Alaska

The U.S. Department of Energy approved $206.5 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help the Alaska Energy Authority build a 38-mile submarine cable across Cook Inlet from roughly Nikiski to Beluga.

Alaska CIO Bill Smith said that while ransomware is a huge threat and priority for him and the other state CIOs at the NASCIO Midyear conference, the most important way to turn the tide is getting back to basic cyber hygiene.

CIO, Alaska

Elections officials have deployed new voting machines at three vote centers to better accommodate people with disabilities, and a way for voters to “cure” or fix signature problems via text message. In-person voting began Monday morning.

For months, Marc Dahl has been at the center of an investigation involving allegations that he and the mayor’s former chief of staff tried to interfere with results of April's municipal election.

The damage to an undersea fiber-optic cable happened in the middle of June when sea ice severed the cable, causing Internet and cell outages in several North Slope and Northwest Arctic communities.

The latest installment of funding comes on top of $1 billion for Alaska rural broadband projects the White House announced in June, and brings the total investment under the Biden administration to about $2 billion.

Since late last year when Starlink Internet became available in Alaska, thousands of residents have signed up at a pace that's exceeding expectations, observers say, even though the signal is not perfect.

After a subsea fiber-optic cable was severed last weekend, residents and businesses in several Northwest Alaska and North Slope communities have turned to satellite Internet or cash-only transactions to get by.

Alaska's cutting-edge drone program will empower emergency responders to reach remote terrain, saving lives through the integration of aerial and geographic information systems.

At the NASCIO Midyear conference, Alaska CIO Bill Smith said the ability to explain to business leaders the “so what?” of technology has played a big role in his experience heading up state IT.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a memorandum Friday prohibiting the use of the social media platform TikTok on state-owned devices. In doing so, Alaska follows in the footsteps of more than a dozen other states.

Cyber incidents have hit state courts in Alaska, Georgia and Texas in recent years. Court leaders and CIOs at the NCSC eCourts conference this week shared what happened and what they learned from the experiences.

The satellite-based Internet service from SpaceX has launched in Alaska, where more than 200 villages lack city-quality service. Advocates say the service will extend to every corner of the state.

The federal government has announced more than $100 million in grants to bring high-speed fiber Internet to many Southwest Alaska villages, part of a massive investment to close the digital divide in rural areas.

Plus, Chicago has posted a new RFI related to expanding broadband access throughout the entire city, Pittsburgh has announced a new digital equity coalition, North Carolina has a digital equity grant program and more.

The majority of states are abandoning third-party cyber insurance for self-insurance, says Colorado CISO Ray Yepes. Plus, Virginia and Alaska cyber leads talk federal cyber grants and the importance of understanding local needs.

Civil rights organizations in Alaska are now demanding action on long-delayed body cameras for Anchorage police officers, a voter-approved priority that continues to lack an official start date.