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**Evergy Selects Kigen’s Secure eSIM OS and eIM to Maximize Grid Reliability with Automated Failover Across Private and Public Networks**
Evergy, one of the largest investor-owned utilities in the Midwest United States serving 1.7 million customers across Kansas and Missouri, has selected Kigen, the global leader in eSIM and iSIM technology, to strengthen grid resiliency.
By adopting Kigen’s secure eSIM OS and eIM solution, Evergy is unifying private LTE and public networks into an automated connectivity layer. This creates a foundation for more reliable operations in the face of severe weather, growing energy demand, and the complexity of distributed energy resources (DERs).
Reliability is central to Evergy’s strategy, alongside affordability and sustainability. As utilities integrate distributed energy resources, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), and dynamic billing, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity becomes critical.
Severe thunderstorms, storm-related outages, and routine network upgrades can all disrupt real-time telemetry that forms the “heartbeat” of a modern grid. Without automation, managing tens of thousands of IoT devices at scale would create unacceptable risks to both service continuity and cost efficiency.
Evergy’s LTE network already spans 100 sites, supporting thousands of IoT sensors, AMI, and operational technology devices. With an expansion expected to reach tens of thousands of devices, failover between private and public networks must be seamless. Manual approaches cannot keep pace at this scale.
“As we modernize our grids, uninterrupted device data means visibility and preparation against outages from both the fast-changing energy transition and unpredictable severe weather. Taking control of our infrastructure requires network availability, and automation is the foundation on which dynamic billing and AI can build. Kigen eSIMs and the eIM, configured to Evergy’s needs, enable us to set a new benchmark in grid resiliency—what has long been the holy grail of resilient, intelligent grids,” said Bill Franzen, Evergy lead radio engineer.
Kigen’s secure eSIM OS and SGP.32-compliant eIM solution give Evergy the flexibility to manage connectivity dynamically through eSIMs provisioned with multiple operator profiles. Kigen eSIM OS for IoT and consumer devices includes configurable features such as its network rescue and recovery applet, which enables dynamic, automated failover between private LTE and preferred public networks based on business rules.
These operations are centrally managed through Kigen Pulse, allowing control at fleet scale—by geography, asset type, or site—ensuring continuity of operations, reducing lifecycle costs, and supporting broader goals of capital efficiency, safety, and sustainability.
Cybersecurity is paramount in critical infrastructure. Evergy’s deployment relies on the Kigen eIM hosted at its Dublin site, which is fully certified under the GSMA Security Accreditation Scheme for Subscription Management (SAS-SM). This site operates the Kigen eIM solution to the latest GSMA SGP.32 IoT eSIM specification, providing both assurance of compliance and the trusted foundation required for secure, grid-ready operations.
“Building in dynamic automation for scaled failover and recovery, we enable Evergy’s vision to design for improved reliability, resilience, and operational intelligence. As utilities navigate the energy transition, uninterrupted connectivity is the foundation for AI, dynamic billing, and DER integration. With Kigen’s configurable eSIM OS and SGP.32-compliant eIM, utilities can take control of their connectivity and create the intelligent grids the future demands,” said Vincent Korstanje, CEO at Kigen.
https://iotbusinessnews.com/2025/11/03/evergy-selects-kigen-to-strengthen-grid-resilience-across-private-and-public-networks/
**Details By Native News Online Staff**
**November 02, 2025**
**WASHINGTON** — In addition to articles already covered by Native News Online, here is a roundup of other recent news from Washington, D.C., impacting Indian Country.
Today marks the 33rd day of the federal government partial shutdown. This shutdown is likely to become the longest in U.S. history, potentially surpassing the previous record of 35 days, which occurred during the first Trump administration.
—
### Mother Kuskokwim Statement Condemning Donlin Gold Project’s FAST-41 Designation
The Mother Kuskokwim Tribal Coalition strongly condemns the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council’s decision to add the Donlin Gold project to the FAST-41 list. This decision overlooks widespread opposition from Alaska Natives in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
The tribal coalition emphasizes that this action is especially inappropriate as regional Tribes await federal agencies’ responses to court-identified permitting flaws and continue to recover from the devastation caused by Typhoon Halong.
Fast-tracking the permitting process threatens vital environmental protections and silences Yukon-Kuskokwim communities that depend on healthy rivers for their survival. The Donlin Gold project endangers the Kuskokwim River and the communities sustained by it for millennia.
Concerns include an increase in residents’ utility bills by up to $265 a year, the production of massive cyanide-laden tailings, and the construction of a 316-mile gas pipeline through untouched lands—further jeopardizing already struggling salmon runs and subsistence resources.
Originally, FAST-41 was intended to streamline transportation infrastructure projects—not to fast-track controversial projects that fail environmental review.
