State and Local Daily Digest: Raw Milk Illness at W.Va. Capitol?; Wisconsin Payroll Hack
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Connecting state and local government leaders
Also in our news roundup: Check out South Bend’s new flag; Baltimore’s costly snow removal; and a Southern California water grab up north?
CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA
PUBLIC HEALTH | Lawmakers in West Virginia recently passed legislation legalizing the consumption of raw milk in the Mountain State, and to celebrate many of
the lawmakers drank unpasteurized milk to celebrate the bill’s passage
. But now there are questions whether that celebratory raw milk is the cause of a stomach bug that has hit many of the lawmakers. The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources is investigating whether there’s a possible connection. Some lawmakers believe it’s just a stomach bug going around. [
WSAZ-TV
]
OZAUKEE COUNTY, WISCONSIN
CYBERSECURITY | Tax and Social Security information for
190 county workers and elected officials
was compromised in a cyberattack in February via “suspicious” logins to the county’s payroll system. "It's a kick in the teeth,” the county administrator of this jurisdiction north of Milwaukee said. “I feel absolutely devastated for my employees.” [
WISN-TV / ABC 12
]
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
SNOW REMOVAL | The massive blizzard that hit Baltimore and other mid-Atlantic jurisdictions in January created some unexpected costs for Charm City. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, public works personnel in
the city deployed industrial-strength snow melters
to attack mounds of the white stuff that had piled up. But there was one problem: The machines burned through lots of diesel fuel, which ended up costing $250,000 per day. [
The Sun
]
BELLEVILLE, ILLINOIS
STATE BUDGETING | As the budget stalemate drags on in the Land of Lincoln, hospitals in the state are feeling extreme fiscal pressure. For St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in this downstate Illinois town near St. Louis,
the state owes $16 million in desperately needed funding
. “We’ll never turn away a patient,” the hospital’s executive says, “but what other business would continue to take care of people while the state says ‘Sorry, we’re not going to pay you because we failed to pass a budget?’” [
St. Louis Public Radio
]
ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA
PENSIONS | Like many local jurisdictions around the nation, skyrocketing pension costs are threatening the long-term fiscal stability of the public schools in Pennsylvania’s fourth-most populous city. The superintendent says that
the school district might not be able to make payroll
in two or three years. [
Pennsylvania Watchdog
]
SOUTH BEND, INDIANA
CIVIC SYMBOLS | The city of South Bend has a new city flag, which “
will help residents rally around our city in its moment of renewal
,” according to Mayor Pete Buttigieg. It contains a six-pointed red star on a white background, a blue and white ribbon and a yellow field. The new flag design is open source with no copyright. [
City of South Bend
]
CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
TRANSPORTATION | A circuit court judge has blocked the Charleston County Aviation Authority from releasing data regarding ride-booking service Uber’s operations at the Charleston International Airport to a coalition of local taxicab drivers that had sought the information. T
he judge agreed with Uber that the information constituted trade secrets
that are exempted from the state’s open records laws. [
The Post and Courier
]
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
WATER | Is the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California gearing up for a “water grab” in Northern California? While that water authority says it is not making such a move, alarm bells have gone off because of
the agency’s move to buy islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta
. The Southern California water authority says it is purchasing the islands because planned twin water tunnels will pass under them. [
The Sacramento Bee
]
CORVALLIS, OREGON
INVASIVE SPECIES | It’s too early to tell for sure, but Oregon State University scientists are studying whether more than 200 non-native species from Japan that were sent across the Pacific Ocean on debris from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami are making a new home on the Oregon coast. Among the species carried across the Pacific: barred knifejaws, Mediterranean blue mussels and a type of brown algae. [
The Register-Guard
]
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
PARKING MANAGEMENT | Driverless cars are poised to change the way everyone travels. So what does that mean for
the future of parking garages
? Since driverless cars are more precise in the fine art of parking, the dimensions of spaces will likely shrink, allowing for excess garage space to be repurposed for other uses. Eventually, the need for parking structures will be eliminated, too. [
Boston.com
]
Michael Grass is Executive Editor of Government Executive’s Route Fifty.
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