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She didn’t grow up dreaming of working in a position of power in a big city like Los Angeles, but her strong desire to help people and make the world a better place rerouted her into a career of public service.
Guided by an administrative judge with an engineering degree, a Texas county has led the way in making remote court proceedings a reality, including the nation’s first virtual jury trial.
Eli Perencevich, an infectious-disease expert at the University of Iowa, speaking of some Iowa school districts’ decision to have students move around the classroom every 12-14 minutes to reduce the amount of consecutive time spent next to classmates to minimize the spread of COVID-19. The Iowa Department of Public Health guidelines say that only people who have been exposed for 15 minutes and within 6 feet need to quarantine. (Iowa Starting Line — September 9, 2020)
The proportion of Americans ages 18 through 34 that say they have felt isolated sometime within the past month, according to a recent survey. As the coronavirus takes a toll on young Americans’ mental health, 25 percent of young adults believe that their mental health is fair or poor.
Pretextual stops allow police to stop motorists for a minor violation but research shows these stops disproportionately affect Black drivers. Some believe that ending ‘pretext’ stops will help diminish police brutality.
Health officials are encouraging Angelenos to download the contact tracing app, SafePass, which is from the same makers of a controversial safety-alert app, Vigilante, later renamed Citizen.
Black and Latino populations are disproportionately underrepresented in vaccine trials. Scientists and researchers are working to have them participate in the COVID trial, but a history of mistreatment doesn’t help.
A tiny agency did important work on our intergovernmental system for decades. It's unlikely that the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations can be revived, but we still need what it did.
Portland, Ore., Mayor Ted Wheeler, commenting on the city’s newest facial recognition ordinance that bans both city and private use of the tech in public accommodations. The ban will take effect in January 2021. (The Hill — September 9, 2020)
The proportion of households in America that reported serious financial pain during the pandemic. This financial struggle is also more pronounced in Latino and Black households.
Sacramento, Calif., will begin redirecting money from the city budget into a new fund that the public will determine how to spend. But the fund won’t use money from the policing budget and it won’t be as large as planned.
More than 75 businesses received loans from the coronavirus small business relief program that appear to be fraudulent or ineligible for the program. One in every four businesses that received PPP loans in Florida have been flagged.
Of all the cyberattacks that affect state and local governments, ransomware is one of the most ubiquitous and costly. Now security researchers fear it could also become a political weapon in the upcoming election.
Secretaries of state too often have acted in partisan ways. Especially this year, we need them to show impartiality. And longer-term, we need to re-think how we choose the people who oversee voting.
Caught between the Federal Reserve's new strategy for managing inflation and historically low bond yields, the plans now need to take a fresh look at their actuarial assumptions and inflation protection.
New Jersey and Pennsylvania would make the refusal to wear a mask a crime. It’s a sign that consensus regarding the value of mask wearing has grown, but states are still unsure on both guidelines and penalties.
Remote government work can have many benefits, as the last several months have shown. But whether state IT agencies should recruit more remote workers, regardless of where they live, remains an open question.
Mindy Romero, a political sociologist with the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy, speaking about the changes that will occur in the upcoming election due to COVID-19 and the risk that voters may not participate if they don’t feel services are adequate or accurate. (PEW — September 9, 2020)
The positive test rate of South Dakota last week, currently one of the highest coronavirus infection rates in the country. Iowa and North Dakota have also revealed themselves as hot spots in recent weeks, with positive test rates of 15 and 18 percent, respectively.
A new study from the National Association of Realtors identified which areas of the country were likely to continue working remotely after the pandemic subsides. Delaware County, Ohio, had the eighth highest score.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has postponed naturalization interviews and ceremonies, deepening the backlog of applications. For many immigrants, this means that they will miss another opportunity to vote.
Experts predict cyberattacks against school systems will continue to increase as students return for the fall semester. More investments in cybersecurity is the only way to prevent future breaches.
The city has seen a 53 percent increase in shootings in recent months. Officials hope to curb the rise with gunshot surveillance technology. However, studies have not shown a decrease in crime rates after the tech was implemented.
Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger revealed that approximately 1,000 people voted twice during the state’s June primary, which is considered a felony. However, the fraud was still minimal, at only 0.09 percent.
It may not have always received the best word of mouth, but the space technology continues to advance with big names behind it and a market that has seen significant growth during COVID-19.
There have already been clashes, sometimes fatal, between protesters and self-styled militia. The public appears to be growing more tolerant of political violence, at least when perpetrated by partisans on their side.
Gov. Jared Polis has signed an executive order to prioritize diversity and equity within the state workforce. The move is the first step in improving what critics have called a problem within the Polis administration.
Don’t think you are going to find a troll. It’s about guarding yourself from emotional manipulation.
Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation fellow at the Wilson Center, discussing disinformation on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter that intends to influence the upcoming 2020 election. (AP News — September 5, 2020)
The rate at which Alaskans are self-responding to the 2020 Census by computer, phone or mail as of Sept. 1, the lowest of all 50 states. The national self-response rate is 63 percent.
Despite efforts across Maryland, thousands of students without Internet or computers will not be attending their school classes until campuses reopen. “If kids aren’t in class, nothing else about the education system matters.”
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