Missouri

As a Missouri website that serves more than 50,000 state employees remains shut down after suspicious activity, it appears that quick work by fraud protection systems may have blocked unauthorized transactions.

Two data center developers are eyeing undeveloped land in Foristell, Mo., a growing city along Interstate 70 that straddles the St. Charles County and Warren County border, officials said.

A budget request submitted by the state attorney general seeks $901,782 to do more to stop cryptocurrency scams. The funding would enable the office to hire additional attorneys, investigators and staff.

As those lawmakers began filing legislation for the upcoming legislative session, a handful of proposals imposing new rules on AI were introduced, including protections for children and rules for chatbots.

Chief Information Security Officer Shawn Ivy said that his state maintains a self-reliant framework through dedicated funding, layered defenses and deliberate preparation for emerging technologies.

Mayor Cara Spencer on Thursday announced new rules for building data centers in the city, but stopped short of a yearlong moratorium officials weighed last week.

Education officials say Missouri's statewide cellphone ban at public and charter schools has brought consistency, focus and more social interaction. Some students agree, while others say they feel bored or limited.

The move comes after weeks of consternation from residents, reports alleging pollution concerns, and allegations that the data center site was largely owned by a relative of St. Charles’ mayor.

About a year after Independence police officers started wearing body cameras, the department says that the program has changed the way its staff interacts with residents and collects evidence.

Officials in Indiana and Missouri said technologists remain watchful, but their states so far seem to have avoided compromise. The latter’s Office of Administration credited a layered security approach for helping deflect bad actors.

Starting this fall, every K-12 district in Missouri, including charter schools, will need a written policy prohibiting students from using personal devices during the school day, with some circumstantial exceptions.

The data tool and interface, which was built in-house to flag crime and misuse, has saved the state millions and ensures benefits go to those in need. Created with federal funding, it recently earned a governor’s award.

A bill heading to Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe’s desk will require school districts to draft their own policies enacting a total cellphone ban for students during the school day, starting in the fall.

The library has added Visual Accessibility Kits and more specialized items to its collection, in an effort to make content more easily accessible to patrons with low vision or blindness. The kits can be checked out at its 20 branches.

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins canceled state funding to OverDrive, a digital platform that lets users download and read books on their personal devices, over concerns about inappropriate material.

The agency, which oversees permits to hunt and fish in the state, was hit with an attack Friday and has activated its Incident Response Team. Cybersecurity units are continuing to investigate activity on a data server.

The state has faced a massive backlog of payments to child-care providers following the launch of a new child care data system in 2023, after which several technical problems were discovered.

Missouri is joining other states tackling income verification for the gig economy, investing in new tech backed by basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal to reduce caseworker processing times and get faster assistance to those in need.