Apple CEO Challenges Alabama in Speech; NTSB Releases Findings on Conn., N.Y. Rail Incidents
Apple CEO Tim Cook, at right, at the Alabama Academy of Honor induction ceremony at the State Capitol on Monday. Brynn Anderson / AP Photo
Also in our State & Local news roundup: Is there a tech scene rising in New Orleans’ Silicon Bayou?
Here is today’s State & Local news roundup for Tuesday, October 28, 2014 ...
MONTGOMERY, Alabama: During his remarks after being inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor on Monday, Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a challenge to his home state on gay rights. As Stephanie Mlot writes for PC magazine, Cook called on Alabama officials to protect the rights of the LGBT community in the state. "I could never understand why some within our state and nation resisted basic principles of human dignity [which] were so opposite the values I had learned growing up in Robertsdale, Alabama, in a family that was rich in love and respect," Cook said. "Decades later, I still don't understand."
BOULDER, Colorado: This university town at the foot of the Front Range northwest of Denver first instituted priority-based budgeting in 2011. Now Boulder has used the budgeting process for the fifth year in a row. In a new blog post from the Center for Priority-Based Budgeting, Boulder “depends upon PBB as ‘the cornerstone of the city’s budget process,’ and ‘the framework within which all budget decisions are made.’”
BRIDGEPORT, Connecticut: What went wrong with Metro-North commuter rail derailments and other accidents in Connecticut and New York? The National Transportation Safety Board has released its findings into a five incidents that happened on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Metro-North railroad, including deadly derailments and worker accidents in Bridgeport and in New York City. As Martin Cassidy reports for the Connecticut Post, the federal investigation cited lax maintenance, failure to follow safety protocols and in the case of a deadly Bronx derailment, failing to screen a train engineer for a sleep disorder and a lack of automatic braking on the train.
Canal Street in New Orleans (Photo by Jorg Hackemann / Shutterstock.com)
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana: Is there a Silicon Bayou growing in the Bayou State? That’s hard to say that for sure but as Mark Waller writes from The Times-Picayune, something is happening in New Orleans’ tech sector:
Energy around hackathons, tech meetups, business pitch competitions, the recently held NOLATech Week "un-conference," the New Orleans Entrepreneur Week festival in March and other rituals for startups suggest an increasing number of people becoming more deeply involved in tech, observers say.
One economic development group predicts 10,000 job openings in digital services in New Orleans in the coming decade.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota: In and around the Twin Cities, Metro Transit’s bus stops have been long marked by a simple sign that says “Bus Stop.” Now, the transit agency is deploying additional information to bus stop sign posts, including route information and NexTrip bus-stop arrival data, Eric Roper writes in the Star Tribune. Such information is the norm for transit systems, so Metro Transit is playing catch-up. “The industry standard is at least providing the routes that serve the stop…at every stop, as a bare minimum," the transit agency’s information services coordinator tells the newspaper.