The New York Public Service Commission scheduled a conference Feb. 24-25 to address its telecom industry oversight in promoting core public interests with the market evolving and consumer demand changing, said a notice from the PSC's secretary. "The purpose of the technical conference is to discuss policy issues arising in the Commission’s Telecommunications Study (and related dockets, see e.g., Connect New York Coalition petition filed in Case 14-C-0306) which is designed to help the Commission and the State Legislature identify areas where there may be market failures or opportunities to advance the public interest," said the notice, which included an agenda. The conference is open to the public and will be webcast, it said.

Verizon will “continue to make extraordinary investments” in the state of New York to provide innovative services, the company said at a committee hearing of the state Assembly Wednesday. It also urged the state to carry out “regulatory reform” to further encourage investment, because "fierce competition is replacing the need for old-time bureaucratic regulations," the company said in a Wednesday news release. “We invest close to two billion dollars annually in our home state of New York to deliver the most advanced communications networks in the region,” said Leecia Eve, vice president-state government affairs, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. “To make such substantial investments at a time when there are more competitive choices than ever demonstrates the commitment we have to our customers and to New York State.” Verizon said it has deployed FiOS fiber networks to over 4 million homes and businesses and employs more than 21,000 people in the state. The company said its service quality is good and continues to improve, with “customer complaint rates at their lowest levels in recent years.” The Communications Workers of America, which is involved in a contract dispute with Verizon, has criticized the company's service quality and network investment amounts (see 1510130033 and 1511200029).

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) said 48 local education authorities will get more than $8.2 million to update broadband access. Word of the grants, from the third round of the Connections for Classrooms program, came in a news release from the governor's office. The Connections for Classrooms program is a funding effort of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, the Georgia Department of Education and the OneGeorgia Authority to give classrooms across the state access to high-speed broadband, it said. The funds will allow the local education authorities, which include 47 districts and one state school, to receive $16.8 million in federal E-rate funds, for a total investment of $25 million in school and classroom network infrastructure, it said. Across three grant rounds, the Connections for Classrooms program has provided more than $70 million in grants to 157 local education authorities to meet that goal and has enabled them to be eligible for up to $110 million in federal E-rate funds, it said. Round three capitalizes on the recent $2 billion expansion of the federal E-rate program’s Category 2, which provides grants to local education authorities for school-level network infrastructure that can provide local match funding, it said.

Vermont lawmakers proposed legislation that would allow police officers to search a driver's cellphone during a traffic stop. The bill, H-527, was introduced by Rep. Martin LaLonde (D) and would allow law enforcement officers to see a driver's phone or other electronic device to determine if it was being used. LaLonde’s bill is an amendment to the state's 2014 ban on using hand-held devices while on highways.

The FCC chose the Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired to certify participants in the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program for the state, said a Consumer and Government Affairs public notice in Friday's Daily Digest. The program provides up to $10 million annually to distribute communications equipment to low-income individuals who are deaf and blind.

After a Jan. 5 accident in southern Florida, some of AT&T's buried cables were cut by another company, and wireline, Internet and video service to about 600 people was knocked out, said a company spokeswoman. Services for 911 were fine, she said. About 70 customers remained without service on Friday, but AT&T hopes to remedy that by early this week, she said. The damage to AT&T's equipment was extensive, and the repair team had to rebuild the infrastructure before it could start reestablishing connectivity, the spokeswoman said.

AT&T plans to hire about 300 people to fill available jobs in Kansas and Missouri, a Thursday news release from the company said. The positions are primarily technicians and retail support jobs, AT&T said. More than half of the available jobs in Missouri and Kansas are in the Kansas City metropolitan area, it said. AT&T employs roughly 12,000 people in the two states, the company said.

The California Public Utilities Commission's new website went live this week, a CPUC release said. The site aims to improve user interface and navigation, provide better functionality, improve its design and create a more consistent online presence, the agency said Monday. The CPUC released a reformatted Consumer Information Center designed to make it easy for consumers to get information about utility services, file a complaint and comment on CPUC proceedings.

A fiber cable cut shut down 911, wireline and cellphone services in Kerr County, Texas, Wednesday, said a post on the Kerr County Sheriff's Office Facebook page. Originally, it affected only landline and cellphone service, but the repair work hit some complications and knocked out the 911 services in the county as well, it said. The post instructed people to go to the local fire department or "flag down" emergency personnel in the event of an emergency.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) unveiled a cybersecurity initiative, in his state of the state address Thursday. The state has crystalized plans to create the National Cybersecurity Intelligence Center in Colorado, he said. "This center can be the country’s foremost authority on cybersecurity research and development, training and education," Hickenlooper said. "It will provide real time response capability for businesses to detect, prevent, remediate and recover from threats and hacks." The governor is proposing to build the center in Colorado Springs because the region has a concentration of assets, private sector interest and connection to the University of Colorado Colorado Springs cybersecurity program, he said.