New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that he is ending the city’s ban on cellphones in its public schools. De Blasio said the city will offer a variety of policy options that individual schools can choose to adopt, which may range from allowing cellphone use in some classes for instructional purposes to requiring students to store cellphones during the school day. The new policies will replace the ban on March 2, de Blasio said during a news conference. De Blasio promised during his 2013 mayoral campaign to end the ban, which he said had been unpopular among parents since previous Mayor Michael Bloomberg implemented it in 2006. “The policy of the previous administration was simply out of touch with modern parenting,” de Blasio said. “We’re now going to make this a policy that works with parents.” De Blasio noted that schools were enforcing the ban unevenly and that some students were forced to pay for cellphone storage, which Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer said in a statement “amounted to a regressive tax.” The New York City Parents Union praised de Blasio’s announcement, saying in a statement that “we will feel more comfortable knowing we can keep in contact with our children while they are commuting to school.” Council of School Supervisors & Administrators President Ernest Logan said in a statement that “our collective priority is educating students in a safe and secure environment. We hope these new policies do not undermine that goal.”

Comcast and Time Warner Cable agreed last week to extend the deadline for the New York Public Service Commission to complete its review of the proposed Comcast/TWC deal. The PSC previously had faced a Dec. 31 deadline for completing its review, but didn’t vote on whether to approve the deal during its last regular 2014 meeting Dec. 11 (see 1412090048). The PSC must now vote on the deal by Jan. 22 and issue a final order by Jan. 27, Comcast said in a filing.

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service said Friday it will mediate renewed negotiations that were slated to begin Sunday between FairPoint Communications and leaders from the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) to resolve an ongoing strike of more than 1,700 FairPoint workers in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. The strike, which began in October after negotiations for a new contract broke down, has prompted complaints about FairPoint’s service quality in the three states and criticism from the states’ congressional delegations. “This is a positive step and we look forward to resuming negotiations with FairPoint,” IBEW Local 2327 Business Manager Peter McLaughlin, head of the unions’ bargaining committee, said in a statement Friday. “It’s time to reach a fair deal for working families and communities in New England.” FairPoint “remains willing to listen to reasonable union proposals that ensure the company's ability to compete,” a company spokeswoman said.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers’ office reached a $2 million settlement with Dish Network stemming from the state’s investigation of Dish’s sales practices, it said Friday. Suthers’ office began investigating Dish in 2011 after consumer complaints about price increases. “Customers were upset to see their price raised after Dish sales agents pledged contract rates were 'locked in,' 'frozen,' or 'guaranteed' and in some cases that prices would never change," Suthers, a Republican, said in a news release. Rates that were supposed to be locked in for two years increased by an average of $5 per month during the second year of a contract, Suthers’ office said. Of the $2 million settlement, $1 million will go toward Colorado’s general fund, while the other $1 million will go into the state attorney general’s office’s custodial fund, which the office uses to fund consumer protection work. Dish also agreed to revise its sales disclosures nationwide to say the company reserves the right to raise prices at its discretion, Suthers’ office said. Dish said in a statement that it is pleased to have resolved Colorado’s investigation even though the company disagreed with the state’s claims.

Region 1 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rejected the bad faith bargaining charges against FairPoint Communications, the company said in a news release Wednesday. The NLRB posted the dismissal letter and said the appeal is due by Jan. 12. FairPoint has been battling against the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. “As described in the NLRB ruling, FairPoint engaged in lawful bargaining designed to achieve our stated goals of cost savings and operational flexibility,” FairPoint CEO Paul Sunu said in a statement. “The ruling today ... confirms our position and honest belief that we have bargained in good faith. As the unions appeal to the General Counsel of the NLRB, my expectation is that our case will continue to receive the fair and objective treatment that it did at the Regional level.” Peter McLaughlin, who chaired the unions’ bargaining committee and is IBEW Local 2327’s business manager, called the decision disappointing but not surprising. “Unfortunately, US labor law favors corporations like FairPoint, not working people,” he said in a statement. “The NLRB is one tool in our toolbox -- the NLRB does not decide what’s best for our workers and our communities. We remain united and committed in our fight for fairness at FairPoint.” The unions will appeal, they confirmed.

