Hacker News with Generative AI: Public Policy

Traffic Fatalities Are a Choice (asteriskmag.com)
America’s roads are more dangerous than those of almost every country in the developed world. We know how to change that.

Traffic Safety, Public Policy, Transportation, United States

129 points by mitchbob 11 days ago | 186 comments

The FCC Must Reject Efforts to Lock Up Public Airwaves (eff.org)
President Trump’s attack on public broadcasting has attracted plenty of deserved attention, but there’s a far more technical, far more insidious policy change in the offing—one that will take away Americans’ right to unencumbered access to our publicly owned airwaves.

Politics, Public Policy, Telecommunications, Media

11 points by hn_acker 14 days ago | 0 comments

The Miscalculations of Covid School Closures (newyorker.com)
Millions of American children were denied regular in-person instruction for more than a year after the virus emerged. What did we get right—and wrong?

Education, COVID-19, Public Policy, Social Impact

13 points by pseudolus 21 days ago | 19 comments

Let's Ban Billboards (iambateman.com)
Most improvements to cities are hard — they take millions of dollars and years of planning.

Urban Planning, Advertising, Public Policy

359 points by iambateman 47 days ago | 296 comments

Who Pays the Tariff – How Voter Ignorance Impacts Public Policy (outlookzen.com)
Who pays the tariff?

Politics, Economics, Public Policy, Voter Behavior

5 points by whack 49 days ago | 0 comments

Paris Votes for 500 More Car Free Streets (theenergymix.com)
As Paris votes to make another 500 streets car-free, the first residents are moving into a newly-built town outside Cambridge, UK, where the bicycle, not the car, is king.

Paris, Urban Planning, Transportation, Sustainability, Public Policy

22 points by Sontho 51 days ago | 7 comments

Calibrated Basic Income by Derek Van Gorder [pdf] (greshm.org)

Economics, Social Programs, Research, Public Policy

56 points by Suncho 51 days ago | 73 comments

An honest look at how weather balloon launch cuts should impact forecasting (theeyewall.com)
As we navigate the world right now, we have an obligation to keep our readers informed on the news of the day as it relates to weather forecasting. After all, if you are using this site and others for weather forecast information, you have an interest. But there’s a lot of news out there, and a lot of opinions masquerading as news. No matter your political leanings, the “zone” as it were is flooded and trying to piece together facts vs.

Weather Forecasting, Meteorology, Politics, Public Policy

7 points by lantry 58 days ago | 0 comments

How much foreign aid is spent domestically rather than overseas? (