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alan-greenblatt

Alan Greenblatt

Alan Greenblatt is a former editor of Governing. He is the co-author of a standard textbook on state and local governments. He previously worked as a reporter for NPR and CQ and has written about politics and culture for many other outlets, print and online. He can be reached at Alan.greenblatt@outlook.com and on X at @AlanGreenblatt.

Around the country, more than two-dozen top public health officials have left their jobs in recent weeks. If combating coronavirus wasn't stressful enough, several have received death threats or seen protests outside their homes.
There have been Black Lives Matter protests in more cities and towns than any set of demonstrations in U.S. history. Rather than traveling to the nearest big city, residents are determined to take a stand close to home.
Google and Apple paired up to produce software allowing health departments to create apps that trace how COVID-19 spreads. But most states aren't interested in the system and most Americans don't want tracing apps at all.
The pandemic has hit black people especially hard in terms of health and employment. Those conditions intensified long-simmering anger over police brutality and racism.
For weeks, public officials have warned against the dangers of mass gatherings. Now, some seem OK with protests. That's going to make it harder to convince people to avoid other activities.
Protests and violence around the country were triggered by a police-involved killing in Minneapolis, but are taking place against a backdrop of pandemic and economic collapse.
The president wants social media sites to be investigated for political bias. His new executive order is the strongest attack yet on a key free speech protection for online platforms, but it's not the only one.
In a typical recession, not many older workers lose their jobs. That's not the case this time. They face not only unemployment but the prospect of poverty, with pressures on 401(k)s and other retirement accounts.
States face revenue shortfalls exceeding 20 percent. Cities and counties have furloughed hundreds of thousands of workers. Already, public employment has fallen more than during the Great Recession.
It's not just angry protesters. Governors are finding their stay-at-home orders challenged in court and their authority increasingly under fire in legislatures and from local officials.