Axon Aims to Reduce Police Shooting Deaths Via New Database The company, known for Tasers and body cameras, says detailed analysis of officer-involved fatal shootings could lead to better training and non-lethal technology. The database goes into minute detail about fatalities. READ MORE
Bay Area Transportation Officials Weigh Freeway Tolling Plan The Metropolitan Transportation Commission in the Bay Area is holding public meetings for community feedback on a plan to add tolling to the region’s most-crowded freeways to generate new funding for transit and other projects. READ MORE
Breach Notification Delays Draw Criticism for Maine Agencies The breach that exposed the data of an estimated 1.3 million residents was discovered six months before notifications were sent out. Experts say the delay was necessary to investigate the incident. READ MORE
CivicPlus Will Sell Its Monsido Accessibility Platform Acquia, which helps businesses build digital tools, is buying the platform, which is meant to make online experiences better for people with disabilities. CivicPlus will still serve local clients interested in Monsido. READ MORE
Cyber Attack Downs Washington State’s Transportation Website A cybersecurity incident on Tuesday has made key parts, including real-time information, of the transportation department’s website inaccessible, causing major disruptions. While some services have been restored, maps and permits are still down. READ MORE
Cyber Insurance Roundup: What’s Happening Now? From the roller-coaster ride in rates to new generative AI uses to dramatic changes in underwriting rules, cyber insurance is evolving fast. Here are some of the latest trends. READ MORE
Disaster Zone Podcast: Gaming Cybersecurity Training A different approach to training teams on cybersecurity. READ MORE
Feds Issue Warning on Ransomware Group Targeting Public Sector The FBI and CISA, along with the MS-ISAC, issued a joint advisory explaining Rhysida ransomware actors’ known tactics, techniques and procedures and indicators of compromise — and ways to better defend. READ MORE
Five States Recognized for Evidence-Based Investments At a virtual event co-hosted by the National Governors Association and Results for America, the 2023 Invest in What Works State Standard of Excellence was released, highlighting best practices in state data use. READ MORE
Five Takeaways from the Fifth National Climate Assessment The massive, 2,000-page report is only issued every four to five years and outlines the major climate issues impacting regions and communities across the nation. Here are five main points of the assessment. READ MORE
Former Denver CIO David Edinger Tapped to Lead Colorado IT David Edinger, former CIO for the city and county of Denver, has been tapped to lead the Colorado Office of Information Technology; this comes after Denver named Suma Nallapati, former Colorado IT chief, as its CIO. READ MORE
Harris County, Texas, HHS Provider Hit With Ransomware Harris County officials are investigating the extent of a recent ransomware attack on the county's provider for mental health services. They noted that some employee files have become inaccessible because of encryption. READ MORE
Huber Heights, Ohio, Suffers Ransomware Attack on Systems A weekend morning ransomware attack on Huber Heights, Ohio, is affecting systems like finance, utilities and human resources. The city expects the disruption to last through the week. READ MORE
Iowa Cyber Hub Program Works to Reach the Community Members of the community are encouraged to join a new program about cybersecurity awareness, specifically those who may not be aware of their digital risks or what to do about them. READ MORE
Is AI better at predicting the weather than a supercomputer? READ MORE
MOVEit Hits Maine: More Than 1 Million People Affected The breach affected more than half of the data held by state’s Department of Health and Human Services, as well as data from other agencies. The incident affects 1.3 million people, in some cases exposing Social Security numbers. READ MORE
Nebraska CIO Talks Change Management, Consolidation and Cloud Nebraska CIO Ed Toner explained how the state’s ongoing cloud migration project is addressing agency change hesitancy, streamlining IT processes and securely centralizing data management. READ MORE
New Data Hub Helps Explain Diversity in the Latino Community Latinos accounted for more than half of U.S. population growth in the last two decades. Understanding of this community hasn’t kept pace, but a new resource from the Latino Policy and Politics Institute could help change that. READ MORE
North Carolina AccessDEQ Hub Streamlines Permitting Process The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality recently integrated an online application feature into its comprehensive digital hub, consolidating records, data, mapping tools and permitting into one location. READ MORE
Pennsylvania Adds Cultural Resources to Digital Library The state of Pennsylvania has announced the addition of select resources to the electronic Power Library, providing constituents with tools to learn new languages, learn about their heritage and more. READ MORE
Police Tech Firm Utility Gains Majority Investment from GSV Greater Sum Ventures, whose history includes the gov tech company now called Catalis, aims to provide "end-to-end" tools for public safety professionals. The field is already crowded with Axon, Motorola and others. READ MORE
San Antonio to Spend $30.8M for Solar Panels at 42 Sites This spring the city will begin implementing solar panels on city-owned sites, either on rooftops, as parking canopies or as shade structures in parks in community centers. Currently just 10 city buildings have solar panels to generate electricity. READ MORE
States Begin to Address Media Literacy Through Legislation New Jersey becomes the latest state to sign a bill centering media literacy in schools, raising further awareness of the need for widespread media literacy policies. But more needs to be done, say experts. READ MORE
Texas School Choice Program Could Cost $2B Annually by 2028 The program also includes more funding for special education, teacher retention, per-student allotments and would revamp virtual education and public school accountability. But it would cost millions to implement. READ MORE
The Coming Fight Over Municipal Financial Data Rapidly developing AI-powered technology is making it easier to appropriate the public sector's financial information for proprietary uses. Businesses that slice and dice this data should be renters, not owners. READ MORE
The Flow of Feedback That Can Remake Public Procurement Massachusetts is showing the way by going to the end users of the products and services governments buy. It’s good for suppliers as well, and produces better results for everyone. READ MORE
Transit Needs to Diversify Funding to Face Fiscal Headwinds The fiscal challenges transit is facing are nothing new. To be financially resilient, transit agencies will need to rethink its funding options, and put more pressure on states to funnel federal cash. READ MORE
Water Utility Innovations Explored in NYC Environmental Tech Lab The Environmental Tech Lab in New York City selected eight companies to explore proofs of concept as part of its inaugural Operational Efficiency Challenge and Data Utilization Challenge. READ MORE
What Happened to Foot Traffic in Large U.S. Cities? Pedestrian activity declined in all of the top 100 metros in the United States between 2019 and 2022, driven in part by commuting and other mobility changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. READ MORE
What’s New in Digital Equity: White House Launches National Spectrum Strategy Plus, support for continued ACP funding continues to grow; the FCC adopted final rules on digital discrimination; HUD has unveiled a streamlined enrollment process for the ACP; and more. READ MORE
What's the Future of Court Reporting? (Part 2) Electronic recordings and speech-to-text technologies must overcome more challenges before they can replace court reporters. Although, some critics say there's just no replacing humans in the role. READ MORE
Wisconsin’s Volunteer Cyber Team Explodes in Membership The volunteer group can assemble a response team seven minutes after a request for help — usually from a small city, county or school district. The number of participants has grown alongside the number of attacks. READ MORE