STREAMING RULES TURF WAR?: Two top Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee fired off a brushback pitch warning FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel over possible changes to how TV streaming marketplaces are regulated, Morning Tech reports. — The fight between streaming platforms, major broadcasters and production companies (who oppose reexamining the marketplace rules) and smaller broadcast networks (which are pushing for new rules) has ramped up in recent months, with the two factions recently forming dueling coalitions to press their arguments — though there doesn’t appear to be any imminent action either way. — “If the laws and regulations governing the video marketplace need to be reexamined, it is up to Congress to make updates, not the FCC,” full committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and telecom subcommittee Chair Bob Latta (R-Ohio) wrote in a letter Tuesday to Rosenworcel. — McMorris Rodgers’ Senate counterpart Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is on the opposite side in the fight, but Morning Tech notes that Rosenworcel also seemed unsure of the agency’s authority on the matter earlier this year. UTILITY SPLITS WITH GAS INDUSTRY GROUP OVER CLIMATE PRIORITIES: “New England's largest energy utility, Eversource, has parted ways with the American Gas Association — a powerful industry group that environmentalists say has been instrumental in blocking efforts to address climate change around the country,” WBUR’s Miriam Wasser reports. — “Eversource spokesperson Chris McKinnon told WBUR that the utility canceled its membership with the group in early 2022 as part of a broader, strategic effort to prioritize ‘decarbonization’ and reduce planet-warming emissions.” — “‘Eversource is more than a natural gas utility,’ McKinnon wrote in an email. ‘It was a company-wide decision to withdraw membership from the American Gas Association and redirect costs to more targeted associations and memberships with a focus on decarbonization to support our company-wide operations.’” — “Eversource’s departure appears to mark the first time a major utility has left the influential gas trade group over diverging climate agendas, a move some energy experts call ‘unprecedented’ and say could be a harbinger of things to come.” NOT SO FAST: “Federal prosecutors in New York on Tuesday signaled their intention to hold embattled crypto executive Sam Bankman-Fried accountable for alleged campaign finance violations despite dropping the charge last month on a technicality,” ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Max Zahn write. — After prosecutors hit FTX founder with a litany of charges last year, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering and securities fraud, they said in July that they were dropping a charge for campaign finance violations against Bankman-Fried after learning that the charge was not included in an extradition treaty with the Bahamas. — “In a letter to the judge on Tuesday, however, prosecutors said they intend to file a superseding indictment next week that will seek to incorporate Bankman-Fried's alleged campaign finance scheme into seven other existing charges,” per ABC. — “‘The superseding indictment will make clear that Mr. Bankman-Fried remains charged with conducting an illegal campaign finance scheme as part of the fraud and money laundering schemes originally charged,’ the letter said. ‘The defendant's use of customer deposits to conduct a political influence campaign was part of the wire fraud scheme charged in the original indictment. And as part of the originally charged money laundering scheme, the defendant also concealed the source of his fraudulent proceeds through political straw donations,’ the letter added.” MARCH FOR OUR LIVES LEADER LAUNCHING A PAC: David Hogg, the Parkland, Fla. mass shooting survivor-turned-gun control activist, is kicking off a new effort to back the youth organizers who are increasingly aging into eligibility to run for office, he told NPR. — The March for Our Lives co-founder “is launching Leaders We Deserve, a hybrid political action committee backing candidates under 35 years old running for federal office and under 30 years old running for state office. The group — which plans to primarily focus on state-level races and a smaller number of congressional matchups — will target open, Democratic-held seats in the upcoming 2024 primary season.” — “The move signals a widening political focus for Hogg, who has remained a prominent voice in the youth-led, grassroots movement to curb gun violence since he and his classmates survived a mass shooting at their high school in Parkland, Fla., more than five years ago.” — “Some members of his activist cohort have already entered electoral politics, including first-term Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., who came to Congress after a background in organizing at March For Our Lives. The first Gen Z member of Congress, Frost is on the advisory board for Leaders We Deserve, and his former campaign manager, Kevin Lata, serves as the group's executive director.”
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