Authors

Urban

As city leaders from around the country meet at South by Southwest in Austin, they'll discuss the forces that will shape urbanism for decades to come.

Public Safety & Justice

Regardless of whether a proposal to drastically expand the reasons for denying green cards becomes law, many legal immigrants are afraid to use government assistance -- for themselves and their children.

Management & Labor

America has a skills gap. Governments across the U.S. are turning to European-style apprenticeship programs as a possible solution.

Health & Human Services

Gov. Scott Walker is poised to sign a sweeping package of bills that would make it harder to qualify for many safety net programs.

Finance

Congress indirectly diluted the tax incentives for building affordable housing -- a change that's predicted to result in a quarter of a million fewer units.

Health & Human Services

The president, who often stresses the need for states to have more flexibility, wants to give them less when it comes to food stamps.

Health & Human Services

The president's budget released on Monday confirms most of a leaked proposal and would add to the administration's recent changes to the safety net.

Health & Human Services

A new poll shows strong opposition to the new Medicaid policy being pushed by the Trump administration. But it contradicts other recent surveys.

Workforce

Getting a government job, or even an interview, takes a notoriously long time. Denver cut the process practically in half.

Health & Human Services

When families on welfare failed work requirements in Kansas, they fell into deep poverty. Could the same thing happen with Medicaid?

Infrastructure & Environment

With New Jersey's announcement that it will rejoin a multistate compact to limit carbon emissions, 2018 could be a banner year for cap and trade in the states -- even if the idea is dead in Washington.

Public Safety & Justice

The state joins a small but growing movement to curb the practice of incarcerating low-risk offenders who can't afford bail.

Politics & Elections

Most leaders and some members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, including at least one Republican, backed out of a planned infrastructure meeting with the president on Wednesday.

Health & Human Services

A first-of-its-kind report shows that many of the nonprofits delivering social services are underpaid by governments and fail to manage their budgets wisely.

Health & Human Services

Charitable giving is expected to drop, and nonprofits that operate social services for the government will likely take the biggest hit.

Politics & Elections

The justices heard arguments on Wednesday in an Ohio case about when it's legal to kick inactive voters off registration lists. It's part of a larger debate about voting rights that has been heightened by President Trump.

Public Safety & Justice

Jeff Sessions' announcement attracted bipartisan criticism. But some legal experts are skeptical of its impact, and several states have vowed to continue their marijuana markets or plans for one.

Politics & Elections

Most politicians believe moderation doesn’t help Democrats much in the Deep South. Louisiana’s governor, who's trying to fix the state's finances, isn’t one of them.

Management & Labor

They rarely collaborate. But Jenni Owen, the policy director for North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, is part of a growing relationship between government and academia.

Health & Human Services

Its new ordinance exemplifies a shift in how cities across the country are trying to target panhandlers.

Health & Human Services

The Trump administration has begun the process of tightening welfare programs. Many conservative states have been waiting for a moment like this for years.

Health & Human Services

It adds to the growing body of evidence that addressing homelessness saves money elsewhere.

Health & Human Services

Even if Congress passes a spending bill without the president's proposed cuts to programs that help the poor, it's likely to consider more serious changes next year.

Health & Human Services

The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness helped end veteran homelessness in some places and reduce overall homelessness. The White House and House Republicans want it gone.

Education

“We cannot have 13 million hungry children in the United States of America,” says Dorothy McAuliffe.

Public Safety & Justice

The state joined a growing trend on Tuesday that critics say is unnecessary and could impede the criminal justice process.

Politics & Elections

Ballot language often spurs confusion and lawsuits. Some state election officials are trying to make them easier to understand.

Health & Human Services

Rental vouchers are only helpful if landlords are willing to take them. All too often, they're not. But what if the government made it less risky?

Public Safety & Justice

Voters in three states approved similar ballot measures last year, but critics say it's unnecessary and could gum up the criminal justice system.

Health & Human Services

It's rare to see a film featuring homeless people as main characters. "The Florida Project" focuses on the ones that few people notice.

Health & Human Services

The rising number of placements into state care is only partially to blame.

Health & Human Services

When destroyed by disaster, public housing has historically taken years to be replaced -- if at all. What happens to low-income residents in the meantime?

Management & Labor

Irregular hours and unpredictable schedules have redefined work for many low-income Americans. States and cities are just beginning to regulate them.

Health & Human Services

Both propose cutting the food stamps program by at least $150 billion over 10 years.

Finance

The tax system isn't set up to help low-income people as much if they don't have children. There's a push in Congress and the states to change that.

Public Safety & Justice

In the term that starts Oct. 2, the justices will hear cases that could drastically alter the country's political, financial and social landscape.

Management & Labor

Newark, N.J., Mayor Ras Baraka hopes so. Right now, the major employers there mostly hire people and buy business supplies and services outside city limits.

Politics & Elections

It's one of the ways states are trying to address growing concerns about the cybersecurity of voting.

Health & Human Services

History suggests that social services will be in high demand for months. Are caseworkers in Texas and Florida prepared?

Urban

Public officials and reporters alike adopt the myth that bigger is better. That’s not always the case.

Health & Human Services

A new study suggests governments are missing out on cost savings by not enrolling enough people in their programs.

Health & Human Services

States are failing to use millions of dollars meant to retrain and employ coal miners and other workers in struggling fields.

Infrastructure & Environment

To this day, Galveston, Texas, gets millions less in federal funding because of a 2008 storm. It's a cautionary tale of how long it takes to financially recover from disasters.

Public Safety & Justice

The wait for drug test results can bring the criminal justice system to a slow crawl. There's a faster test, but few are using it.

Public Safety & Justice

As part of a new initiative, eight governors agreed to meet with inmates, crime victims and corrections staff to better understand how their criminal justice policies impact people.

Health & Human Services

Colorado is one of the few governments to employ the data-driven approach in human services. It's helping the state tackle major problems.

Management & Labor

After leading the creation of the nation's first legal marijuana market in Colorado, Andrew Freedman took the lessons he learned and made a business out of helping states regulate the drug.

