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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)
The political landscape has shifted dramatically in Vermont. Nationally, the election showed that partisanship matters most but active campaigning still makes a difference.
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.
When people think about higher ed, they picture the Ivy League. But state officials are trained almost exclusively at their own state’s schools.
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)
Local taxes to fund public transit fared well on Election Day. But state and federal election results could alter the outlook for infrastructure investment long term.
Future in Context
The Gates Foundation’s Allan Golston outlines a vision for equitable opportunities and the future of the American dream. As the transformative power of generative AI becomes clear, equitable access to education and jobs remains crucial.
They’re good for our children’s health and for the environment, and transitioning away from diesel-powered buses is the fiscally conservative thing to do. Unsubstantiated claims about them only serve as political theater.
Other states, including Nevada, are deleting references to slavery in their constitutions and banning forced prison labor. California voters rejected that path when they turned down Prop. 6.
The pandemic prompted many downtowns to rethink their futures. Omaha’s evolution beyond a traditional business district was already underway.
The meat industry’s multimillion-dollar lobbying fight succeeded in stopping the city’s slaughterhouse ban, which will result in the continued operation of one of the nation’s largest lamb processing facilities.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, regarding the nearly 90,000 DACA recipients in Texas, and more than 500,000 across the nation, who are now eligible to sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act through Jan. 15. (Associated Press — Nov. 12, 2024)
