Be Like Ike

Drexel’s Metro Finance head looks back at a national hero and truly presidential leader (and a select delicious dessert) to make sense of what we need in this radical moment

By Bruce Katz

Why Did I Send a Book to the Mayor and City Council?

Because, as this budget season reminds us, Democrats had better stop celebrating what they spend — and instead focus on what they actually build and deliver for real people

By Larry Platt

The Wackiest Race for Local Judgeships Ever?

A Bob Brady conspiracy theory, a tax-dodging candidate and a huffing mess. This year’s low-excitement judicial races just got a little juicier

By Malcolm Burnley
How To Really Run A City

“Governtainment” in City Hall

On the latest episode of our podcast, Rochester Hills, MI Republican mayor Bryan Barnett speaks out about Trump’s tariffs — and reveals his (slightly wacky) secret to staying in office for 18 years

By J.P. Romney

The Pedestal We Put Them On

Shut up and dribble? Responsibility as role models? How to interpret the Eagles who went — and didn’t go — to the White House.

By Malcolm Burnley, Olivia Kram and Larry Platt

Can Larry Krasner be Pro-Democracy and Anti-Debate?

The DA, who is running for a third term, has so far refused to participate in any televised debates with his opponent Pat Dugan this campaign season. Don’t voters deserve at least that?

By Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

Josh Shapiro and Moral Clarity

Wouldn’t the Governor’s principled call for it in the New York Times and elsewhere best be served by retiring the phrase “antisemitism?"

By Larry Platt
Ideas We Should Steal

Polling Places in Jails

A way to get more people voting and make our communities safer? That’s what happened with a Colorado program Pennsylvania could easily replicate

By Malcolm Burnley

Local Actions Can Save Us from Federal Pullback

Drexel’s Metro Finance chief on what places like Boston, New York and even Alabama are doing in the wake of funding and workforce cuts from President Trump's federal government

By Bruce Katz
Listen

Ali Velshi — Do We Now Live in a Surveillance State?

The MSNBC host and Citizen board member talks with Caitlin Dickerson and Petra Molnar about the growing surveillance state and how big-donor tech companies are threatening due process

By Ali Velshi