Governing: State and local government news and analysis
With electronic storage readily available, including blockchain technology, there’s no excuse for keeping valuable property documents on paper.
With K-12 bus routes and parent pickup lines getting longer due to a shortage of bus drivers, schools are turning to apps to manage dismissal and transit-related issues, and to provide parents with important updates.
Barring unknowable virus mutation scenarios, state and local fiscal managers have the opportunity to navigate trends and crosscurrents already underway to make better decisions. One factor figures into almost everything: inflation.
A liberal arts education is about more than preparing students with skills in demand in the marketplace. Author Roosevelt Montás explains how studying "the classics" can change lives and matter more than ever.
As America moved forward from the pandemic's initial throes, transportation experts examined their role in social equity as they considered eliminating fares, expanding transit lines and starting a "mobility revolution."
Filibusters do occur in some state legislatures, but they rarely succeed in blocking legislation. Unlike the U.S. Senate, most state legislatures still operate on the Founders’ majoritarian principles.
It’s important to provide efficient services and develop sustainable-wage economies, but it’s crucial to bring residents together in a common bond.
Located in upstate New York with a population of less than 4,000, Lake Placid was not an obvious choice for the 1932 Winter Olympics. But one man used his political savvy – with a little help from a future president – to turn the town into a two-time Olympic host.
Confusion and misinformation have made it difficult to gauge the impact of the omicron variant on the economy and work. Data that tracks unemployment rates since the start of the pandemic provides a rough guide.
We can’t move millions of people back to the center of cities. But we can make our suburbs friendlier to urban values.
With their economies built on mineral extraction, the sister cities envision a future together without coal. A partnership to share resources is underway, but a merger is off the table, at least for now.
Newly released research points to the need to both electrify the transportation sector and make cities less car dependent if there’s any hope of curtailing the worst effects of climate change.
This year taught us to humbly expect the unexpected, from hundreds of billions in federal “helicopter money” to $35,000 bonuses to lure back retired transit workers. And how is your public pension fund doing on something called ESG?
The job of a legislator is for most a time-consuming one with little chance to shape policy, and the pay isn't great. So why do so many of them run for re-election over and over?
Once numbering over 2 million in the U.S., an estimated 100,000 remain. But they are getting hard to find. Especially ones that work.
Historian H. W. Brands’ new book draws out the complexities of the country’s original great struggle and what it can tell us about where we are today.
Armed with three years of grocery shopping data, researchers found that total sugar sales are down by almost 20 percent, driven largely by falling soda purchases.
The Valencia lab, a public-private venture between the state and PerkinElmer, processed only 1 to 8 percent of all Californians’ COVID tests in the first 10 months of the contract. And the lab was riddled with dozens of problems, according to an inspection report.
Bureaucratic, compliance-driven contracting systems do little to create sustainable and equitable communities. Done better, procurement could be a creative tool for problem-solving.
Partisan rancor has seeped into the once quiet, technical field of transportation policy. Conservatives increasingly oppose policies that support transit, while liberals push back against highway construction.
When it comes to major life events, agency boundaries never line up with the challenges people face. There’s a federal push to get at the problem, and state and local governments should be part of the solution.
Some of their concerns, such as housing costs and homelessness, track with those of their constituents. But elected leaders should pay more attention to crime, inflation and other issues increasingly on the minds of residents.
The 2021 Clean Energy Scorecard from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy ranks progress in 100 major U.S. cities, and the findings show there’s plenty of room for improvement.
The rules for spending federal COVID-19 relief funds include a disinvitation to invention. State, local and tribal governments need to be able to try new things — and then stop some of them.
As the giving holidays remind us, too many Americans must work for paltry wages and face high costs of housing or homelessness. Elected officials need to pay attention to the real needs of the people who can’t shower them with campaign contributions.
Governments will be in healthier posture in December 2022 if they seriously address the cybersecurity staffing gap, keep an eye on their security supply chains and begin moving to a zero-trust framework.
The state knew something special had to happen if it wanted to revive intercity passenger rail service. A coalition of political and private support created the highly successful Downeaster.
After the successful shift to remote work for many government agencies in 2021, the public sector has begun to weigh the benefits of hybrid work environments and reassess hiring practices.
Most of downtown Mayfield was destroyed and dozens of residential blocks have been wiped out. “War zones don’t look this bad,” Gov. Beshear said, but residents were optimistic about rebuilding.
Journalist and historian Jay Cost says this is not the time to get rid of parties but have them rise to the challenge and help make a more perfect union.
