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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.

Republican and Democratic legislators can be counted on pulling in opposite directions on ESG investing, police reform and LGBTQ issues, where the focus will be on transgender rights and school curriculum.
Online chatter and ongoing harassment suggest that security concerns will persist, if not increase, ahead of the next election cycle. Resources are being offered to help election officials cope with this new reality.
Restrictive codes can severely limit housing development, but a new survey of mayors finds that few take them into account in their plans to address homelessness.
Two deadly mass shootings in California have renewed calls for laws that can prevent such tragedies. A new report from RAND’s Gun Policy in America initiative looks at the measures best supported by research findings.
By undervaluing publicly owned assets, jurisdictions are missing out on enormous opportunities to help citizens and their communities. A newly launched incubator could change how public assets can be leveraged.
Historic federal investments aim to improve building efficiency standards. A new report highlights the states that could benefit the most. But updating the codes won’t be quick or easy, say experts.
State coffers are overflowing, but inflation could put a pinch on spending plans and tax cuts. The labor market remains tight just when the demand for more teachers is skyrocketing. And then there are the ongoing culture wars. Welcome to 2023.
The development of a COVID-19 vaccine was a triumph, but one that only had meaning if enough Americans were vaccinated. A new book tells the inside story of how that challenge was met.
Are community colleges prepared to train the workers a technology-based economy requires? Joseph Fuller of Harvard Business School talks about findings from a multiyear research project that finds they have far to go.
A new report from experts at NYU and Harvard law schools outlines the ways state attorneys general can protect communities and workers as the country builds a clean energy economy.