Forty state attorneys general lent their support to Mississippi AG Jim Hood Monday, filing a joint amicus brief backing his bid to overturn the U.S. District Court in Jackson’s ruling granting Google a preliminary injunction against his enforcement of a subpoena of the company’s search practices. Hood, a Democrat, filed an appeal with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in late March, after U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate ordered the preliminary injunction because there was a “substantial likelihood” that Google would prevail in its lawsuit against Hood on claims he violated Google’s First Amendment rights (see 1504010029). The AGs -- led by Kentucky's Jack Conway, a Democrat; Arizona's Mark Brnovich, a Republican; and Louisiana's Buddy Caldwell, a Republican -- said that they aren’t taking a position on Hood’s investigation but believe Google’s suit was premature. Wingate’s preliminary injunction “would provide a roadmap for any potential wrongdoer subject to a legitimate state law enforcement investigation to attempt to thwart such an inquiry,” the AGs said. “Such an outcome would undermine Attorneys General’s powers, granted to them by state constitutions and state statutes, to protect the general citizenry from violations of state law. It would also flood the federal courts with what amount to state-law discovery disputes.”

More than 100 U.S. communities can access gigabit broadband as part of an Adtran campaign, said the company in a news release Tuesday. The program showcases how innovative technologies are being used in cities, towns and communities to support economic growth and urban development.

AT&T launched its U-verse with AT&T GigaPower for residential and small businesses in Florida in parts of Fort Lauderdale, Hialeah, Hollywood, Miami and surrounding communities, the company said in a news release Monday. It said the telco committed that upon approval of its proposed acquisition of DirecTV, the company will expand the AT&T GigaPower network to an additional 2 million customer locations.

Taking control and becoming directly involved in plans for broadband deployment is "incredibly exciting," said Gigi Sohn, counselor to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, during a fiber launch party in Westminster, Maryland, Friday. The city chose to engage in a private-public partnership with Ting, which will provide Westminster with what it calls “crazy fast fiber Internet,” she said. Sohn said she admires how strategic the city and county leaders have been in moving the fiber network forward. The open access model that Westminster has with Ting is an approach that Sohn said will benefit the citizens of the city for years to come. The network will let about 10,000 homes and businesses in the community receive up to a 1 Gbps Internet connection, which puts Westminster up there with U.S. cities Chattanooga, metropolitan Kansas City and Austin and cities around the world like Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo, she said. "What is happening today is a great example of local communities and their leaders taking control of their broadband future."

U.S. District Court in Orlando issued a temporary restraining order June 22, halting an Orlando-based operation that the FTC and Florida Office of the Attorney General allege “bombard[ed] consumers since 2011 with massive robocall campaigns designed to trick them into paying up-front for worthless credit card interest rate reduction programs,” an FTC news release said Monday. Defendants allegedly called thousands of consumers, mostly seniors, nationwide claiming to be from “credit card services” and “card member services,” the release said. The callers claimed enrollment in the program would save a consumer at least $2,500 in a short period of time so they would have more success in paying off debts, the release said. “After convincing consumers to provide their credit card information, the defendants then charged between $300 and $4,999 up-front for their worthless service,” the release said. The joint complaint by the FTC and Florida AG alleges the defendants also failed to provide consumers with the promised interest rate reductions or savings and made calls to those whose numbers are on the FTC National Do Not Call Registry, and violated the FTC telemarketing sales rule and Florida’s Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Act. Defendants include All Us Marketing, formerly known as Payless Solutions; Global Marketing Enterprises, formerly known as Pay Less Solutions; Global One Financial Services; Your #1 Savings; Ovadaa; and some officers of those companies. The defendants didn't comment Monday.

AT&T wireline employees represented by the Communications Workers of America voted to ratify a three-year contract for the Midwest region, said the company Friday in a news release. The tentative agreement was reached May 13 and was unanimously endorsed by the CWA bargaining committee that spent more than nine weeks working with the company’s bargaining team to reach what the telco called "a fair agreement." The deal covers about 12,000 employees in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin and is retroactive to April 12.

