Connecticut

Under a new Vision Zero bill, cities would be able to create local laws for speed and red light cameras, hold hearings on the issue and locate monitoring devices in areas with histories of crashes and traffic violations.

Lawmakers in the state are considering a bill that would allow police agencies to charge a fee for body camera footage. Under the proposal, police could charge as much as $100 an hour to redact requested footage.

A Connecticut law requires every police officer and patrol car to be equipped with body and dashboard cams, but there is no mechanism to enforce the mandate and no one is keeping track of compliance.

The Connecticut Special Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has issued a report outlining the implications of the use of algorithms and the potential for discrimination.

A new Connecticut bill in the General Law Committee would establish an Office of Artificial Intelligence and create a task force to study the emerging technology and develop an AI bill of rights.

While they acknowledge concerns about an AI tool that can write essays for students, professors from the University of Hartford, University of Connecticut and Yale also see its limits and a need to redesign assessments.

In the recently released 2022 Invest in What Works State Standard of Excellence analysis, eight leading states were recognized for their work with data and evidence to guide policymaking decisions.

The new technology, which was developed in-house, consists of motion sensors and flashing lights and is meant to stop wrong-way drivers. This year alone, there have been two dozen deaths related to wrong-way driving.

State auditors found 16 areas of concern at Western Connecticut State University, including that it did not sanitize electronic storage devices in a timely manner nor adequately document their disposal.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Transportation approved $52.5 million in funding for the state to build on its existing base of electric vehicle chargers over the next two years.

An initiative in Connecticut aims to expand programs at colleges across the state in emerging and in-demand fields such as cybersecurity, virtual modeling, software development and digital analytics.

Officials with the Department of Labor are defending the state’s newly launched $60 million benefits system saying that fraudulent unemployment insurance claims are the result of “100% identity theft.”

The University of Connecticut's Hartford and Stamford campuses will offer an in-person master's degree and a new graduate certificate in financial technology this fall, noting growing corporate demand.

Despite a cease and desist order issued by Connecticut utility regulators last month and a $5 million fine, installation of fiber-optic cable by Frontier Communications is continuing, according to a company spokeswoman.

The Willimantic, Conn., Police Department began using the cameras on July 1, and this week department officials told local media that "the body cameras have assisted police with several investigations in the past month."

State and regional organizations have banded together to offer grants to seven business-higher education partnerships for programs involving cybersecurity, virtual modeling, software development and data analytics.

A research facility at the University of Connecticut's Spectrum Park would allow various companies to test smart car and infrastructure technology in collaboration with university researchers.

The state’s Department of Labor launched the updated ReEmployCT system this week. The previous unemployment system was scrapped when it could not keep pace with the flood of pandemic-related claims.