Minnesota

State and local officials as well as electric utilities are grappling with how to manage explosive data center growth while keeping the lights on and complying with laws for a transition to clean power.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is sending more than $44 million in grant money to Minnesota to help people in rural communities access high-speed broadband.

Some Minnesota educators have signed onto apps and platforms that use machine-learning algorithms to help translate websites, newsletters and even texts to parents into multiple languages.

Minnesota's Fall Color Finder map gets roughly 250,000 views a year, but it isn't just a pretty interface — it's a tool offering lessons in user engagement, accessibility and data governance for governments nationwide.

Transit providers in rural areas are experimenting with data-sharing technology to improve services, by introducing modern features like trip planning to form more coordinated, regionwide systems. One system is already seeing results.

Minnesota’s new cybersecurity tool translates cyber risk into dollars and cents, empowering agencies to make data-driven decisions that protect critical assets and optimize security spending.

The technology was taken off the table in 2021 for Minneapolis police and city agencies. But Minnesota’s Mall of America is using it for security, “identifying individuals of interest.”

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wants a better handle on the deer population in certain areas of the state and is starting a three-year research project to get the answers.

Legislation recently signed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz enables the operation of hybrid car-airplane vehicles on state roads and airstrips. The state is the second in recent years to enact such a law.

The most recent legislative session saw a bill requiring every school district and charter school to set cellphone use policies by March 15, 2025. Other bills aimed to forbid book-banning and study issues with attendance.

Law enforcement officials have cracked down on the illegal behavior, with some agencies using pickup trucks outfitted with cameras for a higher vantage point to peer into vehicles and catch distracted driving.

With a crowd of more than 900 people, the NASCIO Midyear Conference buzzed with energy about generative artificial intelligence, along with concern that humans remain in charge.

States across the country are laying the foundation for a strong data program, but many admit there's a lot of work ahead of them. At NASCIO, we learned from Minnesota CIO Tarek Tomes and Texas CIO Amanda Crawford about how they support data literacy at the enterprise level.

Minnesota's licensing and permitting system for outdoor recreation — everything from bobcat trapping to Nordic skiing on state trails — will undergo an electronic transformation next year.

Separating kids from smartphones is a challenge, with polling showing more than 95 percent of teens have access to the devices and 54 percent say it'd be at least somewhat hard to give up social media.

With driving while intoxicated arrests rising, Minnesota is turning to tech for solutions. The state is piloting cutting-edge roadside drug testing devices with unexpected participants: people arrested for DWI.

The bill aims to update and expand the state's 2007 electronic waste law — passed to address appliances such as televisions and computers — to apply to 100% of electronic waste in Minnesota.

Minnesota cities are asking the Legislature for power to slap Internet providers with new fees, an idea they say will lead to more broadband while helping to pay for basic government access programming.