Pupils attending private schools in Virginia may be able to commute on public school buses thanks to "share the ride" legislation recently approved by the governor. The law gives public school boards the authority to negotiate their own agreements with private schools regarding fees, insurance, liability, and other issues. Supporters of the measure believe that it will help reduce rush hour traffic and increase children's safety.

In California, a controversial new state rule requires schools to achieve measurable success in reducing the gap between white and minority students in order to meet annual improvement targets. In line with the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the measure seeks to compel schools to focus on reducing the achievement gap by, for example, improving English-language instruction or creating special education classes.

Under a bold, first-of-its-kind initiative, New York will give poor families up to $5,000 a year in cash incentives to meet specific targets such as attending parent-teacher conferences, receiving medical check-ups, getting advanced training, and keeping full-time employment. Based on a similar program in Mexico, Opportunity NYC will randomly select 2,500 families to receive the benefits and track their progress against a control group over several years. Although currently funded by donations from foundations and private citizens, the pilot could become a city-funded program if found successful.

Legislatures in California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Texas are considering bills that would add homeless people to the list of groups protected under current hate-crime legislation. If the population is given protected status, assaults against them would be subject to enhanced penalties. The incidence and severity of attacks against homeless people has risen sharply in the last few years.

The Irvine Police Department in California has launched a program to rapidly identify, locate, and return home individuals with special needs or dementia-related illnesses who become lost or disoriented. Using biographical information and current photos provided by families or caregivers, the Return Home Registry database can lead to safe and timely reunions.

Dallas, Texas, is the first U.S. city to benefit from Sustainable Skylines, an initiative launched by the Environmental Protection Agency. Through Sustainable Skylines, any city can choose from a menu of different three-year projects to improve air quality, such as land-use transportation strategies, stationary source pollution mitigation, and green building and development. Dallas plans to conduct projects ranging from replacing the existing fleets of taxis with low-emission vehicles to enhancing the number of heavy industry site visits.

By having business and community leaders accompany principals, participate in a school's administration, and interact with students and teachers, "Principal for a Day," in Tulsa, Oklahoma, gives non-educators a chance to wrestle with the challenges facing schools. The program also seeks to encourage partnerships between businesses and schools.

Across the country, law enforcement personnel are using new technology to create suspect composites quickly and efficiently. Traditionally, the limited availability and high cost of professional sketch artists have relegated their use to only the most serious or high-profile cases. While the technology has not replaced experienced artists who can capture nuance in their drawings, the software provides another crime-fighting tool, enabling users to take advantage of around 5,000 unique facial features to generate images.

Middle Early College High School, set up by New York's Erie Community College, gives students "in the middle"--whose needs may be neglected in the larger, more impersonal environments of traditional high schools--exposure to features of higher education institutions. The program offers smaller class sizes and longer class times, as well as the role models of older students and professors. Several foundations, including the Gates Foundation, are acknowledging the challenges encountered by average students in the increasingly competitive worlds of higher education and employment by supporting such initiatives

Orange County, California, is bolstering its community gardening efforts by dispatching Cooperative Extension Service agents to provide free education and consulting services to residents interested in beginning and managing successful gardens. Community gardens give urban residents a chance to interact with their neighbors, the opportunity to be outside, and the ability to grow nutritious food. 

Connecticut lawmakers are discussing the creation of a new state agency that would coordinate education and service needs for the tens of thousands of its residents with autism. Citing the need for "seamless" service from birth through adulthood, the proposed Board of Education and Services for Citizens with Autism Spectrum Disorders would be modeled after a similar state agency that works with blind persons' issues.

Advocated by former Vice President Al Gore, a decentralized "smart-grid" system allowing citizens to produce their own power and to sell electricity without caps is gaining popularity in the United States. The state of California is at the forefront of this energy-production revolution and legislation passed last year has increased the credits that consumers receive for generating excess energy. Environmentalists argue that smart grids promote renewable energy, eliminate the need to build new power plants, and help combat global warming.

Newsletter produced by: Brendan St. Amant and Vanessa Ruget (researchers and writers); Joellen Secondo (editor).