State and Local Politics and Policy
It’s especially hard to get low-income Americans living in multifamily buildings across the digital divide. But states and nonprofits are finding ways to do it.
Counties regularly take the Social Security benefits of foster youth who are disabled or whose parents have died. Advocates say it amounts to children paying for their own foster care.
Too many students from disadvantaged backgrounds spend a lot on postsecondary education without seeing an economic return. A new initiative is enlisting states to work toward equitable outcomes.
Ten Florida men with felony convictions have been charged with voter fraud because prosecutors say they registered and voted illegally. Critics say the punishments are unfair.
With fatal shootings at historic levels, Mayor Ted Wheeler declared a state of emergency on July 21 and hopes to reduce the violence by 10 percent over the next two years.
The state supreme court issued a unanimous ruling this week that said the state isn’t required to maximize revenue on state land, giving agencies and lawmakers more discretion for interpreting the law.
At least 16 states have opted out of receiving millions in pandemic food aid while more than 18 million Americans didn’t always have enough to eat last month.
We shouldn’t give in to the idea that it’s too large and complex to be solved. The policies most responsible for homelessness were enacted by public officials, and it’s within their authority to fix them.
Eric Greitens splits the Republican party, Trump notches another win and Texas Democrats are betting on Beto.
The state is one of three this year in which both the Republican and Democratic gubernatorial candidates are women, though Oregon has a third female candidate who is “unaffiliated.” Only nine current governors are women.
Surveillance warning signs were posted near several ballot boxes and included a QR code that linked to the county’s Republican Party website. The county will investigate the situation as potential voter intimidation.
A comprehensive look at abortion laws across the nation after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and how bans and accessibility may change in the coming weeks as trigger laws take effect.
The Court has rejected the Republicans’ official congressional map plan for a second time this year and has given the Legislature 30 days to redraw a new map, which would be used for the 2024 election.
A new statewide poll found that Democratic, Republican and Independent voters all considered inflation to be a top issue ahead of the November election and 41 percent of respondents younger than 34 years old prioritized abortion.
One county in Kentucky is typical. Formerly run exclusively by Democrats, it gave three-quarters of its vote to Donald Trump due to cultural and economic concerns.
In the end, we don’t know what kind of treatment might change the behavior of disturbed young people who believe society is out to get them.
The state’s trigger law has been blocked twice since the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Experts are concerned about how a court decision could impact the rest of the nation’s reproductive care.
Since the 2020 election, 26 states have enacted, expanded or increased the severity of election-related criminal penalties; the vast majority of them were enacted in 18 Republican-controlled states.
The 52 top jurisdictions in this year's Digital Counties Survey from the Center for Digital Government are using new strategies for cybersecurity, workforce and digital services to move toward the future.
The semi-annual National Governors Association meeting has brought together 19 governors from across the nation to discuss less-contentious issues, such as computer science education and post-pandemic revival of the tourism industry.
The state’s Division of Child Protection and Permanency could operate without oversight from a federal judge for the first time in 20 years if one bill becomes law. But the legislation is stalled without a committee hearing date.
Initiative 134 in the upcoming November election will ask residents to consider the use of ranked-choice voting as well as approval voting. But not all agree putting both voting systems on the same ballot is a good idea.
Expansion of its Medicaid health-care program was just the latest milestone in the social safety net for 2.3 million undocumented immigrants that includes driver’s licenses, tax breaks and pandemic relief.
Local government meetings may be open to all, but too often little attention is paid to them. Equipping everyday people to document what goes on is a way to make the most of these opportunities for civic participation.
After the county’s voting history was derailed by a federal lawsuit over the council’s redistricting process, there is now an unprecedented number of candidates running for County Council seats.
Shooters have targeted members of particular groups, including Black, Hispanic and gay people. A few may have been motivated by politics as well as bigotry.
It empowers state and local governments, as well as individuals, harmed by gun violence to sue gun manufacturers, distributors and dealers for the violation of new state standards. The law goes into effect July 2023.
It’s an opportunity for governments to dramatically improve access to critical services, guiding people step by step through what too often is an unnecessarily arduous process.
The state has loose gun laws with no permit required to carry concealed weapons and relatively modest calls for change are met with harsh pushback. But it’s nothing new; Missouri politics have been replete with firearms for years.
America’s third-largest city has a plenitude of problems. But it has great advantages as well.
During the pandemic, sparse crowds on transit systems gave way to uncivil behavior and crime. Today, debates are breaking out around the best policy to fix the problem while figuring out the role of law enforcement.
