Policy
This coverage will look at how public leaders establish new policies in a range of crucial areas of government – health, education, public safety, for example – and how these policies impact people’s lives through better services, effective regulations and new programs. This will include stories examining how state and local government approaches policymaking around emerging areas, including artificial intelligence.
Michigan’s experience illustrates how challenging it can be to stop large numbers of people from inadvertently losing coverage,
The state will now give consumers a legal right to fix their own home electronics and requires manufacturers to provide access to the tools, parts and manuals to repair them. Oregon’s law goes further with its protections than other states’ rules.
The Florida governor vetoed legislation that would have banned all children under 16 from using social media. He instead opted for a bill that will allow 14- and 15-year-olds to use the platforms with parental consent.
Minnesota state Rep. Frank Hornstein, a 22-year veteran of the state House, will not run for re-election this year. Colleagues say he’s left an imprint on transportation policy and the culture of the Legislature.
A number of red states are moving to weaken child labor laws. Sponsors say they just want kids to be able to work, but critics complain companies are already exploiting vulnerable populations.
Laws in Texas and Florida that prohibit the platforms from removing content run afoul of the First Amendment and will make things worse. The Supreme Court should strike them down.
The City Council abandoned an ordinance that allows the demolition of homes smaller than 3,000 square feet within a Landmark District to “address substandard structures.” The rule disproportionately impacted Black, brown and low-income neighborhoods.
Legislators continue to stall on proposed and already-enacted laws that aim to promote small-business development in minority and low-income communities. At the end of last year, the state’s Black unemployment rate was nearly 3 percent higher than the overall average.
Experts say that most crime data is too unreliable to pinpoint specific policies as the primary drivers of crime rates. Yet politicians often draw a straight line between bail laws and crime rates, potentially misleading voters.
A new public health campaign aims to train about one-third of the county’s population in how to do the procedure. In 2021, only 8 percent of those who suffered cardiac arrest in the county, outside of a hospital, survived.
A bill would require each county to offer a treatment option as an alternative to the traditional court process for veterans and active military members. About 8 percent of the state’s corrections system population served in the military.
Under a new ordinance, Internet providers can’t provide better service to wealthier neighborhoods. A 2022 investigation found that households in L.A.’s poorest neighborhoods paid high prices for slow service.
Companies, nonprofit organizations and other groups spent a record amount to influence the state’s General Assembly last year, with Kentucky Merchants and Amusement Coalition topping the list with $483,324 spent.
Ten states have yet to expand eligibility under the Affordable Care Act. Doing so would save lives, improve financial well-being, save states money and support regional economies.
They should. Charters schools aren’t magic, and plenty of them are worse than the average public school. But on average, charters are superior.
The 2023 legislation establishing the grant program also includes new equipment for rural sheriffs.
The rising number of gun deaths in Texas has inspired a $3 billion industry of active shooter training, consultants, surveillance technologies and safety infrastructure. Some experts aren’t certain the touted strategies are effective.
Assessments and additions that would make a home more climate-friendly also have significant price tags, driving up housing costs. Local officials in Lacey, Wash., are trying to reconcile competing goals.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis hasn’t just used Georgia’s RICO law to prosecute Donald Trump. Schoolteachers and rappers have also been charged, and the state has used the law to go after protesters. Shouldn’t these tools be reserved for the kinds of prosecutions they were intended for?
State Attorney General Kris Kobach wants to amend state law so that death warrants may be obtained by district judges, instead of the Kansas Supreme Court, and wants the state to allow executions by hypoxia.
To try to further discourage Spring Breakers from coming to the city, the city will charge a flat $100 parking rate in city garages and parking lots, close sidewalk cafes on Ocean Drive, host a sobriety checkpoint and limit beach access.
The state has required all schools to develop an emergency plan since 2001, but some public schools still don’t have one or their plans don’t meet updated requirements.
A conservative coalition is hoping to make private school choice universally available in half the states by the end of 2025.
The state’s red flag complaint law went into effect on Tuesday. It will allow residents to seek temporary removal of firearms from at-risk individuals by obtaining an extreme risk protection order.
Is our criminal justice system so infallible that it should green-light actions as irrevocable as taking another person’s life? Hardly. Very few people of means go to death row.
Headlines obscure the reality that many cities welcome immigrants for the economic and social benefits they bring. The tools of architecture offer ways to assess the resources needed to accommodate and integrate these populations.
The legislative attempt to mandate worker heat protection standards would help train employers and employees on the signs of heat illness and would require supervisors to provide water and a 10-minute break every two hours.
A reporter requested a keyword search of emails as part of an investigation into nitrates in the state’s drinking water from the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy. What she got was a $44,103 bill for the state to begin the search.
The arguments over border sovereignty have never died away in more than two centuries of American life. Now they are coming to the forefront again.
State budgets are on track for modest growth even as federal fiscal recovery funds wane, pension underfunding persists and AI promises (or threatens) to change everything.
What you need to get up to speed in terms of how state lawmakers are addressing education, energy, health, housing and even international affairs.
