In this edition of The Gallery, Robert Campbell discusses key lessons state and local governments can take away from other governments across the world. Specifically, economies that are currently thriving despite this tough global economic climate.
Colorado has launched the Colorado Innovation Network, a new initiative designed to promote collaboration among Colorado’s public, private and academic institutions. The Network hopes to support economic development and job growth by attracting new businesses to the state. Governor Hickenlooper launched the network yesterday, noting that he wants to make Colorado the best state in [...]
South Carolina is joining a group of states grappling with how to handle shortfalls in their state retirement systems. The state currently faces a $17 billion gap between investments and long-term pension promises. In addition to the gap, a proposed new rule would require local municipalities to disclose this shortfall on their balance sheets which [...]
West Kentucky and Tennessee are moving forward on state broadband projects. The West Kentucky and Tennessee Telecommunications Cooperative (WK&T) is deploying FieldSmart, a platform for fiber management offered by Clearfield, Inc. Clearfield was chosen as part of a broader broadband expansion project funded through federal stimulus dollars to improve rural broadband access in both states.
Connecticut and Illinois are making big investments into hybrid public buses thanks to a new round of federal awards. Connecticut was awarded $275 million and Illinois was awarded $5 million for hybrid bus projects. The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation which is working to help states make public transit systems become more [...]
Seattle is continuing its push to bring high-speed broadband to all parts of the city. Earlier this week Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and University of Washington President Michael Young announced a partnership to solicit private proposals to leverage the fiber surrounding the UW campus. The project is part of a larger national project called Gig [...]
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu is asking the US Commerce Department to reconsider rescinding an $80 million federal grant to expand broadband in Louisiana. The grant was revoked last month after federal managers cited prolonged mismanagement of the funds and rejected a new plan proposed by state officials. The original project was to be completed by [...]
In a recent Wall Street Journal article there was a survey in which an overwhelming number of voters desired state government reform. Additionally, I thought it was interesting that 78 percent of those polled felt that the states were in crisis. So I felt that it would be quite timely for me to share my [...]
Two cloud computing groups are coming together to create industry standards for managing cloud computing environments. The Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA) and the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) are joining forces to focus on interoperability and simplified cloud management. The partnership is working to create interoperable management of virtual machines spread across several data [...]
Louisiana has lost an $80 million rural broadband grant for failing to keep their broadband expansion project on track. The Commerce Department rescinded the grant stating that the project administrators were repeatedly unresponsive to requests for information and updates on where the project stood. Senator Mary Landrieu has said that her state missed an opportunity, [...]
