THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
Michael Madigan and Mike Miller are the most prominent among a host of legislators who held office for decades and have recently been ousted from leadership, retired or passed away.
Most states set a mandatory retirement age for their judges, typically 70. Does that still make sense in this day and time? The wisdom and stability of longevity are worth something.
Top state police officials have downloaded encryption applications on their state-issued phones which keep no record of deleted text messages. Some are concerned that these practices break the Freedom of Information Act.
The Legal Aid Society has denounced the district attorney’s use of Clearview AI, the surveillance database, and has demanded the D.A. disclose how his office has used and is using the technology.
THE FUTURE OF Community Design
The current bus terminal will be replaced with a commuter hub that will hold 40 percent more passengers and charging stations for an all-electric bus fleet. The project could cost up to $10 billion and will be completed by 2030.
States and localities tried for years to figure out ways to tax online sales, without success. The Supreme Court gave them a green light in 2018, which has proven key to surviving the pandemic financially.
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
Hispanics are almost 19 percent of the U.S. population, but account for only 6 percent of state legislators. Thirteen percent of these officials are Republicans.
A new book by a founding member of Boston’s Urban Mechanics calls for changing how government addresses its problems and provides an operating manual for generating new ideas and putting them into practice.
In November, officials estimated a budget shortfall of $86 million, but it turns out the actual numbers are much worse. Now the city must find areas to cut spending to adjust for the 10 percent gap.
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
Vaccines arrived more than a month before the state’s immunization system was ready, forcing health-care providers to create makeshift systems to record patient data that required hours of administrative work.
THE FUTURE OF What’s Happening Now
Distributed power remains critical in the face of governance crises and federal assaults on liberal democracy. States and localities provide a sturdy popular base for modeling better policy outcomes.
