SLoG

If St. Patrick could drive the snakes out of Ireland, could we not banish a few serpents of our own? Here are the Swan's Picks for this week. Managing Editor particularly commends the New York Times editorial for your discussion board, if you happen to be teaching local government this semester. And, we have news of an upcoming symposium, stand by! Muni Credit Ratings at Risk Because of Missing Accountants - Bloomberg Lawyer: Wayne County prosecutors charged man as punishmen

It’s been a big week in state and local government law! Here are the headlines: Walgreens Loses Contract With California Over Stance on Abortion Pill - The New York Times (nytimes.com) ‘It’s legal, there’s just no precedent’: the first US town to demand a rent decrease | New York | The Guardian The right makes a new claim to the future - POLITICO Does CT need 169 municipalities? Some say merging makes sense (ctmirror.org) State and Local Officials Press to Increase Rail S

Managing Editor is in Florida. Let me tell you that we are having a First Amendment freak-out here right now. Thanks to Sarah Swan for flagging these important developments, along with others from around the nation. One more editorial note: Attorney George Fatheree, who represented the Bruce family in its fight for reparation of Bruce's Beach (see link ) was a recent speaker around here. His take on the topic discussed by the Times piece: the Bruce's Beach land is difficul

We're pleased to give you last week today, in addition to the week's picks. For those who want a preview of what else is to come, check out links to prefiled bills in the upcoming legislative sessions in Florida and Texas. In Florida , an effort to reverse attacks there on same-sex marriage; tightening of inspection laws to prevent another Surfside condo collapse in addition to the Reedy Creek bill noted below; and enacted already, and signed yesterday, authorization to fund

Feel like something is looking over your shoulder? Us, too. And it's not Twitter this time. Here are Swan's Picks for this week. As Hospitals Fail, Reeves Urges GOP to Hold Firm Against Medicaid Expansion (mississippifreepress.org) Opinion | Can Anything Be Done to Assuage Rural Rage? - The New York Times (nytimes.com) Can a City Thrive When Its Downtown Is Empty? (governing.com) Can Tulsa fine Native Americans for speeding? Federal appeal asks (oklahoman.com) Utah passes

St. Cloud Times loses its last remaining reporter following Gannett cuts - Axios Twin Cities New Mexico asks court to overturn cities' abortion bans | Reuters What Will Happen to States if Debt Ceiling Isn’t Raised? (governing.com) Atlanta Suburbs Residents Want to Secede from New City of Mableton - Bloomberg Florida teachers forced to remove or cover up books to avoid felony charges | Florida | The Guardian COVID Robbed Thousands of NYC Children of Parents. The Kids Need Hel

It's the beginning of Spring Semester, and SLoGLaw wants to thank Sarah Swan for faithfully making these picks every week. We also want to acknowledge Sarah's new gig at Rutgers Law School. The picks are coming to you on a Monday, rather than the usual Friday placement. Why? Because Kathryn Randolph, our wonderful Fellow at SALPAL, which administers the Blog, has completed her time with us. It was Kathryn who made sure that the links worked each week, and brought the Picks t

At their core, Michelle Wilde Anderson’s poignant and expertly crafted narratives in "The Fight to Save the Town" are tales of localities in decline. The communities she visits and the people she interviews alternate between resilience, disappointment and despair.  The reader comes away from the book with a deep understanding of what caused the deterioration of the four localities Anderson has studied, but also with admiration for the individuals and organizations that have

San Jose Gun Insurance Law Going Into Effect – NBC Bay Area Brown forgives uncollected traffic fines to allow driver license reinstatement – Oregon Capital Chronicle D.C. home rule imperiled by Kevin McCarthy speaker fallout - Axios Washington D.C. After pandemic, mental health crisis challenges legislatures - Pluribus News Mayors Introduce Global Declaration for Democracy | Strengthening Transatlantic Cooperation (gmfus.org) Jacksonville drops appeal of redistricting ruling,

