When it comes to cybersecurity, local governments can rely on established partnerships and a security culture that values improvement over punitive measures, said a panel of local IT officials and experts during an event hosted by the National Association of Counties (NACo) and the Public Technology Institute on Monday.

To help create a smart city, local governments need to think creatively about how to acquire new technology through new financing models and partnerships, said public and private sector participants during a panel at the Smart Cities Week conference.

California’s Democratic Governor Jerry Brown on Sunday signed S.B. 822 , which restores in the state Obama-era Federal net neutrality laws that were gutted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) earlier this year.

The National Association of State Technology Directors (NASTD) is bringing on new leadership. Late last week, the organization announced that John Hoffman, CTO for the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR), will take over as NASTD president. At DIR, Hoffman is tasked with providing comprehensive strategic planning for the agency. He also has 25 years of experience in the wired and wireless communications fields and has held positions in network operations and integration, field operations, and program management.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) is the latest in a string of organizations to release its recommendations on how Federal, state, and local officials can best secure U.S. elections, including the use of paper-ballot components.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and FirstNet today announced new personnel changes.

California’s state Senate pushed the Golden State one step closer to enacting the Obama-era Federal net neutrality laws that were gutted by the FCC earlier this year. On Friday the state Senate passed the controversial bill, called SB 822, in a vote of 27-12 that was largely along party lines.

A pair of U.S. senators wrote to the heads of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Friday, imploring them to work with social media companies to root out election interference on their platforms and asking the agency heads for more information on the steps they’ve already taken to do so.

Bob Kolasky, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) recently created National Risk Management Center (NRMC), said today that DHS is taking action this month to boost the level of communication and data exchange among state and local election officials in the run-up to the U.S. midterm elections in November.

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) today released the finalists for its State IT Recognition Awards that recognize “outstanding information technology achievements in state government” in 10 categories, according to a NASCIO release.