On this week's Priorities podcast, Code for America's Eleanor Davis and No Kid Hungry's Marisa Kirk-Epstein explain a new playbook designed to help state governments connect students to nutritious food options over the summer.
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StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. 
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Inside Code for America's new food benefits playbook

Earlier this month, the North Carolina 911 Board, a division of the N.C. Department of Information Technology, announced the state has completed a yearslong effort to modernize its aging emergency response system to a next-generation 911 platform.

​​Next-generation 911 provides a faster, more resilient system that allows digital information — including voice, photos, videos and text messages — to flow from the public to first responders.

North Carolina’s project to upgrade to next-generation 911 started nearly a decade ago, when a proof of concept in 2015 outlined the transition away from the state’s decades-old copper-wire system. 

Pokey Harris, executive director of the North Carolina 911 Board spoke to StateScoop about how North Carolina’s 124 emergency call centers that receive funding from the state board are now part of the state’s next-generation 911 network.

North Carolina completes transition to next-generation 911

On this week’s Priorities podcast, StateScoop’s editorial staff share what they’ve learned in recent weeks while reporting on data privacy, broadband and other state government IT news. A South Carolina Senate finance subcommittee issued a report claiming that the state’s treasurer, Curtis Loftis, risked a cyberattack by claiming that he would post detailed information about the state’s finances online. StateScoop’s Skylar Rispens joins to break down that story and the current status of federal broadband funding. Several new generative AI laws activate in Utah next week, including one closing a loophole for using AI to commit crimes. StateScoop’s Keely Quinlan joins to review the American Privacy Rights Act and a new report from the Open Technology Institute critiquing states’ online age verification laws.

Contracting controversy, new AI laws, data privacy concerns in 2024

On this week's Priorities Podcast, we're joined by Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee and former Congressman Jim Langevin to discuss the state's new artificial intelligence task force, which was created by an executive order signed in March and chaired by Langevin. "There's two sides of this coin — there is a really positive side of the AI, and there's a potentially damaging side of AI. So we have to get ahead of it on security reasons," McKee says. 

The governor also discusses the traits he hopes the state's new chief data officer will have, a role that was also created by the executive order, and what he hopes the new task force will accomplish in the next six months.

Rhode Island governor on the future of state's AI task force

John Toney, Vermont's new chief information security officer, starts his day with threat intelligence briefs — reading, watching or listening to the latest cybersecurity news.

Toney, a former Secret Service special agent, joined Vermont's Agency of Digital Services last month, at a time when more sophisticated cyberattacks against state and local governments across the United States are on the rise, especially from foreign cybercriminals targeting critical infrastructure in rural communities, such as water facilities.

This week, Toney spoke with StateScoop reporter Sophia Fox-Sowell about some of the projects he's working on, including compliance and procurement. He also emphasized the importance of staying up to date with threat intelligence news and the need for proactive measures to address these growing cyber threats, including identifying vulnerabilities with regular scans, improving security protocols, and reducing operational redundancies through automation.

Vermont’s new CISO shares his proactive approach to cyber

State CIOs are continuing their cautious embrace of generative artificial intelligence, along with all the opportunities and challenges it brings to government operations. On this week's Priorities podcast, two state chief information officers share updates on their latest efforts to improve their IT organizations, speaking from the midyear conference in National Harbor, Maryland, early this month, hosted by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers. Indiana CIO Tracy Barnes shares how he’s thinking about AI, cybersecurity and policy improvements. Later, Texas CIO Amanda Crawford shares how data literacy is a key part of her state's embrace of generative AI.

Indiana and Texas’ foray into the deeper embrace of AI

John Blythe, director of cyber psychology at the English software company Immersive Labs, joins this week’s Priorities podcast to share the results of a recent study that revealed cybersecurity vulnerabilities in generative AI chatbots and why he believes that many cybersecurity training programs aren’t as effective as they could be. Blythe says one frequent mistake in cyber training programs is that their advice is too generic. Instead, he recommends “meeting people where they’re at” and framing training around personal issues they care about. “In cybersecurity, we focus on understanding what prevents people from engaging in cybersecurity best practices and how we can design interventions and training to tackle those psychological barriers,” Blythe says.

StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. Listen more here.

If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, and Spotify.

What cybersecurity training gets wrong

Tracey Haslam, CEO of the recycler Full Circle Electronics, joins StateScoop’s Priorities podcast to discuss how her company helps government agencies dispose of e-waste responsibly and comply with data-destruction standards and other state policies. Haslam says e-waste can become a threat to the environment and human health if not properly treated. For government agencies, which dispose of millions of devices each year as they upgrade to modern systems, managing e-waste is a significant task.

StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. Listen more here.
If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, and Spotify.

What government agencies can learn about e-waste recycling

Alongside concerns of cyberattacks and a growing interest in generative artificial intelligence, efforts to improve digital services are retaining status in the offices of state chief information officers. On this week's Priorities podcast, Ohio CIO Katrina Flory and New Hampshire CIO Denis Goulet share how their digital services efforts are maturing in 2024. Speaking last spring from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers midyear conference in National Harbor, Maryland, Flory says the state’s InnovateOhio platform is continually improving how it connects residents to government services, while providing agencies with better data. Goulet shares how New Hampshire’s multiyear effort to retool its online services started with evangelizing state agencies that were initially reluctant to participate.

How state government’s digital services are evolving in 2024

On this week's Priorities podcast, Code for America Chief Executive Officer Amanda Renteria explains how a recent chatbot project informed the creation of the organization's new AI Studio, which involves in-person and virtual workshops to explore the importance of testing and scaling AI tools. Code for America last year released an AI-powered chatbot for GetCalFresh, a digital enrollment assistant for California’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. While the chatbot was developed to respond to simple questions and direct users to relevant resources, Renteria says the process helped to inform goals and objectives of the new AI Studio. She also discusses the main takeaways of the Code For America Summit at the end of May, such as the primacy of AI for improving government services.





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StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. Listen more here.
If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, and Spotify.

How a chatbot project informed Code for America's new AI Studio

Each week, the Priorities Podcast will take you through the latest in state and local government technology news and analysis. The program will explore trending stories throughout the week, as well as feature conversations with top executives across government and industry on things like modernization, emerging technology and digital services.

Inside Code for America's new food benefits playbook

Priorities Podcast

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