Local Government

With the average cost of breaches on the rise, cybersecurity must be regarded like any other disaster, according to the Local Government Cybersecurity Alliance. Residual costs of incidents must be accounted for, a co-founder said.

Los Angeles County is using new technology in its L.A. Found program, which aims to help the county find people with Alzheimer’s, autism, dementia, or other cognitive conditions who may wander.

As state and local agencies worry about cybersecurity budget cuts and increased attacks, public officials and researchers try to build a network to boost digital defenses. Leaders of the effort discuss their aims.

The town board voted unanimously last month to put bags over the devices. A special meeting of the Board of Selectmen and the mayor will scrutinize how police use license plate readers and security cameras.

The 2025 Massachusetts AI Models program doled out seven grants, including five to university-led artificial intelligence research projects in manufacturing, energy and climate resilience.

A recent Amazon Web Services report points to continued global cloud growth across sectors, with security, compliance and cost ranking among the key factors shaping adoption.

The city has smoothed its development review process, expanding the types of projects that can move forward without conditional use approval. New software is next, coming this winter or spring.

The mayor and Board of Selectmen in Putnam, Conn., will convene this week for a special meeting regarding the police department’s use of license plate readers and security cameras in town.

A month of amnesty on parking ticket penalties in Syracuse, N.Y., will begin with in-person or mail payments. Online payments will follow — once more than 140,000 tickets dating to 1997 are set up in the system.

A surge in data center projects has impacted utilities in the state; in some areas residents have seen increases to their bills. Hoosiers should be safeguarded against having to subsidize billion-dollar businesses.

Chippewa County International Airport, in the eastern Upper Peninsula, appears destined to become a drone hub for future flights near the Canadian border. A project there received $400,000 in state funding.

Full public access to police scanner activity in the East Bay will soon be unavailable after Berkeley councilmembers gave the city’s police department permission to encrypt radio communications.

The city’s transit provider is working with AI-powered tools on an initiative known as “traffic service priority,” using onboard technology to assist in improving speeds and decreasing travel times.

Rather than the more common text-based chatbot, Amarillo, Texas, employs Emma, an AI-powered digital assistant designed to resemble its community. Officials said it has saved the city more than $1 million since launch.

The town Board of Commissioners approved a two-year pact to install 10 surveillance cameras, but subsequently canceled it. Staff and board members expressed privacy concerns around data sharing.

West Feliciana Parish is set to receive the new revenue through a 30-year agreement with Hut 8, a Miami-based company planning to build a $2.5 billion data center near St. Francisville, La.

As the invasive insect spreads, putting plant populations like grapevines and their related industries at risk, governments at all levels are using technology like drones and GIS to monitor the issue.

Flagstaff is deciding on whether the police department should continue to use Flock Safety’s automated license plate cameras — a common but controversial technology used nationwide.