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Technical fixes can help, but there are other ways governments can make public service more attractive. Here are four promising approaches.
The Legislature has overridden eight out of 15 vetoed bills in the current session, including a ban on transgender athletes in girls sports and additional work rules for older recipients of food assistance.
The state is set to become the first in the nation to prohibit the use of natural gas and other fossil fuels in most new buildings, starting on Dec. 31, 2025. Some exempt buildings are hospitals and commercial food establishments.
While the state’s two proposed bills targeting libraries and librarians failed, the effort to address what books libraries may stock and lend will appear in the next legislative session. Many of these bans target LGBTQ+ themes.
A lawsuit forced the EPA to close a loophole that exposes communities near coal plants and other facilities to harmful pollutants. Georgia is finally submitting a plan to fix the issue, six years after it was due.
Barbara Jordan, a 53-year-old resident of Hutchinson, Kan., regarding the diminishing trust in the media’s ability to report the news fairly and accurately. A new poll found that nearly 75 percent of U.S. adults blame the media for increasing political polarization across the nation. (Associated Press — May 1, 2023)
The Transportation Modernization Act will bring “choice lanes” to the state for the first time. Dubbed by some as "Lexus lanes," they will let drivers pay to bypass traffic, but aren’t likely to reduce congestion overall.
In attempting to regulate use of social media by young people, the state has pushed the idea the furthest, and other states may follow its lead. Will it work? And will it survive the inevitable legal challenges?
The fifth president is best known for the doctrine named for him that helped keep European powers from further meddling in the New World. And given the political environment today, you would be excused for being envious of his Era of Good Feeling.
The city of Los Angeles uses a scoring system for subsidized housing gives Black and Latino people experiencing homelessness lower priority scores.
A boom is coming in transmission line construction. But legislatures in a dozen states, under pressure from utilites, have passed “right of first refusal” laws that are raising concerns about higher energy costs for consumers.
The California county’s Board of Supervisors meeting was full of angry attacks, recall threats and widespread disagreement as leaders must now figure out how to manage elections after deciding to sever its relationship with Dominion Voting Systems.
The New York governor’s budget proposal includes changes to the state’s bail laws and a continued effort to crack down on gun violence, but her previous housing plan was left out.
Officially, a victims assistance officer will help coordinate logistics and reimbursements in the wake of a homicide. But families say that rarely happens so they often take it upon themselves to investigate the crime.
The legislative package is the nation’s first-of-its-kind and will eventually require train companies to swap out their dirtiest locomotives for zero-emission models. It will also limit train idling to no more than 30 minutes.
Andy Nelson, the Democratic Party chair in Missoula County, Mont., regarding the protests in the gallery of the Montana state House who chanted “Let her speak,” regarding the silence of state Rep. Zooey Zephyr on Monday, April 24. Seven people were arrested for trespassing on Monday, though the demonstration was free of violence or damage. Republican lawmakers have made comparisons to the April 24 protest with the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. (Associated Press — April 28, 2023)
A succession of mayors have tried and failed to eradicate the city’s rodent population. Now, Eric Adams has appointed Kathleen Corradi, a former schoolteacher and sustainability expert, to tackle the city's epic rat problem.
Orange County, sixth largest in the country by population, is home to the world’s largest wastewater recycling facility. Here's the water district’s path to a 100 percent recycling rate.
What the Walt Disney Company accused Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other offiicals of orchestrating against them when they filed a lawsuit.
The last two state budgets included full payments to the pension fund of roughly $7 billion each year, the first time that’s been done in a quarter century. The Democratic governor’s latest budget proposal includes another full payment of $7.1 billion.
Children with disabilities are central to a fierce debate in the state legislature over any school voucher program. Roughly 13 percent of Texas public school students receive special education services.
More than 6,000 migrants have come to the city since last fall, when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began sending busloads of migrants to Chicago to protest the influx in his state.
In our effort to make children’s play areas safe, we have taken some of the fun out of them. That's not the case in Europe, where the playgrounds are more adventurous and challenging.
An after-action analysis of the nation’s pandemic response would go a long way toward better preparing us for the public health challenges and other emergencies to come.
Two centerpieces of Justin Bibb’s proposal are a $50 million plan to attract employers back to the city and a $15 million investment in the city’s southeast side. The City Council will review the plan in the coming days.
The GOP-controlled Legislature has promised to try and override many of Kelly’s vetoes, which cover a variety of issues including transgender rights and income tax rates. The governor sees her re-election as a mandate to check legislative excesses.
The Texas Department of Agriculture’s new dress code policy, which will apply to all employees of the department, including interns and contractors. The ACLU says that the new policy violates federal law. (NPR — April 25, 2023)
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