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Seattle’s tech industry relies on foreign workers. It is growing increasingly nervous about Trump’s next steps after he suspended all company-sponsored green card applications for the next 60 days. “Those particular jobs are super critical.”
The House is still split about allowing proxy, remote voting or not. Some believe the low-tech option is a good solution for these unprecedented times of social distancing, but others believe it’s unconstitutional.
Thousands of inmates are infected with the coronavirus and dozens have already died. Some governors have released prisoners for public health reasons, but there's always a risk they'll reoffend.
Despite widespread disruption to session calendars, state legislators still find time to address matters other than the pandemic, an illustration of how the wheels of democracy keep turning.
In a scenic but neglected area of Appalachia, a $100 million bridge built between two states remains unused five years after completion. Revised plans could bring traffic one day, but for now, it remains pristine.
With projected shortfalls of $300 million over the next 26 months, Cole may have become a canary in a coal mine for all city executives in the high stakes world of leading after COVID-19.
June Tierney, Vermont’s Department of Public Service Commissioner, said of connecting Vermont residents to Internet providers to ensure they can access remote learning, remote work and telehealth services. (AP News — April 18, 2020)
When Facebook will lift its company ban on gatherings of more than 50 people. The company is requiring its workers to continue working from home through May, and plans to allow employees to return to work in slow waves after that.
University of Maryland will use robots to help increase the state’s testing capacity to up to 20,000 daily. However, the tests can only run as long as they have cotton swabs to take samples, and swabs are in short supply.
Like many U.S. cities, Vancouver expects to lose at least $30 million during the coronavirus shutdown, but is also making plans to shoulder even greater loss. “We don’t yet know what, truly, the final impact will be.”
Many companies had been resistant to employees working from home, but the coronavirus pandemic has shown that it’s very feasible and functional. Working from home has great benefits and should be continued post-pandemic.
Researchers found the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases could be as much as 55 times higher than originally thought. Officials believed there were about 8,000 confirmed cases early on, but there could be more than 440,000.
The coronavirus has shown that they can't count on their states or Washington for everything they need. But higher levels of government could provide funding for cities and counties to do the basics.
Leaders from special districts in California, Illinois and New Jersey, with widely varied responsibilities, talk about maintaining operations, as well as functioning remotely, during the pandemic.
The governors are calling for a quick $500 billion to offset plummeting tax revenues. But we don't know how long a pandemic recession will last or how deep it will be. We should be guided by hard data.
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In the last month, the COVID-19 pandemic has flipped our country on its head.
U.S. Senator Mark Warner wrote in a letter to Ajit Pai, the head of the Federal Communications Commission. (The Hill — April 16, 2020)
The number of malware and phishing emails related to the coronavirus that Google saw each day during the first week of April.
As Washington state enacted stay-at-home orders, rural residents were suddenly cut off from their work and school. While broadband access has been a long-term issue, COVID-19 is finally bringing eastern Washington’s digital divide to the forefront.
Though Georgia has a large financial reserve, it relies on income and sales taxes to provide the salaries for many of its state workers. Some predict the state could see a $1.27 billion loss in sales tax revenue.
California is divided on the implementation of 5G: many are concerned of the potential adverse health effects it could cause, while others believe it could help make remote learning and working better.
We’re at the height of this epidemic, so the collapse of the Mandan Indian Nation in North Dakota in the late 18th and early 19th centuries from outbreaks of smallpox is a reminder of how ignorance can be so deadly.
This week’s newsletter looks at how the crisis has brought new challenges to cybersecurity leaders and what they are doing about it. And, will contact tracing — a key to helping us return to normal — jeopardize our privacy?
Martin Long, a longtime North Oaks, Minn., council member, said during the city’s council’s work-from-home meeting on April 9. (StarTribune — April 16, 2020)
The amount of Paycheck Protection Program low-interest loans for which 1.5 million U.S. companies have applied in response to the economy-stopping coronavirus.
Muskegon, Mich., Community College has approved a 4 percent tuition increase for the next year. While the college needs the financial increase, many students suffering from coronavirus impacts might not be able to afford it.
Corporations are also receiving financial aid from the coronavirus stimulus package, but their refunds are much greater than for families. It could end up costing the federal budget $275 billion over the next decade.
California said it secured 200 million masks per month, but the Newsom administration won’t pay until there is assurance that the masks are coming. In total, the state plans to spend $7 billion on coronavirus response.
The House is slowly moving toward a remote voting system that would require each member to vote and wouldn’t be susceptible to hacking. But many are still concerned about the plan’s allowance for proxy voting.
Colleges and universities face a worse situation than the Great Recession. States are bound to cut their budgets, while every other revenue source — tuition, dorm fees, donations, endowments — are under pressure.
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