(TNS) - They are the people who roll out of bed at 3 a.m. when you smell smoke. They show up when you crash your car. They also come when you suspect a burglar.
They're the first responders.

First responders have become so important that the state Senate unanimously adopted a resolution designating Jan. 1 through 8, 2016, as "First Responder Appreciation Week" in Pennsylvania.

A Virginia Tech graduate student’s mobile app is offering the potential to improve driver safety and save time, and had its first major test along congested portions of Interstate 66.

As part of a Connected Vehicle-Infrastructure University Transportation Center project, Kayla Sykes – a master’s-degree candidate in the College of Engineering – worked with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute’s Center for Technology Development to develop and test the app, which informs participants of speed limits, HOV-lane information, lane availability and traffic data.

(TNS) - On a late October day, Fairfield police, firefighters, and members of the local branch of American Medical Response ran a drill at the Fairfield Public Schools, testing everyone on how they’d respond if there was a shooting at one of the schools.

“The call started out as a benign dumpster fire, then it turned out that was just a distraction, and it was actually an active shooter,” Bill Schietinger, general manager of AMR Fairfield County operations, said of the drill.

The National Guard Bureau will deploy 13 new cyber protection teams composed of about 500 soldiers across the nation to help protect the network infrastructure, the military arm announced Dec. 9.

WASHINGTON - There was a happy reunion and a word of thanks at Reagan National Airport on Monday.

Last month, a family in Alexandria, Virginia had to escape their home after a fire broke out. But it wasn't only the fire that was unexpected. It was the person who led the escape to safety from the blaze.

Gabby Mushahwar is like most 5-year-olds, except Gabby is sort of a hero.

The changes come after a spate of mass shootings
In the wake of mass shootings in both Paris and San Bernardino, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced Monday that the government will change the national terror alert system in response to increasingly complex information about threats.

Could 2016 be the year officials in Virginia and Maryland make forward progress on a new Potomac River crossing west of the American Legion Bridge?

Members of the Commonwealth Transportation Board certainly hope so.

The body – which oversees Virginia’s transportation and transit efforts – voted unanimously Dec. 9 on a resolution seeking forward momentum on planning for a new span to take pressure off the American Legion Bridge, which is expected to see large growth in vehicle counts through 2040.

Law enforcement officers need the latest tools to be effective at ensuring the public’s safety. For the past 20 years, IBM i2 COPLINK has provided advanced lead generation capabilities to field officers.

COPLINK is a software program used by law enforcement to aggregate various disparate data systems, including criminal and incident reports, field interviews, arrest records, and booking photos, and make these records available to officers in the field.

To learn more, click here.