Car Privileges Revoked for Some Mass. State Workers; Big Jump in St. Louis’ Foreign-Born Residents
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker Elise Amendola / AP Photo
Connecting state and local government leaders
Also in our State and Local Daily Digest: 50 guards, inmates charged in federal investigation of Maryland’s prisons; concerns over Utah county official’s cognitive health; creating the ‘Queen’ of Michigan State Parks
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
STATE-ISSUED CARS | About 20 state employees had their government-issued cars taken from them, after a months-long use review. The Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Deputy Commissioner Matthew Sisk was fired last week for misuse of the siren and lights on his car to get through traffic. Gov. Charlie Baker previously made Sisk and his boss, Commissioner Leo Pierre Roy, take a week of unpaid leave for spending taxpayer money on a July 3 party. [The Boston Globe]
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
IMMIGRATION | According to new data from the American Community Survey, the St. Louis area saw the highest percentage increase in foreign-born residents of the nation’s top 20 metropolitan areas, beating out places like New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. According to the survey, from 2014 to 2015, the foreign-born population in St Louis jumped by 9 percent. If it weren’t for the increase in immigrants in St. Louis, the city would have lost population. [St. Louis Public Radio]
SALT LAKE COUNTY, UTAH
MANAGEMENT | Officials in Salt Lake County are concerned about the mental well-being of the independently elected recorder, Gary Ott, whose “befuddled answers to question after question left a roomful of county employees … wincing as the 64-year-old struggled to understand the simplest of queries” during county council meeting on Tuesday. A performance audit of Ott’s office had been requested by Salt Lake County council members and Mayor Ben McAdams and found that the recorder has little regular involvement with day-to-day management. Many have expressed concerns about Ott, who is widely believed to be “suffering from diminishing cognitive skills.” [The Salt Lake Tribune]
ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
HOMELESSNESS | According to a report by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Orange County has the money to fully house its homeless population if it would only fund their plan enacted in 2010. One key finding of the report is that the county has been hesitant to spend its own money to address the issue, relying instead on “stagnant” funding from the federal and state levels. [The Orange County Register]
WESTOVER, MARYLAND
CORRECTIONS | More than 50 corrections officers and inmates at the Eastern Shore Corrections Institute were charged on Wednesday in a bribery and drug conspiracy scheme, the result of a three-year federal investigation into Maryland’s troubled corrections system. “This criminal conduct created a culture of corruption and lawlessness and perverted the intended purposes of [the prison],” according to the indictment, which was unsealed at U.S. District Court in Baltimore. [The Washington Post]
LUDINGTON, MICHIGAN
DUNE MINE | Sand mining has gone on next to Ludington State Park for decades, but the state Department of Natural Resources hopes to finally complete a deal that broke down about 10 years ago to establish the “Queen” of Michigan State Parks. Should Sargent Sand Company renew its expiring operating permit, oil frackers will gladly buy its product. But the state wants 60 to all 372 acres of the dune land jutting into the park for recreational facilities around a small inland lake. The acquisition has been designated a DNR “top priority.” A sale price has yet to be established, and some worry it’s already too late. "There were dunes here and we're not going to get them back," said Linda Bergles-Daul, a nearby resident. "They're gone." [The Grand Rapids Press / MLive]
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