Governing: State and local government news and analysis
Visitors to the National 9/11 Memorial in lower Manhattan, where the World Trade Center towers once stood, reflect on the events that took place two decades ago and what it means to them today.
With the city’s transit system badly flooded by the hurricane’s rains, calls have grown to increase capital spending now to upgrade subways and buses. But fees from the road tolling program are many months away.
Natural disasters such as fires, floods and storms are more intense and are developing more rapidly. The “new normal” that climate change has brought to emergency managers is unpredictability.
Most Americans associate Labor Day with the end of summer. But the holiday was originally a form of worker activism during a period of rapid industrialization. Solidarity, not barbecue, was the buzzword back then.
The goal of having nonpartisan elections is not to remove all politics from governing but to remove a conflict point that keeps a school board from doing its job.
Transportation and housing advocates are becoming fed up with the review process, which can easily delay or kill a project. They say it puts too much power in the hands of a few privileged citizens.
The infrastructure bill being debated in Congress looks like a small but genuine down payment on a more climate-friendly transportation sector and electric power grid. What comes next is crucial.
Federal pandemic relief funds offer state and local governments the chance to invest in public health programming and infrastructure to make communities safer, particularly those that have been the most harmed.
Selma was a crucible of the civil rights movement. That brings visitors, but residents and businesses have fled the Alabama town.
Local governments lack the tax base for meaningful income redistribution programs, and they risk losing residents to lower-tax jurisdictions. The economics suggest that it’s a job for higher levels of government.
Counties range in size from thousands of residents to millions, with varied levels of responsibility and efficiency. Some advocate shrinking the number of them, but that raises questions both practical and sentimental.
We’re used to blaming the Army Corps of Engineers for monolithic, expensive reclamation projects that go bad. Here’s something they did right, and at a very low cost.
The world changed on Aug. 6. The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, triggering a hasty withdrawal and changing the world’s perception of the U.S. while causing Americans to question the state of the national soul.
States are launching cyber navigator programs to help election officials protect their systems from cyber threats, by helping break down the highly technical skills of cybersecurity into practical next steps.
The White House, tech firms, insurers and educational organizations announced near-future steps to improve national cybersecurity, including new NIST guidelines and tech support for governments looking to upgrade defenses.
Even accounting for factors lenders said would explain disparities, people of color are denied mortgages at significantly higher rates than white people.
A new report finds that the wear and tear on our highway system has greater costs than were previously understood, implying a need for more transportation infrastructure investment, especially for road maintenance.
China’s decision to end imports of recyclable materials created huge challenges and forced a hard look at recycling in the U.S. New legislation aims to increase private-sector responsibility for waste reduction and recovery.
They anchored their communities, and Black teachers taught their students that everyone could learn and succeed. We should keep these strengths in mind as we try to re-integrate public schools today.
A comprehensive view of the states’ marijuana laws regarding medical use, workplace accommodations and driving under the influence. Today, 36 states and the District of Columbia allow medical use of marijuana.
Informed by social media analysis and surveys, San Jose built a corps of trusted local messengers to boost vaccination rates in hard-to-reach communities.
The state housing agency has cited two major sports arenas for cutting backroom deals with developers that shortchanged the public on affordable units. The agency is now investigating a third.
Lots of them are named for slaveholders, British royalty and even fictional characters. It’s time we honored some of the heroes of the struggles for freedom and equal rights.
Republicans can’t wait to vote out California’s governor. Democrats have been less engaged, which points to potential problems for the party in next year’s midterms.
Unlike China, American roads and transport systems have been around for too many decades. We need to fix them, not dream of gleaming new ones.
It doesn't create much new housing and distorts the housing market, providing little if any help for low-income households. It's no substitute for broad liberalization of zoning policies.
What’s behind distrust of public health advice? Harvard's Rima Rudd, a founder of the field of health literacy, explains the ways that health messaging can go wrong.
Shifts in how we think about work in a post-COVID-19 world could create an opening for fairer hiring with the help of asynchronous interviews, using artificial intelligence to help reduce recruiting bias.
Men give more money than women to candidates in high-level statewide elections. Money can equal political influence, so that may lead candidates to be less interested in women’s issues once elected.
A police employee accidentally deleted 22 terabytes of case files when trying to migrate data between servers. Officials say they’re now working to recover what they can and prevent future issues.
