U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai drew a distinction between 35% tariffs on Russian goods, which she said are designed to punish that country's war of aggression, and 25% (or 7.5%) tariffs on Chinese goods, which she said are not punishing tariffs.
The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission could decide Tuesday to pause or shut down a rehearing of LTD Broadband’s denied eligible telecom carrier designation, said an agenda for the PUC’s Oct. 11 meeting. LTD wants to suspend the state proceeding while it seeks to reverse the FCC rejecting the company’s long-form application for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund support. South Dakota’s telecom association wants the PUC to deny LTD’s request and instead close docket TC21-001 (see 2209200073). The PUC will meet at 1:30 p.m. CDT.
The Standard/Tegna record still has unanswered questions about transferee Standard General's qualifications to be an FCC licensee, so the agency shouldn't start discussing deal conditions until the threshold qualifications issue is resolved, the Communications Workers of America's NewsGuild and the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians told an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Media Bureau Deputy Chief Sarah Whitesell, per a docket 22-162 filing Friday. The workers' groups urged the commission to suspend its deal review shot clock until the record is also supplemented on whether the purchase is in the public interest. Standard's plans for cutting station-level jobs or not post-transaction still need clarification and if the companies have misrepresented those plans, the applications must be designated for hearing, the groups said. Standard outside counsel didn't comment.
A bill that temporarily lifts a 13.6% tariff plus $1.035/kg tariff on base powder that's an input to baby formula passed both the House and Senate on Sept. 29, just three days after it was introduced in the House by Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and the subcommittee's top Republican, Adrian Smith, R-Neb., along with others (see 2209260058). It passed the House with a voice vote and passed the Senate unanimously.
More exporters should make use of License Exception STA (Strategic Trade Authorization), which could reduce workload for the government and allow certain exports to move faster, officials from the Commerce and Defense departments said. “Frankly, it's not utilized as much as we would like it to be utilized,” Matt Borman, an official with Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, said during a Sept. 27 defense industry conference hosted by IDEEA. “To anyone who's considering STA-eligible exports, please, please use them as opposed to having your U.S. supplier come in and go through the traditional licensing process.”
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission should revoke LTD Broadband’s expanded eligible telecom carrier designation, state Rep. Dave Lislegard (D) wrote Thursday to the agency. Balkan Township, which Lislegard represents, has had trouble moving on a fiber project with Bunyan Communications due to LTD’s winning bid in the federal Rural Digital Opportunity fund (RDOF) auction, he said. Showing “an inability to fulfill their promises,” LTD “should get out of the way.” The PUC is mulling whether to pause its proceeding on possibly revoking the company’s ETC status while LTD challenges the FCC’s recent long-form application rejection (see 2209200073).
Though some recent "data points” show “an uptick in the return to office level” in many U.S. cities, “the reality is some companies have paused their investments as they define their own workplace strategies or weigh their choices in a volatile macroeconomic environment,” said Steelcase CEO Sara Armbruster on an earnings call Thursday for fiscal Q2 ended Aug. 26. “The lagging return to office that so many companies are facing, primarily in the Americas, along with the possibility of a recession, is likely contributing to slower decision-making,” she said. “We’ve begun to see the impact of that slowdown on our incoming order volume level in the Americas, and we believe others in our industry are feeling that same downward pressure.” Despite recent “positive trends,” fiscal Q2 order volume for Steelcase, the world’s largest office furniture manufacturer, was down 8% in its Americas “core business,” she said.
Shelve Minnesota’s LTD Broadband review until the FCC reverses its rejection of the company’s long-form application for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support, urged the company’s outside counsel Andy Carlson of the Taft firm at a teleconferenced prehearing conference Tuesday. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is considering whether to revoke LTD Broadband’s ETC status while the company challenges the FCC rejection (see 2208240037). Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Kristin Berkland disagreed that the state commission should pause. FCC and PUC proceedings are "interrelated, but they are not interdependent,” with the state agency able to decide ETC designation regardless what the FCC is doing, she said. Carlson said LTD’s actual buildout will be proof it's qualified to deploy broadband. "That's great,” said Berkland, “but ideally you want to know in advance whether a company can do those things that it says it can do because it is incredibly difficult to claw back funding from a company that overrepresents its ability.” Minnesota PUC Administrative Law Judge Jim LaFave said he will decide later how to proceed. In South Dakota, the state telecom association urged the Public Utility Commission Sept. 2 to deny LTD’s request to suspend a proceeding to rehear its denied ETC application. The PUC should instead close docket TC21-001, it said. That request remains pending.
The U.K. ports of Liverpool and Felixstowe are preparing for consecutive dockworker strikes in the next few weeks following a pause after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Strike details will likely be announced next week after her funeral, Bloomberg reported. The Port of Liverpool's previously announced a two-week strike will now start Sept. 20, following the rejection at a Sept. 12 meeting of a pay offer from Peel Ports, the port operator, and the funeral for the queen on Sept. 19. Dockworkers at the Port of Felixstowe rejected a pay proposal that would boost wages from the U.K. wing of CK Hutchison Holdings, setting up a walkout at Britain's busiest container port, Bloomberg said. The Felixstowe strike is set to run Sept. 27 to Oct. 5.
Car audio-maker Alpine is the first aftermarket brand with full Tidal integration for hi-res audio playback, it said Thursday, announcing a free software update to enable the integration. Compatible head units are the Alpine Halo11 iLX-F511, Halo9 iLX-F509, iLX-507, and Jeep-specific i509-WRA-JK and i509-WRA-JL radios, the company said. The head units can reproduce music at a 96kHz/24-bit streaming rate when tethered to a mobile or smartphone hotspot, Alpine emailed Thursday. Tidal subscribers can access select Tidal features directly on the head unit, including My Mix, curated playlists and individualized daily listening insights. Alpine said. They can also browse through featured artists, genres and moods and access control features for play, pause, repeat and shuffle, it said.