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A collaborative of civil rights organizations is using geospatial data to help in the effort to improve response rates among the populations that are hard to count.
Mayflower Autonomous Ship project’s co-director Brett Phaneuf said of the 50-foot trimaran that will sail from Plymouth, England to Plymouth, Mass., without any passengers or crew. Although the voyage was originally planned to take part this year, the coronavirus has delayed the autonomous trans-Atlantic journey until September 2021. (AP News — September 15, 2020)
The number of Mecklenburg County, N.C., residents incorrectly notified that they had tested positive for COVID-19. Officials said that the messages went out due to a software glitch.
By 2050, Houston could save 148 lives and reduce health costs by $1.7 billion annually if the city switched to an all-electric transit system, according to a new report. Although a petrochemical hub, some believe the city can go green.
A new proposed coronavirus aid package would be very similar to the one enacted in the spring: stimulus checks, renewed PPP funding and increasing unemployment benefit payments. Getting agreement in Congress remains a challenge.
The National Institutes of Health is investigating a coronavirus vaccine trial patient who suffered from spinal cord damage. Although unsure if that was a result of the vaccine, the NIH is ‘very concerned.’
The Federal Reserve found that workers with jobs that can be done by machines are experiencing layoffs at a greater rate with the pandemic. Workers of color are especially hard-hit by this trend.
Mike Moran, spokesperson for the Jackson County, Ore., Sheriff’s Office. He was commenting on conspiracy theories spread by social media, alleging that Antifa or Proud Boys members started the wildfires ravaging the state. (AP News — September 10, 2020)
The year by which Uber will use solely all-electric vehicles for its ride-hailing trips in the U.S., Canada and Europe. The company plans to be entirely emission-free by 2040.
Michigan is producing weekly reports on coronavirus outbreaks in schools. That may not be quite as timely as it sounds, since much of the data could be more than a week old.
African Americans account for 6 percent of the state’s population, but 19 percent of confirmed COVID cases. Disparities in treatment aren’t limited to the coronavirus.
Local governments across New York are working to reopen schools, enforce COVID regulations and implement statewide mandates while wrestling with massive budget holes. Many worry it will just get worse.
Detroit projected an additional loss of $62 million and 50,000 jobs last week. Still, although the city needs to make adjustments to balance the budget, officials manage to remain optimistic: “It’s a solvable challenge.”
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.
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