Many states across the U.S. are scrutinizing the ambitious Massachusetts law to expand mandatory health insurance to all of its citizens by July 2007. Under the plan, individuals will be required to purchase heath insurance or face a penalty on their tax return. The government will subsidize those near or below the poverty level. The plan aims to cover nearly all of the half-million Massachusetts residents with no insurance by using existing private insurance companies and without resorting to tax increases or a state-run single payer system.

For an example of a country ending its addiction to oil, the U.S. can look to Brazil, whose ethanol production costs 50 cents less per gallon than gasoline. The Brazilian government has successfully incubated a viable ethanol motor fuel industry through the encouragement of sugar cane cultivation, low-interest loans, subsidies, and the financing of a national distribution network. Currently, 70 percent of all cars manufactured in Brazil run on ethanol, gasoline, or a mixture of both. Microsoft's Bill Gates and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are among the growing throng of interested investors.


Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle has signed an executive order mandating that all state buildings adhere to stringent environmental standards. New state buildings must be at least 30 percent more efficient than the requirements for commercial buildings, and existing structures are now subject to green building standards. The move is expected to save $30 million annually from the state's utility bill.

Congress is on the verge of passing legislation requiring local and state emergency-preparedness authorities to include pets and service animals in their evacuation plans as a prerequisite to federal relief funds. Lawmakers crafted the legislation in response to last year's hurricanes, in which an estimated 600,000 animals either died or had no shelter during and after the storm. Officials have learned that human rescue activities run more smoothly when residents are not worried about the fate of their pets.

By 2007, New York City parents will find it as easy as A, B, C, D, and F to find out about the performance of their child's school. A new rating system will assign letter grades to the city's 1,400 public schools, helping parents and policymakers assess each school's progress. Children will be tested every six to eight weeks for their mastery of "sub-skills" in reading and math, and the Department of Education will track individual students instead of comparing entire grades from one year to the next. Chancellor Joel Klein believes that this moving picture will become a national model for school accountability, going further than the traditional snapshot provided by the federal education law, No Child Left Behind.

Ohio State University excepts that by 2008, health coaches, rather than higher premiums, will motivate the 35,000 adults covered under its insurance to live healthier lifestyles. Coaches work with participants to set personal health plans that meet individualized goals, schedule appointments with specialists, and ensure participants understand and uphold their treatment regimens. The university predicts a net savings of about $3 million a year due to healthier enrollees.

To ensure that recovering teen addicts can reenter a learning environment free from relapse-causing peer pressure, Massachusetts will open its first recovery high school this fall. Based on successful models in Minnesota and elsewhere, recovery high schools provide a safe, sober, and supportive small-class size educational setting where students' efforts to break the cycle of addiction are understood and fostered.

Register to view a live webcast of Comprehensive Community Planning: Workforce and Affordable Housing Seminar organized by the National League of Cities' Leadership Training Institute. Watch on April 28 and 29 or access an archive of the event.