The City of Round Rock, Texas – a city north of Austin – has appointed Ramsey Saad to serve as its chief information officer (CIO), leading the city’s Information Technology Department.

Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., introduced legislation on August 4 that aims to strengthen the cybersecurity posture of small businesses by providing funding to Small Business Development Centers that will help businesses with security.

Reps. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., have joined with Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., to introduce the Proper Leadership to Align Networks (PLAN) for Broadband Act, which calls on President Biden to develop a national broadband strategy.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, has proposed establishing a new health data agency to improve access to impartial and objective public health data, with the payoff of bolstering infectious disease intelligence and preparedness.

Russ Nichols, the deputy state chief information officer (CIO) and deputy director of the California Department of Technology (CDT), plans to retire in early November, a department spokesperson told MeriTalk State & Local.

Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., have introduced new legislation that would reauthorize the National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI), which provides cybercrime training to state and local law enforcement agencies.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on July 27 committed an additional $77 million in two new funding rounds through the Emergency Connectivity Program (ECF) that aims to help close the “homework gap” for students across the United States.

The number of ransomware attacks on both K-12 and higher education institutions increased in 2021, according to a new report from Sophos, a global cybersecurity leader.

While the Biden administration is pushing hard to increase broadband service access across the country, the White House needs to come up with a national strategy to do so on tribal lands where broadband access has traditionally lagged, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a new report.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has announced more than $127.6 million in broadband grants for local jurisdictions, Internet Service Providers, and community organizations, as well as education-specific grants that will expand infrastructure and provide wireless devices and equipment to Maryland’s K-12 students.