David Kidd is a photojournalist and storyteller at Governing. He was the art director and staff photographer at Teacher magazine and the American Journalism Review before joining Governing in 2008.
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
It’s the biggest city in South Dakota and when COVID-19 hit a local meat packing plant, Jill Franken had her hands full with a major public health crisis and the stress that goes with it.
THE FUTURE OF Community Design
Around this time each year, tens of thousands of “Burners” descend outside a small town in the Nevada desert, turning it into part carnival, part cultural experiment for the 21st century. But 2020 will be different.
THE FUTURE OF Community Design
It’s the country’s most famous road, and like so many other iconic pieces of mid-century Americana, it has been nearly obliterated by progress. But a few bits remain if you know where to look.
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
Phillip Yellow makes the treacherous drive every day, carrying 500 gallons of water up the mountain to a plot of land that’s been in the family for years. “We’ve been here quite a while.”
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
Created in 1892 by the state of New York, the park was preserved just when it was on the brink of widespread deforestation. Today, its 6 million acres encompass 105 towns and villages, making it a unique mix of conservation and civilization.
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
Lack of water is a huge issue for state Sen. Jamescita Peshlakai’s district, one of many she must juggle for the people she represents. It's why she and her partner don't hesitate to help two thirsty horses.
With its one customer — a huge coal-fired plant — shut down, the freight railroad has gone out of business and its tracks lie unused. But some on the reservation hope to revive train service for tourists.
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
Hit hard by the pandemic, the Navajos have turned to their self-run government and strong family ties to overcome health problems, soaring unemployment and financial obstacles that have slowed recovery.
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
A moment captured by Governing’s David Kidd is about to become history. Over the weekend, the state Legislature passed by a large majority a bill to remove the Confederate symbol from the official flag.
THE FUTURE OF Community Design
Once a playground for the rich and famous, Adirondack Park today relies heavily on middle-class visitors for business and sustainability. But now, uncertainty reigns, as COVID-19 puts lives and livelihoods on hold.
THE FUTURE OF Community Design
The figure personifies the moral force of our judicial systems and has been represented as blind since the 16th century. But that’s not the case with the Storey County Courthouse, located in Virginia City.
THE FUTURE OF Community Design
Rockdale, once home to one of the largest aluminum processing operations in the country, is now the location of what could be one of the world’s biggest bitcoin computing mines. But nothing is guaranteed.
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
Largely uninsured and medically underserved, the rural population of Virginia’s coal country is at high risk for coronavirus. The task of helping them is up to a small, but popular health clinic.
THE FUTURE OF Community Design
In a scenic but neglected area of Appalachia, a $100 million bridge built between two states remains unused five years after completion. Revised plans could bring traffic one day, but for now, it remains pristine.
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
The order to stay at home puts a special burden on the homeless. Residents in one shelter in northern Virginia are doing what they can to keep their distance in a pandemic.
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
Shortages of badly needed hand sanitizer for public safety workers led the owners of the Catoctin Creek Distillery to retool their whiskey manufacturing into a hand sanitizer production line.
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
More than 100 years ago, the world struggled with another epidemic, known as the Spanish Flu. In many cities at the time, streetcars were the main form of transportation, so cities set strict rules on social distancing.
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
Testing has become one of the most important methods for controlling the pandemic known as coronavirus. In the U.S., a nation of car drivers, that means setting up drive-through testing sites to speed along the process.
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
The pandemic has radically altered the movement of Americans as government-ordered shutdowns have forced people to stay home. The results can be found by comparing before and after photographs of once-busy locations.
THE FUTURE OF Community Design
Mid-twentieth century modern buildings once flourished in two Southern cities. Thanks to its location in Miami Beach, art deco has prospered in recent decades. But modernism faces a sadder fate in Montgomery, Ala.
THE FUTURE OF Community Design
President Trump wants federal architecture to return to its classical past. Meanwhile, many local governments have been going in the opposite direction, providing a public forum for new, modern building designs.
Firefighters face an array of obstacles as they relay information in inhospitable situations. But a high-tech vest made from carbon atoms called graphene may be the answer to a serious voice and data transmission problem.
THE FUTURE OF Community Design
A sleek museum, built within the ruins of what was once one of the largest flour mills in the country, tells the story of how the city flourished thanks to its mills and the waterpower of the Mississippi River.
THE FUTURE OF Community Design
The Steel City's splendid architectural gem of a bridge — one of 400 in Pittsburgh — has its roots in Venice, Italy, yet was designed by America’s foremost architect of the 19th century.
THE FUTURE OF Community Design
Ellicott City, Md., has been devastated twice by flooding rivers that traverse the city. But one man has built a homemade warning system he hopes will save property and lives the next time the flood waters rise.
State legislatures will have a lot on their plates. They’ll deal with issues in wildly differing ways. We set the context for the 2020 session with an overview of abortion, election security, housing, immigration, net neutrality, pensions, pre-emption, recession fears, redistricting, vaping, and workforce.
THE FUTURE OF Community Design
As New York’s third-largest city finds its industrial giants continuing to downsize, a unique, no-interest loan program based on crowdfunding is stimulating a business revival at the grass-roots level.
THE FUTURE OF Community Design
From a (reputed) nontraditional location for the penning of one of America's more popular Christmas songs, to a decked-out statue of the founder of Communism, we take a look at some less-than-conventional holiday festivities.
A once-desolate stretch of waterfront has become home to DC Water, a futuristic hub for managing water treatment in the nation’s capital and an architectural symbol of environmental sustainability.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
As many of them fall into disrepair, some are adapting to cities' changing needs.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
Las Vegas is taking a new, more tolerant approach to helping the homeless.
Photos and musing from our photographer.
