The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission set a Sept. 24 vote on Frontier Communications’ bankruptcy reorganization, said a schedule posted Friday in docket 20-504. The virtual meeting starts at 9:15 a.m. CDT. Frontier needs OKs from the FCC and multiple states (see 2009090055).

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities opposed Altice’s motion at the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hold in abeyance BPU's appeal of a preliminary injunction awarded to the company in January by U.S. District Court in Trenton. The operator, challenging the requirement cablers prorate bills for cancellations, argued the 3rd Circuit should wait because the lower court’s proceedings are moving quickly (see 2009100038). Abeyance is "extraordinary relief reserved for special circumstances,” the board responded (in Pacer) Friday. "No one knows, much less can be assured of, the District Court’s timing."

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities must respond Friday to Altice’s motion to hold in abeyance the board’s appeal of a preliminary injunction awarded to the company in January by U.S. District Court in Trenton, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said (in Pacer) Thursday. If the court’s motions panel denies Altice’s request or refers it to the merits panel, the cable company must file its brief within 20 days. The operator, challenging the New Jersey board requirement that cablers prorate bills for canceling customers, argues the 3rd Circuit should wait because the lower court’s proceedings are moving quickly (see 2009020010).

Twenty U.S. House Democrats from California said it’s “irresponsible” for wireless carriers to seek rehearing of a California Public Utilities Commission order requiring 72-hour backup power in certain high-threat fire areas (see 2008200038). “We are outraged that wireless carriers are arguing against safeguards that will protect Californians during wildfire season and that they are doing so as devastating wildfires burn,” said Reps. Jerry McNerney, Anna Eshoo, Doris Matsui and 17 others in a Thursday statement. “Critical wireless networks need to be able to operate even when fires shut down power service.” CTIA Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Kelly Cole responded, "Through difficult and unprecedented times, wireless carriers have gone above and beyond for California customers with an unwavering commitment to enhancing network resiliency and reliability." Industry is collaborating with public stakeholders, she said.

Federal failure to spread broadband requires systemic changes, said California Public Utilities Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves at the agency's Thursday livestreamed virtual meeting. CPUC members voted 5-0 to open a rulemaking on ways to spur high-speed internet. “We’ve been forced by our federal government to succumb to rules based on imaginary definitions of what the internet is, which then block our ability to ensure universal service and affordable service through regulation,” said Guzman Aceves. A “neoliberalism economic theory” that competition will fill gaps “has failed many Californians,” she said. Nearly a quarter of its households -- 8.4 million Californians -- don’t have internet at home, the commissioner said. Less than 7% of Californians have a choice of three or more providers, while half have two and more than 40% have one or none, she said. Guzman Aceves sought ideas to expand fiber and make infrastructure open access. “We need fresh participants,” including public networks and public-private partnerships, she added. President Marybel Batjer “enthusiastically” supports the rulemaking, she said. “This is so needed.” Commissioner Cliff Rechtschaffen added that it’s “incredibly timely given the COVID pandemic and the disparity that it’s underscored.”

Local governments seek to remove a restriction on municipal broadband from a Michigan bill to establish a state grant program. The House Communications Committee voted 5-0 at a livestreamed meeting Wednesday to amend HB-4288, including to increase its proposed internet speed requirement to the federal standard, 25 Mbps downloads and 3 Mbps uploads. The amended bill still would ban the state from “directly or indirectly” awarding grants to governmental entities, educational institutions or affiliates. Localities “should have the option to participate,” said Michigan Townships Association Legislative Liaison Tom Frazier at the hearing in Lansing. “In some cases, that might be the only option.” At least allow municipal broadband in areas where no private entity applies, he said. Committee Chair Michele Hoitenga (R) disagrees “with the premise that a municipality would need to start their own broadband” since the bill would “give incentive for our providers to places they would not typically go.” The Telecom Association of Michigan and Communications Workers of America supported HB-4288. About 100 Michigan localities will oppose the bill due to the muni broadband restriction and other reasons, said Protec General Counsel Mike Watza. The bill requires speeds that are too slow and lacks buildout, rate or service quality conditions, he added.

The Georgia Public Service Commission set a process for implementing a 2020 state law to set the rate electric cooperatives can charge telecom companies for broadband pole attachments (see 2008060028). Commissioners voted unanimously at a livestreamed Tuesday meeting to adopt procedural rules and a schedule, and to issue a request for proposals to hire a consultant to help with the proceeding in docket 43423. The commission didn’t release the schedule right away.

