Governing: State and local government news and analysis
As the coronavirus pandemic forced Americans outside, states are now investing some of their federal aid in updating park infrastructure to keep up with the record crowds.
Billions in federal aid give state and local governments the opportunity to leverage evidence-based approaches to help disproportionately impacted communities and address long-term systemic challenges.
A bipartisan group of senators proposed the gas tax should be indexed to inflation to help pay for new infrastructure spending, an approach Biden calls ‘regressive.’
In the public sector, customer service can easily devolve to “our way or the highway.” The head of the Arlington, Texas, planning department is transforming its service culture into a place where your “dream comes true.”
State and local leaders should prod Washington for the funding that can close the digital divide, protect utilities from cyber criminals, build smart cities and shape incentives for high-tech manufacturing.
The idea has come up again and again, and now there’s a flurry of experimentation. But it never seems to take hold.
A new book makes a multi-generational examination of the origin stories of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin to understand how they were shaped and by whom – their mothers.
The pandemic made it easier to get—and keep—food assistance. In some places, those expanded benefits are drawing to a close.
When the rush for unemployment insurance crashed government websites in 2020, we learned how to navigate traffic surges in a crisis. So why weren’t sites prepared to handle vaccine appointments?
The state’s eviction moratorium is coming to an end June 30. Since the earliest days of the pandemic, housing analysts have worried about a wave of evictions whenever the state lifts protections for renters. Carolina Reid, associate professor of city and regional planning at the University of California, Berkeley, has been tracking vulnerable renters throughout the pandemic. She says the state could help renters facing eviction — if enough money gets to them in time.
North America’s largest subway system is run by a board that’s disproportionately controlled by state government. A city-run system has merits, but so far only one mayoral candidate is interested in changing the status quo.
The primary to succeed Bill de Blasio will be held on Tuesday. No one from the huge field has emerged as a clear favorite, with Andrew Yang fading fast.
Dissatisfied voters targeted election administrators in 2020. Accustomed to working behind the scenes, many were cast as villains and now fear for their personal and professional safety.
Congress and state legislatures dealt with dozens of bills on voter identification and other legislative measures aimed at more full election integrity — but there is no agreement on what a more perfect voting process would look like.
Texas and 19 other states had challenged the Affordable Care Act. For the third time, the nation's highest court upheld it.
Any community’s civic culture has deep and stubborn roots in local history. But with the right sort of leader, new and innovative attitudes and practices can emerge.
Public officials need the private sector to step up and use its moral and financial clout to counter the right-wing extremists who are bent on ending the American republic.
America’s largest city has a transit system under stress, and an ongoing battle between cars, bikes and pedestrians for control of the streets. Yet mayoral candidates are saying little about the transportation problems.
Stockton emerged from bankruptcy years ago, but a culture of caution lingered that wasn’t conducive to growth. Harry Black, its new city manager, aims to speed resurgence and innovation through data-based plans and programs.
“No industry should feel entitled to use up a human body.”
Housing and crime round out top urban concerns and mayors are scrambling to use much-needed federal funding as austerity issues recede, according to the latest State of the Cities report from the National League of Cities.
It's been strong for decades, but the poisonous polarization at the federal level has begun to flow downhill, threatening to undermine the service to citizens that is the foundation of that trust.
In 1978, one conservative politician sought to remove gay teachers from California schools. A coalition of protestors, along with local and national politicians, moved swiftly to stop him.
Political partisanship is playing out across the country as lawmakers move to change how their states’ supreme courts are elected.
Community colleges are well situated to provide the skills needed to thrive in the evolving post-pandemic economy. States have the resources to provide a tuition-free path right now, but they need to do it right.
Political gridlock and one-term presidents, are there recognizable patterns in how the Constitution plays out as the country moves through and beyond our times?
A new study has found that 68 percent of frontline organizations like food pantries and 80 percent of hunger advocacy organizations believe they should focus more effort on tackling the root causes of food insecurity, including poverty and structural racism within the food system.
The project is essentially an advisory committee designed to promote the state’s history to Texas residents, largely through pamphlets given to people receiving driver’s licenses.
Building enough charging infrastructure to capture the anticipated economic and health benefits will be an enormous undertaking. But can the country’s power grid handle the strain of so many EVs plugging in on a daily basis?
As Bitcoin gains momentum, some cities, including Los Angeles, Harrisburg and Raleigh, are allowing Bitcoin ATMs. The trend has both advantages and downsides.
