"Contempory" is a big word. You'll need to narrow it down a little and decide what you personally find interesting. If you were to compile a laundry list of things that interest you, you'll be pointed in the right direction and will know where to look for inspritation. For instance, do you want to write gritty realism or a light or humorous story? Do you want to use your history background at all? Are you interested in city or state government problems? Pure character development? Everyday people or the rich and powerful?
Of course, there's no need to drop the technical aspects of sci-fi. Given how technology pervades modern life, you can work up a plot including household robots like vacuum cleaners, self-driving cars etc. The great thing about short stories is they only need one idea.
And last but not least, reading stories that were contemporary at their time of writing may also help. That is, pick up an anthology assembled a few decades ago and you may get ideas for how to set some of those stories in today's world.