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This Week

Features
States End ’04 with Solid Revenues, Report Says
National Trust Announces Rural Heritage Development Initiative
Fighting Crime and Terrorism through Data Integration
VoIP Network Takes City to the Future
Housing Authority to Adopt Best Practices, Optimize Efficiency
News
IAC Unveils Study on Citizen-Centric Web Content
Sketch Artist vs. Computer
Group Supports Government Neutrality in Contacting Act
APCO Releases 9-1-1 Funding Position Paper
News of the Weird

Features

States End ’04 with Solid Revenues, Report Says

State tax revenues grew by 7.8 percent in the last quarter of 2004 compared to the same period in 2003, marking the strongest end-of-the-year revenue growth since 1991, a new report from the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government shows.

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National Trust Announces Rural Heritage Development Initiative

The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced the Rural Heritage Development Initiative, a project that will work with two rural pilot regions to implement preservation-based economic development strategies. The new initiative is funded in significant part through a $745,000 three-year grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Proposals are being solicited from regions that have the capacity to work collaboratively to develop cultural and heritage assets for economic benefit.

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Fighting Crime and Terrorism through Data Integration

In today’s interconnected world, public safety officials at all levels of government are attempting to establish standards and protocols for sharing information about criminal activity.

For related articles and products,visit the Homeland Security Zone.

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VoIP Network Takes City to the Future

When the City of Jacksonville, NC, switched from a traditional phone system to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in April 2002, it did so to not only save money, but to bring the city into the modern age.

For related articles and products, visit the Communications Zone.

Housing Authority to Adopt Best Practices, Optimize Efficiency

With its “Plan for Transformation,” the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) is working to rebuild and modernize the nation’s third-largest public housing system.

For more Best Practices articles, click here.

News

IAC Unveils Study on Citizen-Centric Web Content

The Industry Advisory Council’s (IAC) eGovernment Shared Interest Group (eGov SIG) announced the release of a study focused on the state of the practice of managing citizen-centric Web content. To download the study, click here.

Sketch Artist vs. Computer

The Philadelphia Police Department views a composite-drawing computer program as being the answer to its shortage of sketch artists. Retirements and job transfers have left the department with one full-time sketch artist and a part-time sketch artist, compared with five officers a year ago who were skilled in drawing black-and-white pictures of subjects. In late 2004, the department spent $3,600 on 25 copies of the FACES 4.0 computer program, which will allow officers to assemble facial features using a gallery of 4,400 eyes, noses, wrinkles, lips, ears, and hair. IQ Biometrix in California makes FACES, and says the CIA, FBI, and the police departments of New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles are among the approximately 2,500 law enforcement agencies that use the program. In Philadelphia, the department is training detectives on FACES, and they will be counted on to teach their officers how to use the technology. However, FACES has attracted some criticism from Gary Wells, a psychology professor at Iowa State University who has studied the program. "We find that witnesses are less able to correctly identify the target from a lineup if they previously build his or her face using the FACES program," Wells declared in an email interview. Source: The National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC).

Group Supports Government Neutrality in Contacting Act

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) voiced strong support for introduction of H.R. 1449, the Government Neutrality in Contracting Act by Rep. John Sullivan, R-Okla.

“When adopted, this legislation will codify into law the open competition executive order signed by President George W. Bush on Feb. 17, 2001, ensuring that the federal government cannot require union-only project labor agreements on federal construction projects," said Kirk Pickerel, ABC president and CEO.

APCO Releases 9-1-1 Funding Position Paper

The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International has released an issue paper on funding solutions for 9-1-1. The paper, "Seeking Sustainable Funding Solutions for Public Access to 9-1-1," is the product of the February 18 APCO International sponsored 9-1-1 Funding Summit in Arlington, VA. To download the paper, click here.

News of the Weird
For bizarre but true stories about real people,

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