• The Age of the Tech-Savvy Legislator
• BY: Steve Towns   |   April 2013
• An influx of young lawmakers could lead to better technology investments.

• Should Local Government Be Run Like Silicon Valley?
• BY: John Buntin   |   April 2013
• Cities are contracting with Code for America -- what some call “the Peace Corps for geeks” -- in an effort to seed Silicon Valley virtues in local government.
• 2 Comments

• Online Sales Tax Upheld by New York Court
• Source: New York Times   |   New York   |   March 29, 2013
• New York’s highest court rejected arguments by two Internet retailers that they should be exempt from collecting state sales tax.

• Google Maps Launch Live Transit Updates in 3 Regions
• Source: Salt Lake Tribune   |   Nation   |   March 28, 2013
• The new service showing when a bus or train is delayed and when it should arrive was launched for New York City, Washington, D.C., and the Utah Transit Authority.

• A Few Hundred Innovative Ideas for Urban Governance
• BY: Ben Weinryb Grohsgal   |   March 27, 2013
• The five winners of the Mayors Challenge are the cream of a bounteous crop.

• Water-Free Fracking Catching On in Texas
• BY: The Texas Tribune   |   Texas   |   March 27, 2013
• New early-stage technology that uses chemicals for fracking is gaining popularity in the state as a way to alleviate concerns over the high quantities of water needed for hydraulic fracking.
• 1 Comments

• Building an Election System that Works
• BY: Susan K. Urahn   |   March 27, 2013
• A new tool gives administrators and policymakers crucial benchmarking data they need to make the voting process fair, accurate and convenient.

• Cities and the Competition for Energy Efficiency
• BY: Bob Graves   |   March 25, 2013
• Excellent tools are available to monitor energy use across a community. Isn't it time for cities to be benchmarked against each other?
• 3 Comments

• Government Apps Highly Susceptible to Cyberattacks
• BY: Government Technology   |   Nation   |   March 25, 2013
• A new report shows that Web apps used by the public- and private-sector continue to be vulnerable to attack.
• 1 Comments

• Microsoft Discloses Law Enforcement Requests for Customer Data
• Source: New York Times   |   Nation   |   March 22, 2013
• Microsoft disclosed for the first time the number of requests it had received from government law enforcement agencies for data on its hundreds of millions of customers around the world

• Current Laws Fail to Address Drone-Privacy Issue
• Source: New York Times   |   Nation   |   March 21, 2013
• The drones, or unmanned aerial systems, have already helped the police find missing people and county planners measure the growth of a landfill. But they could also be used by drug dealers, pedophiles and nosy neighbors, witnesses and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee said in a hearing.

• Tax Filing Fees Hurting States' Efforts to Go Paperless
• Source: Boston Globe   |   Massachusetts   |   March 21, 2013
• The electronic filing fees, charged by the makers of TurboTax and other tax software, are creating a stubborn roadblock in states’ efforts to move the income tax filing system entirely online and save millions of dollars in processing costs.

• Minnesota Health Insurance Exchange Signed into Law
• Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune   |   Minnesota   |   March 21, 2013
• Gov. Mark Dayton signed it into law, enacting the most sweeping health care change the state has seen in half a century.

• Drone Regulation up for Debate in Oregon
• Source: AP/Seattle Times   |   Oregon   |   March 20, 2013
• As the nation debates the use of drones to hunt terrorism suspects abroad, Oregon lawmakers are considering legislation that would regulate how drones could be used there.
• 1 Comments

• Technology Fiascoes and the Failure of Analysis
• BY: Jerry Mechling   |   March 20, 2013
• There are too many IT project failures in government. Getting the upfront analysis right could prevent a lot of them.
• 3 Comments