Swan's Picks

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

As NYC Slashes School Budgets, Art Teachers Are Feeling the Squeeze (hyperallergic.com) Uvalde Schools’ Police Chief, Criticized Over Mass Shooting Response, Quits City Council - WSJ Is your dishwasher repairman packing heat? The case for ‘no carry’ gun defaults on private property | The Hill New York Moves to Enshrine Abortion Rights in State Constitution - The New York Times (nytimes.com) St. Paul's new basic income project: $12K cash plus college funds (twincities.com)

What abortion restrictions and laws look like in every state in the U.S. (19thnews.org) Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoes local business 'protection' bill (floridapolitics.com) Mayors and Local Officials Face a Rising Tide of Threats, Harassment - Bloomberg Governor Hochul, U.S. Department of Interior and Onondaga Nation Announce One of the Largest Returns of Land to an Indigenous Nation by Any State | Governor Kathy Hochul No, Texas Can’t Legally Secede From The U.S., Despite Pop

American influence has a new address on State Street - POLITICO Ellison says MN to protect out-of-state abortions if Roe falls (twincities.com) Justices seem poised to hear elections case pressed by GOP | AP News What a New Chesapeake Bay Bridge Could Really Cost - Bloomberg Supreme Court Gun Ruling 'Frightful In Its Scope': Hochul | Yorktown, NY Patch A Digital Map to Net Zero, Via Upstate New York - Bloomberg North Dakota’s Small Schools Fight for Survival (governing.com)

Minneapolis ordered to cease implementation of 2040 plan - StarTribune.com New map highlights home deeds with racist language in Ramsey County | MPR News Florida Abortion Ban Violates Jews' Religious Freedom, Lawsuit Says | U.S. News® | US News Abortion protections in New York fortified ahead of SCOTUS ruling - POLITICO New Jersey aims to lure Georgia firms by warning of ‘dangerous’ anti-abortion policies (ajc.com) Rural America Reels From Violent Crime. ‘People Lost The

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

Police chief for Uvalde schools sworn into city council behind closed doors Tuesday night – Houston Public Media Supreme Court likely to drop school voucher bombshell - The Washington Post Immigrant Bail Bond Industry Is ‘Wild West,’ State Lawmakers Say - THE CITY Ron DeSantis plotted an all-out assault on public universities (substack.com) California prepares to welcome patients from states that may soon ban abortion : Shots - Health News : NPR San Francisco's Recall Hi

How Texas forces companies to stay neutral on gun control - or lose business (dallasnews.com) California Judicial Council Sued for Illegal Scheme to Fund Courts through Late Fees; San Mateo Court Stops Collecting Millions in Outstanding Debts and Waits for Governor and Legislature to Act. - LCCRSF Oklahoma becomes first state to ban almost all abortion access (19thnews.org) The Cityhood Movement Is Defeated in Metro Atlanta - Bloomberg Opinion | A local official sued me f

Cash piling up from bonds freeing migrants arrested in Texas border push | The Texas Tribune Will Disney lose Mickey Mouse, too? Josh Hawley targeting copyrights (tallahassee.com) Discrimination lawsuit settlement with St. Louis police chief finalist includes forced retirement (msn.com) Ahead of Supreme Court Gun Ruling, Adams ‘Very Concerned’ as City Hall Mulls Options - THE CITY Lightfoot: Parents, not just police, need to hold kids responsible for roaming streets after

Your State-by-State Guide to the 2022 Supreme Court Elections | Bolts (boltsmag.org) Mayors Face a Reckoning With Racial Wealth Gaps (governing.com) Moving to Nashville Yields Mixed Bag for Wall Street Giant - Bloomberg What happened in one small Appalachia town when the bitcoin miners moved in - The Washington Post Man Who Literally Killed His Wife Wins Local Republican Primary (jezebel.com)

On the Problem of Prison Towns: A Future for Susanville - Bolts Mag Connecticut governor signs law protecting abortion seekers and providers from out-of-state lawsuits - CNN What Cities Are Doing to Prepare for SCOTUS Roe Reversal - Bloomberg U.S. Treasury's Adeyemo urges states, local governments to use COVID aid for housing - Reuters Shawnee unanimously passes ordinance banning co-living - The Kansas City Star Tulsa Race Massacre: Reparations lawsuit survives moti

Illinois Law Bans Schools From Fining Children With Tickets. So the Police Are Doing It for Them. Why Don’t We Just Build New Cities? Disney’s special tax district suggests its repeal is illegal Georgia governor sign bills on banning books, transgender sports, and race Federal Appeals Court Rules Local Governments Can sue Oil Companies Over Climate Change

Small Counties Are Making Major Strides on Criminal Legal Reform | Opinion Abortion rights backers block 'trigger' law in Nebraska “Project Blitz” Seeks to Do for Christian Nationalism What ALEC Does for Big Business And a busy week in Florida… DeSantis signs bill limiting tenure at Florida public universities Disney to Lose Special Tax Status in Florida Amid ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Clash (Plus, a bonus Florida story for those keeping up with electoral maps: Legislature approves

Preserving History in a Town that Doesn’t Want to Remember San Francisco’s public nuisance suit against pharma for opioids will go forward Biden is Doubling Down on a Push to Roll Back Single-Family Zoning Laws The Jeffrey Toobin of Local Government A Lake in Florida is Suing to Protect Itself NYC’s Big Clean-Energy Project Poses A Major Climate Test For The Country

DeSantis goes after Disney’s special government status in Florida City leaders threatened employees who wanted to publicly speak on sexual harassment problems in the police department Homeowners fight back against corporate landlords in Charlotte Problems with Opportunity Zones in L.A. Miamicoin and the brave new world of cities and crypto-currency

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

Cities Move to Sever ‘Sister City’ Ties with Russian Governments When a Tech Company Tries to Be a Good Neighbor In Face of National Apathy, Local Groups Lead Rural Democratic Efforts The Red State Murder Problem Trash City: Here is Why NYC is So Filthy Public Meetings Thwart Housing Reform Where It Is Needed Most

Today's installment includes stories from outside the United States, along with domestic stories that touch on some of the most timely issues in the country right now. Check out these articles below: “Why Ukraine’s Best Hope Lies With Its Cities” The Brennan Center for Justice’s Local Election Officials Survey suggests that all is not well And “Florida is set to create a new police force to investigate elections” Tennessee is trying to take over a small, majority Black

The Little-Known Violence Prevention Tool Cropping Up in Cities Across the Country Barbershop Confrontations, Profane Signs and Despair: Pro-Biden and Alone in Rural What’s Wrong with Privately Funded ‘Post-Industrial’ Parks? America 25% of Missouri School Districts Now Provide Education Only Four Days A Week Also in Missouri, a “lawmaker seeks to stop residents from obtaining abortions out of state” And Idaho is using a similar tactic in its recent anti-trans bill, whic

This week's Swan's Picks spans a range of topics and a number of regions, highlighting interesting and important stories in state and local news. “A Battle Over Building Codes May Be the Most Important Climate Fight You’ve Never Heard Of” High School Students in Florida Walk Out in Protest of the Don’t Say Gay law A School Segregation Lawsuit in New Jersey Returns to Court “What Happened When Oakland Tried to Make Police Pay for Misconduct” A new book about Kiryas Joel The