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They make up the smallest percentage of workers in state and local government. Despite being sought after, efforts to hire and retain them aren’t increasing those numbers.
Three state-level officials demonstrate the characteristics of good governance, without the chaos playing out in the nation’s capital.
The state grid operator ERCOT had 18,364 megawatts of solar power capacity on its electric grid at the end of September, which is enough to power almost 3.7 million homes during peak demand periods.
A coalition of six nonpartisan voting rights groups sent a letter to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber calling upon her office to monitor the elections in Shasta County due to concerns about safety and misinformation.
A working group formed three months ago to create possible emergency shelter options for the city’s unhoused population during the days of the winter months. A storm rolled across Montana this week and the group still has no plans.
Minnesota DFL Party Chair Ken Martin, regarding U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips’ plans to run for president in next year’s election as a Democratic challenger to Joe Biden. As of Thursday, Oct. 26, Phillips had not yet formally announced his candidacy. (MPR News — Oct. 26, 2023)
Election officials brace for surge in AI-generated misinformation, and lawmakers face complex challenges in containing it.
Fifty years ago, Atlanta’s Maynard Jackson was elected as the first Black mayor of a major city in the Deep South. His legacy is one that today’s mayors and other public officials would serve themselves well to know about.
The state’s recycling rate was just 19 percent in 2019 and 21 percent currently, which is still far below the nation’s average at 34 percent. Michigan could reuse or compost 38 percent of its waste stream.
A survey found that 69 percent of voters were in favor of requiring school districts to place an armed security officer in every school; 73 percent believe it would make schools safer.
The state remains among the lowest in both workforce participation rate and median family income, as it has been for decades.
The Rapid 227 will allow riders to commute between the Otay Mesa border crossing and a variety of communities across the city. The express route will service every 15 minutes during commute hours and only has 10 stops.
U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones, in his 516-page ruling that Georgia’s congressional and state legislative districts must be redrawn before the 2024 election for violating the federal Voting Rights Act and diluting the voting power of Black voters. Jones ordered state lawmakers to redraw the maps by Dec. 8. (NPR — Oct. 26, 2023)
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear looks more likely than not to win re-election. Meanwhile, Louisiana Democrats failed to field candidates in many districts for state House and Senate, Oklahoma's Republican attorney general files a lawsuit to block a publicly funded religious charter school and more.
A new report from the Urban Institute tracks how a year of infrastructure and housing grants align with federal priorities for equitable spending.
Future in Context
From inhaler watches to redesigned crutches: How a unique summer program in Birmingham is pushing boundaries in STEM education.
User fees in particular have the potential to fund a variety of programs, from traditional services like disease intervention to new initiatives dealing with social determinants of health, such as housing and food insecurity.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s station is still in the design phase, but city officials are hopeful that the multimodal transportation hub will help to revitalize the struggling downtown neighborhoods.
Proposed legislation would make it mandatory for students to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form, which is necessary to secure federal grants, work-study jobs and loans, to graduate high school.
The North Carolina governor issued an executive order on Tuesday that will expand the state’s Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board to 20 members, establish new actions for the cabinet agencies and set up a new website.
Robert Jones, CEO and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonpartisan group that conducts research on the intersection of politics, culture and religion, regarding a new survey that found that 23 percent of Americans agree that “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.” The report also found that three-quarters of Americans agreed that the nation’s democracy is at risk in the 2024 presidential election. (NPR — Oct. 25, 2023)
The number of applications the Georgia Department of Community Affairs received for...
Proposition 4 could usher in a bevy of property tax changes for homeowners and businesses. If passed, the measure includes using $12.7 billion from a record state budget surplus to lower school district taxes. Unanswered is the proposition’s affordability.
It just might. The state’s new election system, combining nonpartisan primaries and instant-runoff general election voting, makes elections more competitive and encourages cooperative governance.
If approved, the new program would offer small, no-interest loans to civilian federal employees who work in Maryland but are not otherwise eligible for unemployment insurance payments.
If the City Council approves, Mayor Mike Johnston’s budget will allocate hundreds of millions more dollars than other cities around the state. Advocates are supportive of Johnston’s “housing first” approach.
Many of the county’s residents commute into San Antonio for work and are directly impacted by the road and highway conditions. County commissioners are considering expanding the Metro planning board by one seat.
The state’s new law will take effect in 2027 and will prohibit the manufacture and distribution of brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben and red dye No. 3, which are common in processed foods and candy.
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