The Senate took a second procedural step Wednesday on a a bill that would allow states to collect online sales tax.

In a 75-22 vote, the Senate proceeded to The Marketplace Fairness Act, S. 743, which would empower states to collect taxes on purchases made online by consumers in their states.

On Monday, the Senate voted 74-20 to end debate on the motion to proceed and last month the body passed a non-binding budget resolution supporting the Marketplace Fairness language on a 75-24 vote.

MetroPCS shareholders approved T-Mobile's offer to buy the company on Wednesday, clearing the path for the two companies to merge.

The shareholder vote was the final hurdle after the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department cleared the deal last month.  

John Legere, T-Mobile's CEO, said he is "thrilled" with the vote. 

House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) on Wednesday said he is crafting his own cybersecurity bill that will clarify the Department of Homeland Security's role in sharing information about cyber threats with companies.

Last week McCaul helped push for the passage of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), which easily cleared the lower chamber after getting hit with a veto threat from the White House. With that bill passed, the Texas Republican plans to continue work on his own cybersecurity measure.

"I also intend to develop a bill out of the committee on Homeland Security that deals with the role of DHS and the sharing of ... cyber threat information with the private sector and critical infrastructures to better protect them, so that we don't see power grids coming down, financial infrastructures coming down," McCaul said on MSNBC's "The Daily Rundown." 

Apple's profit declined, and the company announced that it will spend $100 billion on stock buybacks and a higher dividend, The New York Times explains.

TV streaming service Aereo will launch in Boston on May 15, and CBS has already threatened a new lawsuit, The Verge reports. 

A Huawei executive said the Chinese telecom company is "not interested in the U.S. market anymore," Ars Technica writes. 

Twitter is already working on a two-step security authentication system after numerous hacking incidents, according to Wired. 

A New York Supreme Court justice dismissed a lawsuit challenging taxi hailing apps, The New York Times reports.

THE LEDE: A coalition of conservative groups is urging President Obama to pick a new Federal Communications Commission chairman who will take a light touch with new regulations.

"We need regulators who can resist the frequent urge to 'do something' about problems that are rapidly mooted by technological change anyway. Often, government’s best response is to do nothing," the conservative groups wrote on Tuesday in the letter to Obama and Senate leaders.

The letter, which was signed by TechFreedom, Heritage Action, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Americans for Tax Reform and others, counters the pleas from liberal groups for an aggressive regulator to lead the FCC.

The conservatives argued that regulators should intervene only to protect consumers from real harms and with "economically sound rules that are flexible enough (and occasionally even encourage) technological progress."

The groups insisted that regulators should never "exceed the boundaries of their statutory authority or regulate through informal means and without judicial discipline."

Hackers sent out a message on an Associated Press account claiming that two explosions had injured President Obama.  

The sponsors of Internet sales tax legislation promised on Tuesday to allow floor votes on all relevant amendments. 

"We want those members who have germane and relevant amendments to come forward," Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. "We want to have an opportunity to debate and vote on it."

But he emphasized that because the legislation only affects state tax revenue, he would seek to block any amendments related to federal revenue.

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A group of House Democrats introduced legislation on Tuesday that would subsidize broadband Internet service for the poor. 

The Broadband Adoption Act, authored by Rep. Dorris Matsui (D-Calif.), would expand the Federal Communications Commission's Lifeline program, which currently pays for landline or cellphone service.

“In today’s digital economy, if you don’t have access to the Internet you are simply at a competitive disadvantage. For example, more than 80 percent of available jobs now require online applications,” Matsui said in a statement. “The Internet is increasingly the economic engine for growth and innovation."

Facebook spent more than $2.4 million on lobbying during the first quarter of 2013, a nearly four-fold increase over the company’s influence spending last year, public records show.

That figure puts Facebook on track to beat its previous record for lobbying spending. The company spent just $650,000 on lobbying during the first three months of 2012.

In its disclosure form, Facebook said it lobbied on a range of key tech issues, including immigration reform, patent reform, online privacy and taxes. The company also said it lobbied on cybersecurity, including the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, that passed the House last week despite a veto threat from the White House.