Estimating revenue is a task that trips up many state finance officials. West Virginia's Mark Muchow gets the numbers right every time.

If your community doesn't already have enough worries, here's one: You may be up against a celebrity gap. This is a particular problem for charities, which use movie stars, pop singers, athletic heroes, former presidents and big-time authors to draw donors to their fund-raising events. Clearly this isn't a problem in places such as Los Angeles or New York.

Somewhere in America, I suppose, there is a public official who believes unreservedly in devolution--believes that power, autonomy and flexibility should reside as far down in the governmental system as practically possible--and is willing to act on the basis of those beliefs, even at the expense of his own political authority.

California Localities Pilot Programs to Put Cleaner Cars on the Road.

State and local IT leaders are putting together new playbooks for ways to move IT into the revenue-stressed future.