Maine’s 5 Most Critical Problems; N.J. Gov. Christie: Transportation Trust Funds Are ‘Obsolete’

PORTLAND, MAINE
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | Elected officials are oftentimes cheerleaders for the jurisdictions they represent. They also might have a glass-half-full outlook on the challenges they face. U.S. Sen. Angus King is more sober in his assessment of his state, recently told a crowd in Portland that he’s not so optimistic about Maine’s future and detailed five specific challenges the faces: aging and incomplete infrastructure; climate change impacts on shellfish and lobster; a lack of diversity in energy sources; the ailing forest products industry; and the state’s aging workforce and depopulation. [Bangor Daily News]

TRENTON, NEW JERSEY
TRANSPORTATION | Gov. Chris Christie told state lawmakers to start looking for places to cut from the state’s General Fund spending instead of raising the Garden State’s gas tax as a way to fund desperately needed transportation projects. New Jersey’s state Transportation Trust Fund is running on fumes and Christie said on Wednesday that the trust fund concept “is obsolete.” [Politico New Jersey]

WAYNE COUNTY, MICHIGAN
WASTEWATER | Under a tentative deal reached Wednesday, Wayne County would sell the Wolverine State’s second-largest wastewater treatment facility to the Downriver Utility Wastewater Authority for $57.5 million. If the sale is finalized, control over the facility would shift to 13 suburban communities. Wayne County, which encompasses Detroit, would funnel the money from the sale toward pension costs and other expenses. As part of an effort to avoid bankruptcy, the county forged a consent agreement with the state last year. A central part of the agreement involves shoring up the county’s pension system. [Crain’s Detroit Business]

MAUI, HAWAII
GIS | Hawaii’s geographic information system has been upgraded to leverage cloud services, improve data accessibility and reduce costs. Deployed on a centralized state server, Hawaii’s GIS database eliminates redundant databases and is now more easily updatable. A publicly shared copy is in the cloud and can be searched and downloaded via an open data portal. User testing has begun and geospatial data abounds from invasive species tracking to car accident analysis. Agency apps already make use of some of the data. [Maui Now]

PLATTE COUNTY, MISSOURI
SCAMS | County Treasurer Rob Willard wired more than $48,200 of taxpayer money to a “bank” in Florida as part of an email scam. The FBI and county sheriff are now investigating the email request, appearing to come from the presiding commissioner but not actually, in connection with scams in other Missouri and Kansas counties. Barton County’s treasurer sent about $48,600 to a “bank” in Atlanta three weeks ago after receiving emails claiming to be from the administrator that weren’t. Money has yet to be recovered. “I made a mistake,” Willard said. “I won’t sugarcoat it. I won’t dress it up, I made a mistake.” [The Kansas City Star]

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
PUBLIC WIFI | The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has been testing wireless internet service on subway cars in New York City. The testing, still in its early stages, is taking place on four E line train cars and is expected to continue through early next week. The authority says it does not currently have a timeline for rolling out in-car Wi-Fi beyond the testing. But the MTA does have plans to finish equipping stations for internet and cellphone service next year. [NY1]

DULUTH, MINNESOTA
ANIMALS | The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday that declining moose populations in Minnesota may necessitate that the animal may need protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. Moose populations in Minnesota have declined by 60 percent in the past decade. The Fish and Wildlife Service is now putting the moose under “status review,” but that only impacts a subspecies of moose found in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula and Isle Royale in Michigan. [Duluth News Tribune]

MIDLAND, TEXAS
ENERGY | Some optimism is returning to the oilfields of Texas, as crude prices creep upwards to around $50 per barrel, from lows of about $26 earlier this year. “We're going to ease back into the activity, not stomp on the accelerator,” said Steve Pruett, chief executive of a small oilfield developer in the region. “We’ve all sobered up.” A nearly two-year downturn in the oil sector has led to thousands of job losses and dozens of bankruptcies. It has also pressured the finances of some states that rely on tax revenue from the industry. The oil rig count in Texas’ Permian Basin was up slightly as of May 31 to 146, but still below a 2014 peak of 467. [Reuters]

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
WATER | Members of the Los Angeles City Council will vote Friday to include a ballot measure allowing residents to decide whether oversight of the Department of Water and Power should be transferred to the DWP Board of Commissioners. DWP would also be able to hire outside the Civil Service system if the referendum passes in November. Critics of the move argue greater autonomy will make the utility less accountable to the public on rates and services, while giving more power to the people responsible for poor customer service and failing infrastructure in the first place. [Los Angeles Times]

TOPEKA, KANSAS
BATHROOMS | Add Kansas to list of states planning to sue the Obama administration over the president’s recent directive on transgender students and restroom accessibility in public schools. The state could add itself to the suit of 11 others or go it alone. "In our federal system of government, not every decision needs to be handed down from Washington, and this is a matter best left to state or local authorities, including school boards, as it traditionally has been—and as the law requires,” said state Attorney General Derek Schmidt. [The Associated Press via San Francisco Chronicle]