News
New data from the Governors Highway Safety Association reports an additional 507 people were struck and killed by U.S. drivers in the first half of the year, continuing a decadelong trend of increasing pedestrian deaths.
The elevation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the nation’s highest court will not only make history but help shape America’s future, one case at a time.
The city has become the state’s most watched police department with both a federal monitor and strong civilian oversight. After a scandal exposed abuses, Oakland’s civilians have the power to overrule the police department.
From canals covered with solar panels to carbon capturing systems, there are five cost-effective, cutting-edge ideas that could reduce the effects of global warming.
A lot of people either don’t understand the chatroom-like platforms or don’t want to use them. Legal aid advocates also worry that the systems deepen imbalances of power between some parties.
An Assembly bill would reduce the definition of a work week down to 32 hours for companies with more than 500 employees and would require companies to pay overtime for time worked past four full days.
New Jersey’s largest city, having already replaced 23,000 lead service lines to improve drinking water, will upgrade its water treatment plant to enhance taste, boost capacity and keep water costs low.
The lawsuit, filed by Americans for Prosperity and the Advance Colorado Institute, argues that the new fees, which aim to raise funds for highways, transit systems and EV expansion, violate the state’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
Researchers found that state residents looked up social media platforms more than 9 million times per month, amounting to 867.87 searches per 1,000 residents. Facebook had 6.12 million average monthly searches.
Chris England, chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party, regarding the state’s legislative approval of a bill that will outlaw gender-affirming medications for transgender youth. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Wes Allen, claimed the bill was to protect minors because their minds were not yet fully developed to make these types of decisions. (Associated Press — April 8, 2022)
The number of titles that have been removed from book shelves in 86 school districts across the nation over the last nine months, most of which addressed racist or LGBTQ issues. More than two-thirds of the banned titles were fiction, but nonfiction titles, including child-appropriate biographies of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Duke Ellington and Nelson Mandela, and poetry collections have also been removed.
Often overshadowed by its neighbor Minneapolis, the other twin city has survived the pandemic and racial tensions and is ready to move on. Governing talked to Mayor Carter, early in his second term, about the city’s new momentum.
Electric buses, though costly, are beginning to make up more and more of the U.S. transit fleet. Here's a tool where you can look up how many electric buses a transit agency has, as well as how much it's driving them.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced that the state will respond to “unprecedented” illegal immigration by implementing additional inspections of vehicles crossing the border and will transport migrants directly to D.C.
The ballot initiative would tax residents making more than $2 million a year and use the funds to help the state curb wildfire, smoke and other air pollution. But some say the measure is overkill, given the state’s ambitious climate plans.
The city’s Planning Board voted unanimously to forward the Expanding Housing Affordability policy after changes were made to improve infrastructure impacts. But some believe the changes were also politically motivated.
There has been a rise in employee lawsuits demanding reimbursement for extra expenses triggered by remote work, such as Internet, printing or temperature regulation costs which could amount to as much as $5,000 a year.
Former President Barack Obama, regarding the allure of mis- and disinformation on the Internet and how it demonstrates the need for further regulation within the industry. (The Hill — April 6, 2022)
The annual revenue loss to the federal budget due to a climate change-related reduction in the country’s Gross Domestic Product, which would translate to a loss of about $2 trillion every year.
The increasing restrictiveness of copyright threatens our commons of creative work that anyone can borrow from and build on. The public domain needs a physical capital where it could be celebrated and encouraged.
Several states have proposed bills that would protect health-care professionals from punishment if they promote COVID-19 misinformation or unproven treatments. So far only North Dakota has approved similar legislation.
Without any documented potential crime or policies with instructions, officers collected and stored personal data and social media posts about demonstrators who participated in the 2020 racial justice protests.
A revised version of a $50 million spending bill has once again received approval from the state’s Legislature and will move to the governor’s desk for approval. The bill includes funding for police vehicles, courtroom upgrades and more.
Cavalier Johnson, the newly elected mayor of Milwaukee, commenting on why he has not had to straddle the problem of rising rates of violent crime with calls for police reform. Johnson pointed out that the city has hired 26 police officers, representing a diverse number of racial backgrounds, to help tackle a growing crime problem, including a record number of homicides last year. (Governing — April 6, 2022)
The number of times that the moratorium on federal student loan payments, interest and collections, has been extended, including the Biden administration’s most recent announcement that payments will be deferred until Aug. 31, 2022. Only about 500,000 federal student loan borrowers, out of more than 43 million, have been repaying their loans during the pause.
Reporters at nonprofit news outlets now make up 20 percent of the total capitol press corps. The total number of full-time reporters, however, continues to decline.
On Tuesday, Milwaukee voters elected Cavalier Johnson as their first new mayor in nearly 20 years. He harbors great hopes of rebuilding a city that suffers from a serious crime problem.
Too many programs place the burden of complexity on citizens, leaving those who need services the most struggling to access them. To include marginalized users, services should be designed for them.
The bill gives the state’s Bureau of Investigation authority to investigate potential infractions if they could have put the outcome of an election in doubt and allows the public to review ballots after elections are certified.
Despite medical risks and a department policy that requires officers to assist injured people, Los Angeles police officers will often wait several minutes before approaching a person they’ve just shot.
