On the same day as the first snow of the season, the city of Seattle announced its “Let It Snow!” hackathon. The city is hoping to tap technology users, designers, and developers for a community design workshop on how city officials communicate with the public during snow-related emergencies.
Calls for government transparency are increasing as citizens want to know exactly what information governments have and how governments are spending taxpayer money. Cincinnati has taken these calls to heart and has invested roughly six months and $55,000 into 15 new dashboards that help educate and inform citizens.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, a division of the National Institutes of Health, just launched a competition for wearable devices capable of measuring blood alcohol in near-real time. The device ideally would be able to measure alcohol in the blood or fluid from the body’s cells, instead of the existing technology that measures alcohol via sweat.
California has budgeted $3 million to analyze high-resolution aerial images of 410 urban water suppliers’ areas throughout the state. Water regulators will combine data from those images with data on climate, as well as other factors, to assist state officials in calculating new community-specific conservation targets.
The National Institutes of Health announced the selection of Maj. Gen. James K. Gilman as the chief executive officer of the NIH Clinical Center. He will begin in January 2017.
The San Diego Foundation awarded an $80,000 grant to Cleantech San Diego to support water technology deployments at the City of Solana Beach. The grant will support public-private partnerships that encourage the adoption of smart city technologies and help achieve water and energy savings in the San Diego region.
President-elect Donald Trump this month announced his intent to nominate Chairman of the House Budget Committee Tom Price, R-Ga., as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and Seema Verma as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The Federal Aviation Administration installed Data Communications technology at Chicago O’Hare and Midway airports, allowing pilots and air traffic controllers to send takeoff information via text communication.
Though state and local governments are aware of the threat posed by ransomware, few are confident in their ability to defend against and repair the damage of today’s attacks, according to a recent MeriTalk survey.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation to allow operation of autonomous vehicles on Michigan roadways.
