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2 weeks ago | 
governing.com | Girard Miller |Zina Hutton
Abbott is poised to sign legislation that creates a voucher-style program for families to use public money to attend private schools. Conservatives have pushed for such a plan for more than a quarter century, and last year Abbott went to war with members of his own party to make it happen. O’Rourke, who lost to Abbott in the 2022 governor’s race, said he was repulsed by Abbott taking $12 million in campaign donations from Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass to help push his voucher agenda.
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3 weeks ago | 
governing.com | Jared Brey |Zina Hutton
The Trump administration has recently revoked the visas of nearly 1,500 foreign college students — detaining some — and launched immigration enforcement actions on college campuses across the country. This has raised concerns among the more than 1.1 million international students studying at U.S. universities.
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3 weeks ago | 
governing.com | Jared Brey |Alan Greenblatt |Zina Hutton
Critics of the new push to ban soda and candy purchases under SNAP say it unfairly targets lower income families, limits consumer choice and won't result in better health outcomes.
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1 month ago | 
governing.com | Zina Hutton
The wind swept through El Paso one day in March, lifting a fine layer of dust that settled onto windshields, clothes and skin. The air was thick with haze from a dust storm. This border city, perched on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert, receives on average less than 9 inches of rain each year. Water in the city of 679,000 people is a challenge.
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1 month ago | 
governing.com | Jared Brey |Zina Hutton
Bustang, Colorado’s state-supported intercity bus service, is approaching its 10th anniversary this summer. Ridership has grown over the last decade, including substantial recovery since the pandemic. The state funded a $30 million expansion of bus service over the last few years. Bustang pulls out of Denver Union Station dozens of times a day.
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1 month ago | 
governing.com | Jared Brey |Zina Hutton
Dill has been running a family child care business from her home for 15 years, and every one of her 13 grandchildren has spent time here — currently it’s 20-month-old Nathaniel, who has a puff of curly hair and a gooey grin. “My older ones started to call it ‘grandma school,’” she said. Another one of her granddaughters, now a teenager, is returning this summer to help out. NEW HAVEN, Conn.
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1 month ago | 
governing.com | Jared Brey |Zina Hutton
But what about kids living in poverty? Don’t schools need more money, and more staff, to be able to get good results? Well, yes and no. Poverty is certainly correlated to reading scores, and the best evidence suggests money helps boost a range of student outcomes. There’s no more fundamental task for a school than teaching kids to read. But that doesn’t mean the best school district in the country is the most well-resourced or the one with the fanciest buildings or most prestigious alumni.
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1 month ago | 
governing.com | Zina Hutton |Carl Smith
Utah’s 2025 legislative session has just ended. One of the new laws enacted requires online app stores to verify the ages of users trying to download apps, and it’s getting attention outside the state. Other states should recognize the importance of protecting children online and pursue similar efforts. The bill was motivated by concerns about app stores that other regulations don’t address.
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1 month ago | 
governing.com | Jule Pattison-Gordon |Jabari Simama |Girard Miller |Zina Hutton
A 2023 report found some courts compensate jurors as little as $4 a day for missing work to serve, and some only pay starting on the second day of service. When compensation is low, jury duty can result in painful lost income and prompt more low-income people to seek exemption from serving, making juries less diverse. Some states are rethinking how much they reimburse jurors.
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1 month ago | 
governing.com | Jabari Simama |Girard Miller |Zina Hutton
Some Republicans argued the carrot works well: Cities and towns should be incentivized to pass zoning ordinances that make housing construction easier, but they shouldn’t be forced to do so, they argued. “Every zoning change proposed in this bill can already be done at the municipality level, just as towns and cities have done hundreds of times in the past,” said Sen. Denise Ricciardi, a Bedford Republican. “… Each town or city knows what is best for them.
