With the 2020 presidential election upon us, activists of both political parties are urging voters to hit the polls. 

Debt is a very common aspect of life in the U.S. If you own a house, you might be paying off a loan you used to buy it, and it could be years before you’ve finished doing so. Cities do this too for large public projects, except their debt frequently takes shape as municipal bonds.

Congressional legislation to address the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic seems likely to contain federal funds to bolster state and local government budgets, most of which are facing sharp revenue declines.

Hundreds of Seattle's city employees out-earned the mayor last year, according to a recent fiscal analysis of the city's salary data. 

As Congress debates another $1 trillion stimulus package, efforts are underway to determine how much more federal bailout money states should receive.

Congressional legislation to address the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic seems likely to contain federal funds to bolster state and local government budgets, most of which are facing sharp revenue declines.

Everything is bigger in Texas—including the supersized salaries of its city managers, school superintendents, state staffers, and other public servants.

With Congress debating another relief package to protect the economy from the coronavirus pandemic, state governments likely will receive federal money to offset revenue losses, Illinois included.

In 1972, NBC News aired a long-form investigation titled “Pensions: The Broken Promise,” which highlighted the many ways in which traditional “defined benefit” (DB) pensions

The hardest-hit states—especially solidly Democratic Illinois, California, New Jersey, and New York.