New consumer spending patterns fuel investment in entertainment venues.
Future in Context
Future in Context
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.
Gov. Dan McKee said the state will soon allow residents to prove their vaccination status with an app, which will be voluntary and businesses will still decide if they want to require proof of vaccination.
Prior to COVID, San Antonio had allowed as many as 16,000 scooters to operate on city streets but now the allowance has dropped to just 2,000. The scooter industry may be here to stay, but not without change.
To deal with a multimillion-dollar deficit, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department cut $99.9 million in overtime. But as crime and homicides increase across the county, officials say that’s not feasible this year.
COVID-19 has helped to highlight the racial disparities in health-care services that stem from implicit bias from doctors and medical algorithms. But for many Black patients, the discrimination goes beyond negative attitudes.
Before the pandemic, Marin County had the lowest vaccination rates in California. Now, more than 90 percent of its adults are protected against COVID-19.
In 1918, with the Spanish flu raging, workers had little choice but to continue riding the trams and trains. Today, at least in America, they can work from home or ride alone in their car.
California’s official unemployment rate is 7.5 percent. But a newer method of measuring unemployment reveals a far larger portion of the state is struggling to find full-time employment that pays enough to cover the cost of living.
The Division of Occupational Safety and Health board will not enact its own worker vaccine mandate while the federal mandate is under legal review. The state’s emergency COVID workplace rules remain in effect.
Johnson County officials are creating programs that will provide direct payments to residents who were unable to receive pandemic relief funds, including undocumented immigrants. Implementation could begin by March 2022.
Some of the changes have made it easier to participate in courtroom processes, like online jury selection and trials. But not everything translates easily online, and not everyone has Internet access.
The city will alter routes across the city to reduce wait times and improve service as it continues to grapple with a bus driver shortage and low ridership numbers. Full service could resume next year.
The state had a fairly good digital response to the pandemic, given the low technology and training capacity that public health departments had prior. But the response wasn't perfect, especially for those with limited English or Internet access.
The state originally said it would end mask mandates when it got to a 70 percent vaccination rate, but as cases continued to spike the end never came. Three experts explain how that might damage the public’s trust.
The $1.2 trillion infrastructure package will give billions to the state in new spending over the next five years. Large swaths of the money will be used to upgrade Alaska’s outdated infrastructure.
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