Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed into law last week legislation aimed at protecting the personal health data of all Washingtonians, making the state the first in the nation to codify into law broad protections for consumer health data.

In honor of Second Chance Month, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the launch of Chicago’s Re-Entry Resource Website. The website will serve as an information hub for all city-provided re-entry resources.

Customer service and the user experience includes internal clients. From managing requests to improving information flow, departments outside of the technology organization struggle with keeping track of an increasing avalanche of email inquiries, work orders, status reports, and data updates.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parsons has announced a new website for the Missouri 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro this week signed an executive order that both cements his customer service transformation strategy and establishes the Commonwealth Office of Digital Experience (CODE PA) to improve online services for Pennsylvanians and streamline the way they interact with the state government online.

The Missouri Department of Public Safety has approved 428 grants totaling over $6.3 million to law enforcement, fire service, and EMS providers across the state for new equipment, supplies, personnel, and training.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly recently signed a bill that aims to improve public awareness of cybersecurity incidents, authorize the state to make changes to cybersecurity training, assessments, and responses,  and modernize Kansas cybersecurity systems.  

Following a cyberattack detected on April 6, Minnesota’s Rochester Public Schools (RPS) has announced that it does not believe that any student data was accessed. Additionally, the school system said that it has no evidence that the affected data pertaining to RPS employees has been used for financial fraud or identity theft. Since the attack was detected, the school system has been working with third-party forensics experts as part of an ongoing investigation.

When classes resume this fall, Emory University will be home to the new Center for Artificial Intelligence Learning. According to the university, the center will promote AI literacy across all units of the campus and provide co-curricular learning opportunities that “equip the Emory community with the skills needed to thrive in a technology-focused future.”

National and international cybersecurity officials last week released recommendations and resources to help smart cities balance efficiency and innovation with cybersecurity, privacy protections, and national security.