Health & Human Services

A Supreme Court ruling about regulating church signs is spurring cities to repeal their anti-begging laws.

Health & Human Services

Some cities post letter grades on restaurants. King County opted for something more visual. The person who pushed for public ratings in the first place, though, isn't satisfied.

Health & Human Services

Hiring ex-addicts is a key part of Kentucky's strategy for combating the opioid epidemic and its impact on families.

Health & Human Services

Mayor Ryan Stovall has no regrets.

Infrastructure & Environment

It's the first city to set water rates based on income.

Health & Human Services

Drug abuse is overwhelming the child welfare system at unprecedented rates. Solutions are slowly emerging, but they aren't always adopted.

Health & Human Services

Westchester County, N.Y., is using debt forgiveness as an incentive for finding employment and paying child support. Will it work?

Health & Human Services

Child advocates say the state is taking encouraging first steps in turning around an underfunded and overburdened agency -- but it has a long way to go.

Politics & Elections

Kentucky's failed attempt this year illustrates a problem that many states face: Some judges are severely overworked while others don't have enough to do. But fixing that can be politically impossible.

Management & Labor

Detroit's former emergency manager praised Mitch Landrieu's speech on race and gave a memorable one of his own. Listen to it here.

Urban

The first of a now annual report details what cities are doing well and where they could improve.

Health & Human Services

As deportation fears drive some immigrants to give up their government benefits, a new report offers the most comprehensive state-level look at what aid they're legally entitled to.

Health & Human Services

In recent years, a handful of states have missed out on millions in federal subsidies for child care.

Health & Human Services

Tom Price has a vision for a "reimagined HHS" that adopts a more holistic approach to problem solving and relies more on states and localities.

Health & Human Services

The state attracted national attention for its failure to prevent and address child abuse and neglect. Since then, massive changes have led to massive improvements.

Management & Labor

Lots of cities use social science data to help make decisions. But the District of Columbia is going a lot further.

Finance

Trump wants to eliminate the program. But advocates argue it just needs to be reformed.

Health & Human Services

New Mexico is the first state to ban the practice. Now the rest have till the end of the school year to adopt an official policy for what happens when parents miss meal payments.

Management & Labor

Using data to measure government performance has caught on in much of the country. But the tactic is in trouble in Maryland.

Health & Human Services

The legislation undoes an Obama-era regulation about who can be drug tested. States will likely get more say over the matter, but not just yet.

Politics & Elections

Neil Howe co-wrote a book in the 1990s. Little did he know how influential it would be.

Health & Human Services

A small number of states, however, are starting to let homeless people get IDs and birth certificates for free. Advocates hope the idea becomes a national trend.

Health & Human Services

The president's budget director wants to eliminate a fund that supports research-backed state and local projects. It's won bipartisan support in the past. Will Congress step in to save it?

Education

Few families use them -- and even fewer put enough money away to matter. Advocates, however, say the programs are too young to judge.

Public Safety & Justice

Cities are strengthening civilians' authority over law enforcement officers. But just how far should their power extend?

Health & Human Services

If signed, the executive action would put green-card holders in danger of deportation and could burden state and local agencies.

Health & Human Services

The new regulation requires states to help parents in poverty avoid debt and incarceration.

Finance

In much of the country, states are offering localities less financial help than they were before the recession. That won't change anytime soon.

Health & Human Services

The report comes at a time when some federal policymakers want to end the program and while states and localities are launching similar initiatives of their own.

Elections

Left with unanswered questions, state and local election officials are worried about the Department of Homeland Security's latest attempt to stop hackers. DHS' response? Calm down. We're here to help.

Finance

The earned income tax credit is a rare antipoverty program that has enjoyed a long history of bipartisan support among state and federal policymakers.

Education

Republicans at the federal and state levels want to defund universities that protect undocumented students from deportation. It's making some schools think twice about their policies, but should they?

Health & Human Services

Advocates are hoping to replicate the success they had at the ballot box this year.

Politics & Elections

Not many states have the necessary laws in place to conduct an effective election audit.

Health & Human Services

A communications expert reveals the most effective ways, and the results may surprise you.

Elections

Americans' support for capital punishment has been waning, but you wouldn't know that by looking at Tuesday's election results.

Elections

Voters in three states approved "Marsy's Law," which ensures victims and their families are informed of developments in a criminal case.

Elections

Even though most polls are working with decades-old machines that lose or miscount votes, states and the federal government are largely ignoring the problem.

Health & Human Services

Without a job, recipients risk losing their benefits. But states aren't spending much to help them get and stay employed. See how your state's welfare funding is being spent.

Politics & Elections

As Congress and legislatures stall on the issue, voters are doing what they can to keep firearms out of the hands of dangerous people.

Public Safety & Justice

An evenly divided court could decide the fate of many cases watched closely by state and local officials.

Health & Human Services

A new approach asks recipients to look past short-term work and instead focus on making choices that will improve the rest of their lives.

Infrastructure & Environment

More than 80 percent of voters approved amendments on the ballot in both states.

Health & Human Services

Proponents like Maine Gov. Paul LePage argue so-called asset tests save states money and shrink welfare rolls. New research suggests otherwise.

Public Safety & Justice

New Mexico voters may have energized a national movement to reform the criminal justice policies that keep lower-income Americans locked up.

Elections

South Dakota's ballot measure, which failed, would have actually reduced the minimum wage for some.

Management & Labor

Discrimination doesn't always appear in the most obvious places. Many government policies and practices are seemingly unbiased and uncontroversial but actually disproportionately harm minorities.

Health & Human Services

The state's rare approach is meant to increase child support payments. But some say it will do the opposite.

Urban

Tax incentives aren't always the best way to lure businesses. Many are simply going where the talent is.

Public Safety & Justice

Blue Lives Matter bills that would increase the penalties for attacking police are popping up in states and Congress.

Public Safety & Justice

The city has a unique effort to improving the relationship between cops and citizens.

Public Safety & Justice

Many police chiefs are ordering their officers to work in pairs. But whether that actually makes cops -- and citizens -- safer is up for debate.

