The FCC 3.45 GHz auction hit $15 billion after the second bidding round Wednesday, which means it’s now above the $14.77 billion reserve price needed to close the auction. The round was the 40th for the auction. Three more 30-minute rounds are scheduled today.

The District of Columbia’s 911 center failed in many months to meet national standards for getting timely help to callers, found the Office of D.C. Auditor (ODCA) in a Tuesday report. Insufficient supervision of 911 call-taking and dispatch, plus operators’ distrust in automatic location technology, contributed to failures at the Office of Unified Communications including inconsistent call handling and difficulties determining location of emergencies, the report said.

The FCC has sufficient funding available to keep its full staff working “through Oct. 11” if federal appropriations lapse at midnight and much of the government shuts down, acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said during a conference call with reporters Thursday. A shutdown appeared unlikely because Congress appeared poised to pass a revised continuing resolution to fund the government through Dec. 3 (HR-5305). The House was expected to soon vote on HR-5305; the Senate voted 65-35 earlier Thursday to pass it.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice sued Texas over its social media law, after an industry lawsuit in Florida, the groups announced at around noon EDT Wednesday. Texas HB-20 enacted Sept. 9 prohibits "a targeted list of disfavored 'social media platforms' from exercising editorial discretion over content those platforms disseminate on their own privately owned websites and applications," CCIA and NetChoice said in U.S. District Court in Austin. The groups called it "an unconstitutional law."

The 2021 NAB Show won’t be in-person, NAB said Wednesday. The event had been set for Oct. 9-13 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

FTC commissioners OK'd along party lines a recommendation for staff to focus on tech and several other areas over a decade, the agency announced about 5 p.m. EDT Tuesday. The eight points of focus include "Acts or Practices Affecting Children," "Bias in Algorithms and Biometrics," "Deceptive and Manipulative Conduct on the Internet," "Repair Restrictions" and "Abuse of Intellectual Property."

Consumer advocates praised President Joe Biden’s nomination of Alvaro Bedoya as FTC commissioner. He’s expected to replace Commissioner Rohit Chopra, who awaits Senate confirmation to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The White House made its announcement at around 4 p.m. EDT Monday, and the advocates' comments came beforehand.

FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced what she and her colleagues will vote on Sept. 30. They include public-safety spectrum and 911 issues, plus paving the way for more robust Wi-Fi and cracking down further on some robocalls, she blogged Wednesday afternoon. The drafts will be released Thursday, a spokesperson told us.

Locast shut down service Thursday following a summary judgment court decision in favor of broadcasters suing the nonprofit streaming service for copyright infringement. In a notification on the Locast app, it said its nonprofit operating model “was designed from the very beginning to operate in accordance with the strict letter of the law” and that following the court summary judgment it's suspending operations immediately.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit remanded to the FCC for further explanation its 2019 RF safety rules, which largely upheld the old rules, while making a few tweaks. Judges had appeared skeptical of the FCC’s defense in January argument in Environmental Health Trust v. FCC. “We grant the petitions in part and remand to the Commission to provide a reasoned explanation for its determination that its guidelines adequately protect against harmful effects of exposure to radiofrequency radiation unrelated to cancer,” said a Friday opinion by Judge Robert Wilkins, joined by Judge Patricia Millett, who both expressed skepticism in January. Judge Karen Henderson partially dissented. “It is important to emphasize how deferential our standard of review is here -- where, first, an agency’s decision to terminate a notice of inquiry without initiating a rulemaking occurred after the agency opened the inquiry on its own and, second, the inquiry involves a highly technical subject matter at the frontier of science,” she wrote. The FCC and CTIA didn’t immediately comment.