Analytics helping transportation officials get the job done in tight financial times

Melissa Savage
Melissa Savage|February 9, 2012

The American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials recently released a top 10 list of transportation issues that will be “talked, written or tweeted and legislated about” in 2012.   As expected, funding constraints and Congressional action on reauthorization appear on the list but the group also notes that natural disaster [...]

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2011: The more things change...

Paula Henderson
Paula Henderson|December 21, 2011

2011 saw incredible change in the states as more than half of the governorships changed hands. As expected, that caused significant turnover at the State CIO level, as well. So while executive and technology policies changed in many ways, the dismal budget situation reinforced the need to allocate tax pay [...]

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Intelligent roads will reduce traffic, save money

Melissa Savage
Melissa Savage|November 17, 2011

When I moved last year from Denver to the Washington, DC area people told me to prepare myself for the long hours I would spend in my car. I had no idea.  It takes forever to get anywhere.  Once, during a snowstorm it took me 9 hours to drive 10 [...]

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Thoughts on software procurement from a former state controller

Robert Powell
Robert Powell|September 27, 2011

Private sector vendors/suppliers seeking to conduct business with government often find frustration with the maze of policy and legislative hurdles encountered during the procurement process.  As difficult as the experience may have been from the private sector perspective, take a moment to look at the other side of the procurement [...]

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In law enforcement, it's all about context

Vincent Talucci
Vincent Talucci|September 7, 2011

‘Context’ defined (as cited from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary):  1: the parts of a discourse that surround a word or passage and can throw light on its meaning; and, 2: the interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs: environment, setting. While context is clearly important, today it is consistently [...]

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Irene recovery is opportunity for economic growth

Chuck Ellstrom
Chuck Ellstrom|September 1, 2011

Hurricane Irene impacted 20% of the US population and will cost billions in recovery dollars. Now that the water has begun to subside, the real long term work begins.  And it is this work that can be another disaster, or, a real economic benefit to a state.  How so?  FEMA [...]

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Back to basics of state budgets

Robert Powell
Robert Powell|August 24, 2011

The recent budget debate between President Obama and Congress reminded me of many of the discussions I observed during my years as State Controller and Deputy State Budget Officer in North Carolina.  These discussions are related specifically to principles adhered to in budget development and budget deliberations by elected officials.  [...]

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The police police

Vincent Talucci
Vincent Talucci|June 8, 2011

Policing has profoundly changed over the last several decades and its evolution will continue as long as there are crimes to commit and communities to serve. The very nature of policing is dynamic – it always has been and always will be. Those dynamics are driven by many things – [...]

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Artistry and Creativity in STEM

Nadja Young
Nadja Young|May 20, 2011

As I write my first blog entry for SAS State and Local Government, I thought it would be prudent to provide a little personal background. I grew up in a family of artists- with 5 musicians, 2 painters, 1 sculptor, 1 dancer, and 1 composer. I studied business, became a [...]

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Practicalities of Analytics

Paula Henderson
Paula Henderson|April 20, 2011

This is a guest post from Jodi Blomberg, a Principal Technical Architect at SAS. She has over 12 years of experience in data mining and mathematical modeling, and has developed analytic models for many government agencies including child support enforcement, insurance fraud, intelligence led policing, supply chain logistics and adverse [...]

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