While project sponsors claim to value community input, their rush to accelerate permitting despite unresolved issues demonstrates otherwise.
—
### Medicare Enrollment is Open
Medicare Open Enrollment runs from October 15, 2025, through December 7, 2025. During this period, beneficiaries can review and update their Medicare coverage for 2026, including switching plans or updating prescription drug benefits.
—
### Additional Updates
– **Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act:** [Details forthcoming]
– **D.C. Briefs:** Recent news and developments impacting Indian Country.
– **US Presidents in Their Own Words Concerning American Indians:** Oral History Project announces its 14th stop in Portland, Oregon. The National Anthropological Botanical Society (NABS) continues gathering vital stories across Indian Country.
– **Time to Fall Back:** Remember to turn clocks back for the Sunday time change.
Stay tuned for further updates.
https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/native-news-weekly-november-2-2025-d-c-briefs
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the country’s central bank, has unveiled a three-year roadmap to explore and test asset tokenization across the financial sector. The initiative aims to drive innovation and modernization through blockchain-based digital assets, enhancing efficiency and accessibility in financial services.
As part of the roadmap, BNM will launch proof-of-concept (POC) projects and live pilots via its Digital Asset Innovation Hub (DAIH), established earlier this year. The central bank announced this development on Friday, emphasizing its commitment to advancing digital asset technologies.
A key component of the roadmap is the creation of an Asset Tokenization Industry Working Group (IWG). This group will coordinate industry-wide exploration, facilitate knowledge sharing, and identify regulatory and legal challenges surrounding asset tokenization. Co-led by BNM and the Securities Commission (SC), the IWG will initially focus on foundational use cases that demonstrate clear economic value.
### Focus on Real-World Asset Tokenization
BNM clarified that the tokenization efforts will concentrate on real-world assets rather than cryptocurrencies. Highlighted use cases include:
– **Supply chain financing** to expand credit access for small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
– **Tokenized liquidity management** for faster settlement processes
– **Islamic finance applications** to automate Shariah-compliant transactions
Additional areas of interest encompass programmable payments, green finance initiatives, and 24/7 cross-border trade settlements.
### Exploring MYR-Denominated Tokenized Deposits and Stablecoins
The central bank also plans to study the role of Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)-denominated tokenized deposits and stablecoins. This exploration aims to preserve the “singleness of money” while enabling more efficient digital settlement mechanisms. Furthermore, the integration of wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) will be examined as part of the broader digital asset strategy.
### Regional Collaboration and Industry Feedback
Malaysia seeks to align with other leading Asian regulators such as Singapore’s Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Hong Kong’s Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) by piloting asset tokenization projects to modernize financial infrastructure across the region.
Industry stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on the discussion paper until March 1, 2026, enabling collaborative development of the regulatory and operational framework.
—
### Malaysia’s Regulator Proposes Faster Crypto Listings
In a related development, Malaysia’s Securities Commission (SC) proposed a new framework in July aimed at accelerating cryptocurrency listings on approved exchanges. Under the proposal, exchanges would be permitted to list certain digital assets without requiring prior approval from the regulator.
However, listed assets must meet specific conditions, including undergoing public security audits and having been traded for at least one year on platforms compliant with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards. This move seeks to balance market innovation with investor protection and regulatory oversight.
—
**Related:**
– Malaysia launches Digital Asset Hub to test stablecoin and programmable money
– Tokenized money market funds emerge as Wall Street’s answer to stablecoins
Bank Negara Malaysia’s roadmap signals a significant step toward embracing digital innovation in the financial sector, positioning Malaysia as a key player in the evolving landscape of tokenized assets.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/malaysia-central-bank-roadmap-pilot-asset-tokenization?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound
On the eve of federal SNAP benefits being deposited into recipients’ accounts, Louisiana is taking additional steps to support its residents.
The state is stepping in to fill the gap for the 1 in 5 Louisiana residents who rely on the program. However, this extra assistance will only be available to certain individuals within that group.
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/31/nx-s1-5592911/louisiana-set-aside-funds-to-bridge-the-snap-gap-but-not-everyone-will-get-some
I have lived over half of my life in Maine, and I consider myself lucky. I have always been employed and had health insurance through my employers. Because of this, I have never had to worry about paying for the health care my family needs. We have never experienced food insecurity or had to choose which bills to pay to make our budget work.
Unfortunately, we are the exception—and it’s about to get worse.
Recently, the Maine Bureau of Insurance approved a 23.9% rate increase for 71,000 Maine residents who get their coverage through the ACA marketplace. Additionally, there is a 17.5% increase for residents covered by small employers with fewer than 50 employees. These rate hikes are driven by multiple factors, including the rising cost of drugs and medical services, as well as the potential loss of premium tax credits at the end of the year.
