The US Department of Energy (DOE) is making a big investment in electric cars nationwide. The investment is part of DOE’s Clean Cities initiative which is supporting the growth of energy efficient and renewable energy measures in America’s cities. Awards were given to 16 electric vehicle projects in 24 states and Washington DC.
Despite a public pledge stating that public workers will not be laid off to close budget gaps, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is moving to layoff some 1,900 state workers citing budget shortfalls. The move has reignited a bitter dispute between the Governor and the state workers union. The Governor says that job cuts are the [...]
The California Assembly budget committee has voted against making Assembly budgets public. In a 6-5 vote, the Assembly decided not to take up a proposal from Democratic Assemblyman Anthony Portantino which would require the Assembly to disclose its staff budget and expenditures to the public. The committee responsible for the budget has decided that they [...]
North Carolina is leading a pilot project designed to determine if Medicaid management can also create savings in the private sector. According to an announcement today, the project will be a public-private partnership called, “First in Health.” Private pharmaceutical companies and insurers will be working with state health care providers to apply the state’s Medicaid [...]
15 community groups in California are getting a funding boost to support telehealth initiatives. UC Davis Health System and the California Telehealth Network (CTN) awarded nearly $5 million in grants to community groups throughout the state to help the implement telehealth projects. The awards were given through merit based process that required groups to show [...]
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded Kentucky $500,000 in grants to fund rural renewable energy projects throughout the state. The grants will go to 43 farm families and rural small businesses to cover the cost of implementing new renewable energy and energy efficiency measures in their operations.
Yesterday, Wisconsin residents held the last two of several recall actions against state lawmakers. The historic recall elections come after a divisive fight over collective bargaining rights and the controversial performance of the Republican led state legislature. Wisconsin residents sought to recall several Republican lawmakers in an election held earlier this month and last night’s [...]
Oklahoma City is putting its performance data online. Residents will now be able to see how quickly the city is responding to a variety of problems from graffiti removal to pothole repairs. The initiative is part of a larger website from the city Finance Department which provides spending data. The new page will show how [...]
Verizon Wireless and Durham North Carolina have partnered to start a pilot that will allow residents to send a text message to 911. The pilot will last for six months and will allow 911 dispatch to handle text based calls in addition to voice. Durham is the first city in North Carolina to utilize the [...]
New York City and Pennsylvania are working to increase transparency by providing citizens with more information and new government websites. Over the weekend, New York City held a hackathon focused on reinventing city government. Pennsylvania also launched a new website, PennWATCH, which will provide citizens with a searchable database of government spending.
