Senator wants Sun&#39;s federal contract cancelled
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InfoWorld - A U.S. senator has called for the U.S. government to cancel an ongoing purchasing contract with Sun Microsystems Inc., but the company says Senator Chuck Grassley&#39;s request is based on bad information.
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US Airways (UAIRQ.OB:OTC BB - news - research) wants a federal judge to tear up contracts with three of its unions, reduce retiree health benefits and cancel its remaining defined-benefit pension plans.
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A US senator is seeking an eleventh-hour delay of an initial public offering (IPO) by private equity giant Blackstone Group, citing concerns about Chinese investment in the firm, according to a letter obtained by AFP Thursday.
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(InfoWorld) - U.S. senators questioned Thursday whether members of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission plan to enforce merger conditions that AT&T Inc. agreed to in its December acquisition of BellSouth Corp. Democratic members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee questioned why FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate issued a joint statement while approving the merger saying the FCC couldn't broadly enforce some of AT&T's concessions. "What I find difficult to understand is that ... you said that you do not intend to stand by the deal that was reached," said Senator Daniel Inouye, the committee chairman and a Hawaii Democrat. Martin and Tate, both Republicans, had protested a net neutrality condition, preventing AT&T from giving priority transmission speeds to its own or its partners' Web content for at least two years. The net neutrality conditions "very well may cause greater problems than the speculative problems they seek to address," Martin and Tate said in the statement Dec. 29. Martin on Thursday said he intends to hold AT&T to the net neutrality agreement, but he doesn't plan to impose those standards on other broadband carriers. "Since [AT&T] volunteered to do that, we would enforce that," he said. "That does not mean we were changing our policy." Martin also suggested another part of the agreement setting out wholesale rates for some data services may be unenforceable. "What is your legal authority as chairman ... to not enforce something you just did?" asked Senator Mark Pryor, an Arkansas Democrat. AT&T agreed to lower the wholesale special access prices for DS1, DS3, and Ethernet services available to some regional telecom carriers and large businesses, but not to large competitors. But the FCC's policy in the past has been that wholesale discounts should apply to all customers, Martin said. "That tariff actually has some components that I believe are illegal under the commission precedent," Martin said. "They can file [the proposed discount], but I'm not committing to approving something that would be in violation of our precedent. We don't allow for that kind of discrimination." But Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, a Democrat who pushed for conditions on the AT&T merger, noted that the FCC adopted the AT&T merger conditions on a 4-0 vote. "It's hard for me to understand why we can't implement something we adopted unanimously," he said. Senators also urged the FCC to work on ways to get broadband service to rural, inner city and poor areas. The FCC on Wednesday issued a report saying the number of high-speed lines in the U.S. increased by 26 percent during the first half of 2006, from 51.2 million to 64.6 million lines in service. The number of high-speed lines grew by 21 percent in the second half of 2005. Senators also pointed to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's latest study saying the U.S. ranks 12th in broadband adoption rate among industrialized nations. Commissioner Michael Copps called on Congress and the FCC to develop a national broadband strategy. He called the U.S. broadband adoption rates "woeful." "I am really worried that we can go into the 21st century and have a bigger digital divide in this country ... than we had back in the days of plain, old telephone service in the 20th century," he said. "This just isn't feel-good liberal theory -- we're talking about the competitiveness of the United States of America."
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By WILL SENTELL  State Senate President Don Hines said Friday he wants state Treasurer John Kennedy removed as regular chairman of the state Bond Commission because of his "arrogant and arbitrary" methods.
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By Zane Wilson, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.  Feb. 16--COLUMBIA -- A Midlands Senator on Thursday blocked passage of a bill that would allow city and county council members to excuse themselves, rather than having to resign, if business with associates or relatives comes before them.
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Ziff Davis - Sun's open-source license proposal for Open Solaris will surely be unpopular.
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State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer will call today for banning lobbyists&#39; gifts to lawmakers and an end to lobbying for government contracts in a platform aimed at the heart of power politics in Albany.
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LOCAL NEWSPAPER The Democrat and Chronicle reports that Kodak will demand $1 billion in damages from Sun Microsystems in a landmark case over Java.
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Air Force Secretary James G. Roche asked a lobbyist for Boeing Co. to use the company&#39;s Washington contacts to &quot;quash&quot; a deputy undersecretary of defense and make him &quot;pay an appropriate
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Sen. CHarles Grassley of Iowa ripped into Sun Microsystems Inc. and the U.S. General Services Administration, but both the company and the agency disputed the senator's information
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The head of a leading conservative group said Sunday that Sen. Arlen Specter &quot;is a big-time problem&quot; and that his quest to serve as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee &quot;must be derailed.
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A U.S. senator ripped into Sun Microsystems and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) during a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday, but both the company and the agency disputed the senator&#39;s information.
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The state treasurer has threatened to withdraw some state funds from Bank of America because of job cuts and other moves following its acquisition of Fleet Boston Financial Corp.
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Political opposition to the merger of satellite radio providers XM and Sirius increased on Wednesday, as the chair of the Senate antitrust committee sent a letter to both the FCC and Justice Department opposing the deal.
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A US senator who pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct is set to resign from the Senate, officials say.
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Stymied by Republicans on the Sept. 11 commission bill and a lobbying overhaul, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., threatened Friday to take away senatorsÃ¢ÂÂ August vacation time.