Public Safety & Justice

City officials across the country are using the gaming craze to educate and engage with the public -- and have some fun.

Health & Human Services

Some people get food stamps from multiple states, costing the government millions of dollars. A new tracking system can cut those costs.

Politics & Elections

The incoming leader of the U.S. Conference of Mayors talks about cities' relationship with the Obama administration and what he expects from the new one -- whether it's run by Clinton or Trump.

Health & Human Services

Many low-income families struggle to survive without school lunch programs. Giving them extra welfare money in the summer can help.

Public Safety & Justice

Florida's gun control laws are relatively lax, but most states also lack the laws that may have stopped Omar Mateen from getting his hands on deadly weapons.

Public Safety & Justice

Convictions in animal cruelty cases are rare but could become more common if Connecticut adopts an unprecedented law.

Management & Labor

Sharing economy companies like Uber and Lyft claim that the people who work for them are “independent contractors,” thus ineligible for most employee benefits. That argument may prove difficult to sustain.

Urban

To tackle the problem of vacant properties, Memphis is acknowledging that it needs help.

Health & Human Services

The Hoosier State is the latest to use behavioral science or "nudge" experiments to improve outcomes in human services programs.

Urban

St. Paul, Minn., wants its urban areas to welcome everyone -- whether they're 8 or 80 years old.

Public Safety & Justice

The city has made real progress in its battle against homicide, but a recent rise in crime puts it all into question.

Public Safety & Justice

The latest task force report isn't the first to suggest major reforms to the Chicago Police Department, but it might be the first to result in real change.

Urban

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is spreading its latest grants across 19 communities to support an outdoor office, a carpentry-based workforce program and more.

Health & Human Services

A foundation is promoting the use of evidence-based prevention programs to help young people in low-income, urban neighborhoods.

Politics & Elections

The city's former mayor, who was forced to resign a few years ago, is no longer the frontrunner.

Public Safety & Justice

Most people don't know they can get their juvenile records erased. Thanks to a group of young people, there's now an app for that.

Health & Human Services

A group of grad students is implementing an award-winning idea for encouraging young homeless people to use health and social services.

Public Safety & Justice

Other countries teach conflict resolution to at-risk youth as a way to break the cycle of violent retaliation. The idea is slowly catching on in America.

Elections

The former mayor, convicted of corruption, is trying to win back voters’ trust. The odds are she will.

Elections

DeRay Mckesson insists his campaign is about more than race.

Management & Labor

Many governors and mayors are struggling to raise the minimum wage for their jurisdictions. In the meantime, some are giving their own employees a raise.

Health & Human Services

Modeled after a successful anti-recidivism program, Kansas has a new volunteer mentoring program to help people on welfare find work.

Health & Human Services

Many cities are trying to use behavioral science to better communicate with citizens. New Orleans is testing the effectiveness of different text messages.

Public Safety & Justice

Spurred by lawsuits and a growing understanding of the population’s challenges, some states are making detention centers safer for and more accepting of LGBT youth.

Health & Human Services

Despite federal pressure to find a new approach to dealing with the homeless, San Francisco has joined the long list of cities that have forced them out of public spaces.

Infrastructure & Environment

The U.S. Supreme Court has put the Obama administration's plan to cut carbon emissions on hold.

Health & Human Services

The state's welfare agency tried new strategies to help parents and child care providers avoid an interruption in benefits.

Elections

DeRay Mckesson joins a crowded field at the last minute, but there's no doubt he's a serious contender to replace the outgoing mayor.

Public Safety & Justice

After years of research, law enforcement leaders recently released recommendations for reforming how and when cops use their weapons.

Health & Human Services

Veteran homelessness has dropped sharply, thanks to cities’ efforts and new funds from the Obama administration. But most people living on the streets aren’t veterans.

Health & Human Services

Instead of waiting to help until kids get in trouble, Los Angeles County is using data analytics to help them before. So far, it's proving successful.

Health & Human Services

Nearly half the states are reinstating work requirements that had been suspended since the Great Recession. But advocates say it’s still too soon.

Politics & Elections

The National Governors Association had seen its influence on federal legislation decline in the past decade. But because of new leadership, things may be looking up.

Finance

Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates have given millions to overhaul public education. But their cash has proven to be anything but free money or a remedy to systemic problems.

Management & Labor

The organization is spending $42 million to help the selected cities improve their performance and services using data-driven decisionmaking.

Health & Human Services

Thanks to a change in federal law, states are moving away from stringent reporting requirements that can keep low-wage parents from working.

Health & Human Services

But a new effort could provide a true count of the number as well as insights into why they became homeless in the first place.

Health & Human Services

Patients with mental illness are being detained in emergency rooms, often for weeks at a time. Now some states are rethinking the entire psychiatric care system.

Infrastructure & Environment

Like many cities, Mobile, Ala., didn't even know how many blighted properties it had. Instagram offered a cheap and simple way to start figuring that out.

Health & Human Services

Three cities, one county and a state have suspended laws that hamper their ability to address homelessness. But why now and what does it mean?

Infrastructure & Environment

Voters made Texas the 19th state to add legal protections for hunting and fishing, which are now also the preferred methods for controlling wildlife.

Infrastructure & Environment

Voters in Washington state increased the penalties for trafficking animals or parts of animals that are at risk of becoming extinct.

Elections

In Maine on Tuesday, voters strengthened the public campaign financing system that became a model for other states and helped the legislature become the nation's most blue-collar.

Health & Human Services

While other cities try to regulate or ban panhandlers, Albuquerque, N.M., offers them an income and social services for the day.

Elections

Texas used to force many elected officials to live in the state's capital city. Voters repealed that rule Tuesday.

Public Safety & Justice

Rather than acting as former offenders' enemies, parole and probation officers are now working to be their mentors. Can it reduce recidivism?

Elections

It was a major issue in recent mayoral races. This year, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee is one of the few candidates talking about it.

Health & Human Services

Helping poor people move from high- to low-poverty neighborhoods can improve their health and cut the government's costs.

