Author Archive
Stephanie Kanowitz
Stephanie Kanowitz is a freelance writer based in northern Virginia.
Public Safety
How One City Is Adressing 911 Calls That Require a Mental Health Response
A study showed that 90% of 911 crisis calls are related to mental health in Durham, North Carolina. The city launched four pilot programs that could change how it responds.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
What One County Learned From Experimenting With Machine Learning
Milwaukee County analyzed statues and policies to identify biased or discriminatory language.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Infrastructure
How One State is Helping its Cities Find Their Toxic Lead Pipes
Ohio is investing in technology for mapping lead water pipes in communities statewide as part of an initiative to locate, remove and replace them.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
Visualizing Vulnerability: County Maps Show Areas of Greatest Need
To study equity differences at systemic and place-based levels, Fairfax County put census data on color-coded maps so that officials can quickly see areas of greatest need.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
State and Local Governments Shifting to ‘New Normal’ Workplace
With lessons from the rapid shift to telework, governments are adopting permanent hybrid environments and keeping nimble, problem-solving mentalities.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
How a Virginia County Wooed Amazon and Boeing
It takes more than tax breaks to get big tech companies to move to a locality, government officials say.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
Code for America Unveils First States in Safety Net Cohort
The nonprofit aims to help states build digital tools and services to connect people with health, food assistance and other benefits programs.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
Drive-by Property Appraisals Streamline Data Collection
A Kansas county is using vehicles outfitted with rooftop cameras and LiDAR units to quickly and inexpensively capture property images that are integrated into its cloud-based appraisal system.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
A City Turns to an Algorithm to Prioritize Streetlight Repairs
Rather than repairing thousands of streetlights in the order outages are reported, San Diego weighs data on residential density, the presence of schools or parks, traffic collisions and other factors in deciding which ones to fix first.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
How One State Measures Post-pandemic Recovery
Economic leaders in New Jersey can see indicators and contextualize metrics with a solution that combines government, geographic and third-party economic data into an interactive dashboard.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
States Look to Virtual Reality for Workforce Development
Alabama and Arkansas have been using the technology to familiarize potential workers with entry-level skills.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
Blockchain Could Power State Government Processes
States have been experimenting with blockchain-based voting systems, smart contracts for ID management and fintech sandboxes, but implementation challenges exist, report says.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
States Unclear About What Constitutes ‘Reasonable’ Cybersecurity
Confusion about cyber insurance, incident response, multifactor authentication and cyber hygiene training is widening a gap between acknowledging risk and managing it, a recent report says.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
Ransomware Getting Ahead of State and Local Governments, Survey Finds
While respondents acknowledge the growing threat from ransomware, most are unprepared to prevent it or respond to it.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
Governments Confront Rising Cyber Insurance Rates
Even those meeting more stringent qualifications are finding that affordable insurance cannot provide enough protection against cybersecurity risk.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
New Statewide System Boosts State's Mass Emergency Alerts
Emergency managers in Iowa now can automatically push out safety alerts through emails, text messages, phone calls, RSS feeds and social media—and in multiple languages.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
Rural County Puts Land Records on Blockchain
Wise County, Virginia can create, store and access smart land records. “It comes from what many view as one of the least places to expect it," the county clerk says.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
3 Edge Computing Models for Integrated, Responsive Smart Cities
Edge computing will first be in private 5G deployments where massive amounts of data need low-latency processing, experts say.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
Free Cybersecurity Tools Available to State and Local Governments
Many governments are eligible for no-cost cybersecurity solutions. All they need to do is ask, experts say.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz
Tech & Data
Detroit Tests Cloud-enabled Pavement Monitoring
In-vehicle sensors collect and analyze data and send it to the cloud where the city can access it as a GIS layer to see road surface ratings.
- By Stephanie Kanowitz