Vermont
After a 22% drop in housing starts in March, municipalities and state governments continue to assess whether or not housing construction is essential, weighing factors like workforce safety and availability of construction materials.
Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University
Public comments were largely favorable regarding the 12-state program intended to reduce transportation emissions by using a cap-and-invest system, but governors are cautious due to an expected effect on gas prices.
Smart Cities Dive
The 12-month period ending July 1, 2019, saw the lowest population growth rate, 0.5 percent, since 1918, reported the U.S. Census Bureau on Monday. Natural increase (births minus deaths) was the lowest in decades. Ten states saw population declines.
U.S. Census Bureau
Will a dozen East Coast states and D.C. agree to a regional plan that would likely hike gas prices through a "cap-and-invest" program to mitigate tailpipe emissions similar to what California has done for the last five years?
The New York Times
Light rail, bus rapid transit, subway cell service, and more.
WAMU
Modeled on the nation's first mandatory cap-and-trade program that only targets power plant emissions, the Transportation & Climate Initiative subjects transportation fuel to a similar market-based program. It took a major step forward on Oct. 1.
The Hill
With the formal announcement by the EPA and the U.S. DOT on Thursday that the "One National Standard" rule has been issued, California's zero-emission standard, which applies to ten other states, is essentially on hold.
InsideClimate News
Vermont enabled tax increment financing (TIF) for the city of Burlington in 1985, in keeping with a nationwide trend at the time. TIF is still a major player in the state's redevelopment efforts to this day.
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
To encourage people to move to Vermont, new program will help remote workers with the costs of relocating.
WBUR
Nine Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states and the District of Columbia have agreed to work together to develop a policy to price emissions from transportation, set a 'cap' on them, and invest the revenues in low carbon transportation solutions.
The Boston Globe
States and cities are reacting to President Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement on Thursday. Three states formed the U.S. Climate Alliance; by Monday, it had grown to 13. Initially 30 mayors signed in support; it's now over 200.
Planetizen
Rutland, Vermont is scheduled to become home to 100 Syrian refugees, a prospect that has awoken passionate responses from the town's residents.
The Nation
Plans drawn up for a new, futuristic 20,000-person community in Sharon, Vermont, based on town plans originally conceived by Church of Latter Day Saints founder Joseph Smith, have hit a roadblock with locals and the church itself.
Inverse
An early approval from the Federal Railroad Administration has set the Northern New England Intercity Rail Initiative in motion.
Hartford Business Journal
A recent study discovered that towns and cities around the country had removed the pavement on thousands of roads in the last five years.
Wired
Connecticut state legislators may not like vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) fees, but that hasn't stopped the state Department of Transportation from joining other states in applying for $2.1 million from the U.S. DOT to study the road user fee.
The Hartford Courant
Call it the low-hanging fruit of traffic safety: a number of states around the country post traffic fatality figures on the message boards posted along highways. Questions remain whether such safety campaigns actually work.
CityLab
A bill to phase out coal-powered electricity by 2030 is advancing in the legislature. It would also double the state's renewable portfolio standard to 50 percent by 2040 for Oregon's two largest utilities.
Think Progress
In case you were wondering if any state gas taxes, other than Utah as previously posted, changed on New Years Day—eight others did, but only slightly, due to required, automatic adjustments. Most telling was that more went down than up.
Tax Justice Blog
Act 178, approved by Vermont in 2006, required that all ancient roads be catalogued by July 1, 2015 to be included in the state map. The exploration of old roads leading up to that deadline makes a compelling story.
The New Yorker