Washington, D.C., officials reviewed a 911 dispatching incident. Monday, D.C.’s Office of Unified Communications sent the city's Fire and EMS Department to an incorrect address, according to walkie-talkie radio traffic we monitored using OpenMHz. At about 5:25 p.m., the OUC 911 center dispatched FEMS for a cardiac arrest to 22 M St. NE. Three minutes later, FEMS replied to OUC that the written information associated with the incident was changed to 22 M St. SW. But dispatchers didn't appear to have told first responders about the change in address. FEMS also asked that the call be dispatched to the properly located units. About one minute later, OUC dispatched it to the apparently correct units. The distance between the addresses according to MapQuest is about 3 miles. FEMS "transported [a] patient in critical condition to a 'near-by' hospital," the fire department's spokesperson emailed us. Officials with OUC "are currently looking into this call," and representatives from his department "are assisting," said the spokesperson. He couldn't say if the patient died as 911 expert Dave Statter reported. The address in the wrong quadrant came from a caller to 911 and wasn't caused by OUC, said the agency's spokesperson in an interview. She said details weren't immediately available to show whether the other potential dispatching problems associated with the heart attack were caused by staff, caller error or other issues. It's the fifth heart attack call in which OUC has dispatched help to the wrong address this year, Statter wrote. A candidate for an at-large seat on the D.C. Council, Eric Rogers, tweeted, "This is an area of interest I’d like to pick up during OUC’s performance hearing this winter. I’ve been following response times and address mistakes issues" for many years. The 911 center has come under scrutiny for other apparent errors, though it's not known how many of those incidents are the fault of its staff versus people calling for help but reporting incorrect details. For our past news stories on this, see here and here.

The FCC is focused on Puerto Rico's specific issues, Chairman Ajit Pai assured House Commerce Vice Chair Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., and other lawmakers in a letter posted Thursday. The agency drew “lessons from the 2017 Hurricane Season to help inform our preparedness efforts and future incident response,” he said. “The unique aspects of responding to disasters in remote areas, such as hilly, rural parts of Puerto Rico, highlighted several key areas of preparedness. Here, satellite communications and high frequency (HF) radio, such as amateur radio, take on greater significance for more isolated areas.” The FCC found it must “engage actively year-round with critical infrastructure sectors and state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments to better address and position communications needs in times of disaster” and created the Hurricane Recovery Task Force, he said.

The head of the Washington, D.C.’s 911 call center welcomes a possible audit by the Office of the D.C. Auditor next year, amid a growing furor over reported dispatching problems. “I know what we do in this agency,” D.C. Office of Unified Communications Director Karima Holmes said Thursday on WAMU(FM) Washington’s The Kojo Nnamdi Show. “It is not a systematic problem in D.C. 911. These things happen, but fortunately we have safety nets in place to make sure they don’t.” Holmes disputed 911 dispatch expert Dave Statter’s reports alleging frequent mistakes that others have also glommed onto in criticizing OUC and saying its errors could cost first responders priceless time answering emergency medical and other calls for help. “Sharing snippets of radio traffic and other incomplete piecemeal records just do not accurately convey the full picture here,” said Holmes. “Dave Statter is not my oversight.” The mayor, deputy mayor and city council oversee OUC and “have this information,” she said. “All of that gets investigated, and we do a full investigation” that includes the 911 call and what information the caller gave, she said. “Anytime an error is made, we address it.” A caller to the radio program identified as Christina said her daughter’s teenage friend watched her mother die from a heart attack as D.C. 911 sent responders to the wrong address. Holmes replied it’s a tragic situation, though she didn’t know the specific incident. “Things are hard,” she said. “People are in the middle of emergencies, and sometimes that address is wrong, and sometimes it is the call-taker” who “takes the call wrong.” Statter told the radio program he wants more transparency and accountability from OUC. Holmes told the D.C. Council only four times last year when dispatchers were sent to incorrect addresses and 21 times in five years, but Statter “can show 38 bad addresses since December,” he said. OUC recently responded to our Freedom of Information Act request for records on previous 911 dispatching issues (here), and Thursday we sent another FOIA request for records on three late-August incidents. OUC responded more than 24 hours later to our request for comment on our Wednesday report about those three incidents: “We caution against the use of publicly available partial records of emergency operations as they generally do not include the full emergency response and may inaccurately present critical variables such as the nature or fluidity of the emergency, the engagement between the caller and call-taker, and/or the extent or duration of the dispatch,” a spokesperson emailed.