A report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has confirmed what others have reported for years: that official data on internet access across the country greatly over estimates availability and competition. The report [PDF] is focused specifically on tribal lands – small semi-autonomous areas of the United States governed by indigenous tribes – but its conclusions are directly applicable to the rest of the country.

We’ve repeatedly tried to make it clear that while everybody tends to focus on the death of net neutrality itself, the Pai FCC’s “Restoring Internet Freedom” order killing net neutrality had a farbroader impact than just killing net neutrality rules. As part of the repeal, Comcast, Verizon and AT&T also convinced FCC boss Ajit Pai to effectively neuter FCC authority over ISPs entirely, making it harder for the agency to hold giant ISPs accountable on a wide variety of issues ranging from privacy to transparency (the recent fire fighter kerfuffle being a prime example).

California’s legislature has approved a bill being called the strongest net neutrality law in the US. The bill would ban internet providers from blocking and throttling legal content and prioritizing some sites and services over others. It would apply these restrictions to both home and mobile connections.

Big news: Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman just became the first GOP House representative to announce he will sign the “discharge petition” to force a vote on the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that would overturn the FCC’s disastrous repeal. The resolution already passed the Senate, and now that it has picked up bipartisan support in the House, we have a real chance of winning. Rep Coffman also introduced his own net neutrality legislation, which is largely symbolic, given that it will never reach the 60 votes it needs to pass the Senate.

In a move that was almost assuredly designed to garner less than normal attention, this week in the middle of summer the FCC quietly announced that it would now be taking comments from the public about the upcoming T-Mobile/Sprint merger. But not only that, in addition to comments, the FCC will even let folks file formal petitions if they are so inclined...

Comcast recently installed Wi-Fi equipment in public rights of way without permits in the city of Corvallis, Oregon. But instead of settling the matter locally, a cable lobby group that represents Comcast told the Federal Communications Commission that it should override municipal permitting processes such as the one in Corvallis. In doing so, the cable lobby group made "misleading and inaccurate" allegations about what actually happened in the Comcast/Corvallis dispute, according to city officials.

The companies had the option to kill the sale, announced in May 2017, if it had not closed by Aug. 8. Tribune also filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court, claiming Sinclair failed to live up to its commitment to make its best effort at getting regulatory approval.

The Federal Communications Commissions servers were overwhelmed after comedian John Oliver discussed net-neutrality on his show last year. But FCC chairman Ajit Pai and his agency blamed the outage on a cyberattack. That assertion's now been debunked and Congress is going to want answers.

A group of 22 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia late Monday asked a U.S. appeals court to reinstate the Obama administration's 2015 landmark net neutrality rules and reject the Trump administration's efforts to preempt states from imposing their own rules guaranteeing an open internet.

New details have emerged regarding the no-bid State Department contract awarded last year to SCL Group, the parent company of the now-defunct data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica. Recently obtained documents show the controversial firm, known primarily today for acquiring data on millions of Facebook users without their consent, was paid nearly $500,000 to design an influence campaign intended to thwart ISIS recruitment propaganda.

The Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state legislature must redraw at least eight congressional districts, including the 5th, that had been gerrymandered to favor the GOP.

A campaign has been launched to change a school district’s dress code after a student was sent home for wearing a shirt that showed her collarbone. WTVQ reports that Stacie Dunn received a call on her daughter’s first day of school and was told she was in violation of the dress code. The dress code requires that students wear shirts that cover their collarbone.

Amendment-seeking right wingers are getting close.

One hundred fifty miles northwest of here, the residents of Flint, Mich., are still reeling from the drinking water debacle that more than doubled the share of children with elevated levels of lead in their blood — to a peak, in mid-2014, of 7 percent of all children tested. Clevelanders can only sympathize. The comparable number here is 14.2 percent. The poisoning of Flint’s children outraged the nation. But too much lead in children’s blood has long been an everyday...

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser on Friday called for a citywide vote in November on making the nation’s capital the 51st state, resurrecting a decades-old plan to thrust the issue before Congress and raise awareness across the country about District residents’ lack of full citizenship. “I propose we take another bold step toward democracy in the District of Columbia,” Bowser (D) said at a breakfast attracting hundreds of city residents...

The U.S. is ranked 41 out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index, which measures the "level of freedom of information in 180 countries." According to the organization, the U.S. moved from 49 in 2015 to 41 this year, though it warned that the "relative improvement by comparison hides overall negative trends." Citing the U.S. government's "war on whistleblowers who leak information about its surveillance activities, spying and foreign operations...

The Federal Communications Commission has lost in an attempt to preempt state laws that restrict the growth of municipal broadband networks. The FCC in February 2015 voted to block laws in North Carolina and Tennessee that prevent municipal broadband providers from expanding outside their territories. The FCC, led by Chairman Tom Wheeler, claimed it could preempt the laws because Congress authorizes the commission to promote telecom competition by removing barriers to investment.

Fidel Castro thanked Cubans for their well-wishes on his 90th birthday and criticized President Barack Obama in a lengthy letter published in state media. He appeared but did not speak at a gala in his honor broadcast on state television. "I want to express my deepest gratitude for the shows of respect, greetings and praise that I've received in recent days, which give me strength to reciprocate with ideas that I will send to party militants and relevant organizations," he wrote about his birthday on Saturday.

