Governing: State and local government news and analysis
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.
Florida and Texas have passed social media censorship legislation, but both face legal pushback from advocacy groups. If their cases move forward, it could set a precedent for other states to propose similar legislation.
“Teach-ins” were inspired the first Earth Day. Andra Yeghoian of the San Mateo County Office of Education is leading efforts to make environmental and climate literacy top priorities throughout K-12 systems.
A number of states are seeing dozens of lawmakers retire all at once. Reasons differ, but there’s wide agreement partisanship has poisoned the atmosphere.
Failing to invest in the emergency response communication workforce and infrastructure is taking a toll. One important way to bolster call center employee morale and retention is to reclassify these professionals as first responders.
From regulation to restoration, the work of environmental stewardship falls largely on the shoulders of those in government. For Earth Day 2022, Governing asked public-sector leaders how they see the path forward.
Population growth is slowing or reversing just about everywhere in the country. That has enormous implications for our future economy and prosperity.
The AARP Livability Index, which relaunched this week, scores towns, cities and counties for the services they provide based on several metrics, including housing, transportation, environment and health.
The Twin Cities have always been alike in some ways, very different in others. Their mayors reflect the differences and similar monumental challenges.
Private geographic information companies, rich with useful data, have transportation solutions that governments need to start using.
Our system is too open to frivolous lawsuits intended to squelch free speech. There’s a lot that state lawmakers could do to protect Americans’ First Amendment rights.
Federal lawmakers are asking how to better help the critical infrastructure sector defend against cyber threats. The answer may involve tailored, actionable intelligence and minimum cybersecurity requirements.
Kate Wright, the new executive director of the nonprofit Climate Mayors, talks about the ways that mayors from both parties are on climate’s front lines, working for change.
When urbanists gather, too often the bias is to the issues faced by coastal cities and the Sun Belt. The sense of Midwest irrelevance has always been a part of the American psyche.
Weeks after the U.S. and the G7 countries weaponized the global financial system to impose their harshest-ever sanctions on Russia, fissures are becoming apparent. Countries impose but often backpedal on sanctions against bad actors for a simple reason — a reluctance to go to war.
Smaller cities. Soaring water prices. Scorched desert towns. Arizona confronts a highly uncertain future.
The bipartisan infrastructure bill appears to transform how the federal government subsidizes broadband infrastructure. But evidence suggests that big companies may not allow the status quo to change without a fight.
Interviews and surveys with hundreds of teachers and school administrators reveal the effect of persistent staffing shortages on school personnel – and on students.
Shouldn’t being able to live in an affordable, safe and sanitary home be considered a human right? There are several ways local leaders could attack the problem.
Plus a look at how redistricting reduces competition; why Trump remains the price of admission into GOP primaries; and, the trouble Democrats are in ahead of the midterms.
With miles of second-floor walkways, Minneapolis and St. Paul have struggled to make them appealing without hurting retail businesses at the street level. Then the pandemic hit.
