| MOST POPULAR Feds Consider Billions in Cyber, IT Help The U.S. House of Representatives is mulling a new piece of legislation that could infuse tens of billions of dollars into the state and local government technology scene. This news made the ears of local officials perk up, as they begin to see devastating budget impacts from the pandemic and related economic downturn. The proposal includes grants to modernize legacy systems, help cover emergency technical expenses and bolster cybersecurity. AWS Snags Fourth State CIO Many public-sector technology officials turn to private-sector roles when their days in government are done, and longtime Mississippi CIO Craig Orgeron is the latest to announce such a move. But what’s different about this announcement is who he’ll be joining at Amazon Web Services' public-sector arm: three other former state chief information officers. This could be the largest concentration of former state technical leadership at any tech company. A Victory for 5G? In the battle between telecom companies and America’s cities, score one for telecom. Cities including Las Vegas, Chicago and Portland, Ore., joined a suit against the FCC that fought to retain local control over the installation of 5G towers in their communities. But a federal appeals court has upheld a 2018 decision by the FCC that aimed to make it easier for the small cells to proliferate. Can Police Tech Be Race Neutral? “One of the prevailing tropes in technology is that technology is neutral, that it’s not political, and that’s false.” So said DataMade founder Derek Eder to GT’s Andrew Westrope this week, in a story about a path forward for law enforcement in light of growing attention on systemic problems with racism. A new auditing tool aims to root out problematic algorithms before new technologies are deployed – an idea that could catch on. | 
