State and Local Weekend Digest; W.Va. Agency at War With Itself; Questions About Calif. Bullet Train
West Virginia's state flag Jiri Flogel / Shutterstock.com
Connecting state and local government leaders
Also in our news roundup: Florida environmental disaster; New York City's self-cleaning toilets; and Texas' big spending on football.
CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA
INTRA-AGENCY TURMOIL | When agency leadership calls in local police to conduct an office sweep to check for wiretaps, that’s usually a sign of trouble. The West Virginia Water Development Authority is dealing with a big mess “amid allegations of ethics violations, secret recordings, restroom vandalism and a problem with feral cats.” [The Charleston Gazette-Mail]
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
TRANSPORTATION FINANCE | As construction continues on the initial segment of California’s high-speed rail line aimed at connecting Los Angeles with San Francisco, a new legislative report has found that the state has enough money to build the first operating segment, between San Jose and the Central Valley. But there are big questions about whether it can finish the full 500-mile route. [Los Angeles Times]
CALOOSAHATCHEE RIVER, FLORIDA
ENVIRONMENT | When a two-day rainstorm in January raised water levels in Lake Okeechobee to a point where it was threatening to overwhelm levees that protect low-lying areas, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened floodgates and sent billions of gallons of polluted water into the waterways leading to the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico where it killed oysters and sea grass and endangered coral reefs. [Miami Herald]
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
INFRASTRUCTURE | When nature calls in the Big Apple, it’s the tourists unfamiliar with the city’s dearth of public toilets who suffer. Only five of the 20 fully automated, self-cleaning toilets assembled for the public a decade ago ever left the warehouse, and only four were ever installed. At least three mayors have dropped the ball connecting the rest. [The New York Times]
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA
TRANSPARENCY | News from the Queen City’s council meetings travels so fast that last fall council members suspected the media of listening in to closed sessions and private conversations. They even went so far as to ask city staff to investigate whether reporters had bugged meeting rooms. Rick Thames, the editor of The Charlotte Observer, responded by saying, “[W]e don’t bug rooms. We let people know when we record them.” [The Charlotte Observer]
AUSTIN, TEXAS
HIGHER EDUCATION | Texas’ eight public universities playing top-tier football spent more than $525 million on athletics during the 2014-15 school year—most of it on the gridiron. The top spender? University of Texas at Austin at $173.2 million. The top earner? Texas A&M University at $192.6 million. [The Texas Tribune]
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND
STATE SONGS | Maryland is taking action to remove all traces of its slave state, Southern-sympathizing past from its official song. In particular, “Maryland, My Maryland” refers to then President Abraham Lincoln as a “despot,” spurns “Northern scum” and is an all-around call to secede, though the state did not. Maryland’s Senate voted 37-8 to redact the offensive, Civil War-era language, and now it heads to the House of Delegates. [The Associated Press]
FLINT, MICHIGAN
TAXES | Some residents of the city feel like they’re being kicked while they’re down after learning they will pay higher tax bills this year because their property tax assessments went up. "With all the publicity over the poisoned water, the value has to have gone down, not up," said Harold Skinner, who has owned his home home in Flint for 24 years. The tax increase seems to be a matter of poor timing, as the assessment is based on the period from Oct. 1, 2013, through Sept. 30, 2015, before the scope of the water crisis was fully understood. [Detroit Free Press]
CHEYENNE, WYOMING
CAPITOL RENOVATIONS | Work to renovate and expand Wyoming’s State Capitol building is facing additional delays and the project may not be wrapped up until 2019 due to problems with the building’s foundations. The Wyoming Legislature has vacated the building and has been holding sessions in adjacent state buildings and plans to move its meetings to private office buildings. [Wyoming Tribune Eagle]
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