.png)
ClearPoint vs Excel in Health Departments | ClearPoint Strategy Blog
Health departments are abandoning Excel for ClearPoint Strategy as strategic plans grow in complexity and regulatory pressure mounts. While spreadsheets are familiar and flexible, they falter when multiple stakeholders, PHAB accreditation, and community health assessments demand real‑time ownership and reporting. ClearPoint’s platform, used in over 30,000 strategic plans, shows 81% of metric owners never update data in Excel, whereas its users achieve a 7:1 update‑to‑login ratio. The shift promises automated dashboards, single‑source data, and faster, compliant reporting for public‑health agencies.
FCC to Boost Satellite Internet Speeds by Raising Power Limits
The FCC will vote this month to supercharge your Internet. Lifting outdated power limits on satellite Internet means faster speeds and more capacity. 🚀 🛰️ 🛜 https://t.co/Qy7yuHv8Mx
Will Iowa Use AI to Analyze School, County Budgets?
Iowa House leaders are weighing a multi‑million‑dollar (estimated $5 million) contract with Tyler Technologies to deploy artificial‑intelligence tools that analyze school and county budgets. The AI platform would ingest publicly available spending data, normalize it by size and geography, and present...
Iran Demands Bitcoin For Ships Passing Hormuz During Ceasefire
Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union announced that any oil tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz during a two‑week cease‑fire must pay a toll of $1 per barrel in Bitcoin. Ship owners must email cargo details, receive a...
Europe’s New Entry/Exit System Goes Fully Live This Week
Europe’s Entry/Exit System (EES) went fully live on April 10, replacing passport stamps with digital kiosks that capture biometric data for non‑EU travelers. The system records entry and exit dates to enforce the 90‑day stay limit across the Schengen area...
CISA Orders Feds to Patch Exploited Ivanti EPMM Flaw by Sunday
CISA has placed Ivanti Endpoint Manager Mobile (EPMM) in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and issued a Binding Operational Directive requiring federal agencies to patch the critical CVE‑2026‑1340 flaw by April 11. The code‑injection bug enables unauthenticated remote code execution on...
Another Court Rules Copyright Can’t Stop People From Reading and Speaking the Law
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld that reproducing building codes incorporated into federal or state law qualifies as fair use, rejecting ASTM’s claim of copyright over those standards. The court found UpCodes’ use transformative, factual, and...
DHA Starts the Bidding for $300M Tech Deployment Support Contract
The Defense Health Agency (DHA) has opened a five‑year, $300 million multiple‑award contract to fund technology deployment support across its health‑care delivery network. Companies will compete for task orders that cover site preparation, training, change management and post‑installation services for electronic...
Oakland County, Mich., Weighs Flock Drones Amid Privacy Concern
Oakland County commissioners will review a nine‑month pilot with Flock that provides seven drones for case‑related investigations. The pilot is free, but if not terminated by Dec. 15, 2026, a two‑year contract worth about $2.5 million automatically activates. Each flight’s route, duration and...
AI Integration Will Define Future City Operations
AI is set to reshape how cities function day to day. Samson Hu points to a future where infrastructure, services and urban systems are increasingly managed and optimized through AI. Cities are becoming systems of intelligence. How they operate will depend on...
Arizona Task Force Roadmap Prioritizes Virtual Power Plants and Distributed Solar to Cut Energy Costs
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs’ Energy Promise Taskforce issued a 31‑point roadmap urging rapid deployment of virtual power plants, distributed solar and 2,000 MW of battery storage by 2025 to absorb an anticipated 40% surge in peak demand. The plan streamlines permitting...
Some Epic Health Systems Now Connect to SSA Through TEFCA
Epic Systems announced that health organizations using its EHR can now exchange patient records with the Social Security Administration instantly through the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA). The move adds five health systems—AltaMed, Citizen Potawatomi Nation Health Services,...
Federal Reserve Board Invites Public Comment on Proposal that Would Allow U.S. Banks and Credit Unions to Use Intermediaries to...
