Latest news with #EDD
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Japanese delegation hosted by Air Force Global Strike Command on Barksdale
BOSSIER CITY, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Air Force Global Strike Command on Barksdale hosted a delegation from Japan last week strengthening international security ties. According to Air Force Global Strike Command Public Affairs, the gathering is called Extended Deterrence Dialogue (EDD) and it happened on June 5-6. The EDD brought together defense and foreign affairs officials from both nations. Global Strike Public Affairs says the U.S. side was represented by officials from the State Department and the Department of Defense, while the Japanese side was comprised of officials from the Japanese Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, and the Japanese Embassy in Washington. General Thomas Bussiere, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, assisted in showing the delegation AFGSC training facilities and engaged in bilateral discussion. Global Strike Command Public Affairs says these talks have taken place at key sites within the U.S. nuclear triad since 2022. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hindustan Times
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Why JAM needs re-coding for robust social protection
In her book Recoding America, Jennifer Pahlka recounts her experience co-leading the Employment Development Department (EDD) task force in California during Covid-19. Covid relief was delayed by weeks due to a backlog stemming from outdated technology and rigid rules. For example, minor name mismatches could trigger a manual review, significantly delaying relief payments. We are often surprised when we first read about such systemic failures in a technologically advanced nation. But this is a global problem, a combination of technological choices, government contracting modalities, and rigid administrative processes. At a very different point in our technological journey within government, we face similar challenges in India, as a recent piece about India's first Aadhaar recipient highlights; Ranjana Sonwane received her monthly entitlements only in April, after a wait of nine months, because of an error linking her bank account to her Aadhaar. We are fortunately at an earlier starting point regarding technology in the Indian State; many of these systems for enhancing frontline welfare delivery are yet to realise their full effectiveness. At the same time, full-stack solutions are already emerging and have even matured across many states in India. The struggles of even a single citizen should motivate us to envision a more robust social protection system, especially given the maturity of supporting digital public infrastructure, such as the linkages between Jan Dhan bank accounts through Aadhaar and UPI protocols on mobile devices (JAM trinity). It is helpful to start with the fundamentals. Why do eligible citizens sometimes get excluded from receiving their rightful entitlements? As Pahlka shows us, technology is only part of the problem. Instead, a core challenge lies in how technology is designed and deployed to identify eligibility. If we begin with the assumptions that most citizens are likely to cheat to receive entitlements they do not deserve, we end up building extremely rigid processes and benchmarks that raise the administrative burden on citizens in terms of documentation, proof, and visits to government offices, that eventually only impacts the poor, educationally and technologically unprepared citizen. As a policy implementation organisation, through our work at Indus Action, we have found that it takes nearly 10 high-touch transactions, including more than three visits to government offices, to secure access to entitlements like scholarships, pensions and maternity benefits. Solving this problem requires combining new technological solutions and reframing the core problem. Let's reframe first, and adapt our strategy to one where we are comfortable living with a small degree of inclusion errors. Some undeserving citizens might get access to entitlements, but lowering the bar for inclusion will help lakhs of marginalised citizens. Technology allows us to check these inclusion errors if we think innovatively. From over a decade of work with governments across India, we have learnt that there are three key challenges in welfare delivery that new systems and technology can solve. The first is discovery: How can governments discover the eligible citizen instead of the other way around? Second, documentation: How can the government design rules and leverage existing data to validate eligibility for low exclusion/inclusion errors? And third, delivery: How can governments fast-track applications upon eligibility check and redress grievances to ensure on-time and quality delivery of entitlements? Luckily, we have enough bright spots from within India for these three significant challenges. Regarding discovery, states now have better quality information to discover vulnerable citizens. States can estimate spatial and household-level vulnerability through family ID linkage across department databases and auto-validate eligible citizens into relevant schemes. For example, states such as Punjab, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir are providing validation tokens to workers who have finished 50 plus days of MGNREGA building and other construction jobs, making them automatically eligible for construction workers' entitlements administered by the labour department. On the burden of documentation, apart from leveraging validations of other departments (for example, birth/death registries; school-going age/grade), the rules governing eligibility can be reviewed to move towards exclusion-based targeting or targeting vulnerable households instead of individuals. For instance, all informal workers can be broadly divided into three archetypes: Farmers, construction workers and other e-Shram registered informal workers like domestic workers and gig workers. Once the family ID is linked to the key occupational information (like KAALIA ID for farmers in Odisha or shramik ID with labour departments), eligibility matching can provide a report of schemes that could be compounded to the family during crucial life-cycle moments. Finally, on the burden of delivery, we need look no further than passport seva and other government to citizen (G2C) services that have been transformed with commitments to operational excellence metrics like TATs (turnaround times) and SLAs (service level agreements). The RTPS framework and Bihar model provide the ambition for delivering grievance redress services for major G2C entitlements in all states. With the latest developments in Gen AI, it is possible to reach India's digitally unprepared citizens through voice in their Indic language, eliminating text barriers. Whether we hear about one citizen not receiving access, or view this as a systemic failure, we have a critical opportunity for learning to iterate better delivery systems and move towards universal access. We have experienced Covid-19 and find ourselves today increasingly unsettled by climate-related shocks. The next time a public health or climate emergency occurs anywhere across India, we can, through our DPI infrastructure for states, immediately release social protection grants to an auto-validated and eligible set of vulnerable citizens. This future is almost here if we act on every error to iterate on our delivery systems. Tarun Cherukuri and Rahul Karnamadakala Sharma are with Indus Action, a policy implementation organization. The views expressed are personal.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New Mexico plans $25 million investment in quantum venture studio
