Local Government

City councilors in Bangor, Maine, decided to remove the option for public comments at city meetings via Zoom after four weeks of disruptions by agitators who joined meetings under fake names.

AI technology is quickly placing itself at the center of digital government tools. But the goals in using it remain the same: improving efficiency, saving money and achieving better outcomes for residents.

RapidSOS, backed by Black Rock, acquired the Canadian company as gov tech suppliers race to sell the last tools for emergency calls and responses. It follows a larger Axon acquisition announced last week.

The Lagunitas Creek Spawner Dashboard is a resource offered by the Marin Municipal Water District, and it shows nesting grounds for coho, chinook, pink and chum salmon as well as steelhead trout.

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.