FEATURES

• The Value of Movie Tax Incentives
• By: Zach Patton
• States spend billions on incentives to lure film productions away from Hollywood. Some say it's gone too far.

• Build America Bonds Make a Mark
• By: John E. Petersen
• The new Build America Bonds are having an outsized impact on the way states and localities raise money to build and fix infrastructure.

• The Rise of Attorneys General
• By: Josh Goodman
• With a Democrat in the White House, conservative state attorneys general are mobilizing against federal power.

• Is IT Outsourcing Still In?
• By: Chad Vander Veen
• High-profile problems and emerging technologies are changing attitudes about the would-be savior of enterprise IT.

• A Medicaid Fraud-Stopping Mold
• By: John Buntin
• Five years ago, New York state was burned by revelations of pervasive Medicaid fraud. Now the Empire State is showing other states how scams can be stopped.

DEPARTMENTS

• Revolving Around the Sun
• By: Paul W. Taylor
• A new model of how transparency works changes the view of open government.

POLITICS + POLICY

• Leading the Census-Participation Pack
• By: Josh Goodman
• Livonia, Mich., had the highest census participation rate not because of what it did – but because of what it is.

• Sacramento's Net Gain?
• By: Josh Goodman
• Ex NBA-player Mayor Kevin Johnson has an unorthodox plan to build a new basketball arena.

• Immigration Fizzle
• By: Josh Goodman
• Arizona's new immigration law seems potent right now, but will it fizzle like Georgia's?

• Voting the Straight-Ticket Sweep
• By: Josh Goodman
• Will Republicans win big in states that make voting a straight ticket easy?

• What Really Matters in Health-Care Reform
• By: Donald F. Kettl
• Health-care politics continues to grab headlines, but what's important lies elsewhere.

• Paying for Lost Time
• By: Tina Trenkner
• What is the responsibility of states to innocent people wrongly convicted of a crime?

• Fixing the Doctor Deficit
• By: Jessica B. Mulholland
• Improving efficiencies can help, but cutbacks at state medical schools don't.

• Southern Inefficiency
• By: Elizabeth Daigneau
• With its growing population, the South must determine how to reduce energy consumption.

• Installing Citywide Fiber-Optic Networks
• By: Alex Marshall
• Don't wait to find out if Google will install broadband in your city.

• The Gentrification Effect
• By: Tod Newcombe
• Does the return of a neighborhood mean its culture and the poor have to leave?

PROBLEM SOLVER

• Computing Performance
• By: Jonathan Walters
• More governments are turning to technology to help them budget and manage for results.

• Telecommuting's Sluggish Adoption
• By: Katherine Barrett & Richard Greene
• Working from home has been touted as the future, so why isn't it catching on faster?

• Funneling Tech Purchases
• By: Steve Towns
• Texas focuses on cross-agency operations and innovation opportunities – and saves money.

• Wanted: A Gold Standard for Pensions
• By: Girard Miller
• Public officials who run pension plans should update their rule books.

• LEED On
• By: John Buntin
• Ohio's school planning director embraces green schools.