The New Hampshire Executive Council delayed a vote Tuesday on a $13 million state contract with FairPoint Communications to provide phone and Internet service to the state government. Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern, a Democrat, asked for the contract to be withdrawn from the council’s agenda over what he said were concerns about FairPoint’s current service quality. FairPoint would provide services to the state through 2020 under the contract. A FairPoint spokeswoman said the telco is working with New Hampshire officials to address concerns. The contract delay is occurring amid a protracted strike involving more than 1,700 FairPoint workers in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont that has drawn criticism from members of all three states’ congressional delegations. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Rep. Ann Kuster, D-N.H., sent a joint letter Monday to FairPoint CEO Paul Sunu urging the company to negotiate with the striking workers. Kuster and Shaheen said the New Hampshire Public Utility Commission has received almost 500 complaints about poor service quality and outages since the strike began Oct. 17. Sunu responded Tuesday, telling Kuster and Shaheen that FairPoint has been negotiating in good faith and that issues with service quality are primarily due to a recent series of storms in the state. The elected five-member council is part of the executive branch of the state's government.

Forty-six Connecticut municipalities have signed on to an effort to facilitate development of gigabit networks in Connecticut, state Consumer Counsel Elin Swanson Katz said Friday. New Haven, Stamford and West Hartford sought a joint Request for Qualifications in September to obtain information from interested broadband providers (see 1409160049), with the additional cities’ participation in the RFQ meaning more than 25 percent of the state’s municipalities are now involved. The localities that have since joined the RFQ include state capital Hartford. “The response from our state’s towns has been overwhelming,” Katz said in a news release. “Partnering with the private sector to examine the best way to build and finance these Gig networks is the first step in making them a reality in Connecticut.” Proposals from entities interested in partnering with the municipalities are due Jan. 13 to the New Haven city government’s purchasing department.

FairPoint Communications’ labor dispute with striking workers “involves FairPoint’s ability to be the 21st century telecommunications provider Vermonters want and Vermont’s economy deserves,” the company wrote the state’s congressional delegation Thursday. Sens. Patrick Leahy (D) and Bernie Sanders (I) and Rep. Peter Welch (D) wrote the company Wednesday urging FairPoint to negotiate an end to a strike in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont involving more than 1,700 of the telco’s workers (see 1412170059). In response, the company wrote the union’s demands “are not within the mainstream.” The company said the workers are seeking wage increases, maintaining accrual of defined pension benefits despite having a matching 401(k) plan and do not want to make “meaningful contributions" to their health plans. A spokesman for the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) locals representing the workers called FairPoint's letter "misleading."

Vermont’s congressional delegation urged FairPoint Communications to negotiate an end to a strike in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont involving more than 1,700 of the telco’s workers. “We are extremely disappointed that FairPoint management has not come back to the bargaining table with any meaningful concessions to end this strike,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I, and Rep. Peter Welch, D, in a letter to FairPoint, posted Wednesday. “It is becoming increasingly clear to Vermonters that management is more concerned with the interests of corporate owners of FairPoint than negotiating a reasonable agreement that is fair to your workers and customers.” Vermont’s Department of Public Service has received an amplified number of customer complaints about FairPoint since the strike began in October, prompting the state Public Service Board to begin an investigation into the complaints (see 1412090063). FairPoint CEO Paul Sunu blamed local chapters of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Wednesday for the protracted length of the strike, saying in a letter to Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin that FairPoint “has always been willing to compromise with the unions.” FairPoint’s efforts to reach an agreement have been unsuccessful, he said. Shumlin had sent a letter to FairPoint last week also urging an end to the strike. A spokesman for the local CWA and IBEW chapters said FairPoint has rejected the unions’ proposals.

If the FCC grants TracFone’s petition to allow text messages to be considered "supported" usage of Lifeline service, it should do so only for outgoing messages, the Public Utility Commission of Oregon said in a filing posted Wednesday. Outgoing text messages could mesh with the FCC’s current rule, which considers only active customer communications to be supported Lifeline services, the PUC said. Incoming text messages shouldn’t be defined as supported usage because, "like a voicemail message, which doesn’t qualify as usage under the current rule, the text could be left unopened indefinitely or for long periods of time,” the PUC said.