Governing: State and local government news and analysis
Just hiring more recruiters won’t address the issue. By partnering with community organizations that connect with young people daily, some higher education institutions have an opportunity to overcome demographic trends.
The Federal Railroad Administration has awarded $1.4 billion for railroad improvements, a huge expansion of a key funding program under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Funded projects will help make passenger and freight service more efficient.
North Carolina, where cities large and small are creating open-container “social districts,” is about to find out.
Veronica O. Davis, a transportation director in Houston, recently published Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities. The book describes experiences and lessons from her career as a planner, engineer and advocate.
The Biden administration’s decision to grant work authorization to Venezuelans has sparked state action.
Water providers say rebates for residential areas are costly and many people refuse to remove their lawns. The rules aim to save enough water for more than a million households a year.
For the past 30 years, state attorneys general have successfully sued major businesses across the country. Now cities and counties want to get in on the action.
The National League of Cities is helping mayors tackle the ways that challenges they face are connected to each other, and to public health.
While Congress has temporarily averted a government closure, the next 45 days provide uncertainty and opportunity to prepare for future fiscal turmoil.
The pandemic offered Americans a rare glimpse of a world where vaccines could be distributed efficiently and access was relatively simple. Now we’re back to our old, too often clunky system.
Following Ken Paxton's acquittal on corruption charges, the attorney general is seeking revenge against House members who voted to impeach him. He'll likely claim some victories but not change the overall balance of power within that body.
Future in Context
Human-centered design can go a long way toward fixing some of society’s biggest problems, including missteps in trying to make things better by applying technology alone.
When a wildfire or storm strikes, the elderly die at twice or three times the rate of other age groups. There’s much that could be done to make them less vulnerable.
Gwinnett County, Ga., has proposed a transit plan with big investments in microtransit and a new rapid bus service. Leaders hope it will appeal to voters, who have defeated at least four transit referendums in the last five decades.
Under increased scrutiny and even attack, election workers are leaving their jobs in record numbers. For those who stay, resources are being offered to help preserve their mental wellness.
A hefty nationwide increase in premiums for public employers to provide their workers and retirees with health coverage will outstrip most governments’ revenue growth. It’s time to address and attack root causes.
Are we really as divided as we’re being told we are? A new paper from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace takes up that question. Its answer may surprise you.
Many of our land-use policies have their roots in housing discrimination, and they continue to stand in the way of affordable and equitable housing. These policies need to change. Restricting single-family zoning is a place to start.
The people of Fort Myers Beach mostly survived. How many can afford to stay remains an open question.
This year's commemoration recognizes the community's importance to the country’s future, as the source of more than three-quarters of new workers.
Louisiana attorney general Jeff Landry is the clear favorite to succeed Gov. John Bel Edwards, but will he prevail? Meanwhile, there seems to be no end to redistricting fights as prominent cases continue in Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, New Mexico and New York.
A new campaign on Bay Area Rapid Transit, designed and developed by young people of color, encourages people who witness sexual harassment on trains and buses to discreetly intervene.
They are trying to take advantage of massive federal funding now available for broadband expansion and must deal with multiple hurdles. Resistance from major providers is just one of them.
By investing in solar arrays, building efficiency and other clean energy infrastructure, schools could save billions annually while significantly cutting carbon pollution. And federal money is available to help with the upfront costs.
Momentum is building for intercity rail service on Colorado’s booming Front Range. With voter approval required for key funding, it could come down to a question of timing.
The federal space agency is contracting out rocket-making. The results can be alarming.
A lot, says one prominent political scientist. But most of all, they aren’t accountable to anyone.
Lawsuits take years, draining money and frustrating everyone involved. The few cases that do make it to trial generate indecipherable rulings. It all undermines faith in our system, and it doesn’t have to be this way.
World Rivers Day 2023 comes with a push to better understand the health of these life-giving resources.
A range of current and former bills are giving housing developers and local governments more options to reduce red tape for housing projects.
