Government / Politics
John H. Thompson resigned on Tuesday from his position as director of the U.S. Census Bureau. Thompson served as director of the Census Bureau since 2013.
The Washington Post
Dan Walters has some harsh words for California state leaders. He says their approach to the housing shortage has been "tepid" and "lackadaisical."
The Sacramento Bee
Officials have begun tackling the problem of adapting low-lying State Route 37 in the North Bay, closed several times this year due to flooding, to climate change. With no identified funding, a working group is leaning toward road tolling.
The Press Democrat
Is mass timber the new frontier in low-carbon building? The National Building Museum's newest exhibition, Timber City, pays homage to the potential of tall timber structures which have strength comparable to steel.
Doggerel
The cities of Santa Monica, Culver CIty, West Hollywood, and Malibu are championing stormwater infrastructure, new public transit, affordable housing, and action on homelessness prevention.
The Planning Report
Due to a 2009 court decision, cities and counties in California are prohibited from requiring that a percentage of units in rental developments be affordable. A bill by Assemblyman Richard Bloom would restore inclusionary zoning for rentals.
Planetizen
Congress passed a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill to keep the government operating through September that also restores funding to transportation programs that the president had eliminated or greatly reduced. Trump signed the bill Friday.
The Hill
The commission spent a significant part of last year in the spotlight. Now, its new director is moving ahead on climate adaptation and resilience efforts as a federal policy change looms.
The Planning Report
Feature
Coinciding with the 101st anniversary of Jane Jacobs's birth, a documentary film showing in select theaters around the country recounts the history between Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses, and the ideas that forced their struggle.
Like so many of the president's assertions, the statement, made in a Bloomberg interview on Monday morning, could be open to interpretation, but he's gone where none of his predecessors since Bill Clinton on the issue of raising the gas tax.
The Washington Post - Wonkblog
So much for that so-called "permanent" ban that President Obama enacted by President Obama in December to end oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean and off the central-northern Atlantic coast.
The Washington Post
Partisan politics killed what was labeled as a bipartisan effort to increase funding for Colorado's roads by allowing voters in November to determine whether to raise the state sales tax to fund a bond measure.
The Denver Post
An appeals court on Friday granted the Trump Administration's request to suspend lawsuits on the Clean Power Plan, dealing a major blow against President Obama's signature climate initiative to reduce carbon emissions from existing plants.
The Washington Post - Energy and Environment
California State Senator Scott Wiener argues that advocating for subsidized affordable housing isn't enough. Anyone concerned with ending the state's housing crisis needs to get behind market-rate development.
Art + Marketing
A tent city occupation in Atlanta is among several recent actions in cities around the country. Residents fearing displacement at the hands of publicly supported private development are organizing, and running for office, against it.
Shelterforce/Rooflines
For a long time now, rent control hasn't been an option to control housing prices in Washington state. Whether rent control works is another question entirely.
KUOW
The Executive Order does not roll back the Antiquities Act nor rescind any designations made by presidents Clinton, George W. Bush, or Obama, but does call for their review if over 100,000 acres. President Trump feels that the act has been misused.
The Washington Post
Just past midnight on Saturday morning, the Indiana State Senate passed the transportation plan after the Housed approved it Friday. It also passed a $32 billion, two-year state budget bill, then adjourned for the year, one week ahead of schedule.
Eagle Country
Come November 1, gasoline and diesel taxes will increase by 12 and 20 cents per gallon, respectively, in California, providing badly needed revenue to repair roads, bridges, and improve transit, but truck pollution loophole will still foul the air.
The Press-Enterprise
Donald Trump rode waves of anti-urban sentiment to the White House. But is some city smugness forgivable if urban economies subsidize rural places?
The Boston Globe
