $69.99. The bundle will ship Nov. 20, the same day the game ships on its own at $49.99, but the gold controller will be sold only as part of the bundle, NOA said Monday. Details of the new bundle were provided by Scott Moffitt, executive vice president of sales and marketing, at a recent meeting of GameStop retail store managers from across the U.S., NOA said. It said that, as an additional 25th anniversary offering for fans of the Zelda game series who buy the new title early, each copy “in the initial production, whether sold by itself or as a part of the limited-edition bundle, will come with a free CD” including certain orchestral arrangements of music spanning the history of the franchise. The music will be performed at The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony Concert performances in October, it said. The company also said the game Tetris: Axis for the 3DS, shipping Oct. 2, will make use of the handheld 3D system’s augmented reality and SpotPass features. The original portable Tetris game “was a smash hit on the Game Boy system,” it said. The title will be part of a strong 3DS fall lineup that also includes Pokemon -- Rumble Blast (Oct. 24), Super Mario 3D Land (November) and Mario Kart 7 (December), it said. Also shipping will be Professor Layton and the Last Specter for the Nintendo DS family of systems, Oct. 17, it said. The title is the fourth entry in the Professor Layton puzzle adventure series, and begins a new trilogy that is a prequel to the original games, NOA said. As a North American exclusive to the Professor Layton and the Last Specter package, a bonus role-playing game, Professor Layton’s London Life containing more than 100 hours of additional content, will be available to players from the start of the game, it said.

Paradox Interactive will launch the turn-based strategy game Warlock -- Master of the Arcane for computers in Q2 2012, it said Monday. The game is set in the fantasy land of Ardania, popularized in the Stockholm developer’s Majesty franchise.