In a bid to improve emergency communications in New York State, Gov. Kathy Hochul pledged $45 million in state funding to improve the operability of emergency communications statewide.

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, the committee’s ranking member, have introduced legislation to require critical infrastructure entities to report cyberattacks to the Federal government, and to require most other entities to report to the government if they make a ransomware payment.

The FCC has announced a second set of awards for round two of its COVID-19 telehealth program, totaling more than $41.11 million to healthcare providers.

Students at Syracuse University will now be able to use a hand scanner to gain access to the school’s dining centers, which the school says will “facilitate a quicker, contactless entrance at mealtimes.”

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey announced that the state is launching the Alabama Credential Registry, which she says is “first in a series of technology solutions that will implement Alabama’s talent development system.”

Many school districts across the nation expanded efforts to provide students with laptops and tablets to help them succeed in the virtual classroom; this effort included introducing student activity monitoring software aimed in part at facilitating remote classroom management and driving student engagement. However, according to a recent report by the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), these tools can become overly intrusive.

Miami Dade College (MDC) appointed Tanya Acevedo the new vice president for Information Technology and chief information officer (CIO).

A new agreement led by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will allow eight neighboring states and Washington, D.C., to offer Internet access, devices, and other technology to constituents through local agencies at a discounted rate via Verizon’s Digital Inclusion Program.

The future is arriving at an unprecedented pace. District leaders need to understand how to prioritize and securely deploy these emerging to solve future challenges and obtain operational success, district officials from California said Sept. 17 at a webinar hosted by Government Technology.

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.