Frustrated by Massachusetts Legislature, critics want to change how it operates — by thinning lawmakers’ wallets

Critics of the Massachusetts Legislature have found a new target in the name of improving government accountability: how much lawmakers make. Activists, some former lawmakers themselves, are pushing a bid to ask voters to change how legislators earn extra money for holding leadership roles, such as committee chair, majority leader, or even House speaker. They’re arguing those stipends should be determined by how much work lawmakers do, rather than leadership decisions.

As New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani faces $7 billion budget hole, free parking may be history

With New York City facing a budget gap estimated at around $7 billion, new Mayor Zohran Mamdani would prefer to tax the rich. But lately, Mamdani and his administration have conceded that other ways to raise revenue for the city need to be considered, from higher property taxes on homeowners to a long-talked-about idea that would upend a feature of life in the Big Apple many residents have long considered a right: ample free parking.

In Arizona, an Electric Utility Holds an Election, Open Only to Property Owners

In one of America’s least democratic elections, the rule is not one person, one vote. It’s one acre, one vote. Only property owners in metropolitan Phoenix can cast ballots in the April 7 race for control of the Salt River Project, one of the nation’s largest public power utilities. Early voting began this week for the landowning select, and the more land they own, the more votes they get. A farmer with 200 acres gets 200 votes; a suburban homeowner on a quarter of an acre gets a quarter of a vote. Renters are locked out entirely.

The AI Lab Next Door

As governments and communities across the United States struggle to make sense of artificial intelligence, one of the most capable—and underutilized—partners is often hiding in plain sight: local colleges and universities. Much of the public conversation about AI focuses on big tech companies or federal regulation. Meanwhile, far less attention has been paid to how higher education institutions can help cities and nonprofits deploy AI to serve residents and strengthen public trust.

The YIMBY movement could be on its way out

The YIMBY, or Yes in My Backyard movement, has been steadily growing based on a simple principle: To solve the housing crisis, simply build more affordable houses. But while the YIMBY train of thought has been making waves in many areas, particularly in cities with high levels of homelessness like San Francisco, some economists think the movement has outgrown its lifespan. Others think it has more to give.

Trust In The AI Age

As a community, the people most familiar with AI understand that trust will play a central role in consumer-facing applications, and that even beyond that, trust is, in so many ways, the currency of today’s digital environment. After the fairly stillborn launch of cryptocurrencies in the late aughts, AI has taken the world by storm. The benefits are evident. But so are the risks. The benefits are colossal, too. To the society, to individuals – but so are the risks.

Safe and Sheltered: How Tenant Organizers Protect Their Neighbors in Minneapolis

Taylor Kohn lives in the same Minneapolis neighborhood where ICU nurse Alex Pretti was murdered by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents in January. But even aside from this high-profile killing, Kohn says that since CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began occupying the city last December, every block has been written with one traumatic memory or another. On the route she takes to walk her dog every day “is where I hid when [the] feds were tear gassing us.” Farther down the street “is where I [think I] saw a teenager sobbing while they were put in an ICE vehicle,” she adds.