News
Ousted Limestone County, Ala., Sheriff Mike Blakely, regarding his two weeks spent in Limestone County’s jail in Athens after being convicted of theft and ethics violations. Blakely was in his 10th straight term as sheriff when he was removed from office. Blakely will not serve his three-year custody in his former workplace — instead, he will be held at Franklin County Jail. (Associated Press — October 5, 2021)
The number of U.S. children who have lost a parent or grandparent who was a primary care and financial provider during the pandemic; more than half of the children who lost their primary caregiver are Black or Hispanic. Researchers estimate that the number of orphaned children increased by 15 percent due to COVID-19.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was created to provide relief to public employees who worked a service job for 10 years. The Biden administration announced a program overhaul to help it finally meet its intent.
About 1 percent of Kaiser Permanente employees have been placed on unpaid administrative leave for not getting vaccinated against COVID-19 by the Sept. 30 deadline. To return to work, they must be vaccinated by Dec. 1.
A two-person kidnapping situation reinforced the need for Tucson to develop a co-response model in which mental health professionals and 911 dispatchers would be able to share information and respond to incidents together.
The Iowa Economic Development Authority is looking to develop specialized training and certification that increases an employee’s skill set, value and salary, but implementation still has obstacles to overcome.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little, regarding Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin’s executive order that would prevent employers from requiring their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, a policy change issued while the governor was out of state. In Idaho, the governor and lieutenant governor don’t run on the same ticket. (Associated Press — October 6, 2021)
The proportion of Seattle, Wash., sworn police officers who have not submitted proof of vaccination against COVID-19. All city employees must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18, unless they have religious exemption.
The pandemic sent municipal revenues into a tailspin. They still haven't fully recovered, but $65 billion from Uncle Sam is easing a lot of pain.
Many small businesses rely on social media to develop their community of customers and a five-hour outage across Facebook’s sites can be detrimental. It is unclear what caused the global outage on Monday.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed four House bills that she said would have perpetuated false claims of election fraud. But many of the measures within the vetoed bills are already in place across the state.
The city has launched Vision Zero Action Plan, a yearlong, $110,000 effort to collect and disseminate data on crashes, lower speed limits and redesign streets to calm traffic. Last year, 74 people died from car crashes.
As companies across the nation struggle to fill open positions, many employers are turning to the approximately 20 million Americans who have past felony convictions. Some experts believe this could create a lasting impact.
Brooklyn Public Library CEO Linda E. Johnson, regarding the New York City Public Libraries’ decision to no longer charge late fees and waive existing fines for overdue books. The city’s libraries collected $3.2 million in late fees in 2019, but no fees were collected in 2020 due to the pandemic. (Associated Press — October 5, 2021)
The amount that Tesla must pay Owen Diaz, a Black former worker, after a jury found that Diaz was subjected to racial abuse while working for the electric vehicle company. Diaz was an elevator operator at the company’s Fremont, Calif., factory for nine months.
Responses to most diseases don't fall along partisan lines, but COVID-19 has been an exception. Anti-vaccine sentiments used to be bipartisan but now are held mostly by Republicans.
Residents of Sun Belt metros rate quality of life higher than residents of other fast-growing regions. But common concerns suggest that local leaders should pay more attention to the basics of governance.
As attacks on state and local organizations become the rule and not the exception, leaders need to reprioritize their defenses. And they may need to confront a difficult question: Should we pay up?
The 2020 Census places the state near dead last in the country for population growth, but Michigan added 201,218 new immigrants in the last decade, helping it to eke out a net increase of 193,691 people since 2010.
A dozen Republican states have yet to expand eligibility, more than a decade after the option was created by the Obama administration. Voters approved Missouri’s expansion plan last year.
Industry and government officials believe hydrogen can provide a powerful tool to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy. But environmentalists warn questions remain about the hydrogen-production process.
The problem is not just with access to broadband, but also reliability. Still, the city has been making progress, cutting the number of Detroiters without access from nearly 40 percent in 2016 to 25 percent today.
The initial allotment of funds that states have spent so far from the American Rescue Plan championed by Democrats and President Joe Biden. Large cities have spent 8.5 percent. Many state and local governments reported they were still working on plans for their share of the $350 billion they received as part of the pandemic relief package.
Former President Donald Trump, when commenting on the possibility that if he ran for another term for president in 2024 that he would beat anyone in his path, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who he helped make it into the governor’s mansion in 2018. DeSantis has been viewed as a potential candidate for the presidency, though he has been downplaying the possibility. (Politico — October 4, 2021)
Methane emissions have an outsized impact on global warming. A public-private partnership uses data from flyovers and satellites to identify where the greenhouse gas can be found, including government landfills.
A new report from the federal government brings urgency to a veteran geologist’s longtime warnings about the crippling of the Colorado River.
The multibillion-dollar proposal would represent a “once in a generation” investment in broadband networks. Here’s what it would do, and what it leaves out.
Issues at every level of the supply chain—from a dearth of truck drivers and warehouse workers to droughts and heat waves—as well as staff shortages in the school lunch workforce have schools asking: How do we feed our kids?
Are stricter privacy regulations a good thing? As more state and local governments look to protect data privacy, a couple of industry experts point out some of the challenges associated with these types of policies.
The Wisconsin People’s Maps Commission proposed three versions of Assembly, Senate and congressional maps as alternatives to the Republican-authored ones. Republicans would likely still maintain a legislative majority.
Most Read
