Adam Bender, Senior Editor, is the state and local telecommunications reporter for Communications Daily, where he also has covered Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. He has won awards for his Warren Communications News reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists, Specialized Information Publishers Association and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. Bender studied print journalism at American University and is the author of dystopian science-fiction novels. You can follow Bender at WatchAdam.blog and @WatchAdam on Twitter.
Biography for Adam BenderRecent Articles by Adam BenderA Maine proposal to save the state’s 207 area code from phone number exhaustion by combining Consolidated Communications’ multiple rate centers into one could be a model for the entire U.S., said Maine Public Utilities Commission telecom analyst Michael Johnson at a workshop Friday. "This is definitely a big undertaking and something very unique that we're working with Consolidated to possibly implement."Read More >>
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission properly decided that FirstEnergy charged unlawfully high pole-attachment rates to Verizon, a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court majority decided Thursday. The PUC also appropriately determined the length of retroactive relief, despite Verizon’s arguments that refunds should go further back.Read More >>
The narrow targeting of Maryland’s so-called tax on digital ad revenue may suggest it’s primarily a punishment that federal courts are permitted to review under the U.S. Tax Injunction Act (TIA), 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Julius Richardson said at oral argument Wednesday. The 4th Circuit is reviewing an appeal by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of the March 2022 decision by the U.S. District Court in Baltimore to dismiss the Chamber’s challenge of the tax, plus the district court’s December dismissal of the Chamber’s challenge to the tax’s pass-through ban (case 22-2275). The 4th Circuit should remand all counts back to district court, argued the Chamber’s attorney Michael Kimberly of McDermott Will.Read More >>
The Nebraska Public Service Commission is taking too long to help farmers needing precision agriculture capabilities, Commissioners Kevin Stocker and Christian Mirch said Tuesday. The Republicans said no in a 3-2 vote for an order seeking more feedback in a grantmaking case in which there has been confusion over funding. Later Tuesday, the PSC considered guidelines for leasing dark fiber owned by the state and political subdivisions.Read More >>
California legislators voted to require wireless eligibility for state broadband funds on the last day of their session Thursday. Wireless is a “reliable substitute … when it’s impossible to use fiber,” said Assembly Communications Committee Vice Chair Jim Patterson (R) in an interview Friday. The Utility Reform Network (TURN) prefers fiber and remains opposed.Read More >>
A Maine proposal to save the state’s 207 area code from phone number exhaustion by combining Consolidated Communications’ multiple rate centers into one could be a model for the entire U.S., said Maine Public Utilities Commission telecom analyst Michael Johnson at a workshop Friday. "This is definitely a big undertaking and something very unique that we're working with Consolidated to possibly implement."Read More >>
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission properly decided that FirstEnergy charged unlawfully high pole-attachment rates to Verizon, a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court majority decided Thursday. The PUC also appropriately determined the length of retroactive relief, despite Verizon’s arguments that refunds should go further back.Read More >>
The narrow targeting of Maryland’s so-called tax on digital ad revenue may suggest it’s primarily a punishment that federal courts are permitted to review under the U.S. Tax Injunction Act (TIA), 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Julius Richardson said at oral argument Wednesday. The 4th Circuit is reviewing an appeal by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of the March 2022 decision by the U.S. District Court in Baltimore to dismiss the Chamber’s challenge of the tax, plus the district court’s December dismissal of the Chamber’s challenge to the tax’s pass-through ban (case 22-2275). The 4th Circuit should remand all counts back to district court, argued the Chamber’s attorney Michael Kimberly of McDermott Will.Read More >>
The Nebraska Public Service Commission is taking too long to help farmers needing precision agriculture capabilities, Commissioners Kevin Stocker and Christian Mirch said Tuesday. The Republicans said no in a 3-2 vote for an order seeking more feedback in a grantmaking case in which there has been confusion over funding. Later Tuesday, the PSC considered guidelines for leasing dark fiber owned by the state and political subdivisions.Read More >>
California legislators voted to require wireless eligibility for state broadband funds on the last day of their session Thursday. Wireless is a “reliable substitute … when it’s impossible to use fiber,” said Assembly Communications Committee Vice Chair Jim Patterson (R) in an interview Friday. The Utility Reform Network (TURN) prefers fiber and remains opposed.Read More >>