Issues
Aging America: The Cities That Are Graying The Fastest
Joel Kotkin writes:In 2000 only three U.S. metro areas had more elderly than children under the age of 15 (Pittsburgh, Miami and Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.). The 2010 Census showed we now have 10, with the addition of Buffalo, Boston, Cleveland, Hartford, Providence, Rochester and San Francisco to the first three. The elderly population is overtaking the younger population not only in Florida’s retirement havens, but in a number of Rust Belt and Northeastern cities. more »
Bills Passed: The Katie Sepich Enhanced DNA Collection Act of 2012; Reducing Preterm Delivery; Strengthening Investigations of Sex Offenders & Missing Children
Katie's Law, also known as the Katie Sepich Enhanced DNA Collection Act of 2010, has been passed as a federal law to provide funding to states to implement minimum and enhanced DNA collection processes for felony arrests. "The bill is named after Katie Sepich, who was brutally attacked outside of her New Mexico home in August 2003. She was raped, strangled, her body set on fire, and abandoned at an old dump site." more »
Number of US Deaths by State Due to Injury by Firearms
In 2009, 31,347 persons died from firearm injuries in the United States, accounting for 17.7% of all injury deaths that year. The two major component causes of all firearm injury deaths in 2009 were suicide (59.8%) and homicide (36.7%). more »
While Waiting for the Tipping Point: The Impact of the Fiscal Cliff on the States
The state impact of the fiscal cliff’s expiring federal tax provisions and scheduled spending cuts is missing from the national discussion. This PEW study finds that the effects on the states vary greatly based on the extent to which states are tied to the federal tax code and federal spending. more »






