How to Tell Oregon Apart From New Jersey
If Chris Christie had thought of this for his state's gas stations, maybe he'd be doing better in the 2016 race now.
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Articles & News
Building for the Future, In California’s Famously Failed City
The Los Angeles Times has a big, new demonstration of how bad things have gotten in the city of San Bernardino. Here’s a look at people doing their best, despite those odds.
Sports and Civic Life, Bend Elks Edition
An evening at the ballpark, with Vinnie the Elk and friends
Summer in the Pacific Northwest
The Bend, Oregon, Elks open their baseball season
American Futures: The Pacific Northwest Edition
It's still a bigger, more varied, and more vigorous country than most people would guess.
American Futures Updates, from MS to AZ to CA
NPR conveys the sound of an innovative school in Mississippi, plus other news from the road
A High School That Changes Lives, One at a Time
Teachers and students in a bankrupt California city, determined to make progress
Post-Memorial Day Note: Another Kind of Service, San Bernardino
"I don't just sit around. I don't sleep much. That's what I do. I do stuff." The story of a man determined to do something for his town.
Isabella Greenway, Pioneering American Woman
The first Arizonan congresswoman, a lifelong friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, lived a remarkable life.
Today a Bankrupt City Votes on Its Next Steps
"We've gotten used to gridlock and stalemate at the national level. This is what it looks like for a city." What civic dysfunction has in common with excessive CEO pay, and why it matters.
The Battle for Downtown, From Canada to the Carolinas
"It is strange, but true." What one reader says about Raleigh, North Carolina, applies many other places as well.
What It’s Like When Your City Goes Broke
San Bernardino, California, is poor, and has a high unemployment rate, and is affected by drought, and is in bankruptcy court. But its real problem is something else.
An Incredible Time-Capsule View of One Downtown’s Development
Can tearing up a noted artistic zone be a path to civic success? City leaders say yes, while some of their citizens say no.
California’s Improbable Navel-Orange Queen
Eliza Tibbets was a suffragist, abolitionist, and spiritualist—and the mother of California's orange industry.
Cars, Pedestrians, and the Struggle for the Future of Downtowns
Plus: how much is any discussion of "downtown" a coded talk about race?
Fresno to South Bend to Louisville: The Elusive Elements of Civic Success
More cities, more assessments of what works, and why.