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.
While some California courts pull back amid the Omicron surge, others forge ahead with business as usual.
With farms, ranches and rural communities facing unprecedented threats, a worrying trend leads to a critical question: Who owns the water?
For populations that rely on social services, getting help has become difficult as the omicron variant spreads rapidly. But Pennsylvania’s York County officials are adjusting their services to distribute aid amid the risk.
The standoff between Chicago’s mayor and teachers’ union is raising issues ranging from the effective use of federal funding to how much we really care about our front-line workers.
A lawsuit and complaints have been filed against the Michigan redistricting commission’s new congressional and state legislative maps, alleging they would diminish Black voting power across the state.
Pennsylvania cannot suspend a person’s driver’s license for refusing to take DUI tests if there are “insurmountable” language barriers that would inhibit understanding.
A report found that the city’s police department only met its response time goal for high-priority calls 46 percent of the time. Fort Worth has the slowest response time goal of Texas’ five largest cities.
More than 300 employees are quarantining due to COVID exposure, stretching the city’s public transit and emergency response staff as they work to keep service schedules normal. The city’s 7-day new case average is 829.
The city native was sworn in on Monday, Jan. 3, 2022, and is Pittsburgh’s 61st mayor. Gainey won voters with his message that former Mayor Peduto hadn’t done enough to balance the city’s growth with inclusivity.
With K-12 bus routes and parent pickup lines getting longer due to a shortage of bus drivers, schools are turning to apps to manage dismissal and transit-related issues, and to provide parents with important updates.
More than 1 in 5 of those tested for COVID-19 last week in Los Angeles County were positive and each infected person is spreading the virus, on average, to two other people. The county had 21,200 new cases on Sunday.
During the 2021 session, state lawmakers passed bills affecting police oversight, affordable housing, ballot counting and cold medicine. Here’s a look at some of the new changes.
Filibusters do occur in some state legislatures, but they rarely succeed in blocking legislation. Unlike the U.S. Senate, most state legislatures still operate on the Founders’ majoritarian principles.
It’s important to provide efficient services and develop sustainable-wage economies, but it’s crucial to bring residents together in a common bond.
Preliminary CDC data shows that more than 1 in 4 COVID-related deaths in the state occurred since the start of July, when vaccines were easily available. The grand majority of those deaths were of unvaccinated residents.
Election observers would receive city-provided training and a tour of the election center. Mayor Dave Bronson has criticized the proposals, claiming it would reduce election transparency.
After the murder of George Floyd last May, Democrats across the state called for immediate police reform. Now as crime rates increase, many of those same lawmakers are calling for more officers. Can the state have both?
A report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found that the city had 28 issues, including insufficient oversight, conflicts of interest and inaccurate documentation, in its administration of federal grants.
The state’s Corrections Department says it has stopped placing women in solitary confinement and now caps all stays at a maximum of 30 days. Advocates are excited by the news, but uncertain if the policy is true.
The job of a legislator is for most a time-consuming one with little chance to shape policy, and the pay isn't great. So why do so many of them run for re-election over and over?
The city’s Department of Public Health will use more than $1 million to develop its own sequencing lab to more quickly determine the infecting variant of COVID, but it won’t open until June.
The Michigan Civil Rights Department has argued that the redistricting commissions’ proposed congressional maps eliminate majority-minority districts, but not all experts agree with the analysis.
Partisan rancor has seeped into the once quiet, technical field of transportation policy. Conservatives increasingly oppose policies that support transit, while liberals push back against highway construction.
When it comes to major life events, agency boundaries never line up with the challenges people face. There’s a federal push to get at the problem, and state and local governments should be part of the solution.
Greenland will determine whether to ban the use of vote counting machines in future elections to restore “integrity,” despite no evidence of fraud. Other towns in N.H., also are interested in getting rid of the machines.
A new study found that population loss due to domestic migration out of California has more than doubled since the beginning of COVID-19. Entrances to the state have dropped 38 percent since March 2020.
The rules for spending federal COVID-19 relief funds include a disinvitation to invention. State, local and tribal governments need to be able to try new things — and then stop some of them.
The average speed on I-95 at Route 4 in Fort Lee is 30 to 39 mph, making it the worst truck traffic bottleneck in America. These traffic choke points can impact the delivery of goods, especially when supply chains are already backlogged.
As the giving holidays remind us, too many Americans must work for paltry wages and face high costs of housing or homelessness. Elected officials need to pay attention to the real needs of the people who can’t shower them with campaign contributions.
Local criminal justice officials have called Gov. Kate Brown’s commutations of those at high risk for COVID-19 an overreach of executive authority. But many of those that were released quickly returned to prison for new crimes.