I can’t turn away from the fact that many families may now have to choose whether to keep their insurance or not. They may have to decide if they can make do with less coverage—or none at all—and hope they don’t experience significant health issues.
This situation makes me wonder: will mothers still get the prenatal care they need? Will children see their primary care providers regularly to avoid long-term health problems?
And those are just my concerns for the coming year. What happens if we experience more rate increases and uninsured patients begin using the emergency room as their primary care?
Who pays for that, and how?
Can we really afford to let this happen in Maine—and across the country?
https://www.centralmaine.com/2025/10/31/distressed-by-maine-health-insurance-rate-hike-letter/
In nominating Maine native Joshua Dunlap for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Senator Susan Collins has made an outstanding choice.
As Josh’s former law partner, I know first-hand of his superb qualifications: his intelligence, thoughtfulness, humility, and love of the law and the Constitution are exceptional. He will work vigorously for the impartial dispensation of equal justice under the rule of law.
In better times, Josh would receive near-unanimous confirmation. However, in today’s hyper-partisan climate, judicial appointments are sadly exploited for more political skirmishing.
Thankfully, we don’t do it that way in Maine. As former Governor Angus King knows first-hand, qualified judicial nominees routinely receive bipartisan support, and Maine’s judiciary is the envy of many states where partisanship infects judicial selections.
Senator King should join Senator Collins in supporting Josh’s nomination. Washington sorely needs another lesson in why Maine is “the way life should be.”
https://www.sunjournal.com/2025/10/31/joshua-dunlap-deserves-confirmation-to-us-court-of-appeals-letter/
The latest University of New Hampshire Green Mountain State Poll results, released on Friday, indicate that the majority of Vermonters approve of Governor Phil Scott’s performance in office and want him to run for reelection next year.
The October poll outlined political positioning leading up to next year’s statewide elections, according to Professor Andrew Smith, an author of the poll and director of UNH’s Survey Center. It draws on 880 survey responses collected last week, which are weighted according to demographic information from U.S. Census data and recent election results, Smith said.
The governor has remained relatively popular with Democrats and “mitigated some of the anger” from those farther to his right since the presidential election, Smith noted. “He’s in a pretty good spot for reelection.”
Over 60% of Vermonters approved of Scott’s work as governor, with 57% to some extent in favor of him running for reelection. Slightly less than half believed he actually deserved to be reelected, the survey said.
Scott’s consistently high standing in polling is particularly noteworthy given the state’s strong blue leanings in other areas of politics, Smith added.
The survey found that 80% of Democrats and over half of all Vermonters describe Scott as far or slightly to the right of their own views. Yet, in a question that allowed poll-takers to say they wanted multiple potential candidates to run, Scott registered only slightly lower support—47% among Democrats—compared to the 50% garnered by liberal State Treasurer and rumored gubernatorial hopeful Mike Pieciak. An even lower 38% of Democrats said they wanted State Attorney General Charity Clark, another possible challenger for governor, to run.
However, Scott’s potential Democratic opponents also registered high rates of “don’t know/no opinion” responses to this query. “The major reason for Vermonters’ ambivalence about Pieciak and Clark is they are largely unknown,” the survey authors observed.
For more than 70% of Republicans, Scott sat far or slightly to their left. Just 20% of all Vermonters thought that Scott’s politics are “close to (their) own views,” the survey estimated.
U.S. Representative Becca Balint (D-Vt.) continued to demonstrate strong appeal among the state’s Democrats, with just over half the state saying she deserves reelection, according to the survey. Mark Coester, a Republican who ran against Balint in 2024, has filed to challenge her again next year. Just 6% of Vermonters had a favorable opinion of Coester, and more than three-quarters didn’t know enough about him to say, the survey found.
The survey also included several questions about current state policy decisions, “taking a look at what issues are in the news, what people are paying attention to,” Smith said.
One such question focused on the Scott administration’s much-discussed return-to-office plan for state employees, which has drawn pushback from the Vermont State Employees Association, among others. Overall, 51% of Vermonters supported the policy to some extent, with 13% remaining neutral.
However, public opinion on the governor’s policy ran heavily along party lines: 80% of Republicans and 64% of Independents strongly or somewhat supported the measure, compared with just a third of Democrats.
The governor’s refusal to send Vermont National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. at the request of President Donald Trump was met with relative popularity across the state, Friday’s poll said. The move was opposed to some degree by 70% of Republicans, but affirmed by 98% of Democrats. Combining all responses, 72% of Vermonters approved of the decision.
