Quick Hits

*** The Washington Post reported that federal employee unions are unhappy with a plan to establish a new innovation and research agency at the Department of Transportation as part of the new infrastructure bill. The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Infrastructure (ARPA-I), modeled on similar operations at the Department of Defense and in the Intelligence Community, would not be covered by traditional civil service rules.

*** House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told lawmakers on Friday that because of the continuing public health emergency from coronavirus, remote voting will continue to be permitted until Oct. 1, 2021.

*** The rapid adoption of smart-city technology risks encroaching on residents' civil liberties, according to a report from Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs’ Technology and Public Purpose Project. Get more on this story from GCN.