Municipal

U.S. streets have been filled with traffic since the country’s founding — first with wagons and livestock and now with more than 250 million autos and trucks. Building more and wider roads can reduce congestion, but the benefits are generally temporary: Vehicles soon fill new lanes, and the cycle starts all over again. The massive highway boom after World War II did speed cross-country travel, but it also added suburban congestion to the list of pressing national problems.

The 2007-2009 recession hit state and local governments in the United States hard, and nearly every municipality had its own series of fiscal, political and societal constraints to navigate because of rising joblessness and falling revenues.

A licensure exam that educators in many states must pass to become school principals may not be an effective way to predict job performance, a new study suggests.

The issue:  As policymakers nationwide focus on public school reform, they have become increasingly interested in recruiting and retaining top teachers and principals.

Bilingual employment policies might hurt African Americans and white people. A new study suggests the proportion of government employees who were black or white and spoke only English fell after a major California city adopted such a policy.