Urban

A handful of cities have installed solar-powered benches that can charge phones, sense heat and track traffic.

Finance

Using the financing mechanism, Santa Clara County, Calif., can finally afford to try an expensive-but-proven method of reducing chronic homelessness.

Politics & Elections

Oklahoma’s Republican attorney general sues the federal government -- and even other states -- every chance he can get. Will his legal battles change the future of American politics?

Urban

A new opera seeks to capture the conflict between two of the 20th-century titans who shaped American cities.

Health & Human Services

But proposed legislation in Congress would fix the wording in the federal health-care law that's leaving some foster youth uninsured.

Infrastructure & Environment

If the rule survives the inevitable legal challenges, it will mark the first time the federal government limits air pollution from carbon dioxide.

Health & Human Services

There's been no national conservative organization pushing states to adopt their ideas about programs for the poor -- until now.

Public Safety & Justice

In their recent proposals for reforming the system, the Democratic president and Republican governor who wants to be president have found common ground in three major areas. But does it even matter?

Public Safety & Justice

Most states have laws to protect bikers from cars, but they're hard to enforce. One city is testing a new device that makes it easier.

Health & Human Services

Soon, only two companies will make the cards that people get government benefits with. Here's why that matters.

Health & Human Services

Many people think the work of human services agencies creates dependency and exacerbates poverty. But there’s a new effort to recast them in a more favorable light.

Health & Human Services

Pouring federal aid into poor communities hasn’t accomplished much in the past. But the Obama administration insists its Promise Zones program will be different.

Urban

Unlike similar initiatives that only build housing for low-income people, Philadelphia's will also target people who make too much to qualify for public housing but too little to afford private housing.

Health & Human Services

The federal government plans to expand the use of a web-based tool nationwide after a pilot of the system showed good results.

Urban

Critics say the president’s new program to help young black men unfairly excludes black girls who, by many measures, experience the same problems.

Health & Human Services

In the last few years, most states have stopped taking assets like retirement and education savings into account when deciding whether people qualify for aid.

Education

State Dream Acts have drawn passionate responses from both advocates and critics. But evidence suggests these measures have had limited impact.

Public Safety & Justice

In Jersey City, N.J., ex-offenders are getting an opportunity to start their lives over again -- and so is a familiar public figure trying to help them.

Health & Human Services

The state's law banning welfare spending on entertainment and luxury goods and services sparked a national debate about how people use public assistance.

Health & Human Services

As more states consider photo requirements for food stamps, a new report finds Massachusetts' law to be ineffective in preventing fraud.

Education

Grad students want to combat black boys' low reading levels by adding books that cater to them to barbershop waiting areas.

Finance

Cities have offered financial counseling to low-income people for years, but only recently have some tracked the impact of these services on clients' debt, credit and savings.

Urban

Bloomberg Philanthropies and other organizations have poured an unprecedented amount of money into making cities more innovative and collaborative. What happens when the money runs out?

Management & Labor

Most cities already freely share ideas with others, but some are starting to sell their best practices to other local governments.

Health & Human Services

Massachusetts is the latest state to settle a legal battle over the failure of its welfare offices to meet federal voter registration requirements.

Health & Human Services

Nearly 100 percent of eligible Oregonians take advantage of food stamps, far more than any other state. That might be a good thing.

Urban

He's the first U.S. president in 20 years to address the National League of Cities conference.

Politics & Elections

Lawmakers in both states have reignited a century-old feud over the well-accepted claim that the Wright brothers were the "first in flight."

Urban

A nonprofit founded by mayors is helping seven cities finance and organize community service projects to revitalize low-income urban neighborhoods.

Health & Human Services

Laura Zeilinger talks about why homelessness is on the rise in the district and what the Bowser administration is doing about it.

Education

At a Congressional hearing, the Indiana governor, who could be a presidential contender, touted his state as a national leader and expressed his support for diminishing the federal role in schools.

Finance

The president's budget would be a boon in a host of areas but also includes cuts to popular programs.

Urban

Wealthy residents remain in the city at a higher rate than poor residents, according to a new D.C. government report.

Urban

In the nation's fastest-gentrifying neighborhood, some of the strongest affordable housing protections haven’t been enough to keep lower-income residents from being priced out of their homes.

Health & Human Services

A former D.C. housing official gives a hard look at what worked, and what didn't, in an award-winning redevelopment project.

Management & Labor

New mayoral fellowships give graduate students city governance experience and mayors much-needed extra help.

Health & Human Services

A new GAO report says the nation's largest cash assistance program fails to incentivize states to help people find work.

Health & Human Services

Portland, Maine, is ignoring state instructions that could discourage people from seeking shelter beds.

Education

Rhode Island is streamlining its existing and underused program to allow parents to sign their children up for college savings accounts the day they’re born.

Infrastructure & Environment

Until now, there was no universal, comprehensive methodology for cities around the world to measure their emissions. One of the tool's creators explains its power in the fight against climate change.

Infrastructure & Environment

It was one of the first cities to join a nationwide movement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in 2005. The city's director of energy and sustainability looks back at what's changed in the past decade.

Health & Human Services

A new report advocates more programs that address the needs of parents and children simultaneously.

Management & Labor

As demand for data analysts in government grows, what may be the nation's first master’s program that teaches not just public policy knowledge but technology skills too has launched.

Infrastructure & Environment

Grand Rapids, Mich., stands as tangible evidence of what cities can do to reduce human impact on the environment. But the city’s efforts also underscore its limitations.

Elections

Voters in Washington state approved universal background checks, the only gun control measure on a state ballot this year.

Elections

Three states rejected ballot measures that either would have made voting easier or harder.

Elections

Ballot measures that would have defined a fetus as a person lost in North Dakota and Colorado. But voters paved the way for new abortion restrictions in Tennessee Tuesday.

Elections

Arkansas voters approved a ballot measure that combined popular ethics reforms with an extension of term limits for state lawmakers.

Elections

Oregon voters rejected a ballot measure that would have issued government ID cards to those without citizenship or legal presence.

