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The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated $4.7 billion for plugging abandoned oil and gas wells, but new standards, a workforce shortage and less visible leaks may mean that the money will only make a small dent in fixing the problem.
In the 2022 fiscal year, the school district sponsored 232 workers on H-1B or specialty occupation visas, which is nearly four times greater than Houston’s 60 workers, the second-highest total in the U.S.
The artificial intelligence will connect business owners and entrepreneurs with information from 2,000 city web pages. The launch is part of an effort to better incorporate new technology into everyday government.
International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol, regarding the electric grid’s failure to keep pace with the rapid growth of clean energy technologies. The situation could slow renewable energy rollouts and limit efforts to reduce climate change. The IEA estimated that to achieve climate goals set by the 2015 Paris climate accords, the world’s governments would need to add or refurbish 50 million miles of power lines by 2040, which is equal to the existing global grid, in less than just two decades. (Associated Press — Oct. 16, 2023)
Vulnerable homeowners need financial help when flood, fire or dangerous winds strike. But whose job is it to provide the money?
The annual Medicare-plus advertising blitz now under way should remind us that smarter post-employment benefit designs for state and local employees are long overdue.
Pandemic-era federal money is gone, yet problems remain.
Next month, residents will cast ballots on 14 proposed changes to the state Constitution that could impact infrastructure, recreation and higher education. Early voting begins on Oct. 23.
The nation’s agriculture industry is pushing for better protections for crops and the people who grow them against a changing climate, like the unprecedented drought that hit Illinois this summer.
There have been 33 school shootings in 2023 that resulted in injuries or deaths. Many school officials are using COVID-19 funds to purchase security equipment. But the tools may not always be as beneficial as they seem.
A new law signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul last month prohibits employers from accessing a worker’s or applicant’s private social media accounts, which advocates claim is a win for worker privacy.
Kathy Bernier, former Wisconsin state senator and state director of the nonpartisan election nonprofit group, Keep Our Republic, regarding the organization’s efforts to inform people about the election process and how voting equipment is tested. Election officials and democracy groups across the state have struggled to combat the doubts that many still have about the fairness of elections, due to online misinformation and far-right figures. (Associated Press — Oct. 16, 2023)
A new report, using new, more granular data sets, compares the recovery of 26 downtowns. Those with a mix of land uses, jobs and residents are faring the best, it says.
People in struggling communities can benefit from the work-from-home phenomenon. But they need some mentoring to do it. Some innovative startups are getting them there.
The regional hubs will help replace fossil fuels and will also create more than $40 billion in private investment along with thousands of new jobs. Nearly every state has joined at least one proposed hub.
More than half of the city’s District H population speaks Spanish at home and 1 in 3 Houstonians speak Spanish at home. The City Council District H candidates considered redesigning the website for increased accessibility.
To be eligible for the $800,000 annual environmental grant program, a project must demonstrate how it can serve a priority community. The funds for the program became available through a reconfiguration of the county’s sales tax.
A report found that 63,000 residents aged 14 to 26 have either failed to graduate high school or have graduated but are not currently employed or enrolled in further education. An additional 56,000 are at risk of not graduating high school.
Lowndes County, Ala., native and community organizer Stephanie Wallace, regarding the Civil Rights Act complaint that alleges racial discrimination in the way Alabama wastewater infrastructure was implemented. For many residents in the county, they have on-site septic tanks for sewage disposal, but those tanks are failing which causes sewage to back up. Nearly 10,000 people live in Lowndes County, about 73 percent of whom are Black and 28 percent live in poverty. (NPR — Oct. 13, 2023)
Despite some early missteps, the public management practice is here to stay. More cities are working on collaborative efforts with one another, national organizations and researchers to shape their future policies.
Two months after wildfires tore across the Hawaiian island, it remains unclear whether survivors will receive unemployment payments if they’re too traumatized to work. The August wildfires killed 98 people and destroyed 2,200 structures.
The new map analyzes more than 70,000 tracts across the nation and illustrates what conditions shape a person’s level of vulnerability, including factors such as health, socioeconomic impact, environment, weather events, infrastructure and more.
Between May 1 and Sept. 17, over 2,000 vehicles were reported stolen to the city’s police department and, as of Sept. 26, the agency had ticketed 411 of those cars while they were still officially considered stolen.
Ellen Rosenblum has joined a coalition of 23 other attorneys general that is urging the U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold the education department’s rule for protecting students from schools’ predatory behaviors.
Natalie Wilson, co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation, regarding California’s new statewide alert system to help locate and bring attention to missing Black children and young Black women, becoming the first in the nation to do so. The Ebony Alert system will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024. While Black people make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, nearly 40 percent of missing persons cases are people of color. (NPR — Oct. 11, 2023)
A poll found that 63 percent of Americans agree that the two main political parties do "such a poor job" of representing the public that a third party is needed. Meanwhile, a Republican's home state advantage and demanding input into redistricting.
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