To protect the public from undue force and police from unwarranted criticism, eighteen patrol officers of the San Jose police department are testing head-mounted cameras to record interactions with the public. Under the test, officers turn on the Bluetooth-sized camera (which rests on the ear and the back of the neck) whenever they interact with the public, and upload the recordings after every shift. Advocates of the test project note that the awareness of the camera can ensure everyone stays on their best behavior. However, some observers have suggested that the department also needs to create policies that address how long video should be stored and who should have access.

Following federal courts in the Second Circuit, the Ninth Circuit, which includes nine western states, is embarking upon an experiment that allows video cameras in the courtroom for civil, non-jury proceedings. The chief judge says the initiative “is designed to help us find the right balance between the public's right to access to the courts and the parties' right to a fair and dignified proceeding."

Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Vermont and other states, faced with declining revenues and stretched budgets, have been breaking up pavement on lightly traveled roads and putting down gravel as an alternative to expensive repaving. While critics lament the mud, dust, and potential damage to their cars, supporters tout that the low-cost alternative is not only sufficient for less traveled-areas but provides an aesthetic value too, since dirt and gravel roads hearken back to simpler times. Paved roads tend to degrade rapidly in colder states due to the cycles of freeze and thaw, road salt, and plowing.

Boston wants to reduce energy and maintenance costs, limit greenhouse gas emissions, and lessen light pollution by converting the traditional bulbs lighting its walkways and roadways to light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. City denizens taking a stroll in Boston Commons will soon be walking under lamps they will have selected by popular vote from a variety of styles offered by different manufacturers. Citizens are given instructions on how to cast their vote for the lights most commensurate with the city's style, and the city will take their opinions into account when it selects the ultimate vendor.

Tempe, Arizona is collecting its residents' green waste for composting and spreading it around the city's parks and community gardens. Under the plan, the city will pay an outside contractor $20 a ton to dump the green waste and pay $20 a cubic yard to buy back the material as processed compost. The city currently pays $24.62 a ton to landfill green waste and at least $30 a cubic yard for compost mix. Thus, Tempe expects to save around $43,000 in landfill costs while promoting environmentally-friendly practices.

Houston has proposed the creation of an “animal campus” to spur more adoptions of orphaned animals housed in the city's animal control department. Under the proposal, the city, with the support of public and private philanthropy, would develop a 30,000-square-foot adoption center, a veterinary clinic, and a 3-acre dog park. The hope is that these facilities will attract potential adopters to the site.

Eager to ease traffic congestion and help save energy, several major cities are creating incentives to encourage residents to commute by motor scooter. These incentives include special parking areas for scooters and the placement of bike racks that may be used for scooter parking.

To help reduce firearm violence in Raleigh, North Carolina, law enforcement has teamed with Crime Stoppers to support a program that pays people to report information about illegal firearms anonymously. If an arrest is made based on the tip, the ‘snitchers’ may receive up to $200. The rising homicide and robbery rates in the city motivated the program.

San Francisco is mulling a proposal that would require retailers to place labels on cell phones warning consumers about the level of radiation the phones emit. While the Federal Communication Commission has stated that cell phones sold in the U.S. are safe, San Francisco has pointed to recent studies that show increased rates of tumors over the long term on the sides of the face where cell phones are usually placed. If the proposal passes, the measure would be the first of its kind.