A growing number of municipalities are using 'reverse 911' to alert residents in the event of an emergency.

It will take more than platitudes to save Amtrak. But good ideas are out there.

Among the biggest legal developments of the past decade is the U.S. Supreme Court's weakening of federal power in favor of states' rights. And no politician has taken greater tactical advantage of this new federalism than Eliot Spitzer, the attorney general of New York State.

It doesn't rank with Anwar Sadat's journey to Jerusalem, but it's close. The mayor of Dallas and four council members recently visited Fort Worth to ask for advice about reviving their downtown.

States are the level of government we go to because we don't expect the others to succeed.