A Fla. appeals court upheld a lower court ruling giving AT&T Wireless 2 years to dismantle and relocate a wireless communications tower from the Sherwood Forest Park in Coral Springs, Fla. WCI Communities Inc., representing the donor of the land, executor for the owner who had willed the land to the city, said the deed required the property to be used only for park purposes unless the estate or its legal successors gave explicit consent, which wasn’t given. The city in 2002 arranged with AT&T to install a cell tower in the park despite WCI objections that the deed banned commercial development. The 4th Fla. Court of Appeals (Case 4D04-3285) said the tower was off limits to the public and the city received financial compensation, so it clearly wasn’t a public parkland use and was illegal under the deed restrictions. The court affirmed the portion of the ruling giving AT&T 2 years to relocate the tower because immediate removal was impractical.

International Launch Systems (ILS) successfully launched Telesat’s Anik F1R satellite Fri., it said. The satellite will provide capacity for Canadian DTH satellite TV, plus other telecom and broadcasting services, Telesat officials said. Anik F1R also carries a navigation payload that will enhance GPS for aviation use in the U.S. and Canada. The payload is part of the FAA’s Wide Area Augmentation System Geostationary Communication & Control Segment (GCCS) initiative, operated by Lockheed Martin to provide precision guidance to aircraft. Lockheed Martin officials said the payload is the first FAA use of the GPS L5 civil navigation frequency, and a first of its kind in the Western hemisphere. Its launch last week marked “a move toward satellite-based navigation to make air traffic management safer, more reliable and more accurate,” said Lockheed Martin officials. The craft’s payload is the first of 2 to launch this year to support the GCCS program. Lockheed Martin officials said the system will tighten GPS-based aircraft position accuracy from 100’ to 27’, enabling instrument landing at airfields that previously were unsupported. Made by Europe’s EADS Astrium, Anik F1R has 32 Ku-band transponders, 24 C-band transponders and 2 navigation transponders, Telestar officials said.

A week after Hurricane Katrina, tales of satellites’ role are mounting. It won’t be long before regulators and Congress are further assessing the sector’s place in emergency communications, industry officials said. One thing is clear: the satellite industry never has been so busy in the Gulf of Mexico. Satellite phones and fly-away VSAT earth stations are playing a greater role than usual in relief work because of Katrina’s wide path and subsequent floods, officials said. Demand for satellite capacity is high enough that Defense Dept. officials said this week they're making military satellite bandwidth available for civilian communication purposes in Miss.

As FCC Chmn. Martin and Comr. Copps visited the Gulf Coast Thurs., the Commission issued an agenda for its Sept. 15 open meeting devoted to “presentations” on Hurricane Katrina’s impact on communications. No action is expected.

The U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the State Department have issued for comment an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) on the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which would require, by January 1, 2008, all U.S. citizens, citizens of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda, and the citizens of Canada and Mexico to have a passport or other accepted, secure document that establishes the bearer's identity and nationality to enter or re-enter the U.S.

PanAmSat tapped Sea Launch to send up its Horizons 2 satellite, a joint Ku-band video venture with Japan’s JSAT. Sea Launch said it will use its Land Launch system for the lift, using a Zenit-3SLB vehicle at its Baikonur launch site. The satellite, to be built by Orbital Sciences and called STAR 2, is destined for HDTV and IP- based content delivery over the U.S. at 74 degrees W, said PanAmSat.

PanAmSat tapped Sea Launch for the Horizons 2 satellite launch, a joint Ku-band video venture with Japan’s JSAT. Sea Launch said it will use its Land Launch system, slating a Zenit-3SLB vehicle at its Baikonur site. The satellite, to be built by Orbital Sciences and to be named STAR 2, is destined for HDTV and IP-based content delivery over the U.S. at 74 degrees W, PanAmSat said.

LogicaCMG said Tues. it won a Galileo contract to develop a prototype version of the Galileo Service Center, future commercial operations hub of Europe’s $3 billion satellite navigation program. The Service Center will be Galileo’s interface for users and service providers, France Development Counsel (FDC) officials said. FDC Dir. Eric Gellee called the center “a crucial element” in commercial uptake of Galileo services. A mobile telephony applications firm, LogicaCMG called the Service Center central to integrating Galileo’s service with mass-market applications like text messaging, traffic information or even a child locator. Israel will join Galileo with an NIS 100 million investment giving Israel a seat on the venture’s board of directors, Israeli news reports said last weekend. Reports said the pact, to be signed this week, will add Israeli space industries to land and space segments of the first stage of the project.

Some 8 million people write blogs, often chronicling real experiences, including frustration at work, off-hours escapades or even off-color content. Those rants could land employees in hot water, attorney Robin Bond said Fri. For example, 27 Auto Club of Cal. employees were fired for blogs they posted on MySpace.com. Their blogs addressed co-workers’ sexual orientation and weight and other topics the employer deems out of bounds, Bond said. “Don’t be deceived by the sense of anonymity the Internet fosters,” she said: “Writing a blog is the online equivalent of publishing your opinions in the local paper -- laws of libel, slander and defamation of character do apply.” She had tips: (1) Don’t tell company secrets; non-disclosure contracts apply to the blogosphere. (2) Use a disclaimer that makes it clear that opinions stated are the blogger’s own. (3) Don’t name names -- identifying or defaming people in blogs could cause problems. (4) Use good judgment and common sense; blogs are a public forum.

As Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, countless people -- in the storm’s path and around the world -- turned to the Internet for up-to-the-minute news and information. As the historic storm came ashore Mon., media outlets braced for the worst -- and used the Internet as a bullhorn.