Government / Politics

President Obama is in California today to pitch a $1 billion “resilience fund” to help communities dealing with the weather impacts of climate change—including the state’s current drought.

February 14, 2014 - The Hill

At a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee meeting on Feb. 12, leaders from big labor, big business, AASHTO, and AMTRAK testified to the importance of keeping the Highway Trust Fund solvent. The first two specified increasing the gas tax.

February 14, 2014 - The Hill

Say what you will about growing corn for fuel, and there are many criticisms even coming from the environmental community, corn ethanol has its benefits, and one of the most important is reducing oil's stranglehold on America's transportaton fuels.

February 13, 2014 - Inside Climate News

With jaywalking enforcement policies recently making news in New York City and Los Angeles, more of the media is pushing back on long-held assumptions about who rules the road. Here’s a primer on how jaywalking became a crime.

February 12, 2014 - BBC News Magazine

The world is changing, and so must we. Do we wait for external influences to force change, or can we lead our organizations to do better?

February 11, 2014 - Todd Litman

The vote to approve restrictions on immigration passed narrowly with 50.3 percent of the vote. The main repercussion may be how it impacts trading with its neighbors in the EU as immigration quotas may invalidate a 1999 treaty allowing free movement.

February 11, 2014 - The New York Times

Propane prices in some parts of the midwest and south had tripled; governors have demanded investigations into price gouging, and shelters have opened for those unable to afford the steep prices increases, yet production increased 15% from last year.

February 10, 2014 - The New York Times

Mayor Bill de Blasio has selected Carl Weisbrod, the co-chairman of his transition team and a veteran New York City real estate executive to be the Chair of the City Planning Commission, aka Planning Director. Housing affordablity will be a priority.

February 10, 2014 - The New York Times N.Y. / Region

To be pedantic, or to participate, is the question.

February 9, 2014 - James Brasuell

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to take the grey wolf off the Endangered Species list across most of the continental U.S. but a key panel determined their decision was based on questionable science that dealt with species identification.

February 9, 2014 - LiveScience

The coal ash spill, 82,000 tons as of Feb. 8 after being detected on Feb. 2, comes from a pond adjacent to a closed, coal-burning Duke Energy power plant. It is said not to pose a threat to drinking water, though the river has turned black and grey.

February 8, 2014 - The Wall Street Journal - U.S.

The former three-term New York City mayor, already president of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group has been appointed to a special United Nations envoy position on cities and climate change by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

February 8, 2014 - Reuters

Harriet Tregoning recently announced the end of her seven-year tenure as planning director of Washington D.C. Called by some the “futurist-in-chief,” Tregoning will head to HUD, where she’ll head the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities.

February 7, 2014 - Capital Business - The Washington Post

While road usage fee advocates may be celebrating this key endorsement of what many transportation experts view as the inevitable funding option, Streetsblog's Tanya Snyder is calling it a setback because of what else Rep. Bill Shuster did on Feb 4.

February 7, 2014 - Streetsblog USA

In the first case of its kind, federal regulators fined three oil companies for allegedly either failing to test, or improperly testing crude from the Bakken Shale in N.D., resulting in rail companies not knowing which type of oil tanker cars to use.

February 6, 2014 - The Wall Street Journal

In the early part of the 20th century, Europe looked toward the U.S. to learn how to adapt cities to car travel, as difficult as that may seem. It wasn't until the 1990s, in the presence of sprawl and failing public transit that the pattern reversed.

February 5, 2014 - The Atlantic Cities

A contributing factor to widespread political disengagement? It's not what you might expect. Here's how the daily commute diminishes citizens' interest and ambition to get involved in their communities.

February 5, 2014 - Tom Spengler

Continued service to many cities in New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas may rest with N.M. Gov. Susana Martinez who has indicated she is unwilling to share in the maintenance costs required by the federal government for a stretch of rail owned by BNSF.

February 4, 2014 - The New Mexican

The city of San Diego adopted the Barrio Logan plan a few months ago, provoking a successful movement to place a referendum on a future ballot. The city’s mayoral race could hinge on the issue, with large military contractors as political donors.

February 3, 2014 - San Diego Reader

Planners can learn a lot about the havoc money unleashes on otherwise benign development plans from the moral fortitude displayed by Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer.

February 3, 2014 - Ian Sacs