Digital Services

Jeff Baer, the city’s longtime chief technology officer and director of the Bureau of Technology Services, has retired. As officials seek his replacement, the job’s working title has been updated to CIO.

The site, which debuted Monday, offers an update system through which property owners can be alerted to fraud. It’s part of an endeavor underway since 2020 and involved moving millions of records to the new platform.

The measure’s lead sponsor removed it from consideration before a vote. The 12-member City Council unanimously sent the proposed ban on using algorithms to set residential rents back to committee.

Plus, new federal broadband legislation has been introduced, North Carolina has launched a new grant program, an apprenticeship program has been created in Ohio, and more.

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Program will continue operating with an 11-month continuation of its federal contract. It will ultimately transition to the newly launched CVE Foundation.

In remarks Tuesday at the California CIO Academy in Sacramento, state CIO Liana Bailey-Crimmins highlighted the response to this year’s Los Angeles wildfires as an example of a human-centered response to a crisis.

Officials have expanded the service to seven parks and a four-mile stretch of business corridor, in a bid to improve digital literacy and quality of life. An additional rollout is planned later this year.

Kerry Goode, who had served as chief information officer and director of the city’s Technology Solutions Department since 2010, has moved on. Officials have looked within to find Durham’s new interim CIO.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has reported a cyber attack that is affecting communications and operations including vehicle inspections. Some services will be shuttered through the weekend.

Plus, North Carolina announces broadband funding, Barriers to Broadband fellows will tackle several research projects, a campaign eyes device upcycling to drive online access, and more.

As data centers are built to underpin the use of artificial intelligence, energy analysts have raised concerns that their power draw will outpace electricity generation. This could necessitate using a variety of energy sources.

State officials made an improvement late last week to the design of the mainframe behind Office of Motor Vehicles sites. In the three days following, the system experienced no outages.

A bill under consideration by the state Legislature would require operators of companion chatbot platforms to remind users periodically that the virtual characters are not human, and address other safety concerns.

The focus for South Dakota’s most populous city is improving the user experience for digital government operations. Officials are starting with a closer look at the experience staffers have on the city systems they use.

Its new State Data Hub offers a centralized platform for information on state topics ranging from housing to education. It is intended to simplify access to the details, both for decision-makers and the public.

Pinellas County is a sun-kissed paradise along Florida’s Gulf Coast with white sand beaches, crystal clear waters and a laid-back lifestyle. But county officials were stuck in a world of paper-heavy board meetings, slow approvals and inefficient workflows. Using Granicus’ Operations Cloud, they streamlined their operations, reduced approval times and eliminated unnecessary paperwork to serve the community better.

In separate endeavors with the technology company AidKit, Boulder County and the city of Boulder are simplifying how they deliver financial relief to residents, child-care providers and nonprofits.

The Massachusetts Broadband Institute has awarded upwards of $10.4 million to upgrade online access across public and affordable housing in Salem, Gloucester and 24 other communities.