Vendors try to block AG on voided broadband contract

Two internet companies are asking a federal judge to block Attorney General Lawrence Wasden from forcing them to return millions of dollars paid under a voided state broadband contract. Education Networks of America Inc. and CenturyLink Communications LLC first filed their lawsuits in federal court in August, where they argued that the state owed them more than $37 million in back payments and damages. Shortly after the announcement of the federal lawsuits, Wasden filed a separate lawsuit in state court demanding that actually the vendors needed to return tax dollars paid to them under the illegal deal. Those two companies have since amended their federal complaints to request that Wasden be prohibited from interfering with their payment recovery. U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill is scheduled to consider the request in early January.