New York City, NY

Utah State

Virginia State

Route Fifty

For the last two years, state lawmakers have worked to curb the worst of social media’s addictive qualities in a bid to ease the ongoing youth mental health crisis. Now, elected officials are looking to take that fight a step further by banning cellphones in public schools. Virginia became...

States are enacting school cellphone bans. Here’s what that looks like.

Lubbock, TX

LUBBOCK — With the bright sun shining down over them, kids and teenagers in Mae Simmons Park cooled off Monday, zig-zagging through sprinklers at one of the city’s new splash pads. The relief couldn’t come soon enough. Like the rest of Texas, it’s been a hot summer in...

Splash pads make waves across communities, replacing public pools

Los Angeles, CA

Local and state governments are grappling with a severe shortage of skilled IT workers, particularly in critical areas such as cybersecurity, data analysis, and artificial intelligence. With their higher salaries and more attractive work environments, the private sector and the federal government are poaching talent from local and state governments.

Stackable certificates could be a lifeline for governments facing an IT talent crisis

California State

California has already seen more than 3,500 wildfires so far this year, in what state officials earlier this week called a “significantly more active [season] than the last five years.”. With an estimated 207,415 acres of land burned—or roughly the length of 150,000 football fields—and 10 wildfires still burning,...

Mapping clean air centers to protect residents against wildfire risks

Missouri State

This story was originally published by The Beacon, an online news outlet focused on local, in-depth journalism in the public interest. Missouri Medicaid began covering teeth cleanings, and almost no other routine dental work, for adults a few years ago. But the bill for the dentist actually peering in your...

Missouri is getting more people to the dentist—for more than a pretty smile

Philadelphia, TN

A key nonprofit that works closely with governments to connect people with essential benefits like food assistance and health care is abruptly shuttering, and the impact could be far reaching. The Philadelphia-based Benefits Data Trust, or BDT, which advocates for streamlined access to government assistance, said last month in a...

A nonprofit’s abrupt closure puts access to public benefits at risk

Maryland State

This story was originally published by ProPublica. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore recently signed the Gift Card Scams Prevention Act of 2024, creating the country’s first law aimed at curbing a rising form of gift card fraud called card draining. Card draining is a scheme in which thieves remove gift...

The nation’s first law protecting against gift card draining has passed. Will it work?

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Herbie J Pilato

[Note: Unless otherwise indicated, all quotes and commentary from Donna Douglas are from an interview with her conducted by the author.]. Donna Douglas, who died of pancreative cancer at 82 in 2015, was an honest-to-goodness Southern Belle who displayed a natural beauty and talent in her portrayal of the hollering, rope-wearing, whistle-happy, and critter-cuddling Elly May Clampett on the 1960s classic TV hit, The Beverly Hillbillies.

TV's Beloved 'Beverly Hillbillies' Actress Donna Douglas: Nine Years After Her Death

Orange County, CA

Saint Louis County, MO

When St. Louis County, Missouri, kicked off its redistricting process after the 2010 Census, local officials used colored pencils on transparent paper to redraw their legislative boundaries and reflect population shifts. Ten years later, following the 2020 Census, officials in Missouri’s most populous county had traded in their pencils and...

How mapping tech is revolutionizing election administration

Colorado State

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David Heitz

A bill quietly introduced this spring in the Colorado legislature to decriminalize the possession of drug paraphernalia obtained by harm reductionists has become law. As low-key as the legislation was introduced, the bill was signed into law without fanfare June 6. It garnered little to no media attention.

Colorado legalizes needles, pipes for meth and crack if obtained by harm reduction group

NewsNinja

A lady is cautioning others about purchasing budget earrings from Amazon, Shein, and H&M, after she experienced keloid formations on her earlobes due to wearing them. On a TikTok post that has garnered more than 334,000 likes, Sailor Rozema (@sailor.rozema), a content creator, shares a warning with her community of "dangly earring girls": the inexpensive jewelry found in fast fashion can have negative impacts on your well-being.

‘I’ll never be wearing earrings for the rest of my life’: Customer warns against buying from Shein

Earlier this year, the federal government eased restrictions regarding how methadone—one of the three federally approved medications used to treat opioid use disorders—can be administered to patients. The new guidelines from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration allow patients to take home methadone prescriptions after a month of treatment, down from two years, and removes the requirement for individuals to receive counseling before receiving the drug.

Stigma is hindering treatment of opioid addictions. States can change that.

Washington, DC

You're reading Route Fifty's State and Local Roundup. To get the week’s news to use from around the country, you can subscribe here to get this update in your inbox every Saturday. In the meantime, be sure to read to the end as we've rounded up headlines from the week.

States, cities consider ‘mansion taxes’ to fund affordable housing

California, MD

This story first appeared at The 74, a nonprofit news site covering education. Sign up for free newsletters from The 74 to get more like this in your inbox. Arrests were two times greater in schools with a regular police presence than at similar campuses without one and race, gender and disability were huge factors in which students were detained, according to a new government watchdog report.

New report: School cops double student arrest rates and race, gender key factors

Dennis the Menace actor Jay North is now 73 years old. This is his story. On August 3, 1951, Jay North was born Jay Waverly North, Jr., in Los Angeles, and seven years later, began acting on TV on shows like Wanted: Dead or Alive, and 77 Sunset Strip.

Former Childstar Jay North (TV's 'Dennis the Menace') Turns 73

Chicago, IL

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Foodie in Chicago

Shortly before 3 AM, people in the Chicago area may have felt their houses shake as a 3.4-magnitude earthquake occurred about 60 miles west of the city. (CHICAGO) The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported a 3.4-magnitude earthquake around Somonauk, IL. Somonauk is in DeKalb and LaSalle Counties, 64 miles west of Chicago.

Did You Feel the Earthquake?

You're reading Route Fifty's Public Finance Update. This article was originally published by The Pew Charitable Trusts. To get the latest on state and local budgets, taxes and other financial matters, you can subscribe here to get this update in your inbox twice each month. You can find a full archive of these newsletters here.

After several years of rapid growth, state budgets are downsizing

Arizona State

Phoenix, AZ

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here. PHOENIX—In the middle of summer in the nation’s hottest city, water experts from local governments, tribal nations, universities and...

White House looks to safeguard groundwater supplies as aquifers decline nationwide

L.A. TACO

Last month, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) released video footage that shows a veteran LAPD officer chasing a young man through a Pacoima housing project before fatally shooting him in the back as he ran away.

20-Year-Old Fatally Shot in The Back By LAPD Officer in Pacoima Projects

Brooklyn, NY

Jersey City, NJ

Hoboken, NJ

NewsBreak

New York City's public health vending machine program ends up with just 4 installed out of 10 announced

This story was originally published by THE CITY. Sign up to get the latest New York City news delivered to you each morning. Since last June,...

New York City's public health vending machine program ends up with just 4 installed out of 10 announced

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