Finance

The COVID-19 pandemic reshuffled commutes, economies and the daily life of cities. Now, city planners and transportation officials and others are having to rethink the future of urban spaces.

County officials have acknowledged that they paid the cyber extortionists who uploaded malware to the Sheriff's Department's computer system. The county paid $511,852 while insurance covered the remainder.

State lawmakers are assigning $25 million to help police departments replace their drone fleets after Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration forced local governments to stop using drone technology made in China.

More than three dozen former election officials, members of Congress and Cabinet secretaries are calling on lawmakers to make at least $400 million in election security grant funding available for fiscal 2024.

The Polis administration has made it a goal to get 99 percent of the state connected to reliable broadband by 2027, but nearly 194,000 households and businesses remain unconnected to the Internet.

Crawford County commissioners are expected to ratify a contract to expand broadband service to 2,000 homes in the next three years. The county has committed $3 million of its American Rescue Plan Act funds to the project.

The Placer County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved $31 million in funding to bring broadband infrastructure to Sheridan, Newcastle, Loomis, North and South Auburn, Meadow Vista and a neighborhood in Granite Bay.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced the release of a new $848 million funding program designed around hardening transportation infrastructure in the face of climate change.

Cowlitz County has tightened its cybersecurity and payment policies after two losses of public funds, including $184,000 later recovered from a phishing scheme. The 2021 and 2022 incidents were reviewed in the county's annual accountability audit.

As programs funded by the American Rescue Plan Act come to a close, several local governments share how the funding — and the technology that helped them distribute it — helped people in their communities.

Officials with the Douglas County Public Utility District are collecting input on proposed changes to the energy rate structure for cryptomining operations and low-tier data centers.

County commissioners have approved a $2.5 million grant application to the Appalachian Regional Commission to help incentivize the buildout of broadband infrastructure in the region.

The city’s website hasn’t seen an update since 2012 and officials believe that might be why more than half of visitors to the website leave before clicking another button. Brazil-based CI&T will lead the overhaul.

Two years after the Port of Seattle lost $572,683 to phishing email scammers, the Washington state auditor's office has released the findings of an audit noting issues with consistency and adherence to procedures.

As states ready plans for year one of the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program and look ahead to year two’s NOFO, local governments should advocate for what they want. High on those lists: MFA, threat monitoring and cyber training.

A grant proposal from the state’s Office of Criminal Justice would cover $98,150 of the initial $170,000 cost for body cameras over a five-year period. The council is expected to vote on the grant next week.

As federal money flows to state and local governments, a Deloitte report points out the workforce obstacles that could slow progress. Agencies need to start creating programs to fill those gaps now, the report argues.