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House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, on the Legislature’s final approval of a proposal to restore the language requiring Maine to honor treaties the state inherited from Massachusetts when it became its own state more than 200 years ago. Ross claims the language restoration would improve transparency and highlight the state’s debts to Native American tribes. The voters will have the ultimate say as to whether the state restores the long-removed language or not; the date of the referendum has not yet been set. (Associated Press — July 24, 2023)
Everything from fatal overdoses to the number of people suffering from severe depression has been growing at alarming rates. Counties have been providing services but insist that Washington must do more.
Inflation rates are coming down, but state and local labor costs will be sticky, as will public-employee health-care expenses. Overall, though, it’s a better outlook for pension funding and astute government cash managers.
A student’s transfer to a four-year institution is a benchmark for success among community colleges. But the numbers are low and disparities persist across the system, especially between colleges in rural areas and those in wealthy suburbs.
It’s a myth that the summer break is a relic of our agricultural past, and today’s summer school has a negative taint. It needs to be reimagined.
As climate change has brought on an increase in heat waves, a growing number of residents across the state have been affected by heat-related illness and death.
The national share of employed women in their prime working age hit 75.3 percent in June, the highest recorded rate since the U.S. Census Bureau began reporting numbers in 1948.
If the new Highland Springs school does not pass its final school facilities inspection, school officials will need to enact their contingency plan for their first week of school, requiring students to attend via e-learning. Classes begin on Tuesday.
Gerrit Marshall, a retired television broadcast engineer from Madison, Wisc., regarding his winning the Hemingway Look-Alike Contest in Key West, Fla., on his 68th birthday. The city’s annual Hemingway Days celebration ended on Sunday, July 23, and the Look-Alike Contest was held at Sloppy Joe’s Bar, a frequent hangout of Ernest Hemingway when he lived in Key West during the 1930s. Marshall won the competition over nearly 140 other entrants; it was his 11th attempt at the contest. (NPR — July 24, 2023)
The state’s governor is trying to make policy for many generations from now. It’s hard enough to get it right for even a decade or two. How’s your flying car working out?
Ted Papenfuss, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, commenting on a rare legless lizard known as the Temblor, which can be found in desert scrub and grassland within Kern and Fresno Counties in California. The vast majority of the lizard’s range is open to, or already contains, oil and gas development. But a proposal to list the lizard as endangered could change the trajectory of the region. (Sierra Club — July 21, 2023)
Doctors are testing whether ChatGPT and predictive software can help cut down on tedious tasks and improve decision-making. One example includes answering the tidal wave of emails that physicians receive daily.
Each year, 15 billion gallons of untreated sewage and rainwater flood the city's waterways during storms. The water department has been under order by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean up the system.
The 40 COVID-19 deaths reported in Minnesota in June make up the lowest monthly total since March 2020. The state's overall toll is 14,896 — with seniors accounting for 83 percent of the deaths.
The death rate in the state’s prisons increased 34.6 percent from 2018 to 2022, which saw 135 deaths. This year is surpassing 2022’s rate even as the pandemic has waned and physical mail was stopped last year.
Gov. Greg Gianforte vetoed a bill would have moved more than 200 people off waiting lists for government-supported care and saved the state money by accessing more federal Medicaid money to cover their costs.
What can Phoenix, the hottest large city in the country, teach local governments about managing extreme heat?
Before Jane Gilbert took on the job for Miami-Dade County, no city in the world had a chief heat officer. What can others learn from the work she’s doing?
Experts are calling for federal regulators to implement standards to protect outdoor workers from worsening air quality, such as monitoring air pollution and providing protective equipment if necessary.
The state’s depleted aquifers received 3.8 million acre-feet of water, more water than 11 million California households will use annually. But reaching sustainability will still take more water and stronger conservation efforts.
A new state law that goes into effect in September blocks city, county, school district and other authorities from limiting or banning the use, sale or lease of an engine based on its fuel source.
Joe Moody, a member of the Texas House, regarding the outstanding heat that many Texas inmates have to endure with little to no reprieve from air conditioners. Data shows that 68 of the state’s Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prisons lacked air conditioning and averaged well over 85 degrees, which would be considered a safety violation for a county jail that mandates temperatures remain below 85 degrees. Between June 1 and July 13, 78 inmates have died in the TDCJ prisons. Moody has proposed legislation to air condition state prisons for years, the most recent iteration failed in the last session. (TPR — July 19, 2023)
There are signs that Gov. Tate Reeves' reelection is in trouble, but he has an outstanding track record. Meanwhile, turning New Jersey red and a failure to comply.
Downtown activity in Utah's capital city is far greater than it was even before the pandemic, according to some reports. While parts of the local economy still struggle, tourism has roared back.
As the presidential campaign gets underway, some Republicans are pledging to wield federal power to nationalize their states’ policies. It’s an approach that seems at odds with the party’s history.
The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada has reported 166 passenger-on-passenger and 35 passenger-on-driver assaults in the fiscal year that ended last month.
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