Property rights activists want local land-use cases thrown into federal court. Judges are starting to do it.

Long before John Street took over as Philadelphia's mayor this year, he understood that the city's Department of Human Services would be at the top of his list of problems.

On the far west side of Detroit, between the murky River Rouge and the suburb of Dearborn, sits a little neighborhood called Copper Canyon. It's a pleasant community of modest brick bungalows, manicured lawns and peaceful streets. It's also one of the few integrated neighborhoods remaining in the city.

An auditing team looking into the Chicago school system's technology operations had an interesting experience last summer: They were able to walk right into a new data center during normal business hours, without an escort and without being questioned, and were even able to get their hands on equipment and data.

Selling off assets. Farming out operations. That used to be the definition of privatization.