A harsh analysis of the global pandemic response has public health leaders in the U.S. pointing to a fractured, underfunded public health system, partisan politics and low health literacy as barriers to better outcomes.
With authority and accountability split between three jurisdictions, the nation’s third-largest transit system has lurched from one crisis to another. Now, with ridership and reliability tanking, the service faces an uncertain future.
Congress responded to the COVID crisis by allocating unprecedented sums to help cities and states recover. Early data about how they are using the money suggests that big spends can have complications.
Pre-emption has been on the upswing in recent years, leaving many city leaders frustrated. Richard Schragger, author of City Power, talks about the fallout from this power struggle and how it can hurt urban growth.
Consensus among the states on issues of national importance now seems as elusive as it was in the nation’s pre-Constitution days.
Counties and their public health officials have been on the front lines of the COVID pandemic, struggling amid white-hot politics that has weakened the nation’s response. Can we do better when the next pandemic strikes?
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.
The White House has taken the first step. It’s time for our governments at every level to underwrite a public-private “solidarity bridge” to host many more: up to a million refugees and wartime orphans.
The stimulus program that followed the Great Recession was a model for tracking projects and spending down to the ZIP code level. We don’t have that with the American Rescue Plan, dooming us to fight about what matters most.
State and local governments are still trusted more than Washington, though they’re having their own brushes with incivility and polarization. But they’re still the best bet for preserving our traditions of governance.
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.
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.
The federal government is sending billions to cities and counties to overcome pandemic setbacks. Plans from 150 local governments offer a preview of how these dollars might be spent.
Author and federal judge Jeffrey Sutton argues the legislative branch of states should take a larger role in constitutional experimentation, and we should ask less of the judicial branch.
The new federal funds should be targeted to projects that protect communities from climate change and promote social and economic mobility. Cities have hundreds of such projects ready to go.
With $65 billion on the way from Washington to expand Internet access, it’s time for businesses, research organizations and others to join with the public sector to shape strategies to make the most of the funds.
