State and Local Government

When to Reopen

COMMENTARY | Let’s stop pretending that pandemic rules that made sense in April 2020 still make sense a year later.

  • By Yascha Mounk, The Atlantic

In the Rush to Digital, Governments Can’t Leave Behind Cash Payers

COMMENTARY | As local and state governments embrace digital payment services, they must ensure that these services are equitable and accessible to all—including people who are unbanked or underbanked.

  • By Liz Fischer

Delaware Bill Would Require Menstruation Products In Public School Bathrooms

The one-time cost to each school would be about $30,000 to install dispensers and $77,000 a year to keep them filled.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

Lawmakers Renew Push to Restore Axed Municipal Refinancing Tool

Advance refunding helped state and local governments save on borrowing costs. The bipartisan effort to bring it back could get rolled into forthcoming infrastructure legislation.

  • By Bill Lucia

Building Trust in the Covid-19 Vaccine Among People of Color

COMMENTARY | Government and health care organizations must overcome understandable skepticism toward the vaccine among some minority groups. Following three basic communications practices can help.

  • By Juan Cabrera

Miami Beach Extends Curfew, State of Emergency as Visitors Swamp South Florida

City officials called an emergency meeting Sunday in Miami Beach to discuss mitigation measures for throngs of unruly gatherers after a week of arrests, fights and crowd-control headaches.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

When State and Local Governments Can Expect to Receive Stimulus Funds

The Treasury Department is still working on guidance that will better inform states of how they can use the money. But aid for cities and counties must be distributed within 60 days of the law’s passage.

  • By Andrea Noble

How One County Helps Low-Income Homeowners Rehab Their Houses

James City County, Virginia tapped federal housing dollars to fund repairs and rebuilding projects that make homes safe and habitable. "Nothing is more affordable than the house you already have," notes a local official.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

States Consider 'Do-Over Years' for Students Affected by the Pandemic

Some policies allow students an extra year to participate in both academics and athletics, other measures focus entirely on sports.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

‘An Insult’: Attorneys General Slam Purdue Restructuring Plan

Under the proposal filed this week, the OxyContin manufacturer would pay $4.25 billion to states, municipalities and others.

  • By Andrea Noble

Florida Officials to Spring Breakers: Please Try to Not Spread Covid Everywhere

City and county leaders in Florida, prohibited from enforcing local mask mandates, are relying largely on public messaging to keep visitors in line.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

Poll Finds Distrust in Covid Information From State Leaders

It also suggests few people rely on state and local government websites as primary sources of information about the pandemic.

  • By Brent Woodie
Featured eBooks
Government Tech & Innovation
Management in City and County Government
The Outlook for State CIOS in 2021

Basic and No-Cost Steps Agencies Can Take to Defend Against Hackers

It’s a daunting era for state and local government cybersecurity, but agencies have some simple, and even free, options to protect their computer networks from threats.

  • By Bill Lucia

Covid Relief Bill Will Infuse Billions into Local Economies

From $1,400 stimulus payments to $300-a-week unemployment benefits, the $1.9 trillion aid package gets cash to residents that can translate to stronger state and local tax revenues.

  • By Andrea Noble

Cities Bet on Risky Borrowing Option to Bolster Pensions

With the cost to issue debt at record lows, there’s been an upswing in local governments turning to pension obligation bonds.

  • By Liz Farmer

Travel Bans do Little to Stem Covid-19 Spread

COMMENTARY | New research finds that limiting personal mobility through travel restrictions and similar tactics is effective only in the first phases of the epidemic, and reduces in proportion to the spread of infection across a population.

  • By Karl Greenberg, Futurity

Five Pandemic Mistakes We Keep Repeating

COMMENTARY | We can learn from our failures.

  • By Zeynep Tufekci, The Atlantic

Covid Vaccine Websites Violate Disability Laws, Create Inequity for the Blind

An investigation finds that covid vaccine registration and information websites at the federal, state and local levels are flouting disability rights laws and limiting the ability of people who are blind or visually impaired to sign up for shots.

  • By Lauren Weber and Hannah Recht, Kaiser Health News

Public Employees’ Use of Personal Phones, Tablets Puts Local Governments at Risk

A cybersecurity report found that 25% of state and local government employees use personal digital devices to telework while only 9% of federal employees do so.

  • By Andrea Noble

Vaccine Appointment Link Sharing ‘Highly Problematic’ for Health Departments

Virginia transitioned to a new centralized coronavirus vaccine registration system this week that officials said should help prevent people from passing links they use to schedule shots on to others.

  • By Andrea Noble

Casting Ballots by Smartphone or Tablet? Elections Officials Want to Expand Online Voting Pilots

A Utah county and West Virginia were among the places that allowed some voters to cast electronic ballots last year.

  • By Andrea Noble