FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel – long an advocate for government action to make broadband services more affordable in order to lessen the digital divide in the U.S. – said this week that she welcomes current congressional action to boost funding for broadband benefits but also expressed some skepticism about the effectiveness of service rate discount cuts being contemplated by Congress.
Now that the Federal government, via the Department of Labor (DoL), has signed up to put $2 billion of stimulus-related funding into shoring up beleaguered state unemployment insurance (UI) systems overpowered by the jobless claim surge due to coronavirus pandemic, Federal and state officials discussed how those efforts will roll out during a panel discussion at MeriTalk’s State Tech Vision virtual program on September 15.
State and local government rely heavily on Federal funding sources to advance their IT goals even in the best of times, and government and industry experts explained at MeriTalk’s State Tech Vision virtual program how expanded Federal government funding streams during the pandemic era can work to help pay for traditional assistance for social service and healthcare applications, plus IT modernization efforts targeted by Washington.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va. – long a prime mover in Congress for improving Federal IT operations – said at MeriTalk’s State Tech Vision virtual program on September 15 that he plans to push two key pieces of legislation this year that aim to help state and local governments improve their own IT capabilities.
Voters in Fremont, Neb., approved a $123 million bond issue intended to improve K-12 education, including expanding mobile device capacity, and growing IT career training opportunities.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced today that cybersecurity veteran Kiersten Todt will be the agency’s next chief of staff.
The General Services Administration (GSA) has named Waldo Jaquith, a veteran technologist and former member of the Biden-Harris transition team, to be GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan’s senior advisor for state, local, tribal, and territorial government.
The Pentagon announced that it is partnering with two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to establish Centers of Excellence (CoEs) in Biotechnology and Materials Science.
The Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) program provides subsidized broadband service for eligible households. However, the program is now facing a trust challenge in its awareness campaign and is aiming to overcome that hurdle, said Jessica Rosenworcel, the acting chairwoman for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), on September 13 at an Internet Innovation Alliance webinar.
With students back on campus and in the classroom, the University of Maryland (UMD) has turned to QR codes to enable rapid COVID-19 contact tracing.
