Management
From foster care to secure housing: How vouchers help young adults build self-sufficiency
While some first-time renters rush to thrift stores to find eclectic pieces to decorate their new apartments, for adolescents leaving the foster system, the experience of moving out is often much bleaker.
Finance
State Medicaid costs poised to surge from pandemic lows
State costs rose by 13% in fiscal 2023 and are expected to increase by an additional 17.2% in fiscal 2024 thanks to the phaseout of enhanced federal aid, provider rate increases and slowing but still elevated enrollment levels.
Digital Government
To meet class size mandate, officials look to virtual learning
To meet a new state mandate capping K-12 class sizes, New York City is considering offering remote instruction, a practice that could free up building space and allow students to take electives and AP classes from teachers on other campuses.
Sponsor Content
The Secret to Painless Public Record Requests
Public record transparency is more important than ever. Learn strategies and effective solutions you can incorporate in the public record requests process.
Workforce
Microchip companies need federal grant money. They’re rolling out child care to get it.
To draw women into the semiconductor and construction industries, the CHIPS Act requires companies to provide child care. But will it boost the supply of care, or exacerbate an existing crisis?
Infrastructure
Feds open the door to $2B in Northeast Corridor rail improvements
The grant applications come as President Joe Biden, a longtime railroad fan, wraps up his first term and Amtrak ridership rapidly rebounds from pandemic-era lows.
Finance
Why income discrimination laws hurt poor renters
COMMENTARY| Laws that ban discrimination against voucher holders can push smaller landlords out of the low-income housing market, decreasing the amount of affordable housing.
Digital Government
‘Mission Impossible’ masks, bad data and immature tech dog age verification for social media
Another state signed a law restricting minors’ use of the platforms. But the continued growth in technology as well as “low-tech fraud” could make enforcement more difficult.
Infrastructure
New federal rule will overhaul transmission planning as electric grid strains
The sprawling rule requires transmission operators to plan along a 20-year horizon and work with states to develop data-driven projections of needs.
Management
This Utah county will buy your lawn to save water
Would you ditch your grass for less-thirsty plants? In a place where every drop of water counts, a little cash compels residents to say yes.
Infrastructure
Efforts to reform federal broadband subsidy gain traction
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed support for tweaks to the Affordable Connectivity Program’s rules in a bid to keep it from sunsetting this month.
Cybersecurity
Whole-of-state program delivers security that’s ‘antivirus on steroids’
Woodbury, Minnesota, was one of the first cities to take advantage of the subsidized managed detection and response solution.
Sponsor Content
10 Reasons why PowerScale OneFS is ideal for all your file workloads
Optimized for AI, PowerScale plays a critical role in powering performance-intensive use cases providing a scalable storage platform that meets our customers at their business needs.
Management
San Francisco tries tough love by tying welfare to drug rehab
Starting in January 2025, public assistance recipients who screen positive for addiction on a 10-question drug abuse test will be referred to treatment. Those who refuse or fail to show up for treatment will lose their benefits.
Management
Report: State by state, how segregation legally continues 7 decades post Brown
Researchers unveil loopholes, laws and a lack of protections allowing Black, brown, low-income students to be excluded from America’s most coveted schools.
Management
Amid a housing crisis, hospitals offer a dose of relief
The housing crisis may be too big for state and local governments to overcome. That’s why hospitals are stepping in to remedy housing and health care gaps.
Infrastructure
After Supreme Court decision left wetlands unprotected, Colorado steps in
Lawmakers crafted new rules to protect and restore wetlands and streams left vulnerable following a decision by the high court that scaled back the types of places subject to the Clean Water Act.
Infrastructure
Texas flooding brings new urgency to Houston home buyout program
The Houston area is the site of perhaps the country’s longest-running experiment in the adaptation policy known as “managed retreat.” But the past week’s flooding has demonstrated that even this nation-leading program hasn’t been able to keep pace with escalating disaster.
Management
Medical residents are increasingly avoiding states with abortion restrictions
A new analysis shows that, for the second year in a row, students graduating from U.S. medical schools were less likely to apply this year for residency positions in states with abortion bans and other significant abortion restrictions.
Management
What's the poop? Wastewater data predicts overdoses
Analyzing wastewater samples can help public health workers paint a reliable picture of a community’s rapidly evolving drug use to to get ahead of overdoses.
Workforce