Governing

For more than a century, a Confederate obelisk stood in front of the DeKalb County, Ga., courthouse. On Saturday, the county dedicated a statue of Lewis, a local member of Congress and civil rights pioneer.

Statue of John Lewis Replaces Confederate Monument in Georgia

The humiliation and ridicule that Fulton County’s prosecutor, Fani Willis, has been subject to after indicting Donald Trump are known all too well by African Americans, as a new report documents.

The Mistreatment of a Courageous Public Official

This nonprofit model for increasing affordable housing supply is seeing success in convincing socially motivated investors to accept lower rates of return on rental units.

Can Impact Investors Help Big Cities Fill Housing Gaps?

He hasn’t done as well as other Midwestern Democrats in rural America. It’ll be hard for the Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate to overcome Donald Trump’s appeal to rural sentiments of discontent.

Forget Camo Hats and Corn Dogs. Tim Walz Isn’t That Big a Star with Rural Voters.

Pandemic money from Washington stimulated the economy but arguably ended up feeding inflation. Before the next downturn, governors, mayors and public financers need to be part of the conversation about how to open the countercyclical aid spigot quicker — and when to shut it off.

Laying Track for Faster Federal Recession Aid

As officers’ salaries increased, so did police killings of Black Americans. Job protections from collective bargaining can make some officers less worried about consequences. We need to rethink union contracts.

Pay Police Better, but Hold Them Responsible

A boost in federal highway money has helped states break ground on new projects, some of which have languished due to a shortage of funding.

Infrastructure Bill Kickstarts States’ Road Projects

A bipartisan group of more than 350 mayors has committed to ambitious targets for fleet electrification and charging infrastructure.

Hundreds of Mayors Agree to Set the Pace for Electric Vehicle Adoption

The U.S. is currently building dense housing at the highest rate since the mid-1980s. Former President Barack Obama noted in his Convention speech that “we need to build more units and clear away some of the outdated laws and regulations.”

The Real Breakout Star of the DNC Was YIMBY

Voters would have to approve a $4.4 billion bond package in November, to be financed by property tax increases over 33 years. Including interest, the package would cost $11 billion.

Houston Schools Propose Largest Debt and Property Tax Increase in Texas History

The pandemic wrought a nationwide crisis in school attendance. How did Governor Daniel McKee get Rhode Island students back in the classroom?

How Rhode Island Reduced Chronic Absenteeism

The continuing injustice of Flint should be a wakeup call. With billions flowing from Washington and millions of lead pipes still in place across the country, now is the time to establish access to clean water as a human right.

Why Is There Still Lead in America’s Water?

States can compensate with vehicle and odometer taxes, but local governments can harness new data technologies — including GPS, 5G and AI — to meet the need for more than states’ hand-me-down dollars.

Funding Local Roads in an Era of EVs and Shrinking Fuel Taxes

Since COVID, there's been an increase in the number of parents not getting their kids vaccinated for diseases such as chicken pox, measles and polio.

More Parents Opting Out of School Vaccinations, Citing Religious Objections

Many big-city departments are short of officers. It's not a new problem, but young people seem to be shying away from the field.

Why It's So Hard to Recruit Police Officers

Zoning changes in cities such as Minneapolis have helped prompt new construction, but allowing more units on formerly single-family lots isn’t a panacea for housing shortages.

The Missing Middle: Supply vs. Aesthetics in the Drive for New Housing

It's the power to convene players across a region, as Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin has demonstrated. He's put together an effective coalition to tackle economic and workforce development.

The Most Important Power That a Mayor Has

Despite fires and floods, they keep coming in search of affordability and warm winters. But there are strong signs that the stampede is slowing.

Why Are Americans Still Willing to Move to Disaster Zones?

How the Cloud Transformed Covered California's Healthcare Platform 🚀

Sponsored content: Covered California faced a critical challenge when its on-premises health insurance platform couldn't keep up with the unprecedented demand during the first year of the pandemic. Frequent outages and poor performance led to difficult conversations with leadership, and the need for a robust, scalable solution became undeniable.

Enter the Cloud. Moving to a cloud infrastructure allowed Covered California to rapidly scale its system, ensuring it could meet the needs of over 1.75 million Californians without interruptions. Since the transition, the platform has operated without a hitch, even during peak enrollment periods. The cloud didn't just improve performance; it transformed how the agency delivers healthcare services, enhancing consumer experience and resilience.

Discover the full story and how AWS and Deloitte helped Covered California overcome one of its toughest challenges.

Read more: https://www.governing.com/sponsored/how-the-cloud-rescued-californias-health-exchange?promo_code=social

How the Cloud Rescued California’s Health Exchange Covered California delivers health insurance to state residents via the exchange it created in 2012. In 2020, the agency’s consumer-facing platform, CalHEERS, struggled to keep up with a historic spike in enrollments during COVID-19. This forced agency CIO Kevin Cornish to act quickly and…

The state has two openings for every unemployed person. Both the state and private companies are stepping up their outreach efforts and apprentice programs.

Minnesota Invests $100 Million in Career Development Programs

Transit police have issued more than 700 citations over the past two months. Instead of fines, riders who don’t pay are being sent to court.

After Five Years of Free Rides, Philadelphia Transit Treats Fare Evasion as a Crime

As many states move to dismantle their diversity, equity and inclusion programs and politicians turn the term into an insult, we need to keep sight of these efforts’ potential for good.

Abolish DEI? We Need More of It.

Monica Márquez is the first Latina and openly gay chief justice in the state. She inherits a system rocked by various scandals, high turnover among judges and continuing growing pains from the switch to virtual court.

Colorado’s New Chief Justice Discusses Court’s Future

The glitch would have allowed anyone to submit a voter registration cancellation request for any Georgian using their name, date of birth and county of residence — information that is easily discoverable online.

“A Terrible Vulnerability”: Cybersecurity Researcher Discovers Major Flaw in Georgia’s Voter Cancellation Portal The glitch would have allowed anyone to submit a voter registration cancellation request for any Georgian using their name, date of birth and county of residence — information that is easily discoverable online.

From buckling roads to twisted rails, it’s under a lot of stress. Engineers have some ideas for minimizing the problems.

The Havoc Extreme Heat Wreaks on Our Aging Infrastructure

Nationally, 83 percent of new solar projects developed by 2040 will be installed on farms and ranchland. But some believe that the two industries can exist side by side.

Can Farmers and Solar Developers Share the Same Land?

As the transit agency publicly worked to ensure their riders felt safe during their daily commutes, top executives experienced an internal breakdown in communication so bad that it resulted in a wrongful-termination lawsuit.

L.A. Metro Execs Battle as Agency Struggled With Crime

The Democrats’ new vice presidential pick has one of the most progressive records of any current governor. He also has some history that Republicans are likely to exploit.

What Tim Walz Is Known for in Minnesota

A new law extends the state’s sexual assault evidence protections to cover DNA samples. But getting justice in hundreds of cold cases will require more than just testing, survivors say.

Maryland Is on Track to Process Nearly 50 Years of R**e Kits

The movement to protect historic buildings seemed unbeatable for decades, but it has spawned sophisticated, well-funded critics — and critics of the critics. Is it really “a good idea that has gone too far”?

The Escalating Argument Over Historic Preservation