We are back in 2014! after taking a brief hiatus over the turn of the year, we are back to sharing with our community the articles, research, analyses and other interesting things we are reading about. Our passion is community development, and so we spend an ample amount of time following policy discussions, burgeoning research and innovative ideas regarding local growth being tried, implemented or discussed within our community. It’s our pleasure to share that with anybody sharing our interest!
Over the break, several new communities chose solar for their own growth, the minimum wage discussion continued, and the plight of American youth is addressed at several angles, including jobs and brain drain prevention! We of course were most pleased to see that our hometown Columbus, Ohio was named the most intelligent city in America! kudos to you Buckeyes!!
Read more about these stories and more after the jump!
In the News
- House approves farm bill, ending 2 year impasse (New York Times)
- Farm Bill compromise include $881 million for energy (Domestic Fuel)
- Senate Democrats plan fast-track fix to reinstate lost employment benefits (The Guardian)
- Chicago co-working space aims to make clean tech cooler (Midwest Energy News)
- Subprime mortgage loan servicer Ocwen agrees to $2.2 billion settlement (New York Times)
- How can we help America’s opportunity youth? Five lessons learned in New Orleans (Next New Deal)
- The strange case of American’s inequality (Project Syndicate)
- Food hub brings local in reach (Sustainability City Network)
- In jobless youth, U.S. is said to pay high price (New York Times)
- Solar farm proposed for Mitchell International Airport (Milwaukee- Wisconsin Journal Sentinel)
- Solar panel project aims to make Lakes Country greener (Valley News Live)
- City prepares comprehensive plan for sustainable development (Sustainability City Network)
- $43 million in USDA loans flow to rural smart grids (Midwest Energy News)
- Sun shines on solar employment (National Journal)
- Countries vow to form Africa clean energy corridor (Renewable Energy World)
- Columbus named most intelligent city in America (WCMH)
Research, Analysis, Opinion and other Fun Stuff
- Ask a Builder: How well do solar panels work in the winter? (Fairbanks Daily news- Miner)
- Obama’s Promise Zones have potential if they include anchor institutions (Next New Deal)
- The year of the great redistribution (Robert Reich)
- Raising the minimum wage is a step toward economic freedom (Next New Deal)
- Economists agree: raising the minimum wage reduces poverty (Washington Post)
- GOP declares ‘war on poverty’ (MSNBC)
- Eight reasons conservatives should love renewables (Forbes)
- H&M plans to pay garment workers fair wages. Is it true? (Mother Jones)
- Top 10 cities in mortgage fraud investigations (CNBC)