Latest news with #fiberoptic
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Willmar City Council on Monday, June 2, to consider rules of decorum for meetings
May 31---- The on Monday, June 2, will consider rules of decorum for its meetings. The meeting takes place at 6:30 p.m. in the boardroom at the Kandiyohi County Health and Human Services building, 2200 23rd St. N.E. in Willmar. Willmar Mayor Doug Reese asked city staff several weeks ago to draft rules of decorum after members of the public caused disruptions during a meeting. During a March 3 meeting — at which the City Council declined to accept an offer from Charter Communications, doing business in Willmar as Spectrum, to install fiber-optic lines in the if the city stopped its — members of the public disrupted the proceedings. The Connect Willmar Initiative will build an open-access, high-speed fiber network reaching every home and business in the city of Willmar at an estimated cost of $24.5 million. However, interest on the bonds that will be issued to construct the network would bring the estimated cost to $33 million. Two members of the public, Joe Ridler and Ron Christianson, who oppose the Connect Willmar Initiative, arrived at the March 3 meeting too late to address the council during the open forum portion of the meeting, which is set aside for public comment. After the City Council made its decision, it then went into closed session to discuss other matters without adjourning the meeting or taking a break. Rather than leaving the meeting room, Christianson and Ridler instead approached the council dais to voice their displeasure over the decision. They were also reluctant to leave when told that the meeting was still in session. Reese at the following council meeting asked for rules of decorum to be drafted.
CNN
3 days ago
- Business
- CNN
New fiber optic cable in place to help fix communications problems plaguing flights to Newark, DOT says
A new fiber optic cable is now in place between Philadelphia and New York to improve air traffic control telecommunications at the facility that handles flights in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport, following a busy Memorial Day weekend, the Department of Transportation said Wednesday. 'That was the troubled portion of the line that's been laid,' Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said at a press conference. 'We're doing some of the connections right now, and then we have to test it. I don't want to over promise and under deliver.' Duffy said the Federal Aviation Administration is using 'an abundance of caution' with testing and hopes the fiber line will be in use by the start of July. Air traffic controllers in Philadelphia have repeatedly lost contact with Newark flights, including on April 28, when the existing cable failed, silencing radios for 30 seconds and blanking radar scopes for 90 seconds. Three more outages have occurred since then, CNN previously reported. The improvements come after the system survived a busy travel holiday. Less than 1% of flights were canceled throughout the US air travel system over the holiday period and less than 3% of flights were delayed, Acting Administrator of the FAA Chris Rocheleau said. The Transportation Security Administration screened more than 3 million people across the country on Friday at the start of the Memorial Day weekend. More than 2 million were screened on each of the other days. United Airlines reported the busiest Memorial Day weekend ever, with 553,000 people traveling worldwide each day. At the airline's key Newark hub, no departures were canceled on either Sunday or Monday, United said. Rocheleau added the agency will continue to work with the airlines and airport to slow traffic at Newark to ensure safety and avoid delays. Last week the FAA cut 25% of the flights there to help with congestion from understaffing and runway construction, as well as the aging air traffic control infrastructure and technology. 'We will continue to work with the airlines, with the airports to make sure that as we manage traffic, we do so safely and efficiently throughout the system,' Rocheleau said. Duffy is asking Congress to support a plan for a brand-new air traffic control system but has not put a price tag on it. He noted Wednesday that it will be higher than the $12.5 billion in a House bill currently being considered. 'It's a substantial piece of work and will take a substantial amount of money,' Duffy said.
CNN
5 days ago
- Business
- CNN
New fiber optic cable in place to help fix communications problems plaguing flights to Newark, DOT says
A new fiber optic cable is now in place between Philadelphia and New York to improve air traffic control telecommunications at the facility that handles flights in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport, following a busy Memorial Day weekend, the Department of Transportation said Wednesday. 'That was the troubled portion of the line that's been laid,' Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said at a press conference. 'We're doing some of the connections right now, and then we have to test it. I don't want to over promise and under deliver.' Duffy said the Federal Aviation Administration is using 'an abundance of caution' with testing and hopes the fiber line will be in use by the start of July. Air traffic controllers in Philadelphia have repeatedly lost contact with Newark flights, including on April 28, when the existing cable failed, silencing radios for 30 seconds and blanking radar scopes for 90 seconds. Three more outages have occurred since then, CNN previously reported. The improvements come after the system survived a busy travel holiday. Less than 1% of flights were canceled throughout the US air travel system over the holiday period and less than 3% of flights were delayed, Acting Administrator of the FAA Chris Rocheleau said. The Transportation Security Administration screened more than 3 million people across the country on Friday at the start of the Memorial Day weekend. More than 2 million were screened on each of the other days. United Airlines reported the busiest Memorial Day weekend ever, with 553,000 people traveling worldwide each day. At the airline's key Newark hub, no departures were canceled on either Sunday or Monday, United said. Rocheleau added the agency will continue to work with the airlines and airport to slow traffic at Newark to ensure safety and avoid delays. Last week the FAA cut 25% of the flights there to help with congestion from understaffing and runway construction, as well as the aging air traffic control infrastructure and technology. 'We will continue to work with the airlines, with the airports to make sure that as we manage traffic, we do so safely and efficiently throughout the system,' Rocheleau said. Duffy is asking Congress to support a plan for a brand-new air traffic control system but has not put a price tag on it. He noted Wednesday that it will be higher than the $12.5 billion in a House bill currently being considered. 'It's a substantial piece of work and will take a substantial amount of money,' Duffy said.
