Posts By Bailey McCann

West Kentucky and Tennessee move forward on largest wireline expansion

West Kentucky and Tennessee are moving forward on state broadband projects. The West Kentucky and Tennessee Telecommunications Cooperative (WK&T) is deploying FieldSmart, a platform for fiber management offered by Clearfield, Inc. Clearfield was chosen as part of a broader broadband expansion project funded through federal stimulus dollars to improve rural broadband access in both states.Read… Read more »

Connecticut, Illinois invest in green public busses

Connecticut and Illinois are making big investments into hybrid public buses thanks to a new round of federal awards. Connecticut was awarded $275 million and Illinois was awarded $5 million for hybrid bus projects. The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation which is working to help states make public transit systems become moreRead… Read more »

South Dakota launches new website focused on transparency

South Dakota Govenror Dennis Daugaard is trying to improve state government service delivery and transparency through updates to the state website. The updates are part of the Govenror’s broader Better Government Intiative which hopes to give state residents a better government experience. The website update includes several changes including easier search features, to help residentsRead… Read more »

Seattle moves forward on broadband

Seattle is continuing its push to bring high-speed broadband to all parts of the city. Earlier this week Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and University of Washington President Michael Young announced a partnership to solicit private proposals to leverage the fiber surrounding the UW campus. The project is part of a larger national project called GigRead… Read more »

Recovery.gov gets a facelift

The Recovery Board has given the home page of Recovery.gov a facelift. In announcement today, the Recovery Board said it hopes the changes will make it even easier for citizens to view information on projects and awards as well as report waste, fraud and abuse. The home page changes quietly went into effect on Monday.Read… Read more »

Washington gets new state CIO

Washington has a new state CIO, Governor Gregoire has appointed Bharat Shyam. Shyam previously worked at Microsoft and will be taking office today. Shyam developed some of the first smartphones at Microsoft and will be working to help the state more effectively leverage IT dollars to improve state service delivery to citizens. Shyam has experienceRead… Read more »

Supreme Court to hear health care reform challenge

The Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the Affordable Care Act. Several states have been involved in a variety of different challenges to the law, and so far, appeals courts have been split on their assessments creating a need for a final ruling from the Court. The move is likely to create electoral challengesRead… Read more »

New York insurers overcharge policyholders millions, ordered to refund overages

11 insurers in New York have been ordered to refund overcharges on their insurance premiums. State officials ordered insurers to refund $114.5 million in overpaid premiums to almost 600,000 New Yorkers. According to the order, insurers failed to spend the minimum amount of each premium dollar on providing health care to policy holders. Under NewRead… Read more »

Landrieu tries to salvage La rural broadband project

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu is asking the US Commerce Department to reconsider rescinding an $80 million federal grant to expand broadband in Louisiana. The grant was revoked last month after federal managers cited prolonged mismanagement of the funds and rejected a new plan proposed by state officials. The original project was to be completed byRead… Read more »