https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2020/11/20/cia-awards-intel-communitys-cloud-contract-to-several-vendors/

WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency has awarded its new multivendor cloud contract to a few companies, the spy organization confirmed Friday.

Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, IBM and Oracle all confirmed to C4ISRNET they had been awarded the CIA’s Commercial Cloud Enterprise contract, which will serve as the intelligence community’s cloud environment. NextGov, which first broke the news, reported Google as an additional winner.

The CIA declined to confirm specific vendors to C4ISRNET.

“We are excited to work with the multiple industry partners awarded the Intelligence Community (IC) Commercial Cloud Enterprise (C2E) Cloud Service Provider (CSP) contract and look forward to utilizing, alongside our IC colleagues, the expanded cloud capabilities resulting from this diversified partnership,” CIA spokesperson Chelsea Robinson said.

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https://www.courthousenews.com/pennsylvania-justices-add-pittsburgh-ballots-to-hearing-on-envelopes/

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CN) — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether roughly 2,000 mail-in ballots from the Pittsburgh area should be thrown out over missing information on the envelopes.

The case will be looped into the dispute the state high court agreed to hear Wednesday over around 8,300 Philadelphia ballots facing the same challenge. A date has not yet been set for the hearing.

Originally brought by Republican Pennsylvania Senate candidate Nicole Ziccarelli against Allegheny County, the challenge opposed the counting of 2,349 mail-in ballots that arrived by Election Day but were missing dates printed by voters on the outer envelopes.

As of Friday morning, Ziccarelli is neck-and-neck with her Democratic opponent and incumbent Jim Brewster, who has been winning more votes than her in the portion of their district in Allegheny County.

While an Allegheny County judge said the ballots with missing dates should be counted, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania reversed the holding Thursday, ruling the county elections board could not “relax or ignore” election code requirements.