CBP will on May 12 end its requirement for proof of full vaccination for COVID-19 from noncitizens and nonpermanent residents coming into the U.S. through land ports of entry from Canada and Mexico for both essential and non-essential travel, the agency said in a pair of notices released May 8. The policy had been in effect since January 2022 (see 2201210042), and was extended indefinitely in April 2022 (see 2204220050).

The Treasury Department is proposing to add eight military bases that would fall under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., including an Air Force base in North Dakota that was the subject of a controversial CFIUS decision last year. The proposed rule, released May 4 by Treasury’s Office of Investment Security, also would amend the definition for “military installation” to include six additional U.S. states. Comments on the changes are due June 5.

The Senate will work over the next several months to build a bill Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sees as a sequel to its China package -- also known as the Chips Act -- that could expand China-related export controls and investment restrictions.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said he'll use the 2021 trade title from the Senate China package as his committee works on its contribution to a second China package envisioned by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to address economic competition with China and to deter Chinese aggression toward Taiwan.

The FAA failed to comply "with bedrock federal law" when it didn't analyze the environmental and community impacts of SpaceX's space launch activities in Boca Chica, Texas, and didn't require mitigation to offset those impacts, environmental groups and a Native American tribe told a federal court Monday as they sought to force the agency to do an environmental impact statement (EIS). The FAA didn't comment. In docket 1:23-cv-01204 before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the plaintiffs said the lands ringing SpaceX"s Boca Chica launch facility "are of extraordinary conservation value" and SpaceX activities there will adversely affect the wildlife habitat there. It said launch activities necessitate frequent closure of nearby Boca Chica Beach, which is sacred to the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas and which is used by others for recreation and subsistence fishing. They said the programmatic environmental assessment the FAA did undertake is not as thorough as an EIS. Suing are the Center for Biological Diversity, American Bird Conservancy, Surfrider Foundation, Save RGV and the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation. The suit repeatedly references the April explosion at Boca Chica of a SpaceX Super Heavy test launch (see 2304200037).

The Texas Public Utility Commission approved deregulating Windstream’s local exchange market in Sugar Land, Texas (see 2302160042). Thursday’s order in docket 54068 also reclassified Windstream Sugar Land as a transitioning company.

Some U.S. states were willing to pay Volkswagen more than Canada was for a new Volkswagen electric vehicle factory, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. But, Trudeau said, when Canada matched the national incentives offered by the Inflation Reduction Act, Ontario's other advantages were enough to land the major economic development win.

Plaintiff Anne Lightoller’s “cut-and-paste job belies the lack of merit to her claims,” said JetBlue’s Tuesday motion to dismiss (docket 3:23-cv-00361) a privacy case in U.S. District Court for Southern California in San Diego.

The California Public Utilities Commission may vote June 8 on a Wednesday proposed decision to approve two pilot programs to stack California LifeLine and federal affordable connectivity program (ACP) benefits. Under the draft in docket R.20-02-008, the CPUC would approve a wireline broadband pilot that would use ACP dollars to test if letting California LifeLine provider affiliates offer broadband to participants will increase program participation by ISPs while maintaining program rule compliance. It would also check if LifeLine can ensure participants with stand-alone broadband service can make 911 calls through a separate service plan and if allowing LifeLine subsidies for stand-alone wireline broadband will increase participation, the draft said. Also, the CPUC would approve a wireless broadband pilot that would use ACP funding “to test how much mobile and hotspot data California LifeLine participants would use if they had unlimited data, including a high allotment of high-speed mobile data, a substantial allotment of high-speed hotspot data” and a capable mobile device, said the proposal. Participants in each pilot would get access to up to $57.15 -- or up to $102.15 on tribal lands -- of combined state and federal support for plans. The CPUC proposed testing LifeLine and ACP subsidy stacking after scrapping an earlier proposal (see 2210140068). Meanwhile, state legislators are considering a bill to allow such combinations (see 2304200044).

STC Two filed an unopposed motion Monday to continue the preliminary pretrial conference in a cell tower land dispute in U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio in Columbus after the parties reached a settlement in principle. Property owner Thomas Branham installed a padlock at the entrance to the tower in breach of his contract, saying STC Two's tower wasn’t installed within the boundaries of the easement Branham granted (see 2304170051). The parties are finalizing settlement documents, the motion (docket 2:23-cv-0076) said, and asked the court to continue the preliminary pretrial conference until at least May 23; Branham has no objection.