Radford residents will pay more in numerous ways for the third straight year as the city digs out of a deep financial hole.

Radford is in “fiscal distress,” and it qualifies for state expertise to help guide it through its troubles, the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts notified the city in March. In December, Cardinal News reported that Radford would be only the third city in such straits since the APA first began monitoring in 2017.

With that realization, the city council voted 4-1 Tuesday night to raise the real estate tax rate by 2 cents, from 82 cents per $100 of assessed value to 84 cents. Councilwoman Jessie Foster, who said she was in favor of a 3-cent increase, voted no. The council then voted 5-0 to raise the water rate by $3 per 1,000 gallons, and the budget also includes a 5% increase in the electric rate.

The council must take a second vote to finalize the budget at an April 28 meeting, set for 6 p.m. at the city municipal building.

The real estate and water increases approved Tuesday are lower than what the city advertised prior to that meeting: a 5-cent real estate tax increase and a $5.87 water rate increase per 1,000 gallons.

But, with the 2-cent real estate rate increase, the city council has raised that rate by 20 cents over the past three years.

Councilman Seth Gillespie said that’s why he favored a more moderate approach this year.

“It has to be mitigated over time,” he said. “I would love to say that there will be no future real estate tax increases, but I don’t think that’s feasible either.”

The council’s votes came after a lightly attended public hearing on the budget matters. 

Five residents spoke — all concerned about the city’s finances.

Beth Barber said electric bill increases are impacting the vulnerable.

“We’re currently facing a strong cost of living crisis,” she said. “Believe it or not, families in the city are already making impossible choices between groceries, medicine and keeping the lights on.”

The city should look at additional cuts to the budget before asking citizens to again pay more, such as reducing library or recreation center hours, said Doug Kanipe.

“I think we’ve got to keep digging and not just say this is as lean as we can be,” he said.

The city has made numerous cuts since its budget predicament started, including job freezes, said City Manager Todd Meredith, who was hired last summer.

The $81.7 million budget for 2026-27 would be the first in years to be balanced from expected revenues. The city, for some time, used transfers from water and electricity funds to balance its general fund budget. It has no reserves to speak of.

That’s why Foster favored the 3-cent real estate tax rate increase, because it would set a higher amount of money aside so the city can start to address infrastructure needs and have a rainy day fund.

“We need to build reserves,” she said.

Council members have said city revenue estimates were overly inflated for years, when they actually didn’t cover expenses.

Other issues that got the city in trouble include its usage of an unusual $4 million loan to pay its bills. The city is still paying off that loan as it remains behind on millions of dollars of back payments on wholesale electricity from American Electric Power.

At the same time, the city lost businesses — including the former foundry on the New River — and Pulaski County sued Radford, attempting to end a longstanding revenue-sharing agreement in Fairlawn. The suit remains in litigation. Mayor David Horton said Radford gets about $200,000 from that agreement annually — a number that’s increasing by the year because of development in Fairlawn.

Exacerbating the city’s crisis: About half of its properties are tax-exempt, which includes land owned by Radford University.

“It’s been something every few weeks,” Horton said in an interview prior to Tuesday’s meeting, adding that “we’ve had holes in our boat, but we didn’t sink.”

Horton said there is some good to sprinkle in with the bad, including the opening of the Highlander Hotel and a Food City, a site that should spur additional development, he said.

Horton’s mayoral seat is on the ballot this year, along with Gillespie’s and Foster’s council seats. Gillespie recently announced he’ll run for mayor.

Horton said he will make an announcement on his plans sometime in the next few weeks. Foster said she has not made a decision yet.

The council race will likely happen as the APA’s designation lingers. Should Gov. Abigail Spanberger and legislative committees approve an assistance plan for Radford, the APA recommends the state provide consulting services, according to its March notification letter. 

The APA did not respond to questions sent in a Tuesday email, including when a decision on an assistance plan is expected.

The post Radford residents to again pay more amid city fiscal struggles appeared first on Cardinal News.

The City of Craig put out a survey last month asking for input on how they should manage the growing tourism on Prince of Wales Island. The results were presented at a city council meeting last week.

The survey was requested by residents and 188 people completed it. The city received 134 resident surveys and 54 non-resident surveys. Many said they want less tourism in town. Fewer said they’d like to see more. 

Andy Deering lives in Craig. He helped draft the survey and tally results. He’s skeptical of rising tourism in the community, but was still surprised with some of the results — like how people responded about tourism affecting their quality of life. 

“Only 14% said positively,” Deering said. “And I was actually expecting that number to be higher. I mean, I’ve heard all kinds of people grousing and griping about the tourism and particularly the cruise ship tourism, but tourism in general, but that number is pretty low.”

