Every Wednesday, The Ferguson Group blog will be posting a series of articles published over the previous week that discuss topics of interest to local governments. Learn about emerging trends and keep up on key policy issues by browsing the TFG Wednesday News Roundup!
Social Media Transforms the Way Chicago Fights Gang Violence
In a new, innovative strategy to combat gang-related violence, the Chicago Police
Department (CPD) is using social media to figure out what persons are most
likely to be involved in a homicide and where they are located. Similar
to the idea of tracking hotspots to understand where and when crime happens,
the “network analysis” of social media activity is helping the CPD rank the
most active gang members in Chicago to see which members are the most likely to
kill or be killed. Read More…
If Shutdown Persists, Would States Be Reimbursed for Filling Federal Holes?
For state governments, the shutdown forces them to consider whether they can afford
to fill potential gaps in their federally funded programs, and if they can,
whether or not the feds will pay them back. Despite clear intentions from
the Obama Administration that they believe states should be reimbursed, the
Administration is reminding states and state budget officers that reimbursement
will be determined by appropriations. Read More…
U.S.Farm Law Expires Again with Lawmakers Split on New Bill
A shutdown of the federal government wasn’t the only Congressional failure
experienced on October 1. The U.S. farm subsidy law expired for the
second time, and with (surprise) no compromise in sight over the fate of food
assistance programs, the future is unclear for the new farm bill. Read More…
Analytics Will Help Cities Manage Water Supplies, Repair Aging Infrastructure
The Smarter Cities software by IBM now has new features that will allow
municipalities to apply the predictive analytics capabilities of the software
to event management, city permitting, infrastructure planning, water efficiency
and more. In particular, the water efficiency analytics capabilities will
help municipalities predict pipe failures, let them know when maintenance is
needed, and will even calculate optimum pressures needed in distribution
networks to help conserve water. Read More…
Florida Sues Georgia Over Water Use
On Tuesday, Florida filed a long-awaited lawsuit against Georgia alleging Georgia
is consuming too much water from a shared river basin that supplies water to
parts of Georgia, Mississippi and Florida. Florida is looking to ensure a
steadier supply of water to the state, which has experienced detrimental
impacts to its bread-winning oyster industry. Read More…
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