A few weeks ago, I watched as several people, myself included, stepped on a bit of a digital landmine. The landmine: celebrating declining murder rates.

Municipal governments across the United States are looking to rein in spending as pandemic-era stimulus dries up and inflation lingers for longer than expected.

“Clearly there are significant capital needs across the U.S.,” said Michael Rinaldi, senior director at Fitch Ratings’ public finance group. The group issued a AA investment grade general obligation bond rating for New York City in March 2024.

Democrat-controlled cities across the U.S. are facing housing shortages and a "nightmare winter" as migrants continue to arrive in major cities, according to a media report on Friday.

The Politico article, headlined "Democratic cities brace for a nightmare winter housing migrants," detailed the effects of the migrant crisis on New York City and Chicago.

Sophee Langerman was on her way to a bicycle safety rally in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood in June when a car turning right rolled through a red light and slammed into her bike, which she was walking off the curb and into the crosswalk.

The car was moving slowly enough that Langerman escaped serious injury, but the bicycle required extensive repairs. To Langerman, it's another argument for ending a practice that almost all U.S. cities have embraced for decades: the legal prerogative for a driver to turn right after stopping at a red light.

The mayor of one of the largest cities in the U.S. announced in a Friday op-ed that he is leaving the Democratic Party and becoming a Republican. 

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed with the headline "America’s Cities Need Republicans, and I’m Becoming One," Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson explains that he is leaving the Democratic Party because "the future of America’s great urban centers depends on the willingness of the nation’s mayors to champion law and order and practice fiscal conservatism."

These big chains and others have closed stores in major US cities recently, raising alarm about the future of retail in some of the country’s most prominent downtowns and business districts.

Several forces are pushing chains out of some city centers: a glut of stores, people working from home, online shopping, exorbitant rents, crime and public safety concerns, and difficulty hiring workers.

To reinvent downtown retail, drastic changes may be required.

Major retailers have pulled back from cities. A remaking of downtowns will create stronger retail conditions.