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.
Tesla was just one of 74 companies that either relocated or opened a second headquarters outside of California in 2021, a trend which some economists worry may be the end of the state’s monopoly on the tech sector.
The city’s mayor has announced that three MBTA bus routes will be fare-free starting in March, the first pilot in eliminating fares across the city. The fare-free routes primarily serve low-income individuals and people of color.
The Justice Department asked a California attorney to remove tweets she had written that described what she had seen in hearings on controversial immigration policy, raising court transparency and First Amendment concerns.
The Supreme Court has signaled it's ready to reconsider or even abolish the use of race in redistricting. At risk are the Voting Rights Act and decades of precedent.
Having already spent millions on ads and more to come, officials are considering new ways to encourage vaccinations, which have stagnated. Over 6 million state residents have already been vaccinated.
The city’s recently appointed Racial Equity Initiative leader was the subject of a criminal investigation regarding substantial unemployment fraud claims that occurred while she headed Ohio’s jobs department.
We need a holistic approach that not only gets firearms out of the hands of people with elevated risk of violence but also addresses issues such as income inequality, health disparities and poorly performing schools.
A landmark California environmental justice law was supposed to clean the air in 15 key communities, but it’s hard to say if it’s worked.
Phoenix’s new Urban Agriculture Fellowship Program will pair nine residents between the ages of 18 to 24 with local farms and pay them to work and study under some of the most knowledgeable growers in Arizona.
School districts and libraries across the country are removing books. Censorship is not new, but the current wave reflects social divisions, says Columbia professor Farah Jasmine Griffin.
The Oceanside Police Department faced a problem: It couldn’t reliably share drone video feeds with the officers who needed them for critical situational awareness. But Zoom quickly changed that.
A joint Assembly hearing focused on the state’s 11 ports and the exporters they serve and how the global shipping crisis has hurt the state’s farming interests. Due to the immensity of the problem, there must be many solutions.
One of Gov. Kate Brown’s priorities last year was to incentivize the expansion of semiconductor manufacturing in Oregon. But the industry appears to have overlooked the state so far.
Partisan control of most chambers has stayed the same since 2010. Don’t look for many red or blue states to change their colors in the coming decade.
The latest state totals on active duty, reserve forces and civilian employees for each branch of the military.
A group of incarcerated individuals in York County, Pa., are making civil liberties complaints about their access to legal support and health protections amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The state has more than 3,000 bridges in poor repair. Federal funds will provide significant support for tackling the problem, but Pennsylvania’s transportation and transit woes run deep.
The U.S. no longer leads the world in all areas of science, the National Science Foundation says, and many states have low concentrations of STEM workers.
As 2022 begins, the omicron variant is proof that the pandemic is still far from over and remains politicized. More than 90 percent of Democratic adults have received at least one vaccination, compared with 60 percent of Republicans.
With elections on their minds, governors’ most watched policy speech of the year had some technology highlights, like luring tech companies and remote workers with robust broadband.
State legislators from both sides of the aisle have voted to table the proposed bill that aims to make the state a hub of hydrogen energy. Gov. Lujan Grisham worries that, without the bill, the state may miss its climate goals.
A functioning administrative state is necessary for democracy to work. Weaponizing administrative functions invites ineffectiveness and a cycle of retribution.
The federal infrastructure bill’s passage renewed hopes that Texas would finally get a coastal storm barrier. But Galveston and Houston could still get hit by a hurricane before it is built.
It's an election year, so expect to see legislative action on all things relating to education. Meanwhile, government and business will be competing for talent in a labor market tighter than it’s been for a generation.
The Washington state Supreme Court will consider whether enforcing fares on public transit systems violates passengers’ rights. If upheld, the court’s ruling could have statewide ramifications.
The city joins every county in the state as it signed the billion-dollar deal just ahead of the deadline, following months of pushback. The money will fund treatment services, medicine distribution and educational outreach.
State lawmakers should be thinking about how to go on one-time spending sprees — such as funding infrastructure projects, including broadband, largely underwritten by the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill.
For decades, American vehicles have been growing heavier and taller. They are also deadlier, killing more pedestrians in the past 10 years. Better regulations and traffic calming can help. But the pace of change is slow.
34 community and 40 non-community systems are producing drinking water with high levels of the PFAS contaminants, impacting thousands of state residents. N.J. is the first state to set strict standards for PFAS.
Things will not get better if those of us who see what is going down give in to fear. There are things elected officials and the public in general can do to safeguard our bedrock principles.
