Government / Politics

Despite the $700 billion financial bailout plan, the suburbs will continue to lose population and value, according to Peter Katz. He says it's time for the government to prevent suburban development that is only doomed to fail.

Oil, gas and wind man T.Boone Pickens is clearly interjecting himself and his plan into presidential, and vice-presidential politics. Recently, he sat down with Sarah and Todd Palin to promote his plan of using natural gas as a transportation fuel.

The $700 billion bailout bill includes federal tax benefits for people who commute by bike.

The media's inattention to Hurricane Ike has hidden its devastating impacts on infrastructure and the environment, as well as a poor response on the part of the federal government.

Upon gaining the presidency, Senator McCain would make the federal government spend part of its bailout money on bad home mortgages, allowing homeowners to stay put and make payments that reflect their homes' lessened values.

The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Sacramento Bee editorialize on the signing of SB 375, California's new landmark law that is intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing vehicle miles traveled through better land use.

In this article, Deneen Borelli argues that elite environmentalists are blocking access to natural resources that are abundant and in urgent need. As a result, higher costs of stricter energy requirements hit poor black communities the hardest.

A third term for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been sold as a method to save Wall Street, but it's really more important to the city's urban planning, according to this piece from The Architect's Newspaper.

Greg Beato looks at self-expression via the front lawn. In places that lack homeowners associations, he suggests, individualized lawns have great potential to strengthen the surrounding community.

Recognizing a need for formal cooperation between the regions in the middle of North America, the author of this article calls for a North American Central Economic Region.

In post-Katrina New Orleans, a fine line exists between razing potentially deadly structures, and harnessing a zeal for wholesale redevelopment.

Officials in Mexico are looking to crack down on rampant police corruption with an unlikely carrot: mortgages.

Apparently there are limits to 'term limits', and as New York City faces grave times due to the country's financial crisis disproportionately affecting them, the NYC Council Speaker indicated she would introduce legislation allowing for a third term.

Plans to demolish three houses to make room for more parking have pitted residents against an Atlanta church, arguing that city's planning blueprint prohibits demolitions for new surface parking. The church has filed suit.

CA Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed perhaps the most important air quality bill of the year just before the deadline to the dismay of the state's environmental and health community. Alaska Gov. Palin's letter asking for the veto may have played a role.

In this piece from Citiwire, Jonathan D. Miller argues that infrastructure and the economy are not islands. Improving the nation's infrastructure, he says, will improve the economy.

Neal Pierce of Citiwire.net returns to the population issue, this time addressing U.S. federal foreign and domestic policies regarding the issue.

The Senate has passed a bill that will allocate $2.5 billion for Amtrak annually, with money going to operation, repairs, and new safety measures.

Two years after the program's authorization, 500 cottages intended for residents displaces after Katrina have still not been built. Meanwhile, they have cropped up in Mississippi, which faced less damage overall.