Rhode Island
Desperate for affordable housing, some cities sweeten tax breaks for developers
Read more Stateline coverage of how communities across the country are trying to create more affordable housing. Last month, city council members in Fort Worth, Texas, decided developers that received massive tax breaks to build affordable housing would no longer be able to buy their way out of the obligation by paying a $200 annual fee in […]
‘Shell game’: When private equity comes to town, hospitals can see cutbacks, closures
Peggy Malone walks the quiet halls of Crozer-Chester Medical Center, the Pennsylvania hospital where she’s worked as a registered nurse for the past 35 years, with the feeling she’s drifting through a ghost town. The sprawling hospital serves the diverse and densely packed Philadelphia suburb of Upland, and a large proportion of its patients earn […]
As homeless people become more visible, some cities and states take a tougher line
In pushing for a bill of rights for homeless Michiganders, Democratic state Rep. Emily Dievendorf encountered a “cruel irony”: A homeless constituent providing advice on the measure was denied entry to the state Capitol because he didn’t have a photo ID. Under Dievendorf’s bill, homeless people in Michigan would have the right to “move freely” […]
More Hispanic families are reaching the middle class
The Hispanic middle class has grown faster than the white or Black middle class in the past decade and has reached near-parity with the white middle class in seven states, according to a new Stateline analysis. Between 2012 and 2022, the percentage of Hispanic households in the country that qualified as middle class grew from […]
Despite setbacks, states are still counting on offshore wind
In recent months, East Coast states’ plans to install massive new offshore wind farms have been battered by bad economic news, canceled contracts and newfound uncertainty about the projects officials are counting on to reach their clean energy goals. Despite the setbacks, state leaders say they don’t intend to dial back their offshore wind ambitions. […]
What is artificial intelligence? Legislators are still looking for a definition.
Back in March, Hawaii state Sen. Chris Lee introduced legislation urging the U.S. Congress to consider the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence technologies. But he didn’t write it. Artificial intelligence did. Lee instructed ChatGPT, an AI-powered system trained to follow instructions and carry out conversations, to write a piece of legislation that highlights the […]
Death rates for people under 40 have skyrocketed. Blame fentanyl.
A new Stateline analysis shows that U.S. residents under 40 were relatively unscathed by COVID-19 in the pandemic but fell victim to another killer: accidental drug overdose deaths. Death rates in the age group were up by nearly a third in 2021 over 2018, and last year were still 21% higher. COVID-19 was a small […]
States stiffen penalties for fentanyl, despite public health concerns
As they struggle to reduce drug overdose deaths, policymakers across the United States are embroiled in a heated debate over creating and increasing criminal penalties related to fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that’s up to 100 times more potent than morphine. Legislators pushing the new wave of criminal penalties say the laws will deter drug […]
Budding US offshore wind industry facing rough seas
BOSTON — Just as the U.S. is plunging into the deep end of offshore wind energy development, the nascent domestic industry is facing major supply chain problems, surging costs, permitting delays and other headwinds that could affect the aggressive installation timelines state and federal governments have targeted. Those obstacles, chiefly triggered by the pandemic, inflation […]
It’s time for buildings to stop using a third of US energy, some states say
PORTLAND, Ore. — That building looming on the corner? With a few tweaks, it might help with climate change. States with big commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are beginning to require that the owners of large buildings track how much energy they use and improve their efficiency. It’s part of a state, local and […]
Save your food scraps, save the Earth: More cities and states look to composting
In its fight against both climate change and rats, the New York City Council overwhelmingly passed a new ordinance earlier this month that will require residents to dispose of food scraps and yard waste in vermin-proof curbside containers for future compost, diverting organic materials from landfills and turning them into rich soil. If signed by […]
AI is used widely, but lawmakers have set few rules
In the fall of 2016, the Connecticut Department of Children and Families began using a predictive analytics tool that promised to help identify kids in imminent danger. The tool used more than two dozen data points to compare open cases in Connecticut’s system against previous welfare cases with poor outcomes. Then each child received a […]