Virginia

Agencies report that critical IT positions remain hard to fill, but finding the right people takes more than job postings. States are expanding intern and apprentice programs to train and retain talent.

The state lost out on $1 billion through the data center exemption in fiscal 2024, up from $685 million in fiscal 2023, according to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.

Dent, who served as the chief information security officer of the state’s most populous county for more than two decades, is stepping down as of Friday. A new CISO has taken over cybersecurity efforts.

School administrators and cybersecurity experts held a conference in Charlottesville recently to learn from each other and discuss how their school divisions and agencies are working to fend off future cyber attacks.

For a price north of $130 million, Motorola was contracted to deliver thousands of radios for police, firefighters and others, as well as install or retrofit more than 50 transmission towers in Virginia.

The Board of Supervisors voted against a request to rezone 57 acres of wooded land, in order to make it easier to attract data center projects. Protective conditions on the property will remain in place.

The cybersecurity company Proxyware says it detected over 192,000 digital attacks on Virginia students this year. A handful of schools across the state are now working with the company to eliminate cyber attacks at the source.

Campbell County Public Schools hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the division’s new science, technology, engineering, math and manufacturing program Tuesday at Brookville Middle School.

Electronic health record rollouts in Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia mark a shift toward tech-driven patient care in state correctional facilities. One aim is freeing up more staff time for direct patient care.

After years of having to bring a check to the hospital, parents can now just fill out a digital form, pay with a credit card and receive the birth certificate in about two days.

A regional trash hauler is seeking 25-year pickup contracts from cities and counties in the southeastern area. It is also finalizing negotiations with a disposal company that uses AI and robotics to sort trash.

Garrison Coward, the state’s former deputy chief transformation officer, has been elevated to the helm. The role supports cabinet secretaries and agency heads in everything from project management to creating tech solutions.

Holly Hartell, who was most recently the assistant CIO for strategic initiatives, is the county’s new permanent CIO. She has served as acting director of the Department of Technology Services since January.

Anshi Bhatt launched Frontlines Foundation when she was 15, aiming to offer workshops and other resources to educate elderly and vulnerable communities about online safety.

A five-city tech collaboration led by Virginia Beach, Va., will connect it with four neighbors through computer-aided dispatch. It will replace manual call transfers with real-time emergency data sharing across jurisdictions.

Ken Pfeil is exiting his role as Virginia’s chief data officer after three years in place. During that time, he helped establish the state’s Office of Data Governance and Analytics and launch the Commonwealth Data Trust.

The city is using a tool with artificial intelligence to respond to more than 40 percent of its nonemergency interactions — freeing public safety dispatchers from over 900 hours of talk time to focus on real emergency calls.

Authorities have identified the extortion operation behind the June cyber attack that took down the Internet in county offices and may have exposed both government employee and county resident data.