Public Officials Convene at Cost of Government Summit

State and local government officials from around the country gathered in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss how we can afford the government we need. The two-day-long forum tackled issues like:

• municipal bankruptcy and whether it's a viable tool for struggling cities to dig out from financial suffering;
• the soaring cost of insuring public employees and how some states and cities have lowered their health-care costs;
• how to increase infrastructure investments in an era of budget cuts; and
• the biggest challenges facing state budgets and how to overcome them.