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The National League of Cities has created a task force to make presidential candidates aware of local concerns — and to forge relationships with officials who'll move from the campaign into the next administration.
Future in Context
A recap of 2023's pivotal trends in gov tech: transportation transitions, cybersecurity challenges and strides in digital inclusivity.
The City Council voted unanimously to equip about 810 sworn police officers with body cameras next year, making a summertime pilot program permanent. However only 297 of the patrol officers will be required to wear them routinely.
A quarter mile of the road on 14th Street in the city’s downtown area will have the capability to charge electric vehicles that are equipped for such technology. The development will cost $1.9 million.
An audit of the county’s new system found lax oversight of raises and more than $3 million in overpayments to employees, which could take decades to fully reimburse.
Traumatic injury is the top killer of children and adults under the age of 45, claiming a life approximately every three-and-a-half minutes. Five states in the West have no Level I trauma centers; three other states have just one or two.
Kurt Hoffman, a Sarasota County, Fla., sheriff, regarding the police’s limited abilities to stop crime from happening due to their high visibility. Records show that since the beginning of 2021, there have been 33 cases in which a concealed handgun permit holder stopped what appeared to be a mass murder in the making. (The Hill — Nov. 30, 2023)
While moderate and liberal candidates did well in recent school board elections nationwide, experts say it's too soon to call these results a permanent change to extreme partisanship in school board politics.
Several teachers have raised questions about the effectiveness of the strike. The longtime chair of the Portland Association of Teachers’ bargaining team resigned amid the fallout.
Data shows that about 285,000 women live in contraceptive deserts across the state, areas where contraceptive services don’t meet the needs of the public. The state also has one of the highest rates of pregnancies that are unwanted or wanted later.
The city’s Board of Supervisors voted to terminate the Homelessness and Behavioral Health Select Committee on Tuesday after deeming it had been an experiment that had “run its course.”
When Arkansas expanded Medicaid in 2014, it used expansion dollars to buy private insurance for uninsured residents, making thousands more eligible for coverage. Georgia is considering a similar idea as a way to roll back hospital regulations.
On Monday, Nov. 27, the governor’s office conceded that it lacked the votes to push ahead its “Clean Cars” regulations. Now the governor must find another way to achieve his goal of phasing out new gas-powered cars by 2035.
Sally Curtin, a statistician at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, regarding a new report she authored that found that at least 49,449 people died from suicide last year in the U.S., a 3 percent increase from the year prior. The report is based on provisional data, so Curtin expects the final number to actually be higher than the current amount. (NPR — Nov. 29, 2023)
For years, a conservation-focused legal foundation and a nonprofit housing financier have partnered with local governments, investors, researchers and developers to lay the foundation for healthy neighborhoods.
There are no easy solutions to America’s growing immigration challenges, but Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and New York Mayor Eric Adams should be recognized for the decisive action they have taken.
The 4-3 ruling approved the new state House and Senate maps and will enact them through 2030, dismissing lawsuits that claimed the new maps were illegally gerrymandered.
As the city approaches a population of 8 million, transportation leaders will need to find ways to improve movement across the region before the growth becomes unsustainable. Leaders with more diverse backgrounds may help with the solution.
The summer of 2023 was the hottest on record globally as was the 12-month period ending Oct. 31. Nationally, 1,784 people have died from heat-related causes so far this year, almost double the amount in 2018.
Last fall, the county’s ridership averaged around 18,000 a month; now, it’s nearly at 30,000 monthly riders. The Call N’ Ride program use, which offers free transit, has increased 222 percent over the last year.
Sarah Van Wallaghen, executive director of the state Republican Party, regarding Mac Brown’s decision to step down as chairman of the Kentucky Republican Party after eight years. Wallaghen labeled Brown as among the most influential chairmen to ever lead the Kentucky GOP. (Associated Press — Nov. 28, 2023)
Adie Tomer, a senior fellow at Brookings Metro, says implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is on track. But it will take years to understand its economic impact.
The warrior mentality is perpetuated from generation to generation. An ex-cop’s thoughtful new book suggests pathways for reform.
Office workers’ exodus should be countered with wiser state and federal tax incentives, and there’s a novel municipal bond angle to promote. But cities themselves must step up to stem the urban maladies that feed public fears.
A new report analyzes how artificial technology could be used in state government without risking data privacy, misinformation, equity or bias. Gov. Gavin Newsom called the report an important first step.
The fifth National Climate Assessment found that the Midwest region faces threats caused by rising temperatures, drought and extreme precipitation. Since 1980, the region has incurred over $49 billion in economic damage due to flooding.
Since the end of the pandemic-era continuous Medicaid renewals, 1.4 million Texans have been dropped from the federal health insurance program and 58 percent of them have been children.
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