The Federal Reserve Board has opened a 60‑day public comment period on a proposal that would permit U.S. banks and credit unions to route payments through intermediaries on the FedNow Service. Currently, FedNow transactions can involve only two domestic banks,...
TRAI Launches Consultation on Satellite Communication Network Authorisation and Spectrum Framework
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released a consultation paper outlining a new licensing and spectrum framework for Satellite Communication Networks (SCNs). The proposal defines eligibility, authorisation periods, technical and security standards, and introduces a Satellite Communication Network‑as‑a‑Service (SCNaaS)...
Virginia Grid Utilization Bill Set to Become Law
Virginia’s pending legislation will compel Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power to submit detailed distribution‑grid utilization metrics to the State Corporation Commission and propose ways to tap existing capacity. The commission will then publish its own analyses and evaluate non‑wires alternatives...
Navigating Urgent Global E-Invoicing Mandates: March 2026 Regulatory Alert
In March 2026 governments worldwide moved e‑invoicing from policy discussion to enforceable law. Spain approved a Royal Decree that bans PDF invoices and requires real‑time payment reporting, with implementation starting 2027. The Netherlands, Hungary, Norway, Latvia and several other EU...
Minnesota PUC Approves Utility Battery Program While Deferring VPP Decisions
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved Xcel Energy’s CapacityConnect Phase 2, authorizing up to 200 MW of utility‑owned battery storage. The order obliges Xcel to submit a technical and financial benefits evaluation within 180 days and detailed distributed‑resource estimates by November 2027. While...
OpenAI Puts ‘Stargate UK’ on Hold in Blow to Britain’s AI Ambitions
OpenAI has placed its "Stargate UK" compute project on hold, citing an unfavourable regulatory landscape and the United Kingdom’s high energy costs. The initiative, which would have leased up to 8,000 Nvidia GPUs from data‑center operator Nscale starting in early...
DICT Meets with Superannuation Fund on SevisPass Integration
Executives from Papua New Guinea’s Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NASFUND, one of the nation’s largest superannuation funds, to integrate the fund with the SevisPNG digital ID and wallet platforms. The partnership...
USPS to Shift some Volume as It Installs New Sortation Equipment
The U.S. Postal Service is installing new package sortation equipment at several processing facilities this month, temporarily rerouting volume to alternate sites during the transition. The upgrades raise daily processing capacity to about 88 million packages, up from 60 million, and add...
Spain High-Speed Crash: Possible Rail Break Detected 22 Hours Before Accident, but No Alert Triggered
Spain’s high‑speed network suffered its deadliest crash in a decade when an Iryo train derailed near Adamuz, killing 46. A Civil Guard report reveals that Adif’s signalling system detected an electrical disturbance consistent with a rail break 21 hours and 57 minutes...
News Roundup for April 8, 2026
Toronto is deploying AI‑controlled traffic signals to alleviate congestion, while the TTC chief issued an apology after a water spill on subway line 2 caused commuter chaos. The city also launched an East‑West water shuttle pilot on the inner harbour this...
New Ofcom Boss Ian Cheshire’s In-Tray Is Full but One Issue Will Dominate
Ian Cheshire, former Kingfisher chief and Channel 4 chair, becomes Ofcom chair amid a sprawling 2026‑27 plan that spans telecoms, broadband, postal services and media. The regulator’s top priority will be the Online Safety Act, a 2023 law aimed at curbing...
NYC Launches Centralized Child‑Care Permitting Portal to Speed Provider Licensing
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a citywide online permitting portal that lets child‑care providers submit applications, schedule inspections and track status in one place. The tool is part of a broader push to add 2,000 new 2‑K seats and 1,000 additional...
Iran‑Linked Hackers Exploit Rockwell Automation PLCs, Disrupt U.S. Critical Infrastructure
Federal agencies including the FBI, CISA, NSA and DOE issued a joint advisory that Iranian‑affiliated advanced persistent threat actors are exploiting Rockwell Automation’s Allen‑Bradley programmable logic controllers. The activity has already caused operational disruptions and financial loss across energy, water,...
