Governing: State and local government news and analysis
The sheriff’s office in Washington County is tackling concerns about equity in policing by partnering with an advisory committee of Latino community members.
Culture wars over environmental, social and governance factors used by pension fiduciaries are in the spotlight, but it’s the municipal bond arena where long-term analysis must trump short-term symbolic politics. Sustainability actually matters to investors.
As the work-from-home revolution shows signs of creating a “two-tiered system” of public employment, government employees who can’t do their jobs remotely are going to expect to be paid a premium.
A new report from the Urban Institute attempts to measure the impact of a broad array of zoning reforms on housing supply and cost. The effects are significant, but very small, researchers found.
Millennial and Gen Z Americans will be the majority of the electorate in 2028. But predicting which party will benefit will be challenging. These young voters care more about policy than party, according to experts.
The ability of the new generation of generative artificial intelligence systems to create convincing but fictional text and images is setting off alarms about fraud and misinformation.
Trains are getting longer. Railroads are getting richer. But these “monster trains” are jumping off of tracks across America and regulators are doing little to curb the risk.
Catholic Church doctrine was used to justify the world’s largest land grab and the resulting colonialism. It had an outsized role in shaping the United States and other countries of the New World.
But first, researchers need to figure out a good, consistent way to extract the minerals used in electronic devices and develop a supply chain that supports the operation. That's going to take time and money.
The right has appropriated and weaponized the term. Progressives shouldn’t let them. Banning the teaching of our true history casts a chilling effect on the debates we must have. We need more Americans to be woke.
A $70 million effort is trying to put a third party on the 2024 presidential ballot. Meanwhile Democrats present a short target list, crime doesn't pay and more.
Everyone in the criminal justice system — sheriffs, prosecutors, judges, parole boards — has enormous discretion. Some lawmakers believe that authority is now being abused.
Population loss creates a challenging fiscal environment for local governments. But there’s no good reason for places to be struggling while tens of millions of people want to move to the U.S.
Thousands of local officials arrived in Washington last week for the National League of Cities’ annual Congressional City Conference, including a lone city councilman from South Dakota.
The state's lawmakers adopted a broad-based package of housing reforms in a fast-moving legislative session. But a provision that bans local rent control has angered tenant advocates.
Pledging greater efficiency, lots of governors (and candidates for the job) want to reorganize their states’ administrative structures. Sometimes they pull it off, but usually the reforms don’t last.
In a new report, the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute shows that civic infrastructure affects how long and how well we live.
A radical planning idea that is well-known in Spain is taking root in Africa and South America.
Governments are struggling with high vacancy rates. Rather than trying to return to the pre-pandemic world, they should rethink how workers do their jobs to foster job satisfaction and more capable performance, an expert argues.
New research points to the policy and market conditions that help spread these small rental units which can be added to existing properties and ease housing shortages.
A statue long considered a Renaissance masterpiece in Florence (and the world over) has now been deemed pornographic in Florida. Such a stark contrast in points of view — here or there — has a long history.
It's worked before. During a 10-year prohibition, researchers calculated that the risk of a person in the U.S. dying in a mass shooting was 70 percent lower during the period in which the assault weapons ban was active.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline received more than 371,000 calls, texts and chats in December 2022. New funding has meant more calls are getting answered. Better tech could make it more accessible.
Decades of underinvestment in streetcar, bus and train service coupled with an increase in public funding and planning priorities to make roads fast, smooth and far-reaching, help explain today's transit situation.
Accidents like the one that spilled toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, are all too common. It’s time to update rail infrastructure and safety technology while bringing stronger regulation to bear.
Nearly half of all state and local public health employees left their jobs between 2017 and 2021. An additional 80,000 workers are needed to provide a minimum set of public health services to citizens.
It’s hard to imagine a worse time to roll back restrictions on when, where and how long children can work. But several states are moving in that direction.
Green energy may one day depend on the state’s vast reserves of lignite and oil drilling waste, and the rare earth minerals they contain.
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning is preparing a series of recommendations to address the transit fiscal cliff and governance challenges. State lawmakers told them to "be bold."
They have to maintain finances as they try to avoid damaging service cuts and, at the same time, push for new bus and train lines. That will require new ideas, because the old ways aren’t going to work.
