New Jersey's Board of Public Utilities will hold quarterly public comment meetings to increase transparency, President Joseph Fiordaliso said Thursday. That’s “especially important now when so many are working remotely due to COVID-19,” he said. The first is Jan. 29 on utilities’ response to Tropical Storm Isaias.

Frontier wants the FCC or West Virginia Public Service Commission to expand the carrier’s eligible telecom carrier designation in West Virginia due to the carrier winning a Rural Digital Opportunity Fund bid. The carrier petitioned the FCC in case the PSC declines to exercise jurisdiction over the telco’s Wednesday request there, said Frontier’s FCC filing posted Thursday in docket 20-34. Frontier urged the PSC to clear the petition by June 6 in case 21-0010-T-PC. The PSC declined to comment Thursday.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission should reconsider its Frontier Communications’ bankruptcy reorganization OK, said the Minnesota Commerce Department and the Laborers District Council of Minnesota and North Dakota (aka LIUNA, the Laborers International Union of North America) Thursday. Communications Workers of America presented new and relevant information in a Dec. 28 petition for reconsideration, the department and LIUNA each said in docket 20-50. New information includes that the company made investment commitments to at least three other states, said the department: “Deterioration of Frontier’s network is a significant concern that could be exacerbated by its commitments to other states and virtual separation decision making.” CWA raised “new doubts about Frontier’s ability to meet its obligations in Minnesota under the proposed reorganization plan, and underscoring the concerns raised by LIUNA regarding potential downstream impacts,” LIUNA said. The PUC cleared Frontier's reorg in September and last month sought recons (see 2012080012). Frontier urged the PUC to deny CWA's petition, in a Thursday filing, saying the "foundation" of Minnesota's reorg OK "is not affected by actions in other states." Granting reconsideration would "cause long delays and substantial harm to Minnesota consumers, and even an unresolved petition leaves uncertainty," the carrier said.

Voters reelected Republican Bubba McDonald to the Georgia Public Service Commission 51%-49% over Democrat Daniel Blackman, who had hoped to become the first Democrat on the PSC in 15 years. The Associated Press and others called the election, though some votes were being tabulated. In the November election, McDonald’s vote share was 49.9%, below the 50% minimum for winning outright (see 2011090017). “I have not heard from my opponent," McDonald told us mid-Wednesday in terms of any concession. "I just thank the people of Georgia for their confidence and I look forward to working for them through this next term.” Blackman didn't comment.

Pennsylvania should condition OK of the Frontier Communications bankruptcy reorganization to keep up with other states securing commitments, Communications Workers of America said Monday. “It now appears Frontier has no definite plans to increase the level of investment ... in Pennsylvania,” the union said in a filing at the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission in docket A-2020-3020004. “The commitments Frontier has made in other states, as well as the company’s fiber deployment plans as provided to investors, increase the risk that Frontier will divert resources away from Pennsylvania in order to meet its commitments in other states.” The telco didn't comment Tuesday.

Nebraska cleared an $8 million, five-year next-generation 911 contract with Lumen over the Public Service Commission’s lone Democrat, Crystal Rhoades, the PSC said Tuesday. “Lumen has a proven track record of 911 failures nationally and in Nebraska,” she said. “I don’t believe awarding them the contract is prudent given they are currently under investigation.” The company agreed to pay $500,000 to the FCC and faces a possible $7.2 million fine in Washington state over a multistate 911 outage in late 2018 as CenturyLink (see 2012230021). With Intrado, Lumen will provide NG-911 core services for geospatial locating and routing. Lumen will get $815,000 the first year and $1.8 million each of the next four years. The PSC may extend the contract up to 10 years. “Once the contract is signed, we’ll sit down with representatives of Lumen to set priorities and a timeline to begin the process of connecting regions” of public safety answering points to the ESInet, with the goal of connecting all regions by 2023, said David Sankey, state 911 director. Lumen knows "that when someone calls 911, seconds count and we take that responsibility seriously,” a spokesperson emailed.

The Oregon Health Authority “found insufficient evidence to indicate a causal relationship between cell phone exposures and cancer endpoints,” it said in a Thursday report required by the legislature in 2019 (see 1906250017). Some studies found a connection with cancer but more did not, and there was “no consistency among studies,” the authority said. “More research is needed.” CTIA didn’t comment Monday.

TelAlaska Cellular filed an update at the FCC on how it’s complying with the 2016 Alaska plan order, noting some of its backhaul plans have changed. The carrier is also starting to remove Huawei equipment from its network. “TelAlaska believes the revisions made to its performance commitments are sufficient to demonstrate that support is being used in the public interest and in accordance with the requirements adopted by the Commission for the Alaska Plan,” it said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 16-271.

GCI and affiliate United Utilities submitted to the FCC proposed 10-year performance commitments under the Alaska plan order. There are no “developments or newly available infrastructure that would justify a change in … current performance commitments,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 16-271. GCI previously committed to upgrade wireless service for 5,845 additional Alaskans “as a result of newly available terrestrial middle mile facilities in communities that were previously served only by satellite,” it said.

The Oregon Public Utility Commission unanimously adopted rules implementing a 2020 state law requiring interconnected VoIP and wireless to pay into state USF and reducing the surcharge cap to 6% of revenue from 8.5%. The law takes effect Jan. 1. It’s “unnecessary” to explicitly state that the state agency's authority doesn’t extend to VoIP and wireless, other than what's necessary to collect fees, as suggested by the Oregon Cable Telecommunications Association (see 2010300036), said the PUC order in docket AR 640.