News
The Florida city will begin considering using and accepting bitcoin for some of its financial transactions. Mayor Suarez is a strong proponent of the cryptocurrency for the city, but others are worried about its stability.
People of color are receiving the COVID vaccine at disproportionately slower rates across North Carolina’s counties. Black residents receiving vaccines are underrepresented in 77 percent of counties, Hispanics in 93 percent.
The new legislation would require departments to diversify recruiting, create a fund for officers to pursue higher education and increase required classes on mental health, social services and other topics.
Boston Consulting Group, Common Sense Media and the Southern Education Foundation issued a report last month about the big picture of digital inequity in education, as well as potential solutions.
Danny Friedman, managing director of Voto Latino, speaking of the voting advocacy organization’s efforts to encourage political leaders to learn Spanish as a way to reach out to Spanish-speaking voters year-round. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the U.S. (NPR — Feb. 12, 2021)
The estimated number of prisoners in Virginia who have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, which accounts for approximately half of the prison population. More than 470 have received their second dose.
A glitch in Black Hawk County’s COVID vaccine software has prevented it from collecting demographic fields for race, ethnicity and geographic location. The data has also disappeared when providers input patient data.
The City Council has okayed a contract with Blink Charging to build more than 140 electric vehicle chargers in 32 sites across the city. But concerns have been raised about the firm’s business practices.
There has been an exodus of nearly 1,600 unemployment department workers in California since the pandemic began, further impeding the state’s ability to quickly respond to the huge wave of jobless claims.
Several major hospital systems across the country will aggregate the data and make it available to researchers, other health-care companies through an app, called Truveta. Many have legal and privacy concerns, however.
The acquisition, probably the biggest gov tech deal ever, would bring together a giant of local government software with a giant of state software. Here's how the deal came together, and what it might mean for gov tech.
Daniel Cox, director of the American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life, regarding the new survey that found that nearly 40 percent of Republicans agreed that if elected leaders are not protecting the country, “the people must do it themselves, even if it requires violent actions.” The survey also found that 3 in 10 Americans, regardless of political party, agreed with the justification of violence. (NPR — Feb. 11, 2021)
California’s toll of coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday, which caused the state to surpass New York’s record of 45,312.
Washington state has been the victim of massive unemployment fraud and a data breach that exposed 1 million people’s personal data. Lawmakers want to improve cybersecurity and data sharing to prevent future cyberattacks.
California has increased its immunization rate overall, but vaccine distribution still greatly varies between counties. Some have nearly one-third of their residents vaccinated, while others are at just 5 percent.
As a way to keep money in the state’s economy, lawmakers have introduced several proposals that would allow those who mistakenly received unemployment benefit payments to keep the money, instead of returning it.
Fraud scammers from all over the world began targeting the states’ mostly antiquated employment insurance systems, moving swiftly to collect billions of dollars and using the money to fund other illegal activities.
A one-size-fits-all approach defies local cost-of-living realities. County-based indexing could help avoid losses of jobs and tax revenues, and it could appeal to policymakers on both sides of the rural-urban divide.
Utah’s Maria Montessori Academy Director Micah Hirokawa, regarding the decision to include the histories of people of color as a part of the school’s instruction. There had been requests from some parents at the school to have their children opt out of learning the Black History Month curriculum, but they have since been withdrawn. (Associated Press — Feb. 10, 2021)
The estimated number of metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions that Bitcoin production generates every year, which is comparable to the amount that Jordan and Sri Lanka produce annually. The increasingly-popular cryptocurrency relies on high-powered computers to solve complex mathematical puzzles that are largely powered by coal.
Assembly Member Chiu has proposed a bill that would prevent police agencies from buying certain types of military-style equipment, such as armored vehicles and drones, in hopes of cutting back the use of deadly force.
Recent trials show the new smartphone app, PedNav, is about 95 percent effective in communicating with traffic control systems and audio directions, and can aid the visually impaired to cross the street.
Hackers continue to use the coronavirus pandemic as a multi-billion dollar opportunity, flooding the state with thousands of false claims. Many fraud victims are unable to receive any helpful response from the state.
Black, Latino and Native American communities have been impacted the most by COVID-19, and yet they have the lowest rate of vaccinations in Los Angeles County. Officials are increasing efforts to fix the racial disparities.
Variants of the original COVID-19 strain are making their way into the U.S. While the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines still seem to be effective, there are concerns if the virus continues to mutate.
When a development causes a problem, we should be dealing with the problem where it exists – not cordoning off whole areas of the city. Let’s scrap the old Euclidean codes and update with market urbanism zoning.
Across the country, legislators are trying to gain more control over their states' courts. Many of the efforts are from Republicans aiming to diminish the role of judicial nominating commissions.
As strains on public resources grow, a new center at the National Conference of State Legislatures shares lessons from evidence-based policymaking to help states make the most of programs and budgets.
A move by Uber signals an opportunity to permanently end Prohibition-rooted restrictions that prevent many Americans from getting their drinks the same way they get their groceries and takeout meals.
Jose Arballo, public health agency spokesperson for Riverside County, Calif., speaking of the challenges for vaccinating communities that are suspicious of health care or other government services, despite that these communities are often some of the most vulnerable to the coronavirus. (Associated Press — Feb. 9, 2021)
