Michigan has become the latest state to start a new round of BEAD application submissions under NTIA's revised rules, known as the "Benefit of the Bargain" round (see 2507030010). The Office of Labor and Economic Opportunity said Friday that it's accepting new and modified registrations from interested ISPs until July 24 at 4 p.m. ET. Previously submitted applications must be updated to meet NTIA's new guidance. "Specific opening and closing dates and times for the project application window will be announced as soon as possible," the office said.

A Washington, D.C., bill banning wireless devices for students during school hours was sent to Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) on Friday. The mayor has until July 24 to act on the bill before it's sent to Congress for final review. Councilmember Brooke Pinto led a group of Democratic lawmakers in introducing the measure (B26-73) in January (see 2501270058). A financial impact statement from the Office of the CFO noted that while there isn't enough funding through FY 2028 to develop policies and implement the legislation, local education agencies won't need additional resources to do so on their own.

Pennsylvania's Emergency Management Agency sent an alert Friday afternoon warning of a statewide intermittent 911 outage. The alert, which included "extreme" in the headline, asked individuals to contact their local 911 centers' non-emergency lines if they experience any issues. Individuals were also told to check their counties' social media and website for more information. "We are on top of the issue and working to restore full service as quickly as possible," wrote Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) on X.

Massachusetts lawmakers advanced legislation Thursday that would prohibit mobile devices for students in schools, joining a growing number of states. The Joint Committee on Education approved S-2549, which was introduced by a bipartisan and bicameral group of lawmakers. The bill would apply to public schools and require that the ban be implemented "before the start of the 2026-2027 school year." The state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education would also be required to submit a report to the committee by Dec. 31, 2027, on the effect of the ban.

Several industry groups urged the California Public Utilities Commission to abandon a proposal to assess telecom user fees based on access lines. In reply comments posted Wednesday (docket 21-03-002), CTIA said access-line-based assessment has "resulted in inequitable distribution of the surcharge burden, placing an undue share of the burden on wireless consumers and increasing the burden on residential and low-income users." Verizon agreed, saying the commission should instead assess the "reasonableness of the current per-line surcharge mechanism in this phase of the proceeding." The user fee, or public purpose program surcharge, is "operating effectively" as is and doesn't need further modifications, said the California Broadband & Video Association. AT&T suggested the commission "defer consideration of the modification of the user fee funding mechanism until the legislature authorizes" it to make changes.

Brightspeed is on track to serve nearly 43,000 homes and businesses across 35,000 locations with fiber in Jacksonville, North Carolina, the ISP said Thursday. Once the fiber deployments are complete, Brightspeed said, roughly 60% of Jacksonville's population will have access to its network. Earlier this month, the company announced the completion of a separate fiber deployment in the state's Piedmont region to serve more than 10,700 homes and businesses.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson (R) called on Congress and the FCC to grant state prisons the authority to jam contraband cellphones in their facilities, following a report by state grand jurors highlighting the issue. The 34th and 35th State Grand Jurors released reports Wednesday finding that inmate criminal organizations are still able to operate with their leaders in prison. “Locking someone up doesn’t make us safer if they’re still running criminal empires from behind bars,” Wilson said: "We know how to stop this; the technology already exists and is being used in federal prisons." Jamming inmates' cellphone communication "would immediately eliminate so much of the criminal activities within our state prisons," one of the reports said.

NTIA's new BEAD guidance effectively created an "incentive" for states to spend as much of their allocated funding as possible on connections, "regardless of cost-effectiveness, as long as they meet minimal criteria," wrote Technology Policy Institute President Scott Wallsten and Gregory Rosston, Stanford University's public policy program director, in a blog Tuesday. Calling the effort "pointless," Wallsten and Rosston said NTIA made it "possible for states to spend the money more efficiently" but then "removed incentives for them to try." They called on NTIA to let states "keep savings for other broadband priorities or impose a cap on spending per location."

The Utility Reform Network urged the California Public Utilities Commission to align its Lifeline rules with the FCC's federal program regarding the phase-out for voice-only support. In a filing posted Monday, TURN noted that the FCC again extended its phase-out and urged that CPUC deny AT&T's petition to relinquish its designation as an eligible telecommunications carrier based on the previous end date of the federal subsidy. The latest FCC extension order "continues to recognize the same issues TURN has raised throughout this proceeding [when wireline providers] do not (or choose not to) receive federal Lifeline subsidies for voice service," including harm to subscribers "who lose service or who cannot retain an affordable plan."

A draft California Public Utilities Commission resolution would align the state's LifeLine with federal Lifeline rules. The resolution will be considered during the commission's Aug. 14 meeting. If adopted, the California LifeLine's annual renewal process would mirror that of the FCC. The state program would risk losing "approximately $1.4 million annually" in federal funding if the change isn't implemented, the draft said. Updating the process would ensure that "all subscribers, regardless of database match status, are held to a consistent standard."