This August, Charlottesville, Va., residents will have greater access to government salaries, traffic information, environmental data, and police statistics, thanks to a new open data portal from Smart Cville, which is a nonprofit, citizen-driven organization that promotes the use of technology to make cities better places to live.

State and Federal representatives testified to the need for a first responder-only network and offered their support of FirstNet’s efforts during a recent Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing.

Government purchasing these days isn’t limited to pens, paper, and copy toner. State governments are looking to purchase drones and other emerging technology, and NASPO ValuePoint is there to help. NASPO ValuePoint, a cooperative purchasing program open to state and local governments, is looking into the future of drones and other NextGen technology.

Mike Steinmetz took office April 17 as Rhode Island’s first cybersecurity officer. Although he has been in this new position for only two months, Steinmetz has developed a network of state officials, academics, and industry experts. He stressed the importance of partners within the private sector and academia.

Arlington, Va.-based startup Greater Places got a boost in its quest to make America’s cities more sustainable and livable when it was selected for the Spring 2017 cohort of the Smart City Works Infrastructure Actuator.

The Consumer Technology Association released the 2017 Innovation Scorecard, ranking states in four categories: Innovative Champion, Innovative Leader, Innovative Adopter, and Modest Innovator.

Prince George’s County, Md., on Monday released two new open data sets and plans to release another set in the coming weeks. The first two data sets contain information about agency performance and the Transforming Neighborhoods Initiative. The data sets will have updated versions of city information that was released in August about citizen complaints and requests.

Beginning in July, pedestrians will have to share Virginia sidewalks with Personal Delivery Devices.

First responders said they are both cautious and optimistic about introducing their departments to some of the latest first responder technology, which was demonstrated at a Department of Homeland Security-sponsored event March 1.

Collaboration and a willingness to learn new practices are the best ways to address cybersecurity concerns surrounding cloud computing, according to IT leaders from across the country. Greg Urban, chief operations officer of Maryland, said that a strong core of talent makes a big difference when exploring cloud capabilities.