Many respondents also said they think tourism will affect fishing and hunting competition, exposure to health risks, and their personal privacy. Marine pollution is another top concern. Results also indicate people’s opinions vary based on the type of tourism —  more are in favor of independent travelers or charters than they are cruise ships.

There’s only one cruise ship dock on Prince of Wales Island, and it’s in Klawock. But many passengers spend their time on the island down the road in Craig. 

The survey states that the City of Craig doesn’t control cruise ship schedules or passenger numbers. It’s still unclear what will be done with the results, but people seem to agree it’s a good starting point for how the town should approach rising tourism — even if some say a spike in visitors is inevitable.

Mayor Kasey Smith thanked city staff and community members for their hard work putting together the results. He wanted everyone to be able to voice their opinion before making decisions. 

“Now that we’ve done that, it is coming right around the corner,” Smith said. “So there are some decisions that you know are going to need to be made here relatively quick.”

One of those decisions, Smith said, is how and when they should give out access permits for public community areas. More people responded that they don’t want access permits granted for community areas like Graveyard Trail and Cannery Point. Several respondents indicated they’re worried about congestion on walking trails and increased foot traffic.

Smith said he wanted more discussion on access permits, but he pointed out they could be a useful way to get funding.

“We all agreed that we don’t want to use community dollars to promote tourism or maintain trails,” Smith said. “But we want to keep these trails up to date and in good shape, not only for people from out of state, but for ourselves. And one way to do that is through access grants. “

An overwhelming majority of survey respondents said they would support a Tourism Advisory Committee to provide community input and make recommendations to the City Council on tourism-related matters in Craig.

The idea for the survey emerged last fall, when community members and the city met in the Craig high school auditorium to air their grievances about the town’s rising tourism industry. 

The survey was available for around a month, and the deadline was early April. Results can be found online.  

The first cruise ship is scheduled to dock in Klawock in less than two weeks. Around 50 cruise ships are expected to visit the island this summer. 

The post Survey finds many Craig residents concerned with rising tourism appeared first on KRBD.

La Asamblea General de Carolina del Norte votó el miércoles, 22 de abril, para avanzar un acuerdo que asigna $319 millones a Medicaid, incluyendo provisiones que afectarían a la comunidad inmigrante. 

La entrada Acuerdo de Medicaid en la Asamblea General estatal, con provisiones que impactarían a comunidad inmigrante se publicó primero en Enlace Latino NC.

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Acuerdo de Medicaid en la Asamblea General estatal, con provisiones que impactarían a comunidad inmigrante was first posted on abril 22, 2026 at 7:55 pm.
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Be it sports teams traveling to tournaments, long-haul trucks traversing Interstate 80 or workers heading across the state for meetings, long drives are as much a part of life in Wyoming as the wind. 

And yet, Wyoming faces a significant funding shortfall that poses steep challenges in maintaining and improving highways, bridges, overpasses and other infrastructure. Without the ability to make needed repairs now, the state will likely face larger and more costly reconstruction projects in the future. 

That’s the conclusion of a new report released Wednesday by TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit. 

“Due to a lack of adequate funding, [Wyoming officials] are anticipating to see some deterioration of major roads and bridges,” said TRIP’s Director of Policy and Research Rocky Moretti. 

The report also identified the top 25 projects that Wyoming needs to tackle to improve safety. “Unfortunately, the resources for the actual construction of those projects currently are lacking,” Moretti said Wednesday during a virtual press briefing. 

Flat revenue streams coupled with inflation in construction costs have exacerbated the issue, Wyoming Department of Transportation Director Darin Westby said. The situation forced the department into a “preservation-only” mode years ago, Westby said, which inhibits planning, designing and implementing crucial projects. 

That approach is unsustainable, he added. 

“We can’t keep putting lipstick on that pig and thinking that it’s going to last forever,” Westby said.

Unfunded needs 

Local, state and federal governments fund Wyoming’s transportation projects. Compared to the national average and relative to surrounding states, Wyoming is heavily reliant on federal funding. 

State-level highway user fees, including fuel taxes, vehicle registrations and driver license fees, contribute to the funding streams. Wyoming’s state fuel taxes for gasoline and diesel are the lowest of the six surrounding states, the report states.

As of 2019, WYDOT’s unfunded needs were estimated at $400 million a year, Westby said during the Wednesday press event. Fast forward to today, he said, “we’re sitting at about $600 million.” Road needs comprise roughly half of that, he added, with the other half related to administrative duties. 

TRIP continually monitors funding conditions across the country, Moretti said, and initiates research projects when it identifies significant funding gaps. That’s what led to the latest report. 

“It was clear that the state was really challenged to move forward with a number of projects, and so we offered to prepare this report,” he said. 

