Six US states have decided to test public support for an alternative way to fund highway projects by charging drivers for the miles they drive instead of collecting taxes from the gasoline they purchase. The almost 3,000 volunteers participating in this federally-funded study will receive sample monthly bills based on the distance they traveled. Increasingly, states are unable to afford needed road repairs because of shrinking gas tax revenues, a consequence of higher efficiency vehicles and of the growing popularity of alternative fuels such as ethanol.

The Illinois State Bar Association, the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs, the John Marshall Law School, and several other entities are partnering to ensure that veterans obtain free legal services to file claims for the health and education benefits they deserve. The project will recruit and train attorneys to represent disabled veterans at hearings on appeals related to their claims.

The Senior Adult Program in Raleigh, North Carolina, which serves over 3,500 seniors, has been recognized by the Aging in Place initiative as a best practice for programs seeking to improve the livability of communities for older Americans. Rather than meeting at a single senior center for the entire community, the participants of the program are divided into 50 local clubs that manage their own memberships and create their own organizational structures. The different clubs then meet and interact with each other at community centers, churches, and senior housing facilities, and participate in a variety of educational seminars, physical activities, and extended trips.

The Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, a much acclaimed homeless program run by the city of Miami since 1993, is helping other communities match its success thanks to a national committee charged with sharing best practices. The Miami public-private partnership is known for its continuity of care approach (each bed comes with services such as mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment, a caseworker or social worker) and for its outreach method (staff members know most homeless people by name and rely on a database of the entire on-street population).

The City of Richmond and the Red Cross are training citizens to better handle emergency situations, from hurricanes to terrorist attacks. Survivor Day promotes emergency preparedness through a four-hour training session. Those who complete the training will leave with a host of lessons learned, as well as a backpack designed to give two people the basic tools to survive for three days.

Los Angeles officials are considering new kinds of responses to the rising incidents of graffiti in the city. In one idea, officers at the jail where teenagers arrested for spray-painting are being held would meet with parents to emphasize the negative impact of graffiti on the community. Another proposal would create a special "graffiti administrative hearing panel" to swiftly deal with vandalism cases.

Modeled after a successful initiative of the Yakima School District in Washington, three high schools in Oregon are using Mexican textbooks, curricula, and other educational resources to teach math, U.S. history, and other topics to Spanish speakers in Oregon. The Oregon Department of Education is also collaborating with Mexico's Secretary of Public Education to align curricula and make courses transferable. Public officials expect that this new approach will keep non-native students on track by allowing them to learn in their native language.

The Homeland Security Department may soon be able to eliminate some cumbersome and unpopular carry-on luggage rules at airports. Next summer, officials will test SENSIT, a scanner that can identify chemicals in fifty different liquids placed in luggage.

In North Carolina, the Durham County District Court has received federal funding to begin "The New Life Court," an 18-month project that works with previous low-level offenders, such as child support delinquents, trying to reenter the work force. The program will work with 25-30 clients at a time, using social services to help parents having trouble paying child support or people released from jail to avoid the further punishment of unemployment or underemployment.

The Melrose-Wakefield hospital has begun a one-month pilot program called "serenity time," a two-hour daily quiet period when new moms can bond with their newborns without interruptions from phones, visitors, orderlies, and nurses checking in. The program was based on research showing that mothers who leave hospitals tired and stressed can be at risk for post-partum depression. Massachusetts General Hospital says it is planning something similar in January.

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