Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming announced that the state is now accepting cryptocurrency as a valid form of payment. This move allows the integration of digital currency into Louisiana’s public operations.

Louisiana is undertaking the largest broadband expansion in state history with the help of $1.355 billion in Federal funding.

As part of the state’s overall climate adaptation efforts, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has announced the launch of a statewide resilience website.

In this era of new government-wide digital transformation and legacy systems modernization, Louisiana CIO Dickie Howze is an old hand. More than half a decade ago, his Office of Technology Services (OTS) was responsible for an enterprise digital transformation plan for its citizen services.

The state of Louisiana was hit with a ransomware attack on Nov. 18, making it the second attack on the state in the last six months. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, said on Twitter, “There is no anticipated data loss and the state did not pay a ransom.”

The governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, issued an emergency declaration on July 24 in response to a series of cybersecurity breaches at local school districts. The emergency declaration enables the state government to share more resources to counter the breach.

Lafayette Parish Communication District in Louisiana is moving its 911 service to the cloud. With natural disasters in mind, the Parish has purchased a new cloud-based solution to ensure that its 911 service never goes down.

The Center for Data Innovation (CDI), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, recently released “The Best States for Data Innovation,” a new report analyzing how states are using data to innovate and offer new services. Topping the overall list were Massachusetts, Washington, and Maryland. Rounding out the bottom were Mississippi, West Virginia, and Louisiana.

An app designed to help drivers avoid traffic proved helpful during a recent deadly flood. Traffic data from Waze helped government officials and first responders in Louisiana during Baton Rouge’s flooding in August. Esri announced a partnership with Waze and local governments on Oct. 12 to encourage more states and cities to use roadway data for similar projects.

Military and overseas citizens face extra challenges when voting, and the threat of ballot hacking shouldn’t be one of them. Overseas voters have the option of emailing their ballots, which increase the likelihood that they could be hacked.