In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Texas law requiring age verification for access to porn sites (see 2506270015 and 2501130012). The majority in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton sided with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) in support of HB-1181, which the adult industry trade association Free Speech Coalition said violates the First Amendment (see 2409170012).
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Now with a Republican majority, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Wednesday laid out policy priorities that range from accelerating and easing broadband infrastructure deployment to tackling blue-collar workforce issues.
Paramount Global has agreed to a settlement in President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against CBS over its editing of a 60 Minutes interview last October with former Vice President Kamala Harris during the election, the company said.
House action on the Senate-cleared version of the HR-1 budget reconciliation package, previously known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, appeared in doubt Wednesday afternoon amid resistance from several GOP lawmakers. Critics of Senate Commerce Committee Republicans’ HR-1 spectrum language held out hope amid the ruckus that lawmakers would make additional bands ineligible for potential reallocation. The Senate narrowly passed its HR-1 language Tuesday (see 2507010070).
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez on Wednesday called for the FCC to investigate how criminals are using spectrum jammers in burglaries, saying she has discussed the issue with Chairman Brendan Carr. The commission's lone Democrat, Gomez appeared on a webcast interview with Fiber Broadband Association CEO Gary Bolton.
Former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said Wednesday that while he has long been a critic of the USF, he was relieved that the U.S. Supreme Court last week didn’t overturn the program (see 2506270054). Cutting off support that USF recipients need would be “a terrible outcome,” O’Rielly said during a Broadband Breakfast webinar.
Industry groups urged the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to move quickly in its rulemaking to modernize its carrier of last resort (COLR) requirements as the agency considers changing the state's 30-year-old rules (see 2410310044). Some suggested that the requirement be removed entirely in areas that are well-served, while advocacy organizations encouraged the commission to maintain the rules and instead update the framework.
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TechNet names Andrew Wood, ex-Colorado Legislative Strategies, as executive director for Colorado and the central U.S. region, replacing Ruthie Barko, who joins OpenAI's global affairs unit for state and local policy … The joint venture Gigapower taps Donna Rattley Washington, formerly Boundless Broadband, as head of strategy, a new position … ISP GeoLinks appoints Sanyogita Shamsunder, ex-NextNav, as chief technology officer, replacing co-founder Ryan Hauf, who continues as strategic technology adviser … SpinLaunch names Massimiliano Ladovaz, ex-SatOne, as CEO, replacing David Wrenn, who becomes chief innovation officer
The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission promotes Leah Mohr to executive director, replacing Patricia Van Gerpen, retiring after 41 years in state government.
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