Environmental Law

Flint residents ‘disappointed and angry’ after dismissal of criminal water charges - mlive.com Climate change means California can't save every burned town - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com) Philadelphia issues apology for Holmesburg Prison experiments (inquirer.com) Times Square Gun Ban, Other NY Restrictions Blocked by Judge (1) (bloomberglaw.com) Republicans' rhetoric about cities—“soaked in blood”! “Living the purge”!—has lost touch with reality. (slate.com) President Call

What Does the Inflation Reduction Act Do for State and Local Government? (governing.com) What Should Mayors Do After Mass Shootings? - Bloomberg Ten cities and towns are poised to ban fossil fuels from new buildings - The Boston Globe Pipeline break spills 45,000 gallons of diesel in Wyoming - ABC News (go.com) Report: Rural Electric Cooperatives Lack Women, Minorities in Elected Positions | The Daily Yonder Ramsey County jail officers of color barred from guarding Derek Ch

What Croydon, a ‘Live Free or Die’ Town, Learned About Democracy - The New York Times (nytimes.com) Climate Activists Pivot to Local Action, Frustrated by Washington Gridlock - Bloomberg Newsom to Sign Bill Allowing Residents to Sue Over Illegal Guns - The New York Times (nytimes.com) Deadly heat: US cities are hiring 'chief heat officers' as they face increasing heat threat - CNN Pittsburgh passes three bills to protect reproductive freedom (pittsburghpa.gov) Oklahoma T

SRO Housing, Nearly Zoned Out of Existence, Could Re-Emerge (governing.com) As the Great Salt Lake Dries Up, Utah Faces An ‘Environmental Nuclear Bomb’ - The New York Times (nytimes.com) Study: Denver's STAR program reduced crime, costs | FOX31 Denver (kdvr.com) Historic California report on systemic racism in law and policy hailed by slave reparations advocates | PBS NewsHour Is New York City More Dangerous Than Rural America? - Bloomberg And a bonus story from blog fou

Wealthy donors want to dictate what happens in the public space of Washington Square Park Local Governments Fight Over Water in Arizona New Orleans Residents Won $75 Million Settlement Against The City and Housing Authority After Living On Toxic Landfill A novel pathway in NJ to police misconduct records. Will other states follow? Utah’s Walkable ‘15-Minute City’ Could Still Leave Lots of Room for Cars

The pandemic lockdowns shed light on the state and relevance of our sidewalks. When we could go nowhere, we could walk, exercise, play, paint with chalk, dine, and more on them. Some sidewalks suddenly stop and lead to nowhere, although the streets continue. Others would lead somewhere, if they were not in complete disrepair. Others, while needed, do not exist. While we have paid little attention to sidewalks, they are key to making us healthier, greener, wealthier, and more

Late last month, observers erupted in fury when San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted down a proposal to build nearly 500 new homes -- many affordable -- on a downtown site now being used for valet parking. The Board’s vote came short on the heels of a major Court of Appeal decision upholding the state’s Housing Accountability Act (HAA), which the Legislature has greatly strengthened in recent years. The HAA usually requires cities to approve housing projects that a r

Ithaca, New York made headlines recently with its announcement that it would fully decarbonize its buildings . The city’s Energy Efficiency Retrofitting and Thermal Load Electrification Program is part of the Ithaca Green New Deal, which has a goal of carbon neutrality for Ithaca by 2030 . In the past several years, a number of other local governments have taken steps toward decarbonizing the building stock by either banning natural gas hookups in new homes , or by amending

On November 2, New York City voters are likely to elect Eric Adams as the city’s next mayor, a development that could herald a new era of local government experimentation in food policy, potentially with national implications. Adams’ views on policing have received a lot of media attention, and David Schleicher recently blogged here about Adams’ comments suggesting he favors a zoning budget-type approach to increase affordable housing. Adams’ interest in encouraging peopl