Elections

Alabama voters approved a constitutional amendment that affirms the right to bear arms is a "fundamental right" and any regulation of that right is subject to the highest level of judicial review.

Elections

The ballot measures follow a wave of mostly Democratic states lifting wages for low-income workers after federal inaction.

Elections

It's now the third state to require businesses to pay workers when they have to take sick days.

Elections

Voters will decide whether to add language in the state constitution intended to give higher legal protections to gun rights.

Elections

Even though most Americans support raising the minimum wage, most Republican-run states so far haven't done so.

Health & Human Services

Only a few states take advantage of the federal matching funds intended to help employ food stamp users.

Health & Human Services

If not for government assistance, millions more would be impoverished, according to the latest data.

Elections

Even though an increasing share of eligible voters are Hispanic, a new study suggests that for several reasons, they won't impact most governors races in November.

Elections

Three states are putting the issue to voters in November, including one measure that would criminalize abortion.

Public Safety & Justice

In Holt v. Hobbs, the U.S. Supreme Court has a chance to decide when courts should defer to prison officials on security policies that burden religious rights.

Latest News

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear cases this term related to religious freedom in state prisons, taxes on railway carriers, traffic stops and more.

Elections

The California city’s November election will shed light on whether Democrats can risk the political fallout of cutting a prized union benefit to protect basic city services.

Management & Labor

In an effort to offer residents cheaper fuel, Somerset, Ky., opened what’s likely the nation’s first city-run retail gas station this summer.

Health & Human Services

A new study looks at what happens to people when they leave housing programs.

Elections

Ballot measures in five states propose changes to early voting, voter registration and citizen-led initiatives.

Elections

A November ballot measure would limit the influence of lobbyists and corporations but also add time and flexibility to term limits.

Elections

Voters in Massachusetts will decide in November whether to make paid sick time a required benefit for most workers after California became only the second state to do so Wednesday.

Public Safety & Justice

Oregonians will decide in November whether they want to join the 10 states that already issue a driver's card or license to undocumented immigrants.

Health & Human Services

Louisville, Philadelphia and Nashville are the first cities in a new program that will dedicate $3 million in technical assistance to help cities reduce poverty.

Public Safety & Justice

A new study uses gunshot-detection technology instead of police reports to track gun violence.

Public Safety & Justice

Widespread and comprehensive gun control legislation has failed at the federal and state levels. While cities don’t have the authority to ban guns, they’ve gotten creative trying to control them.

Infrastructure & Environment

Cap and trade may be dead on Capitol Hill, but states could use it to meet new EPA targets for reducing power plants’ carbon emissions.

Management & Labor

Some cities will get grant funding to test a method of problem solving designed by the charitable foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Health & Human Services

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is looking to fund state pilot projects that combine food assistance and job training in an effort to find the best way to get people out of poverty.

Public Safety & Justice

In what resembled a presidential campaign speech, the recently indicted Texas governor called for increased federal controls against illegal immigration before Congress considers immigration reform.

Finance

More than a handful of states cut unemployment benefits in recent years.

Elections

More than six in 10 voters approved a constitutional amendment pertaining to the right to bear arms and own ammunition and gun-related accessories.

Elections

Ballot measures in Missouri and Washington state ask voters to weigh in on government's role in regulating firearms.

Education

The state's Tea Party-backed superintendent created an intraparty rift over schools. Now, she's taking the fight to the next level and trying to unseat the incumbent governor from her own party.

Health & Human Services

While Detroit used unpaid bills to cut off water service to thousands of people, five other cities are using those same outstanding payments to identify and help people in need.

Education

Senior public officials in state and local government say graduate school prepared them for their current careers, according to a new survey.

Public Safety & Justice

Ray Nagin received a 10-year prison sentence after being convicted on corruption charges.

Infrastructure & Environment

The U.S. Conference of Mayors has launched a new campaign to save energy and cut down on air pollution. But, due to GOP opposition, they're no longer urging Congress to pass cap and trade.

Politics & Elections

The nation's largest election jurisdiction is designing a voting system unlike any around the country. The administrator in charge of county elections explains why.

Management & Labor

The ruling creates a new class of "partial public employees" who can choose not to pay membership dues to unions representing them, laying the groundwork for overruling other precedents.

Elections

The nation’s voting equipment is quickly becoming obsolete. But even if local governments could afford upgrades, no new machines exist to buy.

Public Safety & Justice

A bill in the legislature would end the policy requiring special county boards to review concealed gun applications. Critics worry the approval process will become too easy.

Health & Human Services

Having a digital warehouse to hold foster kids' health and education records eases their many transitions from one home to another and makes it easier to apply for jobs and college. But few places have them.

Education

Women, minorities and community college students have more interest in government internships than the general student population, a survey finds.

Health & Human Services

Federally funded projects in several states and localities are testing ways to use convenience and peer pressure to get prison inmates and people who owe child support to make better decisions.

Health & Human Services

A recent survey shows most people think state and local governments aren't doing enough to ensure a sufficient supply of affordable housing. Several cities are trying to help.

Public Safety & Justice

California legislators proposed a bill to confiscate guns from people who pose a threat to themselves or others. Other states are already considering following suit.

Politics & Elections

State legislatures have seen dozens of bills related to election reform so far in 2014. And unlike recent years, most of them are trying to make it easier to vote.

Politics & Elections

Women in Utah aren’t as politically engaged as their peers in other states. Current and former elected officials want to change that.

Health & Human Services

Eleven states are extending a provision of the federal health law to avoid punishing former foster kids for pursuing jobs or schools in other states.

Politics & Elections

Increased partisanship in state and local government has caused the organizations representing them to lose some of their influence on federal policy. Can they get it back?

Management & Labor

It's the latest state to raise the minimum wage and the first this year that already linked automatic increases to inflation.

Finance

The former head of consumer affairs in New York City explains why helping the poor manage money wisely would also help governments manage their money better.

Health & Human Services

Five states have used data from the federal food stamps program to quickly enroll more than 500,000 people in Medicaid.

Latest News

New research finds that federal spending on safety net programs has gone up since the 1970s, but it's not reaching the nation's poorest people and families.

