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The national median sale price for an existing home in 2021, a 17 percent increase from the year prior. The typical American home gained $50,200 in value last year.
The practice has become a focus of housing reform but eliminating it might not make much difference if other regulations aren’t considered.
A report from the state’s Department of Environmental Protection found that 27,886 miles of streams were impaired in one or more ways, a 9 percent increase from 2020. Philadelphia’s water is among the state’s worst.
Prior to the pandemic, the state had more people working from home and better Internet access than average, but as remote work becomes increasingly permanent, workers continue to migrate and impact local communities.
Deputies from the Alabama county’s sheriff’s office often fasten monitors on about 25 people weekly and many of those haven’t been convicted of anything. Some say the monitors are financially and emotionally burdensome.
James Slattery, senior staff attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, regarding the new ID requirements for vote-by-mail ballot applications in Texas that went into effect last month which have caused about 50 percent of those applications to be rejected in several counties. Senate Bill 1 requires that voters must now include either a partial Social Security number or a driver’s license number on their application for mail-in ballots and the number must match their voter registration. But many people don’t remember what form of ID is tied to their voter registration. (NPR — Jan. 20, 2022)
President Joe Biden’s approval rating after one year in office. Only 28 percent of Americans, just 48 percent of Democrats, want Biden to run for re-election in 2024.
Thousands of teachers are staying home for a week or more at a time. Desperate states are raising pay, changing certification standards and even sending in the National Guard.
Citizen volunteers rescue a stormwater project gone awry in the historic town of Frederick.
As billions for infrastructure flow from Washington, moving away from dependence on the automobile will require new cooperation between federal grantmakers and state and local recipients. Are carless cities in our future?
The bill would require private companies to allow medical, religious and “natural immunity” exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine and it would allow unvaccinated employees to instead get weekly testing.
Public health, social work and public works employees under SEIU Local 521 will walk off the job on Jan. 25 in response to poor-faith bargaining. Council officials expect the strike to delay or entirely shut down some departmental operations.
Experts worry that social media apps that have positioned themselves as right-winged alternatives, like Parler and Gab, may promote disinformation about the upcoming midterm elections, which could incite violence.
Mayor London Breed’s two-part proposed ballot measure would ask residents to vote on broadened police access to live feeds and allowing police camera access in “public safety crisis areas,” which would include privately owned cameras.
Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez, regarding Mayor Eric Garcetti’s nomination of Deputy Chief Kristin Crowley to lead the city’s fire department, which would make Crowley L.A.’s first female fire chief. Crowley’s nomination must be confirmed by the City Council. (Associated Press — Jan. 19, 2022)
The amount that the Biden administration will use to improve the country’s ports and waterways to increase climate resilience, improve drinking water and bolster the nation’s supply chain. The funds will assist more than 500 projects.
Governments are desperate to recoup lost revenue as people cut the cable cord.
A proposed bill would amend the state constitution to include privacy as a natural right and would require that law enforcement obtain a warrant before searching or seizing electronic data or communications.
The state will receive millions in federal aid over the next five years to invest in its bridges, 21.2 percent of which have been deemed structurally deficient, more than 14 percent higher than the national average.
The Summit County city has the most charging stations per capita in the county and officials are hopeful that the installation of four electric vehicle recharging posts will help attract EV drivers and business.
While the state tracks data on job loss, inflation and rising housing costs, it does not include eviction numbers, leading many officials to underestimate the number of renters who need financial aid.
Christine Izzo, a nurse at Sharp Memorial in San Diego, Calif., regarding the extreme costs that some people are forced to pay for a timely COVID-19 test. Izzo paid $434 to get her two children tested prior to their return to school after the holiday break. (NPR — Jan. 18, 2022)
The cost of the Biden administration’s plan to significantly expand wildfire fighting efforts, by doubling the use of controlled fires and logging to reduce catastrophic fire risk.
State legislatures will have a lot on their plates. They’ll deal with issues in wildly differing ways. We set the context for the 2022 session with an overview of everything from abortion to taxes.
Many years ago, public financiers woke up to the problem of funding “other post-retirement benefits,” but then some of them went back to sleep. Younger public employees should demand an actuarial wake-up call.
State and local governments are still trusted more than Washington, though they’re having their own brushes with incivility and polarization. But they’re still the best bet for preserving our traditions of governance.
A journalist and her husband leave California and head east to take over the 530-acre family farm.
Renewable energy is expanding at a record pace, but still not fast enough. Here are the key areas to watch for progress in bringing more wind and solar into the power grid in 2022.
Legislation that would have enacted minimum standards for wages, working hours and work conditions across the fast food industry fell short of passing the state Assembly last year by just three votes. Some hope the bill becomes law during this year's legislative session.
The number of acres for the proposed construction of a lake in Nebraska. State lawmakers made the proposal for the reservoir to be placed between Omaha and Lincoln. The $200 million project would improve the water supply in the area and boost economic development.
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