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Cook County, Ill., Treasurer Maria Pappas, regarding a report that proposes scrapping or modifying the state’s Scavenger Sale law in favor of tax-cutting and other programs that would help homeowners of color accumulate generational wealth. The study blames the deterioration of many neighborhoods of color and the Black exodus from Chicago on redlining, which the Scavenger Sale law was supposed to be a solution to but it didn’t work. (Associated Press — July 19, 2022)
The degrees in Fahrenheit that Britain reached on Tuesday, July 19, which, if confirmed...
One county in Kentucky is typical. Formerly run exclusively by Democrats, it gave three-quarters of its vote to Donald Trump due to cultural and economic concerns.
State and local finance teams need game plans for two divergent outcomes of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to wring inflation out of the economy: a soft-landing slowdown or a more severe downturn.
In the end, we don’t know what kind of treatment might change the behavior of disturbed young people who believe society is out to get them.
A new report found that 60 percent of moves in California during the first year of the pandemic were families leaving the state. San Jose, San Francisco and Los Angeles all saw population decreases in the last two years.
Pandemic-related resignations and retirements have resulted in approximately 4,000 vacancies in budgeted city positions, which has caused complications for the delivery of basic city services.
Most of the remaining funds have been earmarked by cities, townships and counties for community projects to address broadband access, housing, workforce development and other needs. But some worry about the debt repayment.
The state’s trigger law has been blocked twice since the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Experts are concerned about how a court decision could impact the rest of the nation’s reproductive care.
The National Rifle Association, in a tweet on July 18, following a shooting at a shopping mall in Greenwood, Ind., over the weekend in which a “good Samaritan” man shot and killed the gunman. The good Samaritan was lawfully carrying a firearm. (Reuters — July 18, 2022)
The number of monkeypox cases that were reported in the U.S. in the week ending on...
State abortion bans clash with FDA approval of the pills, which have been deemed safe and effective since 2000 and were used by more than 3.7 million patients across the nation in 2018.
Our mass shootings confuse and dismay international observers. A journalist and scholar explains why Europeans cannot understand our inability to control gun violence and how that makes them uncomfortable with America today.
Since the 2020 election, 26 states have enacted, expanded or increased the severity of election-related criminal penalties; the vast majority of them were enacted in 18 Republican-controlled states.
The 52 top jurisdictions in this year's Digital Counties Survey from the Center for Digital Government are using new strategies for cybersecurity, workforce and digital services to move toward the future.
The enormous energy demands of Bitcoin mining are prompting some U.S. municipalities to impose moratoriums or outright bans on cryptocurrency facilities. Bitcoin mining activity, critics warn, is leading to electricity price hikes and a revival of dirtier sources of power.
Federal and state officials have enacted several laws within the past year to lower ozone levels along the state’s Front Range, but environmental experts say they aren’t sufficient to improve public health.
The semi-annual National Governors Association meeting has brought together 19 governors from across the nation to discuss less-contentious issues, such as computer science education and post-pandemic revival of the tourism industry.
The state’s Division of Child Protection and Permanency could operate without oversight from a federal judge for the first time in 20 years if one bill becomes law. But the legislation is stalled without a committee hearing date.
One percent of city workers were placed on leave this month for failing to comply with the city’s vaccine mandate and 1 in 6 public safety workers have requested exemption from the requirement.
Initiative 134 in the upcoming November election will ask residents to consider the use of ranked-choice voting as well as approval voting. But not all agree putting both voting systems on the same ballot is a good idea.
Melissa Robinson, a Democratic Kansas City, Mo., Council member, regarding the growing local debate about who should have control over the city’s police department. As it is now, the city does not have control of the police department, the police chief or how the department spends its tax dollars because of a 1930s-era law that gives that power to a five-member board whose members are mostly appointed by the governor. The local debate is coming to a head this summer and residents will vote in November on a constitutional amendment that would give the Legislature more control over the police department. (Associated Press — July 15, 2022)
The number of states that are suing the United States Postal Service over its plan to...
Expansion of its Medicaid health-care program was just the latest milestone in the social safety net for 2.3 million undocumented immigrants that includes driver’s licenses, tax breaks and pandemic relief.
Local government meetings may be open to all, but too often little attention is paid to them. Equipping everyday people to document what goes on is a way to make the most of these opportunities for civic participation.
After the county’s voting history was derailed by a federal lawsuit over the council’s redistricting process, there is now an unprecedented number of candidates running for County Council seats.
The tech district known as Cortex promised that its training programs would add economic vitality to the region. But as a September deadline approaches, it’s unclear how much support the city’s aldermen will offer.
Commissioner Adrian Garcia has said that his precinct’s pilot program, which paid participants $15 an hour to clean public spaces, was a success and will expand countywide with a $2.1 million budget.
Tops employee Rosalie Bishop, commenting on the reopening of the supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., two months after a white gunman killed 10 Black people in the store. (Associated Press — July 14, 2022)
The number of cities and towns across the nation that have installed the gunshot detection system....
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