Local Government

From San Jose, Calif., to Washington, D.C., cities are advancing AI training for staffers or members of the public. Mesa, Ariz., recently launched its own AI education initiative to support adoption.

Elizabeth Crowe, the city’s director of urban analytics and innovation, has been selected to serve as interim chief innovation and technology officer, a role formerly held by Stephanie Wernet.

Rain has long slowed the trains in the Northern California rail system. But a software upgrade is enabling gradual deceleration that is, so far, avoiding dramatic slowdowns in wet weather.

Jennifer Pittman-Leeper is GovRAMP’s new field CISO, which is an advisory role. Meanwhile, the nonprofit organization has now added North Carolina to the states that it provides cybersecurity guidance.

Tekquell Watson has more than 25 years of military and federal experience, including senior technical and leadership roles. She will oversee technology operations across the consolidated city-county government.

Internet services are still down at City Hall and other departments nearly a week after officials uncovered the attempted incident. Residents are unlikely to notice significant disruptions, officials said.

After more than eight years shaping the county’s technology direction and strategy, Mancini left the position earlier this month. During his tenure, he led a comprehensive modernization of legacy.

The group has raised questions about the use of the cameras by the Joplin Police Department, citing red flags about details they record that can be used to track motorists for nonpolice reasons.

Transit buses in the Silicon Valley city are traveling 20 percent faster following a technology upgrade that gave them traffic signal priority at certain intersections. The project, an official said, is scalable.

With the Ohio city pursuing major redevelopment, officials have launched an online permitting portal they hope will ease that effort. Cleveland’s building director explains what’s happening — and what comes next.

Melissa Scott was a veteran of Philadelphia IT before taking the lead as CIO in 2024. Her experience gave her insight into how the city should approach new technologies to best support staff and residents.

The incident, described as an “attempted interruption,” prompted staffers to work manually, and led to the cancellation of a City Council meeting. Water, sewer and tax payments are also disrupted.

The debut of the new website, PermitSF, comes after four months of development work with OpenGov. It reflects the growth of online permitting in governments across the country — a trend supported by AI.

A new investigation found proposals for data centers across southwest Ohio are coupled with apprehension from local communities. The facilities are resource-hungry and subsidized by tax breaks.

Windsor, Conn., is turning off cameras that take photos of license plates, citing a list of concerns that includes federal agencies previously accessing the data in an effort to enforce immigration laws.

The courses, expected to be available in May to library card holders, have been tested for more than a year by about 50 employees across all departments. The aim is to provide free access to high-demand skills.

Federal lawmakers reactivated the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program earlier this month — but the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees it, is in partial shutdown.

The San Luis Obispo County elections office will implement the new system in the June 2 statewide primary. It intakes hundreds of ballots at once, then can “talk” to a registration system to verify signatures.