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Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Distracted driving, including texting and talking on cellphones, is becoming an issue that safety officials say is comparable to drunk driving and not wearing seat belts. As [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Moving beyond public service announcements, flyers and websites, some local governments have begun using games to address community issues. The games are helping cities and counties reach [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak More fuel-efficient cars may cut emissions, but they also cut into gas tax revenue that is used to maintain the nation's roads and highways. To compensate for [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak This year, 30 states have introduced a total of 52 omnibus immigration bills, several of which were modeled after Arizona's SB 1070 passed last year. Yet, so [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak In early March, Florida Gov. Rick Scott issued a final rejection of federal funds for his state's proposed high-speed rail line from Tampa to Orlando, calling the [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak This year, many local governments, using 2010 Census demographic information that is due to be released in March, will have to redraw their voting districts to meet [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak With local and state governments looking to reduce costs and improve productivity, many IT managers are turning to virtualization - the division of a server into several [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak After Greensburg, Kan., was almost completely destroyed by a tornado in May 2007, the city created a plan for rebuilding into an economically, environmentally and culturally sustainable [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak While sustainability is often considered an environmental term, many public works leaders define it as a priority that encompasses all aspects of investing in the long-term good [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak The federal government's recent decision to award funds to transportation projects that promote 'livable' communities aims to develop transit that benefits the environment, encourages development and improves [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Using work-issued electronic devices for personal messages may be commonplace, but the U.S. Supreme Court soon will rule whether employees should expect those communications to be private. [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak A combination of water infrastructure demands, flat federal assistance, a tough municipal bond market and recession-weary residents who are opposed to rate increases continues to make funding [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak States have only actually funded $2.35 trillion of the $3.35 trillion in employee retirement benefits they owe, according to a recently released report from Washington-based Pew Center [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak With revenues continuing to decline and costs still rising, some cities are looking at Chapter 9 - the municipal form of bankruptcy - as a way to [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and Californians for Disability Rights (CDR) have reached an agreement in a large-scale lawsuit addressing sidewalk accessibility for disabled individuals throughout [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak As the international community met in Copenhagen last month seeking consensus on environmental actions, organizations like Boston-based ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability were there to show the results [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak While states and local governments depend on accurate U.S. Census counts for nearly $400 billion in annual federal funding and seats in the House of Representatives, they […]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Today's water systems have progressed far beyond their original missions of preventing disease and providing basic necessities, but, for a host of reasons, they are facing new [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak In March 2008, Public Works Director Bob Kennedy was working 16 to 18 hours daily managing Fort Wayne, Ind.'s flood control efforts. Only nine months later, his [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Bike lanes, public transportation systems and walking trails are nothing new for cities that are trying to cut down on traffic congestion and promote more environmentally friendly [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Jeff Greene does not like to be told 'no.' That does not mean he is difficult to work with. On the contrary, peers of the El Paso [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Some people would never visit Gilroy, Calif., if not for the Garlic Festival, or Austin, Texas, without the South by Southwest music and film festival. Such events [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimate of $334.8 billion needed to fix the nation's public water systems is just a number, unless you have to deal with [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak In exchange for a share of the $787 billion allocated under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), states and local governments will be responsible for what [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Public sector employee unions are fighting to keep salaries above the level of inflation. Rather than receiving raises, however, government employees may have to struggle just to [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak The technology toolkit has been expanding rapidly in the last few years, but only the most savvy politicians and government officials have taken advantage of the new [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak While states are banning items, such as computers, thermostats and fluorescent bulbs from landfills, local governments often are still responsible for collecting and managing the products. That [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Every city, neighborhood and street has its own story. Unfortunately, some of those tales are of suburbs that drew away residents, large manufacturers that abandoned the area, [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Disasters strike, criminals move from area to area and gangs vandalize blank walls with spray paint. Now, cities have a way to keep tabs on all of [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Recognizing that a fluctuating stock market and rising gas prices are just a couple of the obstacles employees face in saving for retirement, many mayors are stepping [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak By Feb. 17, 2009, TV broadcasters will begin sending programming only as digital signals, which means TV sets that use antennas to receive over-the-air analog channels will [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Putting a dollar value on a tree's benefits may seem difficult. Yet, communities across the nation, from Boulder, Colo., to Houston, have valued their trees at millions [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak A boarded-up house can represent a devastating foreclosure for a homeowner. Yet for a city or county, it also can represent a blight on the community and [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak So far, only three states - California, Maine and Maryland - have enacted legislation to finance the recycling and reuse of electronic waste, better known as e-waste. [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak On May 16, wine lovers uncorked their champagne bottles and toasted the Supreme Court for ruling that states cannot ban out-of-state wineries from shipping directly to consumers [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Governors have been racking up frequent flyer miles recently, traveling the globe in search of jobs for residents. In the last several months, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Few people are fans of those pesky parking meters that line some city streets and require digging between the car seats for change. So, when Gordon, Neb., [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak When the makers of 'Cinderella Man,' set in New York, were looking for a place to film, they headed to Toronto to take advantage of tax incentives. [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Last year, the movie "Napoleon Dynamite" showed the world how "sweet" moon boots, tater tots, tetherball and Preston, Idaho, can be. To celebrate the quirky, cult production […]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Approximately 25 miles from the nation's capital, tucked away in 100 acres of woods, lies Washington Grove, Md., a small town with a near-extinct form of government. [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak City Hall in Jackson, Miss., has weathered many changes over its nearly 170-year existence, including the addition of formal gardens in the early 1930s. The blooming space, [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Just one week after 50 mayors from around the globe convened in San Francisco for the United Nations World Environment Day Conference to sign the Urban Environmental [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Boston's Fenway Park may have the notorious Green Monster, but Spokane, Wash.'s Shadle Park boasts the one-and-only Shadle Tank, a 5-million-gallon, green and yellow water reservoir that [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak For centuries, the United States has been putting its incarcerated to work. But now a handful of county correctional facilities are marketing their inmate labor as a [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak RecycleNet Corporation has launched Recycle Nevada: Waste Exchange, a free exchange service for commercial, industrial and residential generators of scrap, waste and byproducts in Nevada. Users can [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak When Chris Claybaker first came to Camden, Ark., in 1976 as a reporter for the Camden News, he quickly became familiar with the 80-acre area fronting the [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak In the early 1900s, getting to work was an uphill battle for pedestrians hoofing it between Hamilton Hill and the General Electric factory in Schenectady, N.Y. The [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Cities and counties budgeted for higher fuel prices. Little did they know the average increase would be 42 percent for gasoline and 57 percent for diesel fuel [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Earlier this year, when temperatures dropped and homeless shelter populations swelled, cities across the nation counted their homeless at the request of the U.S. Department of Housing [...]

Byline: Jennifer Grzeskowiak Since 1922, the opulent Palace Theater in Waterbury, Conn., has hosted performances ranging from vaudeville and silent movies to rockers such as Queen and Bruce Springsteen. After [...]