California County Blacklists Wall Street Bank Felons; Pennsylvania Gun Law Struck Down
Santa Cruz, California Jeff Smith / Shutterstock.com
Also: Texas county demographic shifts and drama on a South Dakota city council.
Greetings from Santa Cruz, California. Route Fifty is currently traveling in the Bay Area so stay tuned for on-the-ground dispatches. In the meantime, here are some state and local stories from around the nation, but let’s start here in Santa Cruz ...
SANTA CRUZ, California: In an op-ed, former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich, now a public policy professor at the University of California-Berkeley, says the rest of the nation should take some lessons from Santa Cruz County in how it’s dealing with Wall Street banks. How is the county dealing with Wall Street banks? Leaders here recently voted to not do business with any of the five banks recently convicted of felonies in a foreign currency rigging scheme. One county supervisor said “these banks can’t be trusted.” Reich notes that Santa Cruz County’s portfolio is only valued around $650 million so the “banks will hardly notice.”
But he asks:
But what if every county, city and state in America followed Santa Cruz County’s example and held the big banks accountable for their felonies?
That’s a very good question. [SFGate]
HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania: Act 192, a Pennsylvania law that allowed gun owners to sue municipal governments over gun restrictions, was ruled unconstitutional on Thursday in a 7-0 Commonwealth Court decision. Passage of the law had prompted many Pennsylvania cities from repealing gun-related ordinances, but a handful of cities, including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Lancaster challenged the law, which required that municipalities to cover the legal costs of gun owners suing. [PennLive]
AUSTIN, Texas: The Lone Star State is known for its high-growth population that’s becoming more and more diverse. But where exactly are those demographic shifts happening? The Texas Tribune has put together a great county-focused tool showing demographic shifts from 2010 to 2014. [Texas Tribune]
WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Tennessee: Leaders in this county south of Nashville will discuss whether the county’s seal, which contains a Confederate battle flag, should be changed.
"In view of everything that's occurred over the last couple days, we've had a few folks that have brought that to our attention, and I'd be remiss if I hadn't followed that also," he said. "The flag that we've used ... for a long time, it's something that needs to be evaluated just like everything else."
The seal was adopted in 1968. [Tennessean]
SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota: Is the City Council in South Dakota’s largest city simply a rubber stamp for Mayor Mike Heuther, who has taken the lead on legislative initiatives? That may have been a prevailing view, but that may be changing as, as one councilor said, according to the Argus Leader, the “council is finally getting their legs about them." As columnist Stu Whitney writes:
If it were a movie sequel, it would be called "The City Council Strikes Back." And you might want to get your popcorn ready for the rest of Huether's term if this trend of legislative muscle-flexing continues.
Certainly, pop some popcorn! [Argus Leader]
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