May 29—The Economic Development Department this week announced it's fronting $25 million to boost quantum technology development. It's part of a broader effort by the state to support tech industries and brand New Mexico as a quantum hotspot, which the state is also advancing through its participation with the regional Elevate Quantum consortium and designation as a federal Quantum Tech Hub. "This is a significant investment from the state into creating a quantum technology industry in New Mexico," said Nora Meyers Sackett, director of EDD's Office of Strategy, Science and Technology. The office is responsible for the request for proposals process and managing the resulting contract. The RFP specifically seeks proposals that merge physical infrastructure with program and financial support mechanisms to stimulate startup formation in the state. EDD is offering $12.5 million for the development of a physical space for a quantum venture studio and another $12.5 million for operations. It's a good starting point for New Mexico's quantum ecosystem, said Ivan Deutsch, director of the Quantum New Mexico Institute, a joint entity between the University of New Mexico and Sandia National Laboratories. "There's a lot of hopes and expectations, and quantum is really on a very steep rise at the moment," Deutsch said. He said public-private partnerships and pressure on a global level for the U.S. to stay competitive with China in the quantum industry presents "a real opportunity here to make a difference." "What we all would like to see is a growing and accelerating tech economy here in New Mexico in quantum," he said. "And what we hope to be able to do is to attract companies to New Mexico." The deadline for proposals is June 24. More information on how to submit proposals can be found online at
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
State certifies ABQ space nonprofit as business incubator
Apr. 29—NewSpace Nexus, a New Mexico nonprofit focused on advancing space innovation, is the state's newest certified business incubator. The company joins eight other certified business incubators, which help grow startups, recognized by the New Mexico Economic Development Department. The recognition of NewSpace comes as startups focused on space have grown in recent years and as some in the aerospace sector have branded the Rio Grande corridor — from southern New Mexico to southern Colorado — "space valley." Aerospace is one of New Mexico's nine target industries. "As a springboard for aerospace businesses, NewSpace Nexus is a prime example of how our state supports this target industry," EDD Secretary Rob Black said in a Monday news release. An incubator helps accelerate the development of startup companies with targeted resources and services, according to EDD. NewSpace's incubator program, called NewSpace Ignitor, offers small- and medium-sized space companies resources like strategic planning, shared facilities and equipment, and investor showcasing opportunities. The company's physical space, The Launchpad at 2420 Alamo SE in Albuquerque, is an 8,000-square-foot facility with more than 70 pieces of equipment, including a carbon 3D printer and a thermal vacuum chamber. NewSpace also received a $100,000 grant with the state certification, which requires an annual renewal. Nearly 30 space companies have gone through the program, and another 22 companies are currently participating, according to NewSpace's website. EDD reports the supported startups have generated more than $50 million through customer contracts and venture capital investment. Every 50 jobs created by a startup generates about 25 more local jobs, according to the International Business Innovation Association. About a third of NewSpace's companies are interested in setting up shop in New Mexico, according to EDD. NewSpace Nexus CEO Casey Anglada DeRaad thanked the state for believing in her company and supporting its "many programs that will make a positive impact in growing the space industry for New Mexico, our region and our nation."
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Blue Shield, Kaiser announce dozens of layoffs statewide
(KRON) — Two East Bay-based health care giants will be laying off dozens of employees across the state, according to filings with the Employment Development Department. Blue Shield of California will be laying off 113 workers statewide, according to a WARN notice. Notice of the Blue Shield layoffs was given on Monday and Tuesday with the job cuts set to take effect on May 1. In the Bay Area, 24 employees at Blue Shield's headquarters on 12th Street in Oakland will be impacted. California overtakes Japan to become world's 4th largest economy: Newsom Other counties across the state that will be impacted by the layoffs include: El Dorado County: 35 employees Los Angeles County: 26 employees Sacramento County: 13 employees San Diego County: 5 employees San Joaquin County: 7 employees Shasta County: 3 employees The layoffs at Blue Shield come on the heels of the announcement of a major data breach that resulted in millions of members having their private health information leaked to Google and used to target them with online ads. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals also announced layoffs this week. According to EDD filings, the health care provider will be cutting 40 jobs across the state. Fourteen of those jobs will be at Kaiser's Oakland headquarters at 1 Kaiser Plaza. Two other Bay Area employees — one at Kaiser's Franklin Street facility in Oakland, and another in Pleasanton, will also be impacted. Another two workers at Kaiser's Sereno Drive location in Vallejo will also lose their jobs. The other 23 Kaiser layoffs will impact workers across Los Angeles County. Kaiser filed notice for the layoffs on Monday, and they were effective immediately, according to the EDD filing. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
