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Carl Smith

Senior Staff Writer

Carl Smith is a senior staff writer for Governing and covers a broad range of issues affecting states and localities. For the past 30 years, Carl has written about education and the environment for peer-reviewed papers, magazines and online publications, with a special focus on conservation and sustainability. He has guest-edited special issues of the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health focused on the Precautionary Principle and the human rights dimensions of environmental degradation. Carl attended the University of Texas and the University of Georgia. He can be reached at carl.smith@governing.com or on Twitter at @governingwriter.

Public support for the LGBTQ+ community has grown steadily for decades. But some state legislators are pushing back against changing attitudes.
A new report sheds light on mistakes, data gaps and dysfunctional organizational cultures that contributed to America suffering more loss of life than any other country in the world.
The business community is rallying around civic education. It’s partly a matter of civic duty and partly a matter of survival — and maybe economic prosperity.
An Indiana law establishing a middle school civic education requirement is the latest step in a multisector partnership that aims to help students get a better idea of what democracy is all about.
Data exchange between states, hospitals and the CDC increased temporarily during the pandemic. The public health community wants this to mark the turning point in achieving a permanent national system.
In a legislative first, the Land of Enchantment has committed to an earth-bound scent.
The Mississippi city's Mayor Toby Barker recalls the highs and lows of navigating COVID-19's delta and omicron waves.
Election administrators are still digging out from the mountains of misinformation from the 2020 election cycle. Bad actors are using AI to ramp up for the next one. Can AI help level the playing field for the good guys?
The declaration that the COVID-19 public health emergency is over doesn’t mean the end of its impact, or of the virus itself. What comes now?
A new report from RAND Corporation argues that progress against opioid drug abuse and addiction is best understood — and addressed — in the context of everything that comes with it through an ecosystem view.