More species protected by the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) have recovered during President Barack Obama’s administration than under all other presidents combined, the US Department of Interior announced on August 11. And 2016 marks a record high for species recovery, with six so far officially ‘delisted’ from ESA’s roster. The ESA, passed in 1973 to assist the recovery and protection of imperilled species and ecosystems, is widely seen as a landmark piece of environmental legislation.

Sandra Bland's family has reached a $1.9 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit, the family's attorney said Thursday. The settlement includes compensation for Bland's death in custody as well as several changes to jail procedures in Waller County, Texas. Bland was found dead in her jail cell three days after she was arrested for failing to use her turn signal in July 2015.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is one of those federal agencies that tends to inspire intense reactions among the traveling public. It’s a bureaucracy that interacts with millions of passengers each day, requiring their shoes, jackets, laptops—and time. Virtually all this occurs at airports, with about 80 percent of the agency’s $7.4 billion budget spent on aviation security. Only 2 percent of the TSA’s funding goes to surface transportation...

Nearly two dozen members of Congress sent a letter to the White House on Thursday requesting that the Obama administration intervene to stop construction of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. The two-page letter, co-signed by 19 members, was a direct call to action to an administration that has been the most progressive in the nation's history in its efforts to address issues affecting Native Americans.

The rules require providers to ask your permission before sharing your data.

A former top Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) official has accused Congress of putting pharmaceutical company profits ahead of public health in the battle to combat the US’s prescription opioid epidemic. Joseph Rannazzisi, head of the DEA office responsible for preventing prescription medicine abuse until last year, said drug companies and their lobbyists have a “stranglehold” on Congress to protect a $9bn a year trade in opioid painkillers claiming the lives of nearly 19,000 people a year.

The crowdsourcing goal was modest: $5,000, enough to help a few dozen people camping in North Dakota to protest the nearby construction of the four-state Dakota Access oil pipeline. The fund has since topped a staggering $1 million. The fund is among several cash streams that have provided at least $3 million to help with legal costs, food and other supplies to those opposing the nearly 1,200-mile pipeline. It may also give protesters the ability to prolong their months-long encampments that have attracted thousands of supporters, as the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe pursues the fight in court.

A passionate advocate for making Puerto Rico the 51st U.S. state appears poised to become the next governor of the territory, giving a boost to a movement that has been gaining momentum amid the island's economic woes. Ricardo Rossello, a scientist and the son of a former governor of the island, is expected to win Tuesday largely due to widespread public anger over the decade-long recession and a corruption scandal that has left the party of his main opponent in disarray.

The anti-pipeline protesters descending by the hundreds on rural North Dakota in support of the Standing Rock Sioux aren’t necessarily standing with Beverly Fischer. Or her dead buffalo. An enrolled tribal member, Mrs. Fischer and her husband, Ernie, are convinced that at least 13 of their bison have been butchered, barbecued and eaten by some of the hundreds of activists trespassing through the livestock pastures of Cannonball Ranch since the protests erupted in August.

Standing Rock protesters have gathered in North Dakota to exercise their constitutional rights against the Dakota Access Pipeline project, which is a underground oil pipeline that is roughly 1,172 miles long. The $3.7 billion project came under scrutiny by environmental groups and native American tribes. Since earlier this year protests have been growing steadily.

THE MAN WHO saved net neutrality is stepping aside. Federal Communication Commission chairman Tom Wheeler will resign on January 20, the agency announced today. Wheeler’s decision to step down means Donald Trump will have two FCC seats to fill, one Republican and one Democratic. His resignation will also give Republicans a 2-to-1 majority on the commission even before those seats are filled after the departure of fellow Democratic commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel at the end of the year.

In subsequent coins, she'll be featured as Asian-American, Hispanic-American and Indian-American among others.

Wheeler talks to Ars about "Cablewood," competition, regulation on last day at FCC.

A group of U.S. military veterans has vowed to block completion of the hotly disputed Dakota Access pipeline, despite the secretary of the Army giving the project the green light. "We are committed to the people of Standing Rock, we are committed to nonviolence, and we will do everything within our power to ensure that the environment and human life are respected. That pipeline will not get completed. Not on our watch," said Anthony Diggs, a spokesman for Veterans Stand.

Congress has passed legislation ending an Obama-era regulation that's required oil and gas companies to disclose payments to the U.S. or foreign governments for commercial development. The Senate gave final congressional approval to the measure Friday 52-47 in an unusual vote that began before dawn. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill. It represents an initial Republican swipe at the 2010 Dodd-Frank law curbing Wall Street that President Barack Obama and Democrats enacted following the 2008 financial crisis.

The Latest on the sentencing of an ex-convict in the arson fire at a Florida mosque (all times local): 3 p.m. An ex-convict who investigators say confessed to setting fire to a Florida mosque tied to the Orlando nightclub shooter has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. Thirty-two-year-old Joseph Schreiber pleaded no contest to second-degree arson during Monday's hearing in Fort Pierce. A no contest plea is treated the same as a guilty plea.

The chairman of Pakistan's senate says the body will not welcome any U.S. delegation, member of Congress or dignitary in Islamabad. The move comes after the U.S. failed to issue a visa to the senate's deputy chairman, a member of the right-wing Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam political party. Chairman Raza Rabbani says in a statement that no Pakistani senate delegation will visit the U.S. until an explanation for the delay in issuing a visa to Maulana Ghafoor Haideri is given by U.S. authorities.