Urban

Seattle recently became the first city to limit the number of rideshare cars. City Councilwoman Sally Clark talks about the controversial regulations that have since been suspended.

Latest News

A lot of elderly people are eligible for food stamps but either don't know they are or face barriers to signing up.

Latest News

At least four in 10 American cities have cut greenhouse gas emissions, according to a survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. An April report details the extent to which a 2005 environmental campaign has spread to cities across the country.

Education

In 2009, Brazil became one of only three countries to mandate early education. But it quickly found that universal preschool is a simple idea that’s difficult to implement.

Public Safety & Justice

A recent book outlines other countries’ approaches to gun control that have significantly reduced violence. Should states look to these places as a model for gun laws?

Health & Human Services

Should everyone have a guaranteed minimum income even if they don’t have a job? It’s a radical idea on the Swiss ballot that also has some support in the United States.

Governing: State and local government news and analysis

A dark money group released a misleading TV ad that attacks Arizona gubernatorial candidate Scott Smith for liberal policy positions adopted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Health & Human Services

A recent audit says Oregon, which mirrors national trends in some ways, hasn't done enough to get citizens off public assistance and into the workforce.

Latest News

After Mesa, Ariz., Mayor Scott Smith stepped down from the presidency to run for governor, Johnson assumed the top position this week for the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Latest News

Some states and cities want to to use "ban the box" legislation to stop employers from screening job applicants with criminal records. Here's why some businesses oppose such measures and how some lawmakers eased their concerns.

Latest News

Businesses reported little increase in costs since the state became the first to require companies to compensate workers for sick days.

Latest News

Four states with Republican-controlled legislatures may raise the minimum wage through ballot measures this year.

Latest News

Baltimore may become only the sixth city to "ban the box" to prevent companies from asking prospective employees about their criminal background early on in the application process.

Latest News

Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander explains why he wants to see tighter controls of campaign contributions and lobbyist gifts.

Politics & Elections

The 32-year-old secretary of state wants to make Missouri’s ethics laws, which are currently among the nation’s weakest, some of the strongest.

Politics & Elections

Recent political battles have highlighted the decades-old divide between urban and rural areas, making groups that occupy a middle ground more necessary than ever.

Health & Human Services

A Baltimore program that requires participants to use their government rental aid in low-poverty, mostly white suburbs sheds light on how government can implement housing vouchers more effectively.

Latest News

With the help of a first-place award from a national public policy contest, a team of graduate students plans to increase breastfeeding rates in New York City.

Urban

There's a growing trend of teaching young people (especially those from demographic groups that historically haven’t embraced biking) how to repair and ride bikes.

Latest News

Most Americans enjoy their public libraries and use them frequently, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center.

Infrastructure & Environment

A new report by Smart Growth America charges that states are spending too much on new roads while existing infrastructure deteriorates.

Politics & Elections

A new report details state legislation that impacted the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. While much of the report strikes a hopeful note, it also anticipates more political battles ahead.

Latest News

Here’s a rundown of the proposals that would most affect states and localities and how stakeholders reacted to the president's budget.

Infrastructure & Environment

A new survey shows how cities used money from the 2009 stimulus package to invest in energy efficient infrastructure.

Latest News

Some cities are using government-issued prepaid cards to fight poverty and increase public safety. New Haven, Conn., is using them to stimulate the local economy. Should other cities do the same?

Finance

Wage hikes have become the highest-profile antipoverty proposals in states and localities. But some advocates say boosting the Earned Income Tax Credit would be better for the working poor.

Infrastructure & Environment

Frustrated by government inaction, citizens in cities across the country are taking traffic problems into their own hands. But the cities aren't always thankful.

Health & Human Services

The LGBT population makes up a disproportionate share of homeless youth, so the District wants to make its shelters safer and more accommodating for them.

Latest News

Governors used their annual speeches to introduce proposals on education, pension reform, raising the minimum wage and more.

Latest News

A new report details transportation policies on college campuses that could help municipalities promote public transit, biking and car-sharing services.

Health & Human Services

A new report details which states are enacting policies aimed at helping low-income Americans become more financially secure and whether those policies translate into change.

FedWatch

Officials in Salt Lake City say that by the end of this month, they will have zero chronically homeless veterans.

Latest News

Two New Jersey cities decided to join the handful of cities across the country that require employers to offer paid-sick time. We spoke with the mayor of Jersey City about the issue.

Latest News

After bills to raise the federal minimum wage stalled in Congress last year, Obama asked state and local officials to raise the minimum wage in their jurisdictions.

Management & Labor

Instead of looking for better results through data analytics, new technology or paid consultants, Denver looks to its own employees for simple, straightforward reforms.

Health & Human Services

Gov. Jan Brewer abolished the child protective services division in her state in the hopes of creating an independent agency that reports directly to her -- something only 10 other states have done.

Latest News

Peggy Grover made history in January when Idaho Gov. Butch Otter appointed her as the first woman to serve on the state's potato commission.

Health & Human Services

After Phoenix used competition to effectively eliminate veteran homelessness, Chris Coleman, mayor of St. Paul, Minn., will challenge towns in Iowa and Ohio to eliminate veteran homelessness by 2015.

Latest News

The state's Yellow Dot program allows counties, cities and towns to offer car decals that tell emergency responders that critical health information is stored in the motorist's glove compartment.

Health & Human Services

Under Obamacare now, undocumented immigrants and children who are legally present under Obama’s Deferred Action program are ineligible for Medicare, non-emergency Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Latest News

As states work to comply with new federal welfare rules that restrict recipients from withdrawing cash benefits from liquor stores, reports released by Maine's Department of Health and Human Services show some doing just that.

Health & Human Services

A key part of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio's proposal is handing over funds and discretion to states.

Health & Human Services

Last year, at least 15 states sought to help the working poor by building upon the federal Earned Income Tax Credit.

Management & Labor

State and local governments that look to raise the minimum wage may have to boost their own workers' pay first.

Health & Human Services

Medicaid enrollment assisters in Maryland are finding ways to sign up homeless people for public health insurance despite huge technical problems.

