Weekly News Roundup: Mayoral Race, AI Chatbots Replace Staff, and City Barriers Criticized

A weekly news roundup from eastern Slovakia highlights several developments affecting the region. The mayoral race in a local city has been characterized as lacking excitement or compelling candidates, failing to generate significant public interest. Municipal authorities have implemented chatbot technology to replace human employees in certain customer service functions, representing a shift toward automated public services. The city has also faced criticism over the installation of barriers that residents and observers have described as poorly planned or unnecessarily restrictive, raising questions about urban planning decisions and their impact on daily life for citizens.