Photos and musing from our photographer.
Photos and musings from photographer David Kidd.
Photos and musings from photographer David Kidd.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
Photos and musings from photographer David Kidd.
Photos and musings from photographer David Kidd.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
The city, which has more empty and dilapidated houses than most, is making buyers prove that they can afford to purchase a home -- and to fix it up.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
It's just a block away from the U.S. Capitol.
But the Pennsylvania Turnpike hasn't been completely forgotten.
North Dakota is conducting a prison experiment inspired by Norway, a country with recidivism rates three times lower than in the U.S.
Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza may be better known, but this festival has been going strong since 1924.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
The Louisiana Political Museum may be the only one if its kind.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
Photos and musings from our photographer.
Photos and musings from our photographer David Kidd.
Photos and musings from our photographer David Kidd.
Photos and musings from our photographer David Kidd.
Photos and musings from our photographer David Kidd.
Photos and musings from our photographer David Kidd.
Photos and musings from our photographer David Kidd.
When the ice breaks, someone wins a cash prize.
Architecture students transformed an old bank into a library for Newbern, Ala.
Photos and musings from our photographer David Kidd.
Photos and musings from our photographer David Kidd.
Photos and musings from our photographer David Kidd.
Photos and musings from our photographer David Kidd.
Photos and musings from our photographer David Kidd.
Photos and musings from our photographer David Kidd.
Photos and musings from our photographer David Kidd.
Photos and musings from our photographer David Kidd.
New York has 280 miles of “sidewalk sheds.”
When you drive through the city, you can’t miss its slogan. That wasn’t always the case.
It's home to Red Rocks, “the only naturally occurring, acoustically perfect amphitheater in the world.”
That’s how long it took to build one of America’s most ambitious public works projects, and that’s how long its bicentennial will be celebrated.
Smither Park celebrates folk art -- but only if it's recycled or reused.
A tunnel-boring machine recently dug a two-and-a-half-mile-hole beneath the surface of the nation's capital. It only took 366 days.
In an effort to save money, some governments are unpaving roads.
The Spring Street Salt Shed has been lauded as one of the city's best public sculptures.
In 1970, an architect began building a self-sustaining town of the future. Now it stands as a lab for environmentally conscious urban planners.
As the city prepares to debut new streetcars, here’s a last look at their old ones.
Many state capitols were designed to inspire with soaring architecture. The view from the top offers a unique perspective.
The sleek new stations throughout the city let users make 911 calls and search the web -- all for free.
To fulfill a campaign promise, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe stocked his new digs with egg-laying chickens.
The small, rural town of Gifford, S.C., survives with help from just 12 enthusiastic public employees -- most of whom aren't even paid.
The city's main train station, which shuttered its doors in 1988, is getting a makeover.
Portland, Ore., is home to one of only two aerial commuter trams in the United States.
Truth or Consequences, N.M., is hoping space tourism will transform the sleepy desert town.
What began as a day in 1962 has morphed into a weeklong celebration.
The dwindling number of bees has a direct impact on the economy, which is what keeps state beekeepers like Tammy Horn going.
Residents of Whittier, Alaska, have to take the elevator or stairs wherever they go in the wintertime.
Southern California’s Salton Sea has been neglected for decades, but there’s reason to hope for its restoration.
The state's legislature has one of the most extensive page programs still running in the country, paying teens to assist and live like lawmakers.
How Irish nationalism in Syracuse, N.Y., resulted in a world-renowned upside-down traffic light.
It’s home to four buildings, each dating back to the 18th century.
What seems like a simple romantic gesture is actually a major maintenance issue for bridges.
Museums in several cities are hanging art on walls throughout the streets.
The Haskell Free Library and Opera House was intentionally built straddling the border between Quebec and Vermont.
The design for part of one of Los Angeles’ airports was inspired by the spacecraft from the film The War of the Worlds.
In the 1800s, Philadelphia built a prison that isolated inmates so they could meditate and become genuinely penitent. But as views on isolating inmates evolved over time, the prison was forced to close its doors.
Schwinn bikes first appeared on streets in the 19th century and were built in such a unique way that decades-old Schwinns can still be seen in Chicago and other bike-friendly cities.
In Santa Rosa, Calif., the electricity powering a lamp may very well come from recycled wastewater.
Governing Design Director David Kidd went on assignment to photograph Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. He came back with an architecture review of Boston's old and current city hall.
Design Director David Kidd followed Staff Writer John Buntin as they experienced life as a volunteer in Redlands, Calif., a place where volunteers take on jobs the city can't afford.
The battle over public sector unions in Madison has thrust state legislators into the limelight. Meet some of the players in this slideshow.
Photographer David Kidd went with reporters to L.A. and Chicago for stories on police stations and transportation systems respectively, but ended up on the beach in both cities.
While touring two vastly different areas of the Bay area last month, GOVERNING's photographer found that both communities have problems and depend on citizens and activists to resolve them.
There are places nationwide that get more snow, but among cities with populations greater than 100,000, Syracuse's snowfall is supreme.
I was in San Francisco in March, taking pictures for John Buntin's May story about that city's efforts to clean up its roughest neighborhood, the ...
Governing writer John Buntin and I were in Denver in February to look into that city's use of DNA testing as a means of ...
Syracusans have much to be proud of. Their city has a long history of accomplishments. But there is one accomplishment that many of its citizens ...
While on assignment in Syracuse last week, I did what I always do: drive around to see the old neighborhood and my favorite places in ...
Writer Rob Gurwitt and I were in Providence City Hall: he to gather information for an upcoming story, and I to take pictures of whomever ...
Some conversations tend to be of "high" priority. Photo by David Kidd As part of Governing's 2009 Public Official of the Year coverage, I spent the ...