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Like other states, Michigan is seeing declining revenues due to electric vehicles. It’s pulled a pilot program to try out a fee system based on miles traveled due to lack of funding, which critics call short-sighted.
Arizona GOP state Rep. Alexander Kolodin. On Wednesday, a committee approved his bill that would require the governor to answer questions from legislators in a televised session once a month. Borrowing the idea from the British Parliament, Kolodin said it would offer an opportunity for the public to become more informed about policy debates at the state level. (KJZZ – Jan. 10, 2025)
The Trump White House has ordered a pause on infrastructure spending approved during the last administration, and is promoting new spending on digital infrastructure to support artificial intelligence.
The No. 1 job of urban leaders is to deliver core services. Some of them have forgotten that.
President Trump’s executive order abolishing remote work for most employees will be good for the local economy and transit systems. Twenty percent of the federal workforce lives in the D.C. area.
Voters approved $10 billion in school construction bonds last November. Facing big maintenance backlogs, districts around the state are worried the money could be quickly depleted by the need to rebuild Los Angeles schools after the fires.
Emil Bove, acting deputy attorney general. Bove wrote in a memo that the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution requires state and local officials to comply with federal immigration regulations, including the Trump administration’s plans to deport large numbers of undocumented immigrants, or they will face prosecution. Democratic officials are certain to challenge Bove’s argument on both jurisdictional and policy grounds. (Washington Post – Jan. 22, 2025)
The city is launching “neighborhood wellness courts,” a diversion program designed to issue citations and offer addiction treatment and other services in lieu of misdemeanor sentences.
Lone wolf attackers can be harder to detect than those who work in a group. But strategies involving police, the public and mental health professionals can help.
The state faced its worst storm in decades with up to 10 inches shutting down roads. States of emergency were declared across the South due to unusual wintry conditions.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. At the end of his first day in office, President Trump announced via social media that he’d fired Lance Bottoms from her position on the President’s Export Council. Bottoms said she’d already submitted her resignation on Jan. 4, effective Monday. “Of all of the things happening in the world, not sure why I am on Donald Trump’s mind at 1:30 am, following his Inauguration, but I count it as a badge of honor,” Bottoms wrote on social media. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution – Jan. 21, 2025)
The programs depend on temporary sources of funding from Washington and the state that may be drying up. Finding sustainable funds has been a challenge.
The 2023-24 school year saw the highest percentage of kindergarteners exempted from vaccinations, with increases in 40 states and Washington, D.C. In some localities, the so-called health freedom message has led to nonmedical exemption rates as high as 50 percent.
Indiana GOP Gov. Mike Braun. The new governor released a budget proposal that would increase school spending by 2 percent a year, but would likely lead to funding cuts for districts due to his desire to trim property taxes. Braun suggested districts save their money now in case of that eventuality. Braun also directed his cabinet heads to find 5 percent savings on average in their departments. (Indiana Capital Chronicle – Jan. 16, 2025)
During a confirmation hearing, Eric Scott Turner said his priority as secretary would be increasing the supply of affordable housing and homes in general.
The plan would reduce the state’s $7 billion general fund by $1.1 billion over 10 years. Losses would be partially offset by increases in sales and gas taxes.
Seven employees were fired after accessing tens of thousands of Medicaid and food stamp accounts and stealing at least $270,000.
As 2024 came to a close, the White House and Congress approved big giveaways to two subsets of state and local government employees and pensioners. There could be political backlash, and for equity’s sake there might be a case for some corrective tax policies.
Insurance companies were fleeing fire-prone parts of California even before the disaster in Los Angeles. Policymakers are under pressure to find solutions as the risks grow.
Catastrophes like the L.A. wildfires are going to happen again. There’s no easy way to make sure victims can be made whole.
Lawmakers will devote considerable time this year to perennial concerns such as crime and education.
A federal grand jury has indicted Sheng Thao as part of a sprawling case involving other top Bay Area officials and contractors.
The state withdrew its pioneering clean air regulations for diesel trucks and trains, acknowledging they wouldn’t win federal approval. The state intended to end sales of trucks powered by fossil fuels by 2036.
Gov. Ron DeSantis says sheriffs will have to help the Trump administration carry out its immigration policies or he’ll remove them from office.
Lots of prosecutors, judicial staff and jurors lost their homes. Many others left court because they felt ill from dangerous air.
Marla Luckert, the chief justice of the Kansas Supreme Court. Luckert delivered a State of the Judiciary speech on Wednesday before the Legislature, saying lack of access to legal representation is an “all-out crisis” that threatens to undermine faith in the judicial system as a whole. Rural areas are particularly short of attorneys, with a third of those who practice in rural counties over the age of 60. (Kansas Reflector – Jan. 15, 2025)
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