Do Local Governments Need A Bolder Approach?

Carl Sternberg, professor of public administration and government at the School of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, reviewed 246 stories summarized in the International City County Manager Associations News Briefings from April 2009 to April 2011. Sternberg’s review provides an interesting look at how governments across the country are dealing with reducedRead… Read more »

Cities, states pass resolutions against corporate personhood

Several cities and states are passing resolutions against corporate personhood. The resolutions are the result of Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission which gave corporations the same first amendment rights as individuals and thereby opening the floodgates for money in politics in the US. Cities and states with rules governing political contributionsRead… Read more »

More DC Area Big Data User Groups

Last week we made mention of the Washington DC Area Hadoop Users Group (HUG). This is a great group of community minded people who meet to exchange lessons learned and dialog on interested technologies. There are others groups in the DC area that work similar topics and we learned more about them in replies toRead… Read more »

From the Apache Software Foundation Blog: The Apache Software Foundation Announces Apache Hadoop™ v1.0

The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is an all-volunteer group of developers, stewards and incubators of technology. They bring us many of the technologies powering our enterprises and consumer solutions and are continuing to innovate in ways that are absolutely amazing and enjoyable to try to track. One of the greatest projects at the ASF isRead… Read more »

Minnesota uses co-ops to expand broadband, Mass. picks Lightower

Maine and Massachusetts are moving forward on broadband. Minnesota’s broadband task for released its first report last week which shows that co-ops are helping the state expand rural broadband. Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI), a division of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, has selected Lightower to provide a diverse network solution as part of its MassBroadband 123Read… Read more »

Jan 9 Event on Teaching America: The Case for Civic Education

Hosted by the Brookings Institution Monday, January 09, 2012 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM “Congressional approval ratings stand at an all-time low and grassroots movements such as Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party are mobilizing citizens to engage in the democratic process and push for change. But do America’s young people have the toolsRead… Read more »