Management

Clean needles save lives. In some states, they might not be legal.

In Pennsylvania, where 5,158 people died from a drug overdose in 2022, the state’s drug paraphernalia law stands in the way of harm reduction programs that distribute sterile syringes.

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Eliminate Manual Processes Route and Approve Invoices from Anywhere

Today’s finance teams carry a heavy burden, supporting everything from growth strategies to long-term planning – all while continuously delivering monthly and quarterly numbers and keeping cash flowing. But even as demands on finance departments grow, many still spend excessive time using paper, spreadsheets, and e-mails to process vendor invoices, approvals, and payments.

To help address teens’ mental health needs, state to launch Youth Mental Health Corps

Colorado's program will train young adults ages 18 to 24 to connect middle and high school students to needed mental health supports and resources.

From foster care to secure housing: How vouchers help young adults build self-sufficiency

While some first-time renters rush to thrift stores to find eclectic pieces to decorate their new apartments, for adolescents leaving the foster system, the experience of moving out is often much bleaker.

This Utah county will buy your lawn to save water

Would you ditch your grass for less-thirsty plants? In a place where every drop of water counts, a little cash compels residents to say yes.

San Francisco tries tough love by tying welfare to drug rehab

Starting in January 2025, public assistance recipients who screen positive for addiction on a 10-question drug abuse test will be referred to treatment. Those who refuse or fail to show up for treatment will lose their benefits.

Report: State by state, how segregation legally continues 7 decades post Brown

Researchers unveil loopholes, laws and a lack of protections allowing Black, brown, low-income students to be excluded from America’s most coveted schools.

Amid a housing crisis, hospitals offer a dose of relief

The housing crisis may be too big for state and local governments to overcome. That’s why hospitals are stepping in to remedy housing and health care gaps.

Medical residents are increasingly avoiding states with abortion restrictions

A new analysis shows that, for the second year in a row, students graduating from U.S. medical schools were less likely to apply this year for residency positions in states with abortion bans and other significant abortion restrictions.

What's the poop? Wastewater data predicts overdoses

Analyzing wastewater samples can help public health workers paint a reliable picture of a community’s rapidly evolving drug use to to get ahead of overdoses.

Amid campus protests nationwide, DC’s response stands out

The capital city’s police department cleared an encampment at a local university following pressure from House Republicans to be more forceful. But the District’s reluctance to take action sooner underlies lessons officials learned decades ago about the perils of aggressive enforcement.

Easing the housing squeeze on low-income renters

The State and Local Innovation project will work with policymakers to draft bill language and leverage data and best practices to keep the lowest income renters in stable housing.

Montana could be a model as more GOP states weigh Medicaid work requirements

The state has a program that can help Medicaid enrollees get job training, career guidance.

‘Extremely dangerous’: Governors criticize ‘federalization’ of National Guard

Governors from 53 U.S. states and territories object to the Defense Department's plan to move all Air National Guardsman with space-related missions from state to federal control, placing them under the umbrella of the U.S. Air Force, specifically the Space Force.

How local governments can respond to the housing crisis

A new book by Charles Marohn and Daniel Herriges of Strong Towns encourages local officials to promote small-scale developments, even if it means using city financial tools to get them off the ground.

The possibility of parole: A powerful incentive that makes us all safer

COMMENTARY | Researchers have found that offenders incarcerated under truth-in-sentencing laws racked up more disciplinary infractions and engaged in fewer rehabilitation programs. And after release, they were much more likely to reoffend.

Data for dementia: State’s brain health registry helps prep for an aging population

The Virginia Memory Project will catalog dementia cases and caregiving needs to inform policy and programming for aging adults.

As a critical deadline approaches, the Biden administration issues a flurry of regulations

The new rules cover subjects as varied as marijuana policy, vehicle pollution, civil rights for transgender students, and drinking water safety.

As cities ban them from public spaces, homeless people scatter in search of refuge

Attorneys say bans could become more common nationwide if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns lower-court rulings in Oregon and Idaho that protect homeless people from being ticketed, charged or arrested for sleeping on public property.

Illinois' child welfare agency goes on a hiring spree

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has reduced hiring times for frontline workers from nine months to just a few weeks. Agency leaders hope a bigger staff will help improve the lives of kids it serves.

AC, power banks, mini fridges: State equips Medicaid patients for climate change

Oregon wants to be proactive and pay for equipment that will help an estimated 200,000 residents manage their health at home before extreme weather or climate-related disaster hits.