MONTEREY, Calif. — Gripped by drought, communities along California’s coast are exploring innovations and investments to ensure residents have access to drinking water. But desalinating seawater, one proposed solution, has provoked heated debate, as so…
States to feds: Don’t tell us how to spend infrastructure money
State and local leaders from both parties are at odds with the Biden administration over how billions of dollars in new infrastructure money should be spent. Republican governors are upset over a federal memo seeking to limit dollars for highway expans…
COVID underscores lack of whistleblower protections
FORT WORTH, Texas — Inside a partially completed Amazon warehouse here, workers last summer walked on conveyor belts four stories high without safety harnesses, welders used plasma torches while surrounded by flammable cardboard boxes, and laborers rai…
Think twice before scanning that QR code
During the COVID-19 pandemic, people have become accustomed to using their smartphone cameras to scan small black-and-white square bar codes, allowing them instantly to do everything from access restaurant menus to pay bills. Scanning a Quick Response,…
Educators warn bills to give parents more power could push teachers out
Mostly Republican governors and legislators in more than a dozen states are fighting to give parents more control over what their children learn in public schools, banking on so-called parents’ rights bills as a political winner. But educators worry th…
Rising gun deaths push cities to shore up police and services
As the coronavirus pandemic approaches its third year, it has worsened another deadly crisis for American cities: gun violence. With a rise in homicides in more than a dozen major U.S. cities, local leaders and gun safety experts are renewing their eff…
Retirements cut ranks of scarce front-line workers
After decades of police work, the idea of retiring started sounding good to Craig Long when COVID-19 struck suburban Suffern, New York, in March 2020. He was in his early 60s. As a veteran detective, Long was assigned in the pandemic’s early days to he…
Evictions rise to pre-pandemic levels
SPRING, Texas — Dionna Jackson, 40, sat on a long wooden bench nervously scrolling through old text messages on her phone while waiting for her eviction case to be called. More than 87 people joined her in Harris County Judge Lincoln Goodwin’s packed c…
Regulators scrutinize buy now, pay later plans
The buy now, pay later enticements increasingly offered on websites’ checkout pages lure many customers, especially as the coronavirus pandemic has increased online shopping. But the exploding use of buy now, pay later plans also is drawing more scruti…