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Future in Context
From expanding the role of state CIOs to building federal partnerships, the head of NASCIO makes the case for technologists in shaping the future of how government works.
Millions of Americans, particularly people of color buying lower-cost homes, have turned to land contracts and other alternative financing that lack the protections of traditional mortgages. Lawmakers could make these processes a lot safer.
Ultimately, climate change may bring relief from overtourism at a high price: the loss of vibrant autumn leaves.
The Bureau of Land Management’s controversial plan updates preferred solar zones for the first time in 12 years and identifies nearly 12 million acres for available solar development in Nevada, more than any of the 11 other states included in the plan.
Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association, regarding an identical replica of the White House’s Oval Office in a new Washington, D.C., tourist stop that opens on Monday, Sept. 23. Admission into The People’s House: A White House Experience is free, but visitors will need to request timed tickets. (Associated Press — Sept. 20, 2024)
Regional library systems provide vital services for small and under-resourced communities. But what happens when political divisions threaten to dismantle them?
Innovative wage subsidy programs and other services can help workers without college degrees demonstrate their skills to the employers who need them.
The state’s Election Board will consider 11 rule changes, from hand counting ballots to ballot tracking fees, that could significantly impact the election landscape with less than a month left before early voting begins.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that California could lose up to 75 percent of its beaches in the next 75 years. The changes have sparked multimillion-dollar restoration projects and lawsuits along the state’s coast.
Ed Jacobs, the attorney for Atlantic City, N.J., Mayor Marty Small Sr., regarding the indictment of the public official and his wife, La’Quetta, the city’s superintendent of schools, for allegedly beating their teenage daughter on numerous occasions. Small has also been charged with assault and making terroristic threats. (Associated Press — Sept. 18, 2024)
Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party is zooming in on just over a dozen House races to try to keep its control of the state government. Also: Young women are more liberal than ever.
Tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act were designed to drive private-sector investments in clean energy. Where are investments and jobs landing?
Turning some of it into fuel, as a Michigan facility plans to do, is labeled as “recycling,” but it may be worse for the environment than dumping the waste into a landfill.
It could be a very different landscape than the one that will decide this year’s election. Will North Carolina be the next Pennsylvania?
HUD’s Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program had over 85,000 participants nationwide as of June. Since the program began in 2008, homelessness among veterans in Illinois has decreased by half.
The oil major’s U.S. onshore wind energy business, based in Houston, is valued at about $2 billion and has interests in 10 wind farms across seven states.
A former cellmate of Patrick Womack, who was found dead in a hot Texas prison cell in August 2023 a day after Womack asked a correctional officer to let him take a cold shower so he could cool down, a request that was denied because there weren't enough guards to watch him. Attorneys for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice are trying to dissuade a federal judge from forcing the state to cool its un-air-conditioned prisons, arguing in an ongoing lawsuit that the state already provides incarcerated people with unlimited access to cold showers, ice water and air-conditioned respite areas. From 2001 to 2019, as many as 271 Texas prison inmates may have died because of extreme heat, according to a 2022 study. (The Texas Tribune — Sept. 11, 2024)
Michigan appointed a chief infrastructure officer to help localities apply for federal dollars and meet statewide infrastructure goals. What can other states learn from this approach?
We need more welcoming public places where people can connect in person — high-quality, well-maintained parks, trails, libraries and community centers. Investing in them is good for us and good for democracy.
They do better in school, parents have to spend less money on food and all households benefit from lower grocery prices.
The emergency declaration would kick off a “public education” campaign about road safety for drivers and pedestrians and would jumpstart the implementation of “quick-build” safety projects.
The Community Outreach and Stabilization Unit began in 2018 and put behavioral health practitioners with police officers to assist with mental health and/or chemical dependency calls. The city plans to launch a new program next year.
U.S. Sen. JD Vance regarding his false claim that Haitian migrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. (NPR — Sept. 15, 2024)
Nine towns are suing New Jersey over a law implementing aspects of the state’s affordable housing requirements. The rules have pushed states to produce more multifamily and low-income housing.
The public likes what lawmakers around the country are doing, but the industry’s lobbyists are working hard to embed provisions into trade deals that would undermine much of the progress states have made.
Future in Context
The organization that popularized civic hackathons is now taking on the responsible use of AI in government. Code for America draws on the collective expertise of the public, tech and nonprofit sectors to tackle societal challenges.
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