California

The latest step in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plans to integrate AI into public operations across California is a partnership with NVIDIA intended to tailor college courses and professional development to industry needs.

The state has signed a memorandum of understanding with the technology company to use AI in driving innovation and economic development, and to provide training for community college students and others.

In an open letter Tuesday to K-12 schools across the state, California Gov. Gavin Newsom laid out research-based justifications and legal bases for local district policies limiting the use of smartphones on campus.

The California Public Utilities Commission has awarded Comcast $13.8 million in grant funding this month to expand broadband Internet access in Sutter County.

A longstanding goal of the California Department of Parks and Recreation to expand and digitize the trip-planning experience at the agency's 280 state parks and beaches got a big boost this week.

The hub’s 37 projects will center on long-haul trucking, heavy cargo shipping, power generation and aviation. The state was chosen as a national hub by the U.S. Department of Energy. A $1.2 billion contract formalized that this month.

Officials at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services have deployed a new tool with robotic process automation that scans suspicious emails. It has eliminated a backlog of nearly 3,000 messages.

The proposed bill is the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act. It would regulate “development and deployment of advanced AI models,” in part by creating a new regulator, the Frontier Model Division.

Two proposals now before the state Legislature would bar sending push notifications to kids at night and during school hours, and prohibit businesses from collecting, using or sharing minors’ data without their consent.

Technology businesses were expanding at roughly a $35 billion a year pace during California's five-year economic surge that ended last September, constituting nearly a third of statewide growth.

The Superior Court of Los Angeles County was hit by ransomware Friday, disrupting “many critical systems.” The courthouses remained closed Monday as the jurisdiction worked to recover from the cyber attack.

The money, allocated by a budget trailer bill, will enable the California State Payroll System Project to hire a system integrator. The initiative, underway since 2016, will replace a significant piece of legacy.

That’s one of the main ideas driving a deal between Geographic Solutions and California prison authorities. The company’s software is helping give soon-to-be-released inmates a chance to apply for jobs.

Yolo County is proactively enhancing the security and trustworthiness of its online presence by transitioning all county professional email accounts and webpages from the ".org" domain to the ".gov" domain.

The Elk Grove Police Department plans to add three aerial drones to assist in the line of duty, a trend that many law enforcement agencies have recently adopted to contribute to service.

Interim CIO Michael Makstman, in place since Jan. 1, has been made permanent and will lead the city-county’s Department of Technology. Makstman has been with San Francisco more than six years and was previously its CISO.

Four days after a ransomware attack crippled its systems, the California-based Patelco Credit Union remained unable to tell its members when banking operations would return to normal.

Nearly three months after a ransomware attack disrupted phone lines, computer services and Wi-Fi across Solano County's public libraries, systems are still down with no recovery in sight.