| MOST POPULAR Growing Government Online While shelter-in-place orders nationwide have ground many “normal” aspects of daily life to a halt, years of work toward making government more digital — the critical work we cover every day at GovTech — are being put to the test. Staff Writer Andrew Westrope talked to cities, counties and states that have seen increased online engagement in the last few weeks, and leaders like Los Angeles CIO Ted Ross predict this period may be the beginning of a shift, where the groundwork government has done to bring services online will become more vital than ever going forward. Of course, virtual public meetings are cropping up across the country, with cities using simple video chat setups to multi-system tech endeavors to make their meetings available online, although such software has opened up new security concerns, like “Zoombombing.” Plus, Assistant News Editor Zack Quaintance sat in on an video meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Thursday, featuring a visit from President Barack Obama. COVID-19 Reinvigorates Digital Equity Efforts In a two-part series this week, Zack also covered how the need to get everyone online quickly in the ever-evolving coronavirus outbreak has brought issues around the digital divide to the fore. Most school districts were unprepared to push learning online, while a more robust telehealth system could improve short- and long-term health impacts for seniors. Underlying all this, of course, is the lack of high-speed Internet in many areas of the U.S. A recent study from the Pew Charitable Trusts plus work being done in states like Maine and North Carolina may see this as a moment to underscore the importance of broadband. States Adapt Old Tech to New Problems And as governments at all levels work to address new needs brought on by the spread of COVID-19, they’re running into some problems with old technology. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy this week put out a call for programmers well versed in COBOL, the computing language from the 1960s that’s still used to power the state’s unemployment insurance system, which saw an “unprecedented” surge in applications, from 9,000 to 206,000 over a two-week period. State Chief Innovation Officer Beth Novak told GT they’re also working to quickly stand up a website seeking volunteers to fill both tech and non-tech workforce gaps. And New Jersey isn’t the only one struggling to teach old tech new tricks: Some experts are unsure the IRS’ 50-year-old systems will be able to deliver Americans’ $1,200 stimulus checks as quickly as promised. | 