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FCC approves pilot to boost cybersecurity in schools
Parents of students in Center Line, Michigan, an inner ring suburb of Detroit, got a text late Monday night last week canceling school the next day. School officials had been forced to shut down the district’s entire computer system to stop a ransomware attack. Since schools run through technology, whether it’s food service, cameras, phones or educational software, there were few other options.
Auditing reimagined: Looking beyond the public dollar
Having dedicated most of my public service career to elevating the profession of performance auditing, I was gratified to see recently that it had progressed from a nice idea to a top priority for the current generation of local government auditors. This focus on “auditing for impact” is a healthy...
Could this state's health ‘hub’ model treating opioid addiction go nationwide?
This story was first posted on the Washington State Standard. Read the original here. Imagine if anyone with an opioid addiction could walk into a local treatment center and receive medication for their addiction, primary care, emotional counseling and many more health and social services — all for free without an appointment.
White nationalist, anti-LGBTQ activity on the rise, annual hate report shows
This story was first published on West Virginia Watch. Read the original here. Emboldened by the mainstreaming of hard-right politics ahead of a presidential election cycle, white nationalist and anti-LGBTQ+ groups increased to record levels in the United States last year, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s latest annual report on hate and extremism released Tuesday.
School's out for summer, but virtual learning is in
For many, the term “remote learning” conjures bad memories of the dark days of the pandemic with kids sitting in front of computers for hours a day and teachers scrambling to translate in-person curriculum to a video conference format. But lessons learned about virtual learning from the days of school closures and mandatory remote instruction are now paying off. In some areas of the country, online learning, even at the kindergarten through 12th grade levels, is growing.
This Montana school solved its teacher shortage by opening a day care
This article first appeared on High Country News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. This school year, Montana, a state with fewer than 8,000 teachers, had 1,000 unfilled teaching positions. Meanwhile, Dutton-Brady Public Schools, a rural district about an hour from the Canadian border, easily filled its three vacancies.
Proposed federal AI roadmap would fund local election offices
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer last month unveiled a roadmap for implementing and regulating artificial intelligence that included a pledge to help fund local election offices in their efforts to guard against AI and cybersecurity threats. Schumer, a Democrat from New York, and three of his Senate colleagues, one Democrat...
The homeowner mutiny leaving Florida cities defenseless against hurricanes
"This story was originally published by Grist. Read the original here. Lisa Hendrickson is almost out of sand. Hendrickson is the mayor of Redington Shores, Florida, a well-heeled beach town in Pinellas County. Her town occupies a small section of a razor-thin barrier island that stretches down the western side of the sprawling Tampa Bay metro area, dividing cities like Tampa and St. Petersburg from the Gulf of Mexico. Many of her constituents have an uninterrupted view of the ocean.
23M households will no longer receive monthly federal internet subsidy
The Affordable Connectivity Program officially ended Friday after funding for the federal subsidy ran out. Now, for the more than 23 million households receiving the $30-a-month discount, internet bills are about to go up. Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel warned on Thursday of increased bills in a letter to...
Boston-area commuter rail bounces back, while other agencies lag
More than any other major mode of public transit, commuter rail lost the most riders in the years since COVID-19 first struck the country. Nationwide, only about two-thirds of riders have returned to commuter rail, which uses traditional railroad infrastructure to move people between cities and their suburbs. But not...
Greater focus on crime sparks another wave of juvenile justice bills
This story was first published on Stateline. Read the original here. For decades, state legislators and criminal justice advocates have worked to change the juvenile legal system, striving to expand access to rehabilitation and keep young people from returning to crime. During this year’s legislative session, nearly every state has...
Post-pandemic, downtown recoveries continue to be uneven
You're reading Route Fifty's State and Local Roundup. To get the week’s news to use from around the country, you can subscribe here to get this update in your inbox every Saturday. In the meantime, be sure to read to the end as we've rounded up headlines from the week.
Can cash payments reduce childhood poverty?
It’s estimated child poverty costs the U.S. economy about $1 trillion annually in lost productivity and spending on crime, health care, child welfare and homelessness. And with the national child poverty rate sitting at 16.3% as of 2022, policymakers are weighing ways to improve economic outcomes for American children to ensure they can thrive in school, in society and the workforce as adults.
Universities try 3-year degrees to save students time, money
This story was first published on Stateline. Read the original here. With college costs rising and some students and families questioning the return on investment of a four-year degree, a few pioneering state universities are exploring programs that would grant certain bachelor’s degrees in three years. The programs, which...
To drive revenue, cities turn to tech to fix their parking problems
City parking is a pain for drivers and cities both. Drivers searching for the most convenient spot for the least cost add to congestion and greenhouse gas emissions when they repeatedly circle the block looking for an open space. Sometimes they double park, overstay a spot’s time limit or park in bus lanes or safety zones. On the city side, enforcement requires staff for ticketing or arranging for towing or installation of a boot. Equipment and parking lots must be maintained, safety ensured, and payments easy to submit and collect.
As hype intensifies, cities put AI to the test
One of the best things about new technologies is imagining all the ways they can be applied to our daily lives. That’s been especially true of artificial intelligence. Technologists, business leaders, academics and politicians have all talked about the myriad ways AI could be deployed, from addressing bigger picture issues such as preventing cyberattacks, detecting public health threats and identifying potential offenders to the more day-to-day applications like tracking fare evasion, assisting teachers in the classroom and helping small businesses navigate city codes, permitting processes and other regulations.
Utah’s largest teacher union files lawsuit against state's school choice voucher program
This story was first published by the Utah News Dispatch. Read the original here. Two parents, a public school teacher and a Utah State Board of Education member have joined Utah’s largest teacher union in a lawsuit against the state, asking a judge to declare Utah’s newly implemented “school choice” program unconstitutional. The Utah Education Association held a news conference in Salt Lake City on Wednesday outside the Scott Matheson Third District Courthouse, where the group filed the lawsuit that morning.
Spike in pedestrian deaths hits nearly all metros
The Memphis area is the deadliest metro in the U.S. for pedestrians, but almost all major cities are getting more hazardous for people who are walking, a new study found. More than 80% of the largest 101 metro areas in the country have become more dangerous, according to Smart Growth America, a nonprofit group that promotes alternatives to driving. The worsening trend comes as safety advocates and the federal government have also raised the alarm about a surge in pedestrian deaths.
Challenge-based procurement ‘just makes sense’
Up until just a few years ago, New York City’s procurement and government contracting system was paper-based. The approval process took months as applications were shuffled from desk to desk, unless a business used personal connections to skip the line. Meanwhile, the requests themselves could be overly prescriptive and...
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