The report drills down on the state’s needs and challenges. Some of the takeaways include: 

• In 2025, 33% of Wyoming’s state-maintained roads were in poor condition. WYDOT estimates that by 2028, that will grow to 37%, with nearly 250 additional miles of roadway falling into poor condition.
• WYDOT estimates that under current funding constraints, between 2024 and 2028, the number of state-owned bridges in poor condition is projected to increase by 54% (from 80 to 123).
• After spiking in 2022 and 2023, the state’s traffic fatality rate fell in 2024 to 1.12 fatalities for every 100 million miles traveled — lower than the national average of 1.2. 
• Approximately 148,000 full-time jobs in Wyoming in industries like tourism, retail sales, agriculture and manufacturing are dependent on the state’s transportation network.
• With $61 billion of goods shipped annually to and from sites in Wyoming, the state’s economy depends heavily on the reliability of the transportation system. 

Renny MacKay, director of the Wyoming Business Alliance, echoed transportation’s role in the state’s business landscape.

“It impacts all of our members,” MacKay said, “and they all know how important roads are to their business and to the safety of their employees, to the safety of their families and the safety of their customers.”

Top 25 list

The report lays out the 25 projects it deems as most important to improve safety, reliability and condition of Wyoming’s transportation system. Regular drivers in the state will no doubt recognize familiar bottlenecks, constraints or dangerous stretches in this list — from tight curves in Wind River Canyon to commuter traffic jams into Jackson. 

No. 1 on the list is to reconstruct and redesign the interchange between I-80 and I-25 in Cheyenne, a $500 million project. No. 2 is widening U.S. Highway 287 from Laramie to the Colorado state line, a $59 million project. No. 3 entails improvements along 200 miles of I-80 — including truck climbing zones, variable speed limit zones, truck parking and chain-up areas. It is estimated to cost $270 million. 

“I think that top 25 list … really does show us something else, and that is how much safer our roads could be with adequate funding,” MacKay said. 

WYDOT has been working with the Legislature for several years to increase funding, Westby said. With the enormous price tag of many projects, the agency is also searching for other funding sources, such as federal grants. The TRIP report, he said, will continue to help lay out the case for finding transportation funding. 

The Legislature’s Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee will examine the issue over the legislative off-season. Its top interim priority entails a study of how WYDOT is funded and an exploration of ways to reduce the department’s budget shortfalls. 

That committee meets May 4 in Cheyenne to discuss interim topics.

The post Wyoming’s road safety faces ‘significant’ funding shortfall, report finds appeared first on WyoFile .

With Medicaid funding due to run out, NC lawmakers act quickly in new session. But some concerned by extra provisions in bill.

NC lawmakers unite across aisle to advance Medicaid funding is a story from Carolina Public Press, an award-winning independent newsroom. Our breakthrough journalism shines a light on the critical overlooked and under-reported issues facing North Carolina’s more than 11 million residents. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

A federal district court judge on April 16 denied the petition of an Ohio teacher in the Little Miami School District to remain anonymous while suing the district for forcing him to remove an anti-hate poster in his classroom.

The teacher, referred to as John Doe, hung a “Hate Has No Home Here” poster in his history classroom alongside other displays. He was approached by the school’s principal in September 2025 and told that school board president David Wallace came to his classroom and took photos of the poster, according to his original complaint.

In February 2026, the principal told Doe that Wallace had requested, via the superintendent, that the poster be removed – ostensibly on the grounds that the LGBTQ+ flags constituted “sexuality content.” The principal refused to order the poster be removed, and the superintendent concurred. The board, however, made a motion to forcibly remove the poster during their February meeting.

Doe filed the lawsuit seeking an injunction against the poster’s removal and a declaration that banning the poster is a violation of his First and 14th Amendment rights to free speech and equal protection. He requested to stay anonymous due to fears of harm and retaliation. 

U.S. District Judge Matthew McFarland declined to grant anonymity because Doe’s identity has already been disclosed “whether or not he consented to such disclosure.”

“Furthermore, beyond instances of Plaintiff’s name, job title and photograph being published, Plaintiff has not pointed to any credible threat of harassment or danger that he faced from this disclosure or could face if his name is used in these proceedings,” McFarland said in his order. “Risk of embarrassment alone is not enough to warrant use of a pseudonym.”

Doe’s legal representation will protect his safety in light of the order, said Joshua Engel, Doe’s lawyer.

“We understand that the judge has to balance the public interest in knowing the identity of litigants with potential harms,” Engel said. “We will be watching closely to make sure that our client is not subjected to doxxing or harassment and will take appropriate steps to protect his safety.”

The order comes after Doe’s identity was published on Facebook in late March by Darbi Boddy, a former Lakota School Board member – a week before Doe filed. Darby was removed from office after she was unable to attend meetings due to a fellow board member’s restraining order against her. 

