A handful of governors spoke out Wednesday to lend their support to President Barack Obama’s compromise with Congressional Republicans to extend a number of tax breaks, including controversial cuts for those who make above $250,000 per year. In most statements, governors commended the compromise, while highlighting those cuts that are meant to help the middle-class.
The County of Monterey, California has signed a $15 million contract with Harris Corp. to design and deploy a new public safety radio system that will improve coverage, reliability and communication interoperability between local, county, state and federal first responders, the company said Wednesday.
Less than a month after being promoted to head the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, Secretary Michael Gargano told lawmakers and reports last week that the new hybrid welfare system was “absolutely” succeeding. Mr. Gargano testified in front of the State Budget Committee to raise funding for local welfare offices, who have seen a [...]
New York is the only state that does not offer early voting, and denies excuse absentee voting, same day registration, online registration or party switch within six months of a primary. According to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, this makes New York’s the most restrictive voting laws in the country. Mayor Bloomberg issued a report yesterday, finding [...]
Increased Medicaid enrollment and the end of Recovery Act funding are the leading challenges facing state governors and their budget officers as they look to 2011, a new report indicates. In their twice-annual Fiscal Survey of States, the National Governors Association (NGA) and the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) say that most states [...]
The number of public safety interoperable communications (PSIC) projects is expected to increase according to a new report from INPUT. The deadline for projects under the Federal Communications Commission’s narrowbanding initiative is on the horizon and INPUT estimates that state and local spending on PSIC projects will reach $38.7 billion by 2015.
In an announcement last week, officials from IBM and the Cape Cod Commission launched the first phase of an initiative to help manage the area’s physical infrastructure and natural resources through real-time data-sharing and advanced analytics.
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners finished their 122nd Annual Meeting Wednesday, passing a host of resolution that will guide the groups agenda for the upcoming year. Atop the list was support for the establishment of a federal consumer advocacy office on energy issues; support for federal funding of broadband stimulus oversight; and a [...]
Washington Governor Chris Gregoire yesterday signed an executive order suspending the state’s rulemaking process to allow local governments and small businesses to focus their limited resources on continuing the state’s economic recovery. The new order requires a moratorium on new rules and regulations through December 31, 2011. This rulemaking suspension marks the second time in [...]
According to an announcement late last week, Facebook Inc. has decided to build a $450 million data center facility in Rutherford County, North Carolina. Through a combination of tax incentives, public-private partnerships and meteorological endowment, the state is making a play to become a data center Mecca. Update: This Monday, Gov. Purdue announced that Wipro [...]
