America is getting older. Fast. Baby boomers -- the 76 million people born between 1946 and 1964 -- are rapidly hitting retirement age. The oldest boomers turned 65 last year, and for the next two decades, Americans will hit that age at a rate of 8,000 a day. By the time you finish reading this paragraph, another five boomers will have reached 65.

Governing's multiple-part series on aging in America continues this month with a new magazine feature (below) as well as additional stories, data and interactive content at governing.com/generations.

Government Unprepared for Boomers’ Mass Exodus
The mass exodus of baby boomers from the workforce has been a crisis in the making for years. Yet in many cases the public sector is still not prepared.

 

FEATURES

• Are Municipal Branding Campaigns Worth the Price?
• By: Ryan Holeywell
• Brand marketing promises new attention -- and money -- to cities.

• Global Warming Puts the Heat on State Climatologists
• By: Leigh Ann Renzulli
• Extreme weather events have intensified the climate change debate and made climatologists’ job more high profile and more controversial than ever before.

• The Turf War over Wall Street
• By: Kirk Victor
• States and feds have clashed for a decade over who will fight financial fraud. Could new rules force a truce?

• Medicaid Expansion & States: Will They or Won’t They?
• By: Dylan Scott
• Thanks to the Supreme Court decision on the federal health law, states have their own decision to make about whether to expand Medicaid. Right now, states can be divided into three categories.

• The Rise (and Fall) of Drones
• By: Eli Richman
• Drones could revolutionize police work. But privacy and security concerns could keep them grounded.

• Virginia's School for Deaf and Blind Gets a $71 Million Makeover
• By: Ryan Holeywell
• The state is finalizing a four-year construction project for one of the world's oldest schools for deaf and blind students.

POLITICS + POLICY

• Rural Areas Lose More Legislative Representation
• By: Alan Greenblatt
• With fewer state lawmakers representing rural districts, issues important to rural areas may go unheard.

• Milwaukee Police Website Turns Up the Cool Factor
• By: Sarah Ferris
• The department’s new website has the feeling of a first-person video game and aims to replace the media as the public’s go-to source for crime information.

• What Did the Stimulus Do for States?
• By: Alan Greenblatt
• Governing interviewed Time correspondent Michael Grunwald, who argues in his new book that the stimulus has had more influence on domestic policy than any other piece of legislation in decades.

• When Will Governments Hire Again?
• By: Alan Greenblatt
• Even where the fiscal picture has brightened, state and local officials are understandably wary about taking on new obligations.

• Santa Claus and a Civics Lesson
• By: Paul W. Taylor
• A 115-year-old editorial on the existence of Santa Claus sheds light on the future of civics in America.

• The Top 5 State-Local Issues Facing the Feds
• By: Donald F. Kettl
• In the next four years, state and local governments are going to be at the very front of domestic policy -- especially on issues like health care where the feds have gotten most of the headlines.

• FTA Gets New Safety Oversight Over Transit Agencies
• By: Ryan Holeywell

• Georgia Counties Extend Health Insurance to Pets
• By: David Levine
• Some public employees and residents now get 25 percent off all types of veterinary services.

• Chicago’s Battle of the Roofs: Green vs. White
• By: Elizabeth Daigneau
• Two public buildings competed to see which type of roof would reduce their electric bill the most. The result may surprise you.

• Seoul's Transit System Serves as a Model for America
• By: Alex Marshall
• The South Korean capital shows what happens when transit is reorganized to serve the people.

• The Great Convention Center Bailout
• By: Tod Newcombe
• With convention attendance down 40 million people from a decade earlier, why are cities pouring money into building and expanding facilities?

PROBLEM SOLVER

• Ambitious Anti-Teen Pregnancy Program Seeing Success in Milwaukee
• By: Sarah Ferris
• In 2006, Milwaukee had one of the nation’s highest teen birth rates. With more than two years to go on an ambitious goal to curb teen pregnancies, the city has already cut its rate by more than a third.

• The Problem with Preferential Bids for Women, Minorities
• By: Katherine Barrett & Richard Greene
• Giving preference to women- or minority-owned businesses is a widely acceptable social policy that can run into management problems.

• Seattle Police Use Neighborhood Twitter Accounts
• By: Brian Peteritas
• The police department has created 51 hyper-local accounts to keep residents informed about crime and police response.

• Michigan Rewards Colleges for Keeping Tuition Affordable
• By: Brian Peteritas
• Public universities that keep tuition rates down are being rewarded with extra state aid.

• Innovation In-Demand as Economy Makes a Comeback
• By: Steve Towns
• After years of belt-tightening, CIOs are being petitioned to innovate.

• The Fiscal Future That Won’t Happen
• By: Mark Funkhouser
• Arithmetic always triumphs; our unsustainable trends will stop. What matters is how.

Training Opportunities

• Accelerating Economic Growth and Vitality
• This white paper describes how developing competencies in five key area can help public safety agencies more effectively do their jobs in the face of extremely important and difficult sets of issues.
• Crime Prediction and Prevention


• FutureStructure: A New Framework