Theo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.org. This story was republished with permission from VTDigger, which offers its reporting at no cost to local news organizations through its Community News Sharing Project. To learn more, visit vtdigger.org/community-news-sharing-project.
https://vnews.com/2025/10/29/vermonters-approve-scott-reelection/
**Florida Democrats Urge Gov. DeSantis to Declare State of Emergency Amid Looming Food Assistance Crisis**
Florida Democrats in the Legislature are imploring Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency and allocate state funds to purchase food for distribution to food pantries. This urgent request comes as nearly 3 million Floridians face losing access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) due to an ongoing federal government shutdown.
Led by Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman (D-Boynton Beach) and House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell (D-Tampa), legislative Democrats sent a letter to Gov. DeSantis on Tuesday. They urged him to use his emergency powers to ensure that millions of Floridians who rely on SNAP do not go hungry when their benefits expire this Saturday.
The letter also requests that DeSantis direct the Department of Children and Families—the agency responsible for administering SNAP—to coordinate with local food banks and community partners to distribute food immediately.
> “For families already struggling under record food and housing costs, the loss of this critical support would be catastrophic,” the letter states.
> “Local food banks and pantries have already reported overwhelming demand and depleted supplies. We are days away from a full-blown hunger emergency that will leave families without food during the holiday season. The state cannot stand by.”
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried echoed the urgency in a separate statement:
> “This moment is bigger than politics. This is about showing up for our fellow Americans and keeping Floridians safe and fed.”
### The Scope of SNAP in Florida
SNAP provides essential nutritional support for low-income seniors, people with disabilities living on fixed incomes, and other individuals and families facing food insecurity. Florida ranks fourth nationwide in SNAP enrollment, with nearly 2.94 million residents relying on the assistance—behind California, Texas, and New York.
Nationwide, approximately 41.7 million people depend on SNAP benefits, according to August 2025 data.
### Federal Shutdown and SNAP Funding Stalemate
The DeSantis administration recently posted a notice warning that SNAP benefits are about to expire, following an announcement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). On Friday, the USDA reported it would not tap into $6 billion in contingency funds to maintain benefits during the government shutdown.
It would take roughly $9 billion to cover SNAP costs through November. However, a federal memo—initially reported by Axios—claims that contingency funds cannot be used to sustain the program during the shutdown. The memo states:
> “Contingency funds are only available to supplement regular monthly benefits when amounts have been appropriated for, but are insufficient to cover, benefits. The contingency fund is not available to support FY 2026 regular benefits, because the appropriation for regular benefits no longer exists.”
This partisan impasse has resulted in a 28-day government shutdown, which began on October 1, the start of the federal fiscal year.
### Florida Democrats Demand State Action
In their letter, Florida Democrats emphasized SNAP’s critical role:
> “SNAP is one of the most effective programs for addressing hunger and food insecurity in the state. Especially after the recent cuts stemming from President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, Floridians cannot afford another day without action by the state. Florida has the fiscal strength to respond. What’s needed now is the moral will to act. No parent should have to choose between paying rent and feeding their kids. No child should go hungry because politicians in Washington can’t agree. We urge you to act immediately.”
Senate Leader Lori Berman called the governor’s inaction “heartless”:
> “Florida has $5 billion in its ‘rainy day’ fund that DeSantis could use to avert the food cliff low-income families face. The sudden loss of those benefits would be an economic and humanitarian nightmare. With the stroke of a pen, the Governor can keep food on peoples’ tables. He has a responsibility to the people of this state to put partisanship aside and lead. Refusing to act would be truly heartless.”
House Leader Fentrice Driskell also criticized the governor:
> “He brags about ‘maxing out’ the amount of savings in the state’s ‘rainy day’ fund. If millions of hungry Floridians isn’t an economic storm, I don’t know what is. This is a crisis but an entirely solvable one. We can make sure Floridians do not go hungry. It costs a little more than $6 a day to feed someone. Isn’t every Floridian worth that?”
### Additional Recommendations
The letter further asks Gov. DeSantis to instruct the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to implement universal school meals programs for the duration of the declared emergency.
As of now, the governor’s office has not responded to requests for comment from Florida Phoenix.
—
*Reported by Christine Sexton, Florida Phoenix*
https://flaglerlive.com/democratic-lawmakers-urge/
More than a quarter-million New Yorkers have already cast ballots in the 2025 NYC mayoral general election. According to an amNewYork analysis of unofficial early voting data, most of these voters appear to be Democrats and/or older individuals.
This trend could be good news for former Governor Andrew Cuomo. At 67 years old, Cuomo is a registered Democrat who is now running an independent campaign. He has consistently led among older voters in recent polls.
Meanwhile, the frontrunner in the race, Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, holds the Democratic party nomination. The 34-year-old candidate has garnered strong support from younger voters in those same surveys.
https://politicsny.com/2025/10/28/early-voting-whos-been-participating-in-the-nyc-mayors-race-so-far-data-shows-some-surprising-trends/