Politics & Elections

Plus six trending issues that could be big this year.

Politics & Elections

Governors only succeed about half the time in passing legislative proposals they push for in their annual address.

Management & Labor

For a second and final time, the District of Columbia City Council voted unanimously to increase the minimum wage.

Health & Human Services

Legislators in Montgomery and Prince George's counties teamed up with the District of Columbia to raise the region's minimum wage. To do so required some compromise and trust in one another. This is how it happened.

Politics & Elections

A new bill would make D.C. join the handful of municipalities that give legal permanent residents who are not U.S. citizens the right to vote in local elections. So far, more than a quarter of the Council supports the measure.

Public Safety & Justice

A report on the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., digs into the shooter's history of mental illness. Nothing suggests the state's new guards against arming the mentally ill would have stopped the incident.

Health & Human Services

The new data comes at a time when Congress is considering deep cuts to the program in the farm bill.

Politics & Elections

He promised to rescue his troubled city as mayor. Did he deliver?

Latest News

It's unusual for a city to create its own tax credit, but New York has launched a pilot project that supplements the federal Earned Income Tax Credit to help lift low-income, single adult workers with no children out of poverty.

Latest News

Alabama state officials have agreed to a settlement that guts most of the controversial provisions in the toughest anti-immigration law in the country.

Latest News

In the nation's first local election with 16-year-olds voting, many teens took advantage of their new right to cast a ballot this week.

Latest News

Seattle voters rejected a ballot measure that would have made the city one of a handful that match private contributions with public funds in council races.

Latest News

A temporary boost in food stamp benefits expired on Nov. 1. Now hungry families must turn to food banks and other public programs for help.

Infrastructure & Environment

Oklahoma is one of only a few states in which one executive oversees both cornfields and oil fields.

Latest News

A ballot measure in Seattle is asking voters to make it one of a handful of cities that uses public funds to pay for city council races.

Latest News

Researchers updated the federal tool for measuring poverty and found more Californians can't afford a basic standard of living.

Finance

Connecticut may be the first state in the nation to purchase a pro tennis tournament. The deal has its skeptics, but Gov. Dan Malloy and other state officials say it will generate millions.

View

Planned affordable housing projects are experiencing shutdown-related delays, and deals may fall through if the federal government doesn't re-open soon.

View

Homeless veterans are notoriously difficult to count. Michigan found a way to test the accuracy of its numbers and deepen the state’s understanding of veteran homelessness today.

FedWatch

On the first day of the shutdown, state unemployment offices in the mid-Atlantic received an unusual number of applications from federal employees -- some getting more in one day than an entire year.

FedWatch

A national memorial service for fallen firefighters would lose access to a venue, and other needed facilities, if the federal government shutdown persists.

Urban

Ride-sharing services and the uncertainty about how or whether to regulate them like taxi cabs illustrate a world where “ownership” is a rapidly changing concept.

View

In 54 big cities and towns, at least a quarter of the population lived below the federal poverty line last year, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Health & Human Services

Facing smaller staffs and budgets, nearly every state or local agency serving the poor has struggled to do so in a timely manner. A new approach in Connecticut is getting social services to people cheaper and faster.

View

Local housing authorities are in dire straits. Without funds, some may have to eliminate rental assistance.

View

In the hopes of helping immigrants and the unbanked, the city was the nation's first to offer cards that act as an ID and a prepaid debit card. For a product targeted at low-income people, though, critics charge the cards are too expensive.

Public Safety & Justice

At least three states already allow and more are considering allowing localities to charge citizens for what can be dangerous and expensive rescues that occur when recklessness (like kayaking during a flood) is involved.

View

With federal support for social service programs dwindling, cities are looking for new ways to combat poverty.

View

State officials found dogs to be helpful therapeutic aids for counseling the surviving children of the mass school shooting. A new law may make Connecticut the first state with a formal animal-assisted therapy program for trauma victims.

$cms.websiteSection($article.contentTargets.get(0).destID).displayName

A month after a Supreme Court ruling freed jurisdictions from having to get federal approval to change their election laws, Attorney General Eric Holder announced a lawsuit to require Texas to do just that -- and "it will not be our last," he said.

View

Even big cities like L.A. don't have the capacity to collect energy data in a timely fashion. But a federal program helps the city’s building owners measure consumption.

View

Mayors talk a lot about lowering crime, according to a new study, but their words often carry no weight for creating change.

FedWatch

After gun control measures failed in Washington, states are taking matters into their own hands.

Politics & Elections

Somebody forgot to tell Mississippi’s attorney general that his party doesn’t win in the Deep South anymore.

Politics & Elections

Local government associations support the basic principles for immigration reform that are in the Senate bill.

FedWatch

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the key provision that provided a formula for deciding which states must ask for permission before making changes to its elections procedures.

View

The 2013 Kids Count data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation had some unexpected surprises.

View

A first-of-its-kind audit shows that about 190,000 firearms were reported to police as lost or missing in 2012. The data may inform current debates about whether people should have to report missing guns.

Public Safety & Justice

A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court blocks proof-of-citizenship requirements on federal voter registration forms, but leaves open the possibility of amending the form to include Arizona's stricter standard for verifying citizenship.

$cms.websiteSection($article.contentTargets.get(0).destID).displayName

Immigration reform could save states money and boost the economy, said former governors Haley Barbour and Jeb Bush at a recent forum.

View

After 30 municipalities passed laws requiring residents to tell police when their guns disappear, the legislature is reconsidering a statewide proposal that failed in 2008 to do just that.

View

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is suing the city of Nelson, Ga., over its new ordinance requiring residents to own firearms. The lawsuit's outcome could impact other places with gun mandates.

View

A former leader at the Office of Management and Budget hopes to use her new position to restore public confidence in government. Here's how she plans to do it.

Public Safety & Justice

Several high-profile government officials were killed this year. Standing in the public light has always had its risks, but they’re higher than ever as tracking an official’s whereabouts can be as simple as following their Twitter feed.

