| MOST POPULAR COVID-19 Underlines Digitization Needs for Clerks City clerks handle a lot of records in municipalities across the country. From inspection reports to marriage licenses, they are a key player in many citizen-government interactions. Like so many other government functions, the pandemic has crystallized the need to keep fulfilling these responsibilities using digital means. GT’s Jed Pressgrove talked to several clerks about how they’ve responded and what still needs to change to effectively do the people’s business electronically. One Small Step for Amazon Remember when Amazon was just an online bookseller? We barely do either. But the online mega-retailer has just gotten the nod from the FCC to expand its offerings even further, into space. Project Kuiper is a multi-billion-dollar plan to use more than 3,000 satellites to bring Internet access to remote areas of the globe, which are difficult to connect by other means. Nobody Wants to Touch That With COVID-related germ concerns at an all-time high, people are wary of surfaces in public places that many strangers touch in the course of their day. It’s not surprising, then, that transit fare systems are taking a turn toward contactless. GT’s Skip Descant reports that contactless methods are also aimed at populations without traditional bank accounts. North Carolina Moves to Fill Doaks Gap As we reported in June, North Carolina CIO Tracy Doaks has moved on to a position with a tech nonprofit. The state just announced that deputy CIO Thomas Parrish IV is now filling the role in an acting capacity. | 
