When Mayor Milton Milan was convicted in December on corruption charges, it seemed that the so-called "Curse of Camden" had dropped this dysfunctional New Jersey city to a new low. Milan was the third mayor in 20 years to plead guilty to felony charges, and his fall came as the state of New Jersey, which already supervises some of the city's finances, was pressing for legislation to assume complete control of city operations. But the Camden City Council earned at least a temporary reprieve by making an unorthodox choice as Milan's replacement.

A few minutes into the movie "Traffic," in a Washington, D.C., cocktail party scene, an amiable red-haired man offers some wisdom about the nation's drug problem: "You'll never solve this on the supply side."

This year's crop of new governors faced a transition task that their predecessors did not. Incoming administrations have always had to change names on office doors and update highway welcome signs. This time, administration employees also had to update state Web sites to reflect the change in administration.

States need a more careful process of estimating the future financial impact of legislation before legislators pass it.

The emergence of the Internet and other forms of telecommunications is likely to result in major changes in land use.