A federal court in Arkansas overturned a 2007 decision by the Benton County Land Use Appeal Board that barred Callahan Tower Ventures from building a 195-foot cellphone tower on a parcel known as the Wehmeyer Tract. The U.S. District Court in Fayetteville said the appeal board failed to justify its reversal of the county planning board decision to grant a construction permit for the tower. The court said the appeal board simply asserted that other less intrusive sites existed for the tower and that no substantial support existed to grant the permit, without backing up its findings. The court (Case 07-CV-5214) said the planning board based its favorable decision on a voluminous record concerning property values, deed restrictions, aesthetics, wireless coverage, alternative sites and collocation options, but the appeal board didn’t cite or specifically refute any of the record evidence. The parties that appealed the original planning board decision offered generalized objections based on appearance and property values. But the court said such objections aren’t enough to support denial of a tower application, particularly in the face of substantial evidence favoring the tower permit.
Top New York Police and Fire Department officials warned Wednesday that they would hesitate to use a national wireless broadband network run by a public-private partnership, as the FCC wants. The two testified at an FCC en banc hearing in Brooklyn on the 700 MHz D-block’s future. An agency official said after the hearing that a proposal for regional licenses appears to be gaining ground at the FCC, but it’s not clear whether Chairman Kevin Martin will support the idea.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message providing updated information regarding the Food and Drug Administration's OASIS scheduled downtime for maintenance on Saturday, July 26, 2008, between 03:00 am (0300) and 06:00 am (0600) EST.
On July 28, 2008, Director-General Pascal Lamy reported that negotiators have registered very important progress...there is now a very high level of convergence on many subjects". He urged negotiators to accelerate movement towards compromises in the coming hours, adding that he aims to issue revised "modality" texts on agriculture and non-agricultural market access later in the day. (WTO notice available at http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news_e.htm.)
The World Trade Organization provided an update on the Doha Round and posted information on Day 3. WTO Director-General Lamy said that "two days of talks among 30 representative ministers in the "Green Room" have been constructive but discussions in smaller groups are now needed to intensify the negotiations." (WTO press release, dated 07/23/08, available athttp://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news08_e/meet08_summary_23july_e.htm.)
On July 16, 2008, the Transportation Security Administration announced a set of security recommendations for the transportation of certain quantities of TIER 1 and TIER 2 Highway Security-Sensitive Materials (HSSM)1 by motor carriers. The voluntary guidelines were developed over a three-year period in close collaboration with government and private sector partners.
Vizio, long a stalwart of the warehouse clubs and discount chains, is seeking to expand distribution into regional chains at the expense of troubled rivals like Syntax-Brillian, a senior company executive told us in an interview Tuesday.
CBP has issued a CSMS message announcing that due to the potential impact from Tropical Storm Dolly, a snow day has been granted for all filers in the Texas ports of Brownsville and Progresso for Wednesday, July 23, 2008. CBP is extending one additional day without penalty for the filing and payment of entry summaries due on that day. (CSMS 08-000122, dated 07/23/08, available athttp://apps.cbp.gov/csms/viewmssg.asp?Recid=17134&page=&srch_argv=08-000122&srchtype=all&btype=&sortby=&sby)
The Government Accountability Office has issued a report to a Senate subcommittee1 entitled "Nuclear Security: NRC and DHS Need to Take Additional Steps to Better Track and Detect Radioactive Materials."
The Trans-Pacific Express Cable Network consortium wants to license NTT Communications on the TPE cable, it said in an application to modify its cable landing authorization. And the group wants to extend the TPE cable to a landing station in Shinmaruyama, Japan, it said. Group member Verizon wants the FCC to condition grant of the application on Verizon’s continued compliance with a Dec. 20 agreement with executive branch agencies, TPE said. TPE asked the FCC to establish a streamlined pleading cycle.