View

A pilot program, which could soon spread to other states, uses software to automatically verify a person's identity when they apply for Medicaid, welfare or food stamps.

View

Most state and local public officials favor universal background checks, however, support varies when it comes to other proposals to prevent gun violence.

View

San Francisco was the first city to create college savings accounts for every kindergartener in public school. Now other jurisdictions are contemplating a similar program.

View

Federal grants that aided police in the Boston Marathon bombing have shrunk in recent years and are at risk of further cuts under the president's reform proposal.

View

While some states have tightened gun restrictions since last year's mass shootings, many in the South and Midwest have passed new laws being celebrated by the National Rifle Association.

View

A program to lift people out of homelessness under President Obama's stimulus package yielded some encouraging early results, but lacks a long-term funding source. Some states are turning to welfare.

Politics & Elections

Most state lawmakers supplement their legislative job with one in the private sector. To reduce the conflicts of interest that inevitably arise from this, states are considering revising their ethics laws.

View

Should welfare benefits be tethered to a students' performance in school? One Tennessee legislator thinks so, but he's gotten national backlash for his proposal.

View

Despite some troubling economic conditions, chronic and veteran homelessness both dropped by more than 6 percent last year, according to a new report.

View

Inviting public comment early in the budget process, and doing so in multiple ways, is closely associated with better performance outcomes, according to a new study.

Public Safety & Justice

The administration has asked Congress to fund better record keeping for background checks and scientific research related to gun violence. For full coverage of the president's proposed budget, click here.

View

As granting in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants becomes more popular, some universities aren't waiting for the green light from state lawmakers to do it.

Politics & Elections

Most of Fayette County’s elected leaders are Tea Partiers, shedding light on how Tea Party reformers -- if given full control -- might shape public policy and overhaul Republican politics at the local level.

View

Eighty years after Congress repealed prohibition, some cities in Mississippi have decided to permit the sale of hard alcohol.

View

To win, they'll need to prove they have the most novel and effective way to help low-income New Yorkers.

View

South Dakota is the first state to explicitly allow school employees to carry guns. Critics fear accidents, while supporters view the law as a way to give districts more autonomy.

View

Money raised through visa applications to pay for high-skill worker training doesn't actually match geographic demand, according to a new report.

$cms.websiteSection($article.contentTargets.get(0).destID).displayName

When state lawmakers consider granting in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants, they tend to focus on strict university-related spending and tuition revenues. A new study finds that government and society would see a net economic benefit.

View

New Jersey passed a law to legalize sports betting at casinos and race tracks, which is already allowed in four states. But the feds and major sports leagues have been working to block it.

View

The price tag of tuition equity bills can save them or kill them. But figuring out those actual costs is anybody's guess.

Politics & Elections

Four state legislatures meet every other year instead of annually. Lawmakers in North Dakota and Texas want to leave biennial budgeting in the past.

Public Safety & Justice

The programs were found to be ineffective in reducing violent crime, but cities are revisiting -- and in some cases, revamping -- them in the wake of last year's mass shootings.

View

The U.S.-based firm Mathematica Policy Research will evaluate the success of programs aimed at helping the world's most vulnerable children.

View

Oregon may become the next state to grant in-state tuition to young illegal immigrants. We review the arguments for and against state tuition equity laws, which 13 states currently have and at least a dozen are considering.

View

Pennsylvania's attorney rejected a contract to privatize the state lottery. The governor is scrambling to find a solution. Local newspapers give their take on the controversy.

$cms.websiteSection($article.contentTargets.get(0).destID).displayName

North Carolina will become the ninth state to grant driver's licenses to young illegal immigrants, the state's transportation secretary announced Feb. 14.

Education

In his State of the Union address, the president laid out a second-term agenda that could result in more federal aid to state and local governments.

View

11 GOP governors have rejected the Medicaid expansion, but some are endorsing it -- even though they lambasted so-called "Obamacare."

View

A new study examines why some eligible immigrants choose not to seek naturalization. For some, it's because they don't want to be U.S. citizens.

Politics & Elections

In its first hearing of 2013 on immigration reform, Republicans on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee sparred with San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro over the merits of comprehensive immigration reform.

View

Pundits think the stars are aligned for comprehensive immigration reform.

Politics & Elections

A new survey to be published in The New England Journal of Medicine finds that most gun owners and non-gun owners support criminal-history background checks for all gun sales. Proposed bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines were less popular among gun owners.

$cms.websiteSection($article.contentTargets.get(0).destID).displayName

Some news commentary has escaped the binary of second amendment rights vs. a full-scale firearms ban.

Governing Blogs

Gun-control advocates are instead focusing on universal background checks and closing the private-sales loophole. Here's why.

Public Safety & Justice

Michael Nutter, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, voiced the group's support for Sen. Dianne Feinstein's bill to ban assault weapons.

Public Safety & Justice

An Urban Institute report describes how three police departments saved time and money by reducing the incidence of false alarms.

$cms.websiteSection($article.contentTargets.get(0).destID).displayName

Colorado is the latest state to publish guiding principles for federal immigration reform.

$cms.websiteSection($article.contentTargets.get(0).destID).displayName

Some state leaders aren’t waiting for Congress to address last year’s mass shootings in Newtown, Conn. and Aurora, Colo. So far five governors have alluded to gun violence in their annual state-of-the-state addresses.

$cms.websiteSection($article.contentTargets.get(0).destID).displayName

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has announced his legislative agenda for gun control includes a ban the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

$cms.websiteSection($article.contentTargets.get(0).destID).displayName

Only a handful of states require background checks on all firearm sales at gun shows, but some legislators are trying to change that this year.

$cms.websiteSection($article.contentTargets.get(0).destID).displayName

As part of a re-examination of Maryland state laws on firearms and the mentally ill, a task force has recommended that the state should require mental health professionals to contact police if an individual seems dangerous. The policy, if it becomes law, could lead to new gun seizures.

$cms.websiteSection($article.contentTargets.get(0).destID).displayName

Under last week’s fiscal cliff deal, states that depend on wind as part of their energy portfolio got the production tax credit renewed for another year.