The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released the tentative agenda for its October Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Oct. 27, at which the agency plans to consider a notice of proposed rulemaking to strengthen the operational readiness of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts, including by reducing the vulnerability of these systems to cyberattacks.

State CIOs and about 900 of their closest vendor friends gathered once again for the National Association of State CIO’s (NASCIO) 53rd annual fall conference October 9-12 in Louisville, Ky. – with hints of both autumn and possibly employment changes in the air.

The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a new blueprint for an “AI Bill of Rights” to help guide organizations on the development and deployment of artificial intelligence, in an effort to help protect the rights of Americans in the age of AI.

President Biden last week appointed Andy Berke administrator of the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

After multiple years of disrupted learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report from EDUCAUSE found that higher education students are looking for their colleges and universities to “rebalance” when it comes to technology in the classroom and distance learning.

A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that Federal agencies are successfully helping state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) governments prevent and respond to ransomware attacks; however, there is still room to improve collaboration. The GAO offered three recommendations for Federal agencies to improve collaboration.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it is committing $96 million in new funding through its Emergency Connectivity Program, which aims to expand broadband access and provide devices to students to help close the homework gap.

The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) has proposed regulations to control the use of automated employment decision tools.

In a public service announcement (PSA) issued Oct. 4., the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said they believe that “any attempts by cyber actors to compromise election infrastructure are unlikely to result in largescale disruptions or prevent voting.”

Federal officials urged state and local government and education leaders this week to focus on some of the Federal government’s top existing resources in the fight against ransomware attacks – including one principle that’s easy to say but harder to do – don’t meet ransom demands.