For the first time in decades , Democrats hold a majority of both chambers of the Michigan legislature—an opportunity that Governor Gretchen Whitmer seems determined not to waste. Whitmer suggested in a roundtable with reporters that, among her other priorities, she was considering eliminating the controversial Environmental Rules Review Committee , or ERRC, a move she has contemplated since early in her first term . The ERRC is controversial because of the role it plays in o

Bogue Chitto community to gain access to running water for first time (montgomeryadvertiser.com) NYC Faces $300 Million Bill in Lawsuit Over Post-Bail Detention - Bloomberg Court sides with conservative group on All Lives Matter street mural | news - Indiana Public Media San Francisco Considers Allowing Use of Deadly Robots by Police - The New York Times (nytimes.com) NJ Moves to Require Some Insurance Companies to Cover Abortions - Bloomberg

City of Chester, Pennsylvania, Files For Chapter 9 Bankruptcy (bloomberglaw.com) Haywood voters elect unexperienced college student as new tax collector | News | themountaineer.com California homeowners pay for violations they didn’t commit – Orange County Register (ocregister.com) A quarter of local election officials received violent threats after 2020 election, survey finds – Oregon Capital Chronicle The People Fleeing Austin Because Texas Is Too Conservative (nymag.co

CVS, Walgreens Will Pay $10 Billion Total To Settle Opioid-Related Lawsuits - MedCity News KC pays millions for police shooting and public is shut out | The Kansas City Star An Arizona woman sues Bullhead City over her arrest for feeding the hungry : NPR Ducey, AG must get Saudi firm to pay for groundwater use (azcentral.com) Black residents in Corpus Christi file a civil rights complaint to stop Texas’ first desalination plant (click2houston.com) Tallahassee city leaders dou

Rural areas to get $759M in grants for high-speed internet (msn.com) Cities Weigh Value of AI-Powered Gunshot Detection Tech - Bloomberg In California Cities, a New Frontier for Public Financing of Elections | Bolts (boltsmag.org) Private Companies Helped Ruin Jackson’s Water (levernews.com) Black Families Fall Further Behind on Homeownership | The Pew Charitable Trusts (pewtrusts.org) Plus a bonus story: Secretaries of state warn 'independent state legislature theory' would

Judge Blocks Mississippi From Giving Private Schools $10 Million (mississippifreepress.org) Anger as DeSantis eases voting rules in Republican areas hit by hurricane | Ron DeSantis | The Guardian Poor, less white US neighborhoods get worst internet deals | AP News Local Ballot Measures Underscore California’s Housing Crisis (governing.com) Minneapolis moves forward on community safety office after council's OK (startribune.com) Supreme Court case could help red states defund

On September 29, SALPAL hosted a conversation on the Independent State Legislature Theory, which will be considered by the US Supreme Court this term, in the case of Moore v. Harper. Oral argument of the case on North Carolina redistricting will be heard December 7. Professor Richard Pildes, Sudler Family of Law at NYU School of Law provides a preview, commenting on the conversation that featured Carolyn Shapiro, author of an upcoming article on the Independent State Legislat

New York City Wipes Out $200M Debt for Taxi Owners (governing.com) Investor Home Purchases and the Rising Threat to Owners and Renters - The New Localism 'Maternity care deserts' raise risks for women and babies, new report finds | CNN Visiting Michael Heizer’s ‘City,’ the Colossal Land Art Experiment in Nevada - Bloomberg The Supreme Court seems absolutely flummoxed by a high-stakes case about pigs (Vox.com)

Since the readers of SLoG are likely to be more interested in state constitutions than the average person ( much to my chagrin ), I wanted to flag a forthcoming piece of mine, on the Uses of Convention History in State Constitutional Law . A few years ago, while writing one of my pieces on state constitutional eminent domain law, the wonderful librarians at the University of Virginia School of Law routed me a manuscript version of a source I'd requested: the records of the Ar

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

In his inaugural address on January 20, 2021, President Biden called for unity: “We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal”. Yet, the already stark political divide between blue and red states has only grown wider since, reaching new extremes . It is no surprise then that the latest controversy pitting red states against blue states, and red states against the Biden Administration, involves sustainable finance. S