News
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.
In addition to increasing the minimum age for police officers from 18 to 21, the new law will also work to establish a college education requirement, involving courses in psychology, ethnic studies, law and others.
Approximately 37 percent of state residents live in a region that has a shortage of mental health providers; only 12 percent live in an area where they could expect their mental health needs to be met.
Less than 60 percent of the state’s 1,781 townships have requested their share of the American Rescue Plan Act funds. Treasury Department officials are urging local governments to apply for funds before the Oct. 4 deadline.
Thousands of Arizonans fell victim to identity theft during the pandemic and had their relied-upon jobless payments denied or delayed. Now the state will modernize and upgrade the system’s security to prevent future fraud.
Anchorage, Alaska, Mayor Dave Bronson, apologizing for his comments that supported some city residents wearing yellow Stars of David on their chest to argue that a citywide mask mandate was comparable to the oppression of the Jewish people in Nazi Germany. (Associated Press — October 1, 2021)
The number of midwestern governors who are collaborating to develop a charging network for electric vehicles. Governors of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin have all signed onto the bipartisan plan, called the Regional Electric Vehicle (REV) Midwest Coalition.