NERC Is ‘Actively Monitoring the Grid’ Following Iran-Linked Cyber Threat
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned that Iranian‑linked hackers are exploiting programmable logic controllers (PLCs) used in U.S. power, water and government facilities. The attacks manipulate software configurations and human‑machine interfaces, causing operational disruptions and potential financial loss....
FDA Launches BRIDGE Project to Modernize Food Facility Inspections
The FDA has launched the Better Regulatory Inspections for Dynamic Government Efficiency (BRIDGE) Project to overhaul how domestic food facility inspections are planned, executed, and coordinated. The initiative introduces a data‑driven, risk‑based framework that aligns federal and state oversight, aiming...
What Ukraine’s Wartime Tech Ecosystem Can Teach the Rest of the World
Ukraine’s wartime experience has turned its defense sector into a rapid‑innovation laboratory. Since the February 2022 invasion, the country expanded from seven drone manufacturers to over 500 and built the Brave1 cluster, now linking more than 3,000 firms with frontline units....
Greece Proposes Law to Keep Kids Off Social Media
The Greek government has drafted a law that would bar anyone under 15 from using social‑media platforms, with parents required to install a monitoring app on all devices. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the measure via a TikTok video, citing...
TSA Quietly Sharing Passenger Data With ICE, Leading To Arrests At U.S. Airports
The Transportation Security Administration has been feeding passenger information from its Secure Flight program to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, resulting in more than 800 arrests since the start of President Trump’s second term. Over 31,000 travelers’ data were shared, repurposing...
IRS Expands Business Tax Account to More Entities
The IRS just expanded its Business Tax Account 👀 Access is now available to partnerships , tax-exempts , and gov’t entities. The goal is less paper, fewer calls. (I'm a big fan.) Details: https://t.co/TEyOyvkOwg
GDS-Run Spend Controls Retired as Departments to ‘Fully Own and Manage Their Own Approvals Processes’
The UK Government Digital Service (GDS) has retired its digital and technology spend controls after 16 years, replacing them with the Digital Assurance Playbook that devolves approval authority to individual departments. Under the old regime, any digital spend of £100,000...
Cloud Control
In early 2025 the Pentagon demanded Anthropic drop its terms‑of‑service limits that barred government use of its Claude model for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. Anthropic refused, forfeiting a lucrative defense contract and filing a First Amendment lawsuit that a...
DHSC Outlines Future of Fingertips Health Data Repository in £1.25m Contract
The UK Department of Health and Social Care has awarded a £1.25 million (≈ $1.59 million) contract to Marvell Consulting to build a public‑beta "Find Public Health Data" service that will replace the aging Fingertips platform. Hosted on Microsoft Azure, the new service...
Prague to Roll Out 150 ‘EV-Ready’ Street Lamps for Charging Network
Prague’s city council approved a €4.1 million (≈$4.5 million) project to retrofit 150 streetlights with built‑in electric‑vehicle (EV) charging capability. The “EV‑ready” lamps are part of a broader e‑mobility strategy that anticipates up to 180,000 EVs in the capital by 2030, requiring...
NHS Grampian Highlights 12 Digital Priority Programmes for Delivery in 2026/27
NHS Grampian has mapped out twelve digital priority programmes for 2026/27, spanning the MyCare.scot front‑door portal, a national child health record, Microsoft 365, Windows 10 replacement, PACS and RIS imaging platforms, INFIX theatre scheduling, LIMS, GP IT and core infrastructure upgrades....
Volunteer Responder App Piloted Across 46 Community First Responder Schemes in Scotland
The Scottish Ambulance Service piloted a new volunteer responder app across 46 Community First Responder schemes from November 2025 to February 2026. The trial delivered a 36% increase in volunteer incident responses, equating to 786 more patients assisted, and saw...
Roll-Out of Digital Eye Care Programme Continues Across Wales
The Welsh Government has completed the rollout of the OpenEyes electronic patient record and OPERAi electronic referral systems across all health boards, enabling real‑time clinical data sharing and standardized referral pathways. Glaucoma modules are now live in several boards, with...
