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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.

Declining enrollment and poor completion rates raise concerns that underserved students and communities could be left behind. Gregory Haile, the president of Broward College, sees a way forward.
It’s especially hard to get low-income Americans living in multifamily buildings across the digital divide. But states and nonprofits are finding ways to do it.
Orange County, sixth largest in the country by population, is home to the world’s largest wastewater recycling facility. Here's the water district’s path to a 100 percent recycling rate.
As the rainy season begins for most of the country, a new report offers the first baseline assessment of the systems in place using green infrastructure to manage stormwater.
As the 53rd Earth Day approaches, leaders with a wide range of responsibilities describe big problems — and big possibilities — that lie ahead.
State law gives Andalusia Mayor Earl Johnson the right to work directly with private partners. For years, he’s been using this freedom to make the most of city resources.
Pandemic expansion of Medicaid benefits ended on March 31. A former Medicaid deputy director offers thoughts on what lies ahead.
The sheriff’s office in Washington County is tackling concerns about equity in policing by partnering with an advisory committee of Latino community members.
Millennial and Gen Z Americans will be the majority of the electorate in 2028. But predicting which party will benefit will be challenging. These young voters care more about policy than party, according to experts.
In a new report, the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute shows that civic infrastructure affects how long and how well we live.