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City governments in Kansas didn't launch the tech revolution. But they're embracing it

Stan Finger

February 23, 2021 |

The Kansas Leadership Center Journal (KLC Journal) |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Kansas

City websites have embraced technology, allowing residents to pay bills, request permits, and attend council or commission meetings online. The shift, which was accelerated by the pandemic, also made the websites crucial information hubs, informing residents about everything from tax increases to street closings. The shift increased efficiency, for example decreasing in-person visits to City Hall, reporting problems like potholes any time, and officials are fielding fewer calls because information is readily accessible. Conducting business online also led to greater transparency into city business.

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Norway's Electric Car Triumph Started With an '80s Pop Star

Will Doig

February 08, 2021 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Norway

After Norwegian pop band A-ha made headlines for using an electric vehicle in 1989, the government began implementing incentives for people to drive the cars. These perks made electric vehicles so popular in the Scandinavian country that they had to start scaling some of them back. Still, by the end of 2020, nearly 90 percent of all cars sold were rechargeable.

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Seattle Cut Its Police Budget. Now the Public Will Decide How To Spend the Money.

Manjeet Kaur

January 28, 2021 |

The Appeal |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Since 2017, Seattle residents have had a direct say in how some city money is spent on neighborhood projects. It's a form of "participatory budgeting" that has been spreading from Brazil through many U.S. cities. After the 2020 racial justice protests, King County Equity Now, Decriminalize Seattle, and other groups spent several months calling for a budget that takes money from policing and invests in "true public health and safety" projects. After eight weeks of hearings, the city agreed to put $30 million – $12 million cut from police – into a citizen-controlled safety budget.

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Experts say COVID-era investment in child care is a start, not a solution

Meg McIntyre

December 12, 2020 |

Sentinel Source (The Keene Sentinel) |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Hampshire

Since the pandemic, 50 childcare programs in New Hampshire shut down permanently. That’s because childcare centers receive payments based on attendance, not enrollment. To help, states like New Hampshire, and others, created an enrollment-based subsidy models, providing payments. “The enrollment-based subsidy payments have helped ensure that early educators can remain employed and continue receiving a paycheck.”

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Norway's Wealth Tax Is Uncommon. Here's What America Could Learn From It.

Carly Stern

November 12, 2020 |

The Huffington Post |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Norway

To reduce income inequality, progressive U.S. senators look to Norway for ways to raise revenue by taxing those with the greatest capacity to pay. A wealth tax of 0.85% kicks in when individuals amass roughly $165,000 in personal wealth for individuals and $330,000 for couples. Data shows that individuals who own small businesses, which are counted as personal wealth, tend to invest in their companies and hire more employees to reduce their taxable wealth. Support for the system is generally high because of the services citizens get in return, such as free education, health care, and other social services.

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Los Angeles voters just delivered a huge win for the defund the police movement

Roge Karma

November 04, 2020 |

Vox |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

By framing their police-reform proposal as an investment in community services rather than a bid to take money away from policing, the Re-Imagine L.A. County coalition of racial and criminal justice advocacy groups won voter approval for what could be the most significant realignment of public safety spending since the 2020 policing protests began. Los Angeles County voters approved Measure J, which mandates that the county allocate 10% of its $8.8 billion discretionary local budget to "direct community investment," and not to law enforcement. The Sheriff's Department accounts for $2 billion of that budget.

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To reclaim ancestral land, all Native Hawaiians need is a $300,000 mortgage and to wait in line for decades

Agnel Philip Rob Perez

October 24, 2020 |

Honolulu Star-Advertiser |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Hawaii

A 100-year-old program provides virtually free land for Native Hawaiians to build their own home or buy one from a developer. Despite a $1/year land lease and low taxes, the program has failed to promptly provide affordable housing to lower income applicants. Many of the 23,000 applicants have been on a waitlist for decades because the focus on building subdivisions means that low-income Native Hawaiians don’t qualify for the mortgages. Advocates say scrapping the subdivision model and focusing on housing that meets the needs of lower-income applicants, such as condominiums, will reduce wait times.

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Citizens' Assemblies let everyday people make important city decisions. Let's bring them to Philly.

Jessica Blatt Press

October 19, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Citizens' assemblies, where a randomly selected representative sample of people work together to make decisions and find policy solutions to social issues, is an effective approach to decision-making that bridges polarization. It also minimizes the influence of special interests in decision making. America In One Room gathered 500 people in Texas to address topics such as immigration and healthcare, among others, and it showed that people tend to find common ground after deliberative discussions. Citizens’ assemblies have successfully informed policy decisions in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and France.

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Towson University professor aims to bolster local election security at voting sites

Taylor DeVille

October 16, 2020 |

The Baltimore Sun |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Annapolis, Maryland

More than 1,930 Maryland poll workers were trained to protect ballot integrity from security threats based on research about where those threats may come from. The program, one of the few in the country focused on election security at polling places themselves, was developed by a researcher inspired by reports of Russian interference with the 2016 election. The research showed Maryland's greatest vulnerabilities were electronic poll data and voter registration, the network connection between election officials and local election boards, and access to ballot scanners at voting sites.

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Navajo COVID relief drives also highlight census participation

Luke Simmons Daja E. Henry

September 29, 2020 |

Cronkite News - Arizona PBS |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Navajo Nation, Arizona

Navajo Nation volunteers combine COVID relief events with efforts to ensure residents are counted by the Census. Working together, aid organizations hand out supplies like food, water, diapers, and “hygiene kits” with masks and sanitizer. After receiving supplies, residents work with a census specialist to fill out Census paperwork. The dual goals of the events, held at reservation chapter houses, are to help residents stay safe during the pandemic and increase Navajo participation in the census before counting ends. A single event can reach hundreds of the reservation’s 174,000 residents.

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