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News

Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, reassuring residents in a news conference that his administration is ready to fight against Trump administration policies that could harm Illinois’ most vulnerable populations including LGBTQ+ people, immigrants and people with disabilities. (State Journal-Register — Nov. 8, 2024)
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The age of Bryton Ritchey, a 2024 high school graduate and firefighter who was...
A new report from Brookings shows how state departments of transportation have a free hand to spend on highway projects, but don’t keep good track of progress toward specific goals.
New consumer spending patterns fuel investment in entertainment venues.
Properly trained and integrated into the school leadership team, they can be helpful in some ways, but they cannot fix societal problems and their presence can make students feel less safe.
His second presidency could recolor the landscape for federal spending, with ramifications for states, local governments, schools and public pensions. Governors and mayors will need to try to discern where the political wind is blowing — and what to watch out for.
More than half of California renters spend at least 30 percent of their income on housing, making it the fifth-highest rate in the country. But a measure that would have lifted restrictions on local rent control failed this month by 22 points.
Weeks after hurricanes Milton and Helene, businesses across the state are still feeling the financial impacts of the disasters. As of Nov. 1, storm damage had forced about 2,300 people across two counties out of work temporarily.
Sharyn Vane, a Jewish parent of two Texas public school graduates, at a September public hearing on the state Education Board’s vote on Bible-infused lessons in public schools. (New York Times — Nov. 18, 2024)
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The number of Illinois' 102 counties where...
87%
The share of the U.S. experiencing...
Lich Vu, a 70-year-old resident of Oklahoma. Vu was stopped by Oklahoma City police officer Joseph Gibson for making an illegal U-turn. Vu, a Vietnamese immigrant, refused to sign the ticket, even though Gibson warned him that could mean going to jail. The two argued and miscommunicated due to a language barrier. Gibson is now under investigation, with body cam footage showing him slamming Vu to the ground. (NPR – Nov. 14, 2024)
A new Brookings analysis of counties' 2024 presidential vote shows that lower-output, small town, and rural areas still comprise the foundation of the GOP base. But they've been joined by numerous new Republican-leaning places in the Sun Belt and elsewhere.
The increase of energy demand across the country is growing to rates that haven’t been seen since the end of World War II.
Seasonal retail and health-care hires did not offset the loss of jobs in the professional services and construction sectors in October, resulting in a net loss of 1,000 jobs in Minnesota.
In Maryland and several other states, many of the reductions have come thanks to the retirement of coal-fired power plants.
Voters in five states rejected the voting system, while D.C. voters approved it.
The Mississippi River Delta region is ripe for on-farm solar production, but must overcome hurdles.
Local leaders and rural revitalization experts say Texas’ smallest towns can survive despite a shift to urban and suburban counties, but it will take investments.
The New York governor proposed a 40 percent cut in the already-approved toll pricing with the expectation that the toll will ramp up to the original $15 base toll over the course of several years.
A 2018 lawsuit claims the level of segregation in state schools violates students’ rights to integrated schools. But a new poll found that most voters don’t know anything about the lawsuit nor do they think the state is segregated.
Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee, regarding the Pentagon’s latest report on UFOs that revealed hundreds of new reports of unidentified and unexplained aerial phenomena. (Associated Press — Nov. 14, 2024)
523
The number of reported suicides that...
The political landscape has shifted dramatically in Vermont. Nationally, the election showed that partisanship matters most but active campaigning still makes a difference.
When people think about higher ed, they picture the Ivy League. But state officials are trained almost exclusively at their own state’s schools.
Latinos make up ever increasing shares of student bodies and the workforce but lag behind whites in science and technical education. One North Carolina county has a promising approach.
Hurricane Helene put rural Western North Carolina’s home-based child-care providers under an existential threat. The natural disaster exacerbated problems caused by years of insufficient funding and lack of support, causing many child-care providers to fear they won’t be able to start over.
Sweeping police reforms in 2020 stripped Colorado law enforcement of qualified immunity, a legal defense that previously blocked officers and sheriffs from being sued in their individual capacities in most cases.
The five-year budget outlook is poorer than the one the state faced in the Great Recession and, without any changes, Maryland will only be able to cover 84 percent of planned spending through the 2030 fiscal year.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, urging people to avoid lighting fires as the state has had to manage approximately 200 fires this month. (Associated Press — Nov. 12, 2024)