• Rhode Island bill would require gun owners to register their weapons

    A proposed bill in Rhode Island would require gun owners to register their weapons with local or state police, and would also allow police to file copies of applications for gun purchases sent to them for background checks.

  • Water security experts at U Arizona annual conference

    How can Arizona secure a safe, sustainable water supply for its current and future residents? The University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center will take on this complex issue at its annual conference on 5 March.

  • DHS awards contract for utility plant at the Kansas biolab

    DHS has awarded a $40 million contract to build a utility plant at a $1.15 billion animal research lab in Kansas. The 87,000 square foot facility will replace an animal research lab on Plum Island in New York and will be used to research deadly animal diseases that affect livestock.

  • Radioactive leaks at Washington’s Hanford nuclear reservation

    Earlier this month, Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced that a radioactive waste tank at one of the nation’s most contaminated nuclear sites is leaking, bringing more bad news to Washington’s Hanford nuclear reservation. The 177 tanks at the plant, which hold millions of gallons of highly radioactive waste from plutonium production, are way past their intended 20-year life span.

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  • Tennessee considers ways to raise money for homeland security

    A 2011 bill gave the Tennessee government the ability to revoke the license of anyone in the state who did not pay criminal fines and court costs. Lawmakers originally hoped the law would bring millions of dollars in reinstatement fees, money which would be directed to the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security. Only nine counties are complying with the law by notifying the state of violators, and so far the state had collected just $22,425.

  • Georgia wants to redraw its northern border to tap Tennessee River water

    Lawmakers in Georgia are renewing efforts to claim Georgia’s right to tap into the Tennessee River’s  water supply. The lawmakers hope to achieve this by raising questions about the exact demarcation of the border between the two states.

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  • Ohio country authorized to use drones to look for missing persons

    The Medina County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Office has recently been authorized to fly drones on police missions. Tom Miller, the county’s new sheriff, said the drones will be used specifically for looking for missing people or suspect who may be hiding in the woods.

  • Alabama consolidates state law enforcement, IT agencies

    A Republican-led effort to consolidate government operations in Alabama was met with a bi-partisan approval as both Democrats and Republicans voted to merge law enforcement and information technology operations. A study done by Auburn University at Montgomery estimates state agencies spend $317 million a year on IT operations, and that with the new measures, the state could save between $32 million and $64 million.

  • Maryland drills first responders in response to “large-scale” incident

    More than 100 police, fire, first responders, military and civilian personnel took part in a homeland security exercise earlier this month at Battelle in Aberdeen, Maryland. The exercise included intelligence and information sharing, mass casualty care, on-site security and protection, operational coordination, and public information and communication.

  • Seattle mayor says no to drones

    Seattle mayor Mike McGinn has shut down the Seattle Police Department’s drone program before it started. McGinn said the police need to stay focused on “community building.” The announcement came just one day after the city held a public hearing to discuss restrictions to be imposed on drone use by the police departments. Many citizens voiced their concerns about possible violations of privacy.

  • Cleanup starts after Mississippi tornado, storms

    Emergency officials in Mississippi spent Monday dealing with the damage after a number of storms and a tornado ripped through the southern section of the state, injuring at least sixty people. No deaths were reported.

  • Idaho debating nuclear waste storage

    For two decades, the Yucca mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada was viewed as a long-term solution to the growing problem of radioactive waste generated by the 104 active nuclear power generation plants in the United States. One of the Obama administration’s first acts was to “defund” the project, in effect outing an end to it. States such as Texas, New Mexico, and North Carolina have fashioned their own interim solution to the problem of nuclear waste storage, and the governor of Idaho wants his state to follow these states’ example.

  • Florida restricts the use of drones by law enforcement agencies

    States continue to restrict the use of drones by law enforcement agencies. Florida police agencies wanted state lawmakers to make a special exception in a bill which bans the use of UAVs by law enforcement, so that drones could be used for crowd control. The bill, however, won the approval of the Senate Community Affairs Committee without the exception.

  • Iowa implements Real ID act, but other states hold firm in opposition

    Last month Iowa joined other states in implementing the REAL ID Act, which Congress passed in 2005 in an effort to combat terrorism in the aftermath of 9/11. The intense debate over the act continues, though: twenty-five states have passed resolutions rejecting REAL ID, with fifteen of them going as far as to make it illegal to comply with the act.

  • Bangladeshi man pleads guilty to trying to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank building

    A Bangladeshi man who triedattempted to use a weapon of mass destruction to blow up the New York Federal Reserve Bank has pleaded guilty to the charges. Under the plea agreement, he will faces up to life in prison.