CNN
5 days ago
- Business
- CNN
New fiber optic cable in place to help fix communications problems plaguing flights to Newark, DOT says
A new fiber optic cable is now in place between Philadelphia and New York to improve air traffic control telecommunications at the facility that handles flights in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport, following a busy Memorial Day weekend, the Department of Transportation said Wednesday. 'That was the troubled portion of the line that's been laid,' Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said at a press conference. 'We're doing some of the connections right now, and then we have to test it. I don't want to over promise and under deliver.' Duffy said the Federal Aviation Administration is using 'an abundance of caution' with testing and hopes the fiber line will be in use by the start of July. Air traffic controllers in Philadelphia have repeatedly lost contact with Newark flights, including on April 28, when the existing cable failed, silencing radios for 30 seconds and blanking radar scopes for 90 seconds. Three more outages have occurred since then, CNN previously reported. The improvements come after the system survived a busy travel holiday. Less than 1% of flights were canceled throughout the US air travel system over the holiday period and less than 3% of flights were delayed, Acting Administrator of the FAA Chris Rocheleau said. The Transportation Security Administration screened more than 3 million people across the country on Friday at the start of the Memorial Day weekend. More than 2 million were screened on each of the other days. United Airlines reported the busiest Memorial Day weekend ever, with 553,000 people traveling worldwide each day. At the airline's key Newark hub, no departures were canceled on either Sunday or Monday, United said. Rocheleau added the agency will continue to work with the airlines and airport to slow traffic at Newark to ensure safety and avoid delays. Last week the FAA cut 25% of the flights there to help with congestion from understaffing and runway construction, as well as the aging air traffic control infrastructure and technology. 'We will continue to work with the airlines, with the airports to make sure that as we manage traffic, we do so safely and efficiently throughout the system,' Rocheleau said. Duffy is asking Congress to support a plan for a brand-new air traffic control system but has not put a price tag on it. He noted Wednesday that it will be higher than the $12.5 billion in a House bill currently being considered. 'It's a substantial piece of work and will take a substantial amount of money,' Duffy said.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Yahoo
Spectrum, Google Fiber lines vandalized in Kansas City as part of rising trend
Law enforcement is investigating several incidents of vandalism to Spectrum and Google Fiber lines in the Kansas City area over the last week., part of a recent trend of vandalism to network infrastructure across the country. Three Spectrum fiber optic lines were cut in the KC area Saturday, according to a spokesperson for the company. Restoration to the lines began Saturday and was completed early Sunday morning. Spectrum is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information that leads to an arrest. Those with information may call the Spectrum tip line at 833-404-8477. Google Fiber lines in the area were also purposely cut, and a police report was filed, a company representative said. In a statement, Andy Simpson, the general manager for Google Fiber's central region, pointed to 'strong evidence of vandalism.' Kansas City and Kansas City, Kansas, police said they are investigating the Spectrum vandalism. The FBI office in Kansas City is aware of the matter and remains in contact with local law enforcement, authorities said. In the metro, vandalism to network infrastructure has grown over the last nine months. There is not a concrete motive as to why vandals choose to damage telecommunication lines, officials said. Historically, there has been a copper angle to these acts of vandalism. Vandals take sections of copper from these lines to resell. However, fiber optic lines do not contain copper and instead use thin strands of glass to transmit signals. The incidents come as part of what The Internet & Television Association, an industry lobbying group, said was a wave of vandalism to network infrastructure across the country. A report released by the group last year said there had been 5,770 intentional incidents of theft and vandalism between June and December 2024. The report noted 305 incidents in Missouri and 22 in Kansas during that period. The group pointed to the rising value of copper as a factor, even in incidents where there is no copper. 'In the indiscriminate search for copper, even modern communications facilities, such as fiber-optic transmission lines and wireless communications towers that have no copper, have been sabotaged,' the report said. 'These incidents of theft and vandalism have become increasingly common and create unnecessary service disruptions that threaten and harm American citizens, consumers and businesses.' Simpson says that Google Fiber hopes the public engages in 'see something, say something' if they see someone tampering with telecommunication lines. 'If people do see — folks out that don't seem like their utility workers or otherwise — that's important to us is that people speak up when they see something,' he said. 'Getting our customers back up is the most important kind of aspect of managing and maintaining our network and providing the service, and so that's what we focus on is how quickly can we respond and get crews and teams on site to fix the outage and repair it,' Simpson said. He went on to say that, when incidents happen, the goal is to get connections to customers back up 'in the shortest amount of time possible.' The Star's Nathan Pilling contributed reporting.
