Author: Ethan Johnson
Robert Reynolds, chief information officer of Orange County, North Carolina, said AI is ideal for helping government workers with “tedious” and “time-consuming” tasks. “AI will benefit local governments in the future. But like any tool, guidelines are needed,” he said. Without guidance, local governments are at risk of employees using different tools without administrative control, Reynolds said. “There needs to be some governance behind it before it can be rolled out for staff to use.” Local CIOs look to contractors for AI assistance Varner said the adoption of AI by local governments is complicated by competition for qualified workers. “We…
On Sunday, thousands of people gathered in Debrecen for a rally organized by Peter Magyar. Magyar's new party, Tisza, is the front-runner for current Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party in the upcoming European Parliament elections. The theme of Sunday's rally was women's rights and issues, and it was one of the stops in a series of protests scheduled to take place across Hungary, where Magyars are scheduled to meet with voters and address crowds.On the eve of the protest, the Hungarian government allegedly installed a series of “provocative billboards” in the square where the protest was scheduled, in an…
Serie A on Monday accused the Italian government of planning to create a financial regulator for professional sports clubs to replace the existing body within the country's soccer federation.Italy's top soccer division has joined the Football Federation (FIGC) and the country's top sports authority, the Olympic Committee (CONI), in criticizing the proposal by Sports Minister Andrea Abodi. After a meeting held on Monday, Serie A clubs “unanimously expressed their opposition to the proposed creation of a government regulator to oversee the finances of professional sports clubs.” “We insist that sports organizations remain independent from politics,” Serie A added. The Italian…
Last month, a prominent writer accused RAI of censorship after the reading of an anti-fascist monologue was abruptly halted “for editorial reasons”. The monologue was scheduled to be broadcast on the RAI 3 TV channel on April 25, a public holiday celebrating Italy's liberation from fascism in 1945. The broadcaster's main journalists' union, Usigurai, said in a statement on Monday that it was “going on strike to protect the autonomy and independence of public radio and television services from the widespread control of the information space by politicians.” The broadcaster responded, saying it was “committed to protecting the values of…
Disastrous result prompts renewed calls for Rishi Sunak to call national electionLondon: Britain's Liberal Democrats announced on Monday that they would table a motion of no confidence in Chancellor Rishi Sunak's government in Parliament, in a bid to force a general election in June after the ruling Conservative Party suffered a crushing defeat in local elections.Last week's election saw the Conservatives lose 474 local council seats, the main opposition Labor party gained 186 seats and the Liberal Democrats gained 104, according to a BBC tally.The disastrous result has led to renewed calls for Mr Sunak to hold a national election.…
If you live in one of the most economically disadvantaged areas of the city, you may find that the government is directing a smaller proportion of public funds to your area. And usually you'll be right. This is true even for programs specifically designed to benefit low-income communities. In the long run, federal funds tend to flow to relatively wealthy areas. That's what a recent study of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant program found. We looked at 20 years of data from the CDBG program, which in 2022 provided approximately $4.3 billion to…
The Wilmington City Council will hold an agenda meeting on Monday and its regular meeting on Tuesday. (Port City Daily Report/File) Southeastern North Carolina — Every Monday, Port City Daily highlights upcoming government meetings in the tri-county region. If there are any items of public interest, include them under the listed meetings as well. Monday, May 6th brunswick county commission We are scheduled to meet twice on Monday. The 9 a.m. meeting is a budget workshop meeting. There are no proposed tax increases, and there will be changes to sewer and wastewater rates. See agenda here. The regular meeting of…
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Sunday called on United Nations member states to pressure the Cambodian government to implement important reforms as the human rights situation in the country continues to deteriorate. The group said Prime Minister Hun Manet's government continued to tighten restrictions on freedom of expression and the press, labor rights and trade unions, and civil society.Recent events within Southeast Asia seem to lend credence to HRW's concerns.Since the beginning of this year, 11 political opposition figures have been arrested on politically motivated charges. Forgery. In preparation for the local elections scheduled to be held this month,Political opposition…
Last week was a bad week for libertarianism.Indeed, it was a bad decade for libertarianism. “No, it's been a bad century,” a devout liberal might retort, accurately enough.Still, when the Libertarian Party excitedly announces as a guest speaker at its next convention a man who loves tariffs, resents immigration, and recently started chatting about deploying the U.S. military domestically if he's re-elected president. Things seem to be getting particularly bad.The Libertarian Party has often been a poor servant to thoughtful libertarianism. It has always struggled to resist the temptation to ally with candidates who are actually less liberal in the…
The proposed constitutional amendment, known as the Fourth Amendment, would allow abortions up to about 24 weeks into pregnancy, similar to what Florida law allowed until Gov. Ron DeSantis enacted a 15-week abortion ban in 2022. The content is acceptable.On May 1, DeSantis' six-week abortion ban became law. At that point, many women and girls do not even know that they are pregnant.History has proven that people will continue to need access to abortion. Desperation leads to back-alley and dangerous solutions.I'm a senior citizen, so I remember reading about those horrific stories over 50 years ago.If you are a young…