UK AI Strategy Strong on Paper, Weak in Practice
The UK’s #AI Plan Shows Progress On Paper, But What About In Practice? by Tarek Nseir @Forbes Learn more: https://t.co/qkRb0MhnlY #ArtificialIntelligence #MachineLearning #ML #DL https://t.co/BIorRIribG
Insights From Our RunwaySafe Webinar
SkeyDrone has launched RunwaySafe, an airport‑focused drone threat assessment platform built with input from airport operators and air traffic control. Unlike conventional detection systems, it evaluates each flight in real time and surfaces only those that pose an immediate safety...
Utah Lets an AI Chatbot Renew Some Psychiatric Prescriptions in New Pilot
Utah has signed a mitigation agreement with Legion Health to let an AI chatbot renew a limited set of psychiatric maintenance medications. The pilot, part of the state’s AI Learning Laboratory, restricts renewals to non‑controlled drugs such as SSRIs and...
Mappedin Secures $24.5 Million Series B to Scale City‑Wide Indoor Mapping
Kitchener‑Waterloo‑based Mappedin announced a $24.5 million Series B on April 7, 2026, led by Edison Partners and Betatron Venture Group. The funding, which closed in December 2025, is earmarked for city‑scale indoor mapping and deeper integration with safety and public‑venue platforms. The...
OneQode, Hitachi Vantara and Cylix Launch Multimillion‑Dollar Sovereign AI Factory Initiative
OneQode, Hitachi Vantara and Cylix Applied Intelligence announced a multimillion‑dollar strategic alliance to create a Sovereign AI Factory. The joint effort will roll out sovereign‑ready AI infrastructure in Australia, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, with the United States slated for later...
Beijing Launches Robot Arm for Seamless Toll Payments
Beijing Unveils #Robot Arm for Effortless Toll Payments by @levelsio #Robotics #TechForGood #Technology #Innovation #EmergingTech https://t.co/fc7whEciNd
Locals Are Using AI to Fight Data Centers Being Built in Their Backyards
Ohio residents are turning to AI tools like ChatGPT to bolster their opposition to new data‑center projects slated for their neighborhoods. Activists such as Jessica Sharp and realtor Jessica Baker use the technology to draft legal requests, transcribe meetings and...
Some Advocates Concerned As States Push for Cameras in Special Education Classrooms
A wave of legislation in Florida, Iowa, Maryland, South Carolina and Tennessee seeks to install surveillance cameras in self‑contained special‑education classrooms, following earlier laws in Texas, Louisiana, West Virginia, Georgia and Alabama. Proponents argue cameras provide objective evidence to curb...
FDA Seeks Input on Digital Health Technologies in Clinical Investigations for Drugs and Biological Products
The FDA has issued a Federal Register notice seeking stakeholder input on the use of digital health technologies (DHTs) in clinical investigations for drugs and biologics. The agency asks for comments on regulatory challenges, guidance needs, and topics for future...
Broadband for All Still a Distant Goal in SA
South Africa’s regulator ICASA reports that only 4,377 of 21,878 public schools, clinics, libraries and traditional authority sites – about 20% – were linked to broadband by October 2025, far short of its universal‑access goal. Mobile network reach is near‑ubiquitous (99.5%...
UK Eyes Deeper “Sovereign” Space Surveillance Capabilities
The United Kingdom is advancing its sovereign space agenda by initiating a procurement process for a new space‑surveillance radar system, with a possible deployment in Antarctica. The effort aims to bolster the nation’s ability to track low‑Earth‑orbit objects and protect...
Alstom Delivers Romania’s First Next-Gen Traxx Electric Locomotive
Alstom has delivered the first of a 16‑unit Traxx Passenger electric locomotive programme for Romania’s Railway Reform Authority, marking the start of a €150 million ($165 million) contract that includes 20 years of maintenance. The four‑axle unit, ARF002, arrived on 7 April at Bucharest’s...