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Natural disasters such as fires, floods and storms are more intense and are developing more rapidly. The “new normal” that climate change has brought to emergency managers is unpredictability.
Most Americans associate Labor Day with the end of summer. But the holiday was originally a form of worker activism during a period of rapid industrialization. Solidarity, not barbecue, was the buzzword back then.
New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that the stay-at-home and other emergency orders enacted by officials in response to the coronavirus pandemic likely saved thousands of lives in the region.
Hotter days are increasing in Baltimore and can put vulnerable populations at risk. To combat the heat, the city is opening cooling centers, replacing blacktop with heat reflective material and expanding tree coverage.
With a 6-2 vote, the Texas city has overridden the mayor’s veto of issuing $96 million in nonvoter approved debt. As of August 2020, El Paso was Texas’ top-ranked city for outstanding certificates of obligation debt.
The Pierce County, Wash., auditor confirmed that five dead people voted in the 2020 presidential election, and three people are being tried for the “tribute votes.” The confirmation only shows that voter fraud prevention efforts worked.
California state Sen. Scott Wiener, regarding the proposed legislation that would require some department stores to have a gender neutral section for some child products, like toys and hygiene and teething products. This is at least the third attempt to pass a bill like this. (Associated Press — September 2, 2021)
The number of states that have agreed to allow electronic driver’s licenses to be added to digital wallets on Apple devices. Arizona and Georgia will be the first states to enact the feature.
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While government employees, students and the general public had to wait in line for hours in the beginning of the pandemic, at-home test kits make it easy to diagnose for the novel coronavirus in less than 30 minutes.
The goal of having nonpartisan elections is not to remove all politics from governing but to remove a conflict point that keeps a school board from doing its job.
Democratic state lawmakers want to broaden immigrant legal protections by closing exemptions under the sanctuary law, but police unions are ramping up efforts to block the legislation.
The state had hoped to announce COVID-related grants for broadband expansion, water and sewer projects and resident and business support by mid-October, but the timeline has been pushed back to early 2022.
Hurricane Ida has done immense damage to Louisiana’s power infrastructure, leaving millions without power. Some lawmakers hope the damage will help convince some GOP members to support the proposed infrastructure package.
Officials of Terrebone Parish, La., in a statement posted on Twitter, imploring residents to stay away after evacuating to escape Hurricane Ida because there was still no electricity, unreliable water services, damaged emergency shelters and no operating hospitals in the area. (Reuters — September 1, 2021)
The number of people Amazon is planning on hiring for corporate and technology positions in the coming months, which amounts to more than one-third of Google’s and nearly the entirety of Facebook’s workforce.
Transportation and housing advocates are becoming fed up with the review process, which can easily delay or kill a project. They say it puts too much power in the hands of a few privileged citizens.
The infrastructure bill being debated in Congress looks like a small but genuine down payment on a more climate-friendly transportation sector and electric power grid. What comes next is crucial.
Federal pandemic relief funds offer state and local governments the chance to invest in public health programming and infrastructure to make communities safer, particularly those that have been the most harmed.
The state’s Health Department has changed the way it reports COVID-related death data to the CDC which gives an appearance of a pandemic in decline, despite the continued spread of the delta variant.
A patchwork system of vaccination records has left many hospitals in the area without accurate information. Despite it not impacting a person’s treatment, it could deter efforts to encourage unvaccinated patients to get the shot.
A “light density” proposal that would loosen zoning laws to allow duplexes and lot splitting in residential neighborhoods across the state is headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Many suburban homeowner groups oppose the bill.
Kentucky Senate President Pro Tem David Givens, a Republican from Greensburg, regarding the state’s response to COVID-19, particularly the surge caused by the delta variant. (KET — August 30, 2021)
The increase in accidental gunshot deaths by children handling a gun since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, as compared to a year prior. There have been at least 259 unintentional shootings by children since the beginning of this year which have resulted in 104 deaths, placing the nation on a trajectory to surpass the record set in 2017 of 383 accidental shootings by minors which caused at least 156 deaths.
Selma was a crucible of the civil rights movement. That brings visitors, but residents and businesses have fled the Alabama town.
Local governments lack the tax base for meaningful income redistribution programs, and they risk losing residents to lower-tax jurisdictions. The economics suggest that it’s a job for higher levels of government.
Counties range in size from thousands of residents to millions, with varied levels of responsibility and efficiency. Some advocate shrinking the number of them, but that raises questions both practical and sentimental.
Some states have stopped or decreased their updating of public reporting on the latest COVID-19 information despite the fact that the delta variant is causing an extreme spike in hospitalizations and deaths.
Georgia’s capital city continues to be deeply divided when it comes to policing: some want to defund the department, while others want more officers. But police culture reform without defunding might be the best solution.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has reopened conversations about the state’s marijuana cultivation, distribution and sales program that was created in March, saying that regulating and starting the program will be a priority.
Several state lawmakers have voiced their support for the voting rights bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week. But the bill must still pass the Senate and remains highly partisan.
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