It’s getting really hot. How can state and local governments mitigate the negative effects?

Extreme heat is becoming one of the fastest-growing challenges facing state and local governments across the country, an issue that affects far more than public health. Rising temperatures threaten infrastructure, electric grid reliability, worker productivity, agriculture, emergency management and government budgets. Grace Wickerson, a senior manager of climate and health with the Federation of American Scientists, and the co-author of a recent report outlining best practices for governments seeking to mitigate extreme heat, said the publication sought to fill a void discovered in recent years. “What should be all the tactics and strategies that governments should employ to address extreme heat?” she said. “What are the evidence-based practices? How can we actually prevent all those real negative impacts?”

Top stories this week:

John Cohen, executive director of the office of strategic programs and initiatives at the Center for Internet Security, said it’s a sign of the times that considerations of digital intrusion were this year put on equal footing with more traditional, physical threats during planning for the FIFA World Cup. In an interview, Cohen said: “The threat environment has changed.”

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has told several state broadband offices that satellite internet projects approved for federal grant funding must be reviewed. Approval of the BEAD funds will be revoked, the agency said, if states can’t refute new FCC data showing the locations are no longer eligible.

At least one municipal government was among those to see their internet service disrupted after a cyberattack against a Maine telecommunications firm Sunday caused an outage affecting 23 towns along the state’s midcoastal region.

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