Per a promise in May, AT&T's U-verse with GigaPower is now available for residents and small businesses in parts of Chicago, said a company news release. Customers who subscribe to U-verse with GigaPower will also have access to U-verse TV and voice services, it said. AT&T plans to expand its 100 percent fiber network in up to 25 markets, it said. U-verse with AT&T GigaPower has launched in parts of the Atlanta; Austin; Charlotte; Chicago; Cupertino, California; Dallas; Fort Worth; Houston; Kansas City; Nashville; and Raleigh-Durham and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, markets. Plans have been announced to launch AT&T GigaPower in parts of the Greensboro, North Carolina, Jacksonville, Miami, St. Louis and San Antonio markets, said the telco.

Washington County, Tennessee, was certified as a connected community by Connected Tennessee Tuesday, said a news release from Connected Nation. The county also introduced a Technology Action Plan, to build on Washington County’s digital foundation, the release said. Washington County is the fourth certified connected community in Tennessee and 54th in the U.S.

Some of the radio communications worked during the Jan. 20 Washington Metrorail smoke incident inside L’Enfant Plaza station, but emergency responders from outside of the Washington Metro Area Transportation Authority had trouble with communications, said witnesses during a National Transportation Safety Board investigative hearing Tuesday. From the early stages of the incident, one of the rescue squads experienced radio problems, said Derron Hawkins, deputy chief of D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services. Once the first arriving unit entered the station from the mezzanine level, responders started experiencing more problems, he said. The commander had problems with his radio on the day of the incident, he said. When the system failed to operate, the commander used his BlackBerry phone to communicate with the officials on the scene, Hawkins said. “The process may not have run smooth as we would like it to become, but we are doing things to improve that.” The underground public safety radio system works but is delicate and requires a high level of maintenance, said Scott Goldstein, acting fire chief for Montgomery County (Maryland) Fire and Rescue Service. There were no reported issues on WMATA's communications channel, said Ronald Bodmer, director of Metro Transit Police Department's Office of Emergency Management. In the station, some officers reported some blocking of the radio during the incident. Before the incident, ongoing testing was an informal process, said Marshall Epler, deputy chief of COM and NET systems for WMATA's Department of Transit Infrastructure and Engineering Services. If one of the local jurisdictions found fault with its system, it would contact the WMATA maintenance radio manager who would put in a work ticket and the department would rectify the problem, he said. Now, the first thing WMATA is doing is testing local jurisdictions weekly, Epler said. “We animated a map,” he said. “On this map, you can now tell carriers that have poor radio coverage based on maximum work tickets.” It's extremely difficult to maintain a radio system, Epler said. WMATA’s current radio system was designed to provide radio coverage in 95 percent of the public areas in a station 95 percent of the time, he said. April 17, WMATA announced early action items, which included a radio maintenance program. Last week, a Federal Transit Administration report raised some issues with the quality of the rail system's radio communications (see 1506170053).

The New York State Public Service Commission seeks comment on an assessment of the state of telecom there, said PSC news release. The assessment considers technologies used, availability and trends, consumption adoption patterns and regulatory interests associated with each segment. Over the next several months, the PSC will conduct six public forums across the state as it charts a future course for telecom policy and regulatory oversight, it said. The commission is performing the evaluation because evolution of technology spurred by the development of the Internet and broadband is profoundly changing the fundamental concept of communication services in the state, it said. “The Internet and broadband have emerged as a powerful technology, and as a result, existing rules governing the mechanisms, business models and regulatory construct for overseeing voice, cable and broadband communications, some of which were put in place decades ago, need to be examined to ensure that they are adequate to meet today’s consumer needs,” said Commission Chair Audrey Zibelman. In response to growing competition in voice services, the commission and the legislature previously opted to streamline the regulatory process to allow more flexibility and reduce regulatory burdens to ensure traditional carriers remain competitive, the PSC said. The PSC said the regulatory interests include the maintenance of public safety communications, including the provision of advanced next-generation E-911 to all New Yorkers; reliable, resilient and open network architecture; affordable rates; service quality standards; universal service; and consumer protections. It must also consider new priorities that include the promotion and availability of world-class advanced voice, video and broadband services to all New Yorkers regardless of their location or economic status, the agency said.