Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order on Aug. 18 that imposes new permitting, transparency, energy, and environmental requirements on large data centers. The executive order also gives local governments a greater role in determining whether data center projects move forward.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives on June 24 passed legislation that would allow municipalities to temporarily pause consideration of data center development applications while they update local land-use rules.

The Commonwealth  of Pennsylvania has elevated Andy Ritter to chief information security officer (CISO), Ritter reported in a Feb. 5 posting to his LinkedIn account.

Pennsylvania’s state chief information officer (CIO) and chief technology officer (CTO) have stepped down.

The Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority (PBDA) will distribute more than 9,100 laptops to community institutions across the commonwealth to support residents who do not have access to digital technology.

Pennsylvania has launched a new one-stop grant search tool that is intended to improve citizen access to government funding opportunities.

The City of Scranton, Penn., is partnering with Verizon to deliver universal internet access across the city. Through the partnership, Verizon will invest tens of millions of dollars over the next three years to develop a ubiquitous network of fiber-based internet access to homes, providing the opportunity for all Scranton residents to subscribe to high-speed internet service.

Pennsylvania Western University (PennWest) has launched a new center for artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.

Villanova University in Pennsylvania has named Tej Patel as its new vice president for IT and chief information officer (CIO), effective Sept. 9.

Two Pennsylvania state senators are backing legislation aimed at elevating the chief information officer (CIO) of the commonwealth to a cabinet-level position.