To improve management practices and foster new ideas, New York will shuffle its top deputies so that they can learn about the challenges and best practices of sister agencies. At the end of a three week period, the deputies will conference directly with the mayor offering ideas for changes in their home agencies. One swap, for example, will include the first deputy commissioners for the Department of Consumer Affairs and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, in order to improve how the city approaches preventing foreclosure.

This USA Today article charts the growing number of governors—32 at present—using the microblogging site Twitter to get their messages across to the public. A table displays which governors use Twitter, the number of followers each governor has, and when they began using the site.

Several counties in Virginia are helping non-custodial parents secure employment, and providing them with services to keep them out of jail so they are able to make their child support payments. Officials estimate that the Intensive Case Monitoring Program will cost less than $30,000 in its first year after savings from other programs and incarceration costs are factored in. The initiative is modeled after a similar program in Texas.

Under the Texas Dropout Recovery Pilot Program, the state is offering participating districts financial incentives for each former dropout who graduates, giving those districts wide latitude to discover what works best for its students. Those programs whose students make the greatest strides will receive more funding and will be studied for replication. Findings have shown that about 20% of high school dropouts participating in the program have graduated with more students on their way to receiving their diploma.

To facilitate the expansion of broadband to more areas of the country, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Rural Utilities Service have created BroadbandMatch. The online tool gives companies, nonprofits, state or local governments, and individuals and other potential grantees the means to post a profile with information about their potential contribution to a grant application and the ability to search for criteria-specific partners who they could collaborate with on a project.

Recognizing that arresting and jailing prostitutes accomplishes little, Dallas now treats prostitutes as sex crime victims, offering them publicly funded rehabilitation programs. Under the city's Prostitution Diversion Initiative, the city sets up four command trucks in vacant lots close to where the women work; there, the city places a health care clinic staffed by medical professionals and social workers, and a mobile courtroom complete with a judge. Prostitutes are given the option of participating in a 45-day, in-patient rehabilitation program, followed by education, child care, and housing assistance. While only about half of the 375 prostitutes brought to the staging area in the past two years have chosen rehab and only 21 have made new lives themselves, the program has increased trust between the women and law enforcement, helping to develop leads in other criminal cases, including unsolved homicides. The program has sparked replication interest in multiple municipalities.

Buying a new home in Miami-Dade County is just a click away. The county has launched a new system that will allow buyers to bid on foreclosed homes online. The system is expected to save $750,000 annually while reducing the paperwork and backlog in a state racked with real estate problems. Interested parties must first register on a site where they can place bids, make deposits, monitor auction activity, and pay for their purchase.

On the heels of the Federal SAVE competition, which solicited federal employees to propose cost-saving measures for the federal government, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer has set up the Montana Accountability Partnership (MAP) to encourage state employees and the public to submit money-saving ideas. Submissions are due by April 1, 2010. One idea, for example, that has been submitted involves using free, open-source alternatives instead of paying for expensive software contracts.

To help law enforcement corral loose livestock on roadways, which are often difficult to trace back to their owner, the Barton County Farm Bureau in Kansas has unveiled the Pasture Labeling Program. When livestock find their way out of their enclosures, authorities can look at a specific number on pasture fences that relates back to the owner of the livestock. The owner can then be notified and help in the effort to secure their chattel. Officials hope the program can go state or even nationwide.