Governing: State and local government news and analysis
If autocracy is moving the world toward deglobalization, geopolitical investment principles should complement environmental, social and governance factors. There’s a lot for pension boards and investment managers to keep in mind.
Our public education system is too focused on preparing students for four-year colleges. When an auto mechanic can pull down a six-figure salary, it’s clear that career and technical education should be getting a lot more support.
Red states have filed 27 lawsuits or appeals against Biden’s immigration policies.
While most of the men have taken stands on cultural issues that reflect national GOP platforms, such as guns and abortion, there are issues they back that are distinct to the Keystone State.
Public institutions suffer when partisan drama is televised, streamed or leaked. Ill-considered legislation has to be cleaned up by the courts; confirmation processes turn dirty; and selective leaking is used to flip narrow majorities.
From becoming carbon-neutral to having net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, 21 states are making the legislative push toward cleaner energy production. But these efforts are not without substantial challenges.
Agreements negotiated a century ago to share water on Western rivers among states are showing their age in a time of water scarcity.
Levies for public transit can win at the polls when taxpayers perceive that a project benefits them. These days, properly designed bus rapid transit systems seem to have better chances than expensive light rail.
A trigger law making abortion illegal would go into effect within 30 days after the repeal of Roe v. Wade. An older law could hold people who get abortions criminally liable — but it’s unclear whether it would still apply.
Billions of dollars will soon begin to flow to state, local and tribal governments. It should be used in ways that reflect each community's needs, and we need systems of accountability.
The Supreme Court's expected decision to overturn Roe is both the payoff from a decadeslong push by conservative activists and a signal for action on further fronts of the culture war.
The success of investments in broadband equity depends on pinpointing where gaps exist. New maps from Utah State University’s Center for Growth and Opportunity aim to bring them into better focus.
Only 17 percent of state supreme court justices are people of color.
A new study finds that many transit boardmembers are not representative of their constituents who ride bus, subway or rail. Too often members are old, white and male and don’t use transit much or at all.
Conserving 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030 depends on private landowners.
Elon Musk’s $44 billion deal to buy Twitter roiled the Internet despite his claims to be acting in the interests of free speech and transparency. An author argues that crowd-sourcing wisdom is a poor substitute for old-school expertise in the search for truth.
The largest category of power plants applying to connect to the U.S. grid are now solar, and over a third of those are hybrids that include battery storage.
Following an announcement from Twitter that the long awaited “edit” feature is currently in the testing process, and news about Elon Musk taking on ownership, what do government social media managers need to know?
Plus a look at missed opportunities for Democrats; a redistricting roundup; and, courage under pressure.
Too often they suffer for disclosing uncomfortable truths. Steps could be taken to make what they do more effective, including strengthening state laws purporting to protect them.
With a housing market unable to meet demand and rents spiking, Minneapolis and St. Paul are turning to a practice many have scorned as bad housing policy.
A Pew analysis finds that a third of states lost residents in 2021. Analysts are debating whether these shifts and slowing population growth rates throughout the country really are signs of “demographic doom.”
In distributing rental assistance funds to prevent evictions, Indianapolis found a creative alternative model, working across departments to get the money out to vulnerable families.
It started out as a grassroots medium for community speech, but now it’s struggling to survive. It needs a new platform that blends the best of its past with today’s technology.
A new Urban Institute study finds tax rebates are a better solution, while efforts that discourage driving would have the most significant long-term impact on the inflation problem.
With the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, the yields on money market funds, state investment pools and bank accounts lag the payouts on safe securities. Staff needs to do its upside/downside homework.
We’re used to thinking of it as a waterfall of policies and fights flowing down from Washington. But increasingly it’s about ideas and movements that are erupting from the states.
Rising costs are starting to put pressure on budgets and may increase pension risk. Still, government balance sheets are in good shape and the economy remains in growth mode.
Advocates argue that cities and their connecting swaths of territory make an economic unit, despite the absence of real cultural affinities between distant metros.
As the 50th anniversary of the break-in approaches, a recent book charts the transformation of the Nixon administration’s bungled burglary to a redefinition of America’s relationship with its leaders and institutions.
