Testify: Secretary of State Tom Schedler will testify before a Congressional subcommittee on Wednesday about efforts to protect voting machines across the country from cyber threats. The Department of Homeland Security announced in September that 21 state election systems were targeted by Russian hackers during the 2016 presidential election. Louisiana was not one of those states, The Secretary of State’s office has said. Schedler will speak on behalf of the National Association of Secretaries of State and highlight Louisiana’s elections best practices for protecting voting equipment from tampering. The subcommittee hearing can be viewed online.
Sign of the times: As the nation continues to reel from Sunday’s mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a Miami school is offering for purchase bullet-resistant panels designed to protect students during a school shooting, The Miami Herald reports. The panels cost $120 and can be slipped into backpacks. Florida Christian School—a nondenominational K-12 school—is making the panels available for order through its website. The school hasn’t been the scene of any gun violence, but its private security wants to be prepared just in case. Read more.
Soaring: OPEC says shale oil production will grow considerably faster than previously expected over the next four years after the group’s output cuts triggered a crude-price recovery that helped U.S. producers, Bloomberg reports. North American shale output will soar to 7.5 million barrels a day in 2021, OPEC says. That’s 56% higher than it forecast a year ago. The revised outlook illustrates OPEC’s dilemma: With supply curbs also helping its rivals, demand for the group’s crude will remain little changed until shale oil output peaks after 2025. Read more.