Boddy disparaged the history teacher for using the poster to say, according to Doe’s explanation to Little Miami High School’s principal, “they must treat their classmates with mutual respect, regardless of opinions or beliefs.”

“He openly admits he doesn’t want a ‘neutral’ image because it might ‘erase’ LGBTQ+ representation,” Boddy said on Facebook. “Parents – it’s time to speak up. What do you think should happen to teachers like this?”

The comment section of Boddy’s Facebook post includes insulting, slur-laden comments towards Doe’s supporters such as, “You are trying to groom our children with your perv liberal lifestyles,” “This f—k face should be fired immediately … You don’t have a teacher, you have a r——d activist that probably should have his computer hard drive searched by feds” and “Kids being bullied over defending the pride flag? Good. This teacher getting bullied over it? Even better.”

When the Buckeye Flame requested public records from Little Miami in January, the district did not redact the teacher’s name before Doe filed his lawsuit in April. Dan Smith, a Little Miami School Board member who voted in favor of removing the anti-hate poster, resigned in March after the Buckeye Flame reported on antisemitic comments he made on social media. 

Sarah Moore, anti-LGBTQ extremism analyst for GLAAD, noted that with a rise violence against members of the LGBTQ+ community in recent years, Doe’s request for anonymity is reasonable.  

“There are documented safety concerns that must be considered when deciding what to disclose in public records, especially for those who speak up for targeted and vulnerable people,” Moore told the Flame. “It is difficult to see the judge’s demand as in the public interest when there is a clear risk to the plaintiff and may serve to chill others from speaking up against wrongdoing.”

According to GLAAD’s Anti-LGBTQ Extremism Reporting Tracker (ALERT), reports of anti-LGBTQ+ violence in the United States increased by 112%  between June 2023 and June 2024, with over 1,000 incidents total.

Ohio ranked fifth out of 50 states for reported incidents, said Moore, adding that the number of incidents is “only a small portion of what is actually documented” due to “[fears] of retaliation.”

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IGNITE ACTION

• Local community members have started a crowd-source funding campaign to support the teacher’s legal expenses. To learn more about the legal fund, click here.
• If you are a young LGBTQ+ person in crisis, please contact the Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor.
• If you are an transgender adult in need of immediate help, contact the National Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860

The post Judge: Ohio teacher can’t be anonymous in lawsuit against Little Miami School District over removal of anti-hate poster appeared first on The Buckeye Flame.

A rare fire weather warning has been issued by the National Weather Service, warning both rural and urban residents in south central and southeastern Colorado of 60-mph wind gusts and extremely dry conditions Wednesday that pose a “significant threat to life and property.”

Strong winds out of the southwest, between 25 and 35 mph, coupled with relative humidity levels in the single digits, prompted forecasters to warn of a “particularly dangerous situation” in the Upper Arkansas Valley, the San Luis Valley, the Wet Mountains and Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

The conditions are expected from 10 a.m. to midnight Wednesday, though the highest risk will be between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

“In some cases, safe and timely evacuation may not be possible should a fire approach,” forecasters in Pueblo said. 

Critical fire weather conditions are forecast across much of southeastern Colorado on Wednesday, stretching from the New Mexico border to the south to the Kansas border to the east.

In the San Luis Valley, blowing dust could bring very low visibility at times, making travel difficult, and strong winds could blow down trees and power lines.

“Use caution if you must drive across the San Luis Valley on Wednesday,” forecasters warned. 

Xcel Energy said it will shut off power, starting at noon, to about 7,100 customers in Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla and Rio Grande counties to reduce the risk of wildfire. Customers can look up their address online to see if they may be impacted by the power shutoffs. 

According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor, issued April 16, 97% of Colorado is in moderate to exceptional drought conditions, caused in part to record-high temperatures in March and historically low snowpack. 

Elevated fire danger could continue through Thursday, forecasters said.

Joe Ceballos, former mayor of Coldwater, is a legal resident, but not a citizen. He pleaded guilty Monday to voting illegally, saying it was a mistake. It’s not yet clear if he’ll face deportation.

The post Former Kansas mayor pleads guilty to voting illegally as a noncitizen appeared first on KLC Journal – A Civic Issues Magazine from the Kansas Leadership Center

El 10 de febrero pasado, una parada de tráfico en Wakulla County, Florida, terminó poniendo a Alen Jesús bajo custodia. Había viajado al estado en busca de trabajo en techos, después de que terminara la temporada agrícola en el oeste de Carolina del Norte.

La entrada Juntan fondos para pagar fianza de $20,000 de trabajador agrícola detenido por ICE se publicó primero en Enlace Latino NC.

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