We're back with some more information for you! This email is organized in the following order:
1) Follow-up from yesterday's email
2) News
3) Some April events listed in order by date
Follow-Up
We've attached Odette's proposed blueprint she created for New York on broadband funding on state level. This blueprint gets down to the granular level on exactly how states should go about distributing money and broadband. Odette is sharing this document for us to edit it and use in each of our states.
News
First, The latest on the OTARD petition:
Yesterday, March 30th: United States Court of Appeals for District of Columbia Circuit. Children's Health Defense, et al v. FCC et al. PER CURIAM ORDER filed denying petitioners' petition for panel rehearing [on the OTARD petition]. Before Judges: Millett, Katsas and Randolph.
We attached the petition in case you haven't seen it yet.
To honor his father, Dr. Martin Blank, R Blank and Shield Your Body has relaunched the Dr. Martin Blank - SYB Scholarship In cooperation with the Building Biology Institute.
This year, they're opening it up to a much wider audience, and applications are now open to join the Building Biology Advocacy (BBA) Program at the Building Biology Institute, valued at $965, for free.
You can find out more about the Shield Your Body Martin Blank Building Biology Scholarship here:
Today at 10:30am EST, in Congress, the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology of the Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing entitled: "Connecting America: Oversight of the FCC."
We should respond to the Subcommittee as a group. Please let us know if you're interested in contributing to this effort.
New York lawmakers call for 'fiber tax' repeal:
Some Upcoming Events
On April 7th, the U.S. Access Board is presenting a program about what they've determined makes federal workplaces accessible. The Access board has
declined to address barriers that keep people with chemical and electromagnetic/wifi disabilities entirely out of federal facilities.These facilities are not "accessible" by many who cannot enter or work in them. If you'd like to register to attend this webinar, CLICK HERE. See the information and additional links directly from the Access Board below. Thank you, Susie/Nancy, for this info!
U.S. Access Board Webinar: Accessibility in the Federal Workspace
Federal workspaces must be fully accessible to employees with disabilities, as underscored by President Biden’s Executive Order to Advance Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) in the Federal Workforce. They must be designed and built to be accessible as required by the Architectural Barriers Act which ensures access to federally funded facilities. Digital
workspaces, including information and communication technology used by federal agencies, must also be accessible under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. The next webinar in the U.S. Access Board's free monthly series will take place April 7 from 2:30 – 4:00 (ET) and will review accessibility requirements for employee work areas in the ABA Accessibility Standards (ABAAS), including provisions for accessible routes, parking, entrances, workspaces, break rooms, locker rooms, and other areas. Board staff will also review requirements in the Section 508 Standards for computers, telecommunications equipment, software,
websites, information kiosks and transaction machines, and electronic documents.
Visit AccessibilityOnline for more information
or to register. All webinars include video remote interpreting (VRI) and real-time captioning. Questions can be submitted in advance of the session or can be posed during the live webinar. Webinar attendees can earn continuing education credits. The webinar series is hosted by the ADA National Network in cooperation with the Board. Archived copies of previous Board webinars are available on the site.
We have until April 14th to submit any written comments on wireless pertains to environmental justice to the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC), which works closely with the White House
Environmental Justice Interagency Council (IAC). We need comments on why wireless is not environmentally friendly and WIRED technology being the superior choice, etc.
Thank you, Karen/Cece, for this info!
The Fiber Broadband Association is Heading to Rhode Island on April 19th. There will be lots of good info including internet speed testing using Ookla, and the economic impact study of fiber.
All right, that does it for now. We'll be back in a few days with the registration link to next week's meeting. Have a great weekend.
Sincerely,
Jenny DeMarco
Virginians for Safe Technology
VirginiansforSafeTech@protonmail.com
Odette Wilkens
Wired Broadband, Inc.
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