Figuring out ways to gauge the reliability of low earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband and its compliance with connectivity program requirements remains a work in progress, state broadband officials said Thursday during an Ookla virtual panel. David Bresnahan, the Maine Connectivity Authority's senior manager of grants and programs, said the state is awaiting official BEAD guidance on compliance. However, he said, it will be using randomized speed testing and other performance metrics, and third-party verification will be needed.

The Supreme Court on Oct. 14 denied four members of the Blackfeet Nation's attempt to intervene in the lead cases on the legality of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (Donald J. Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, U.S. 25-250) (Learning Resources v. Donald J. Trump, U.S. 24-1287).

Wednesday was the start of the first fiscal year in over 50 years without federal funding for public broadcasting stations, and public broadcasters are starting to cut programming and even making plans to eventually go dark in some parts of the country, said America’s Public Television Stations CEO Kate Riley in interviews. “It feels like every day an announcement comes from another station talking about the services that they're having to cut, the layoffs they're having to make,” Riley said. “Our sense is that this is really just the beginning, and that this is going to be a rolling wave of these types of station cuts and reductions in services over the coming months.”

Alaska released the revised draft of its final BEAD plan for public comment Thursday night. Comments are due 5 p.m. local time Wednesday. The state plans to spend 78.3% of its allocated funding, noting in its draft that about $215 million would be available for non-deployment funding. About 53% will go to fiber providers, 33% to low earth orbit satellites and 14% to wireless providers.

The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe slammed the FCC’s approach to seeking tribal input on how the agency enforces National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act rules, according to a letter posted Monday in docket 25-217. Comments in the proceeding, due last week, showed tribes and states leading the opposition to proposals included in an August NPRM (see 2509190053), part of a broader Trump administration move to limit enforcement of environmental laws.

If the FCC moves forward with sweeping changes to how it enforces National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) rules, it will have to do so over the objections of the tribes, some states and historic preservation interests, based on comments that were due Thursday in docket 25-217. Other comments raised questions about how the regulations apply to satellite projects (see 2509190007).

House Communications Subcommittee members traded partisan barbs during a Thursday hearing over a largely GOP-initiated set of broadband permitting bills (see 2509120072) that Democrats claim won’t be effective in speeding up connectivity buildout. Republicans filed many of the 29 bills in past Congresses, including several they previously combined into the controversial American Broadband Deployment Act (see 2305240069). Subpanel Democrats also punctuated the hearing with criticism of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for threats against ABC and parent company Disney that resulted in the indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! (see 2509180055).

The Supreme Court will consider various Blackfeet Nation members' motion to intervene in the lead cases on the legality of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act at its Oct. 10 conference (Donald J. Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, U.S. 25-250) (Learning Resources v. Donald J. Trump, U.S. 24-1287).

Judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit held argument on the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana's decision to transfer a case against the legality of International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs and Section 232 tariffs as applied to tribal members to the Court of International Trade. One of the judges, Judge William Fletcher, appeared skeptical of the government's claim that the court can't review the district court's transfer order (Susan Webber v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 9th Cir. # 25-2717).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit decided Sept. 12 to stay proceedings in California's case against the legality of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, though it denied the government's stay request in a similar case brought by members of the Blackfeet Nation tribe. Oral argument in the tribal members' lawsuit remains scheduled for Sept. 17 before Judges William Fletcher, Ronald Gould and Ana de Alba (State of California v. Donald J. Trump, 9th Cir. # 25-3493) (Susan Webber v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 9th Cir. # 25-2717).