Sustainable Communities

• New Waiver Rule Allows Businesses to Bypass Environmental Rules in New Jersey
• Source: Newark Star-Ledger   |   New Jersey   |   August 8, 2012
• The rule is hailed by businesses who say they are buried in environmental red tape. Environmentalists, however, are livid over the potential to undermine protections to New Jersey’s land, water and air.

• Young Farmers Get Help from Montgomery County, Maryland
• Source: Washington Post   |   Maryland   |   August 7, 2012
• The New Farmer Pilot Project aims to help build small farms at a time when the county is struggling to preserve farming by training young farmers and placing them on privately owned land to grow sustainable crops and livestock for five years or more.

• Apple Deal Shows Cut-throat Race for New Business among Cash-strapped States
• Source: Las Vegas Sun   |   Nevada   |   August 7, 2012
• Coming out of the recession, states are aggressively competing for new businesses. To do that, they’re offering generous tax incentive packages to companies promising jobs. But such tax incentives are facing criticism for promoting a race to the bottom among states.

• Kansas Pays Schools to Boost Skilled Labor
• BY: Brian Peteritas   |   Kansas   |   August 6, 2012
• The state is going to pay school districts $1,000 for every student that graduates with credentials in high-need jobs.
• 1 Comments

• Farm Bill’s Prospects May Improve During Recess
• Source: Roll Call   |   Nation   |   August 6, 2012
• House Republican leaders are hoping that Members headed home for the district work period, particularly in drought-affected states, will hear from angry constituents all month, demanding that Congress do its job.

• Government and the Making of Our Markets
• BY: Mark Funkhouser   |   August 6, 2012
• A new book argues that markets are political creations -- not natural occurrences -- that we can shape to increase prosperity.

• Congress Can't Agree On Broad Drought Relief
• BY: McClatchy News   |   Nation   |   August 3, 2012
• As the drought worsened in the Midwest and Great Plains, Congress did not provide broad relief for farmers and ranchers before leaving for a month of campaigning Thursday.
• 1 Comments

• States Up the Ante in Bid to Lure Other States’ Bettors
• Source: The New York Times   |   Nation   |   August 3, 2012
• Cash-hungry states have long tried to poach business from one another. Now many are stepping up their efforts to lure gamblers from their neighbors to their growing ranks of slot machines, leaving states like Delaware, which embraced gambling early, struggling to keep up in what has become a feverish one-armed-bandit arms race.

• U.S. Cities Increasingly Segregated by Income
• Source: Reuters   |   Nation   |   August 2, 2012
• U.S. cities have become increasingly segregated by income since 1980, with the greatest divide in fast-growing Texas metropolitan areas, the Pew Research Center reported on Wednesday.
• 2 Comments

• Fed Rejects New Action on Economy
• Source: The Washington Post   |   Nation   |   August 2, 2012
• The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that the U.S. economy was slowing and unlikely to create nearly enough work this year for millions of jobless Americans, but Fed leaders declined to take any steps to boost growth.

• What The Georgia Vote Means for Transportation
• BY: Ryan Holeywell   |   August 1, 2012
• Voters in the Atlanta area overwhelming rejected a dedicated sales tax for transportation projects. Are there lessons to be learned from that vote?
• 15 Comments

• Bikers, Walkers Need Cities to Protect Them
• BY: Alex Marshall   |   August 2012
• Without laws protecting pedestrians and bikers, the goal of having truly livable cities in America remains out of reach.
• 22 Comments

• High School Majors Help Some States Cut Dropout Rate
• BY: Caroline Cournoyer   |   August 2012
• Requiring freshman to “specialize” in particular subjects helped Florida significantly increase its graduation rate and decrease its dropout rate. Georgia is hoping for similar results.
• 1 Comments

• Colleges Beef Up Sustainability Degree Programs
• BY: Elizabeth Daigneau   |   August 2012
• Nearly 60 percent of all new academic programs or training opportunities in 2011 focused on green careers, which are in demand now more than ever.

• Counties: An Outdated Concept or the Future?
• BY: Alan Greenblatt   |   August 2012
• Hit harder by the economic downturn than either cities or states, counties are feeling pressure from all sides, leading many to reexamine county functions altogether.
• 2 Comments