National
Broadband & Wireless
Opinion
Fleeced by the Telecoms and Your State is Blessing It
The American Conservative, 10/21/2019
Joey Durel was not an obvious champion for building a municipal broadband network in his city. He owned multiple private businesses and was the head of the local chamber of commerce prior to becoming mayor of Lafayette, Louisiana, one of the most conservative urban centers in America…
Durel soon determined that a city-run broadband network would provide better services at lower prices than Bellsouth or Cox, but he was under no illusion those companies would go quietly into the night. However, he probably didn’t expect such a challenge to his authority—a challenge that went right up to the state legislature to stop him. This was preemption, and Durel was about to get one heck of an education in how monopolies use the levers of government to get what they want…
[In] Lafayette a conservative legislature is stream-rolling what can only be described as a local conservative effort to save money and increase the quality of service to the community. [Emphasis Added]
Plastic Bags & Other Disposable Containers
These 16 U.S. States Have a Ban on Banning Plastic?!
One Green Planet, 10/17/2019
While states like Massachusetts and California embrace plastic bag bans and laws on straws, other states are doing the opposite. North Dakota, Tennessee, and Oklahoma have enacted “ban on local bans” laws, also known as preemption laws, which prevents cities and towns from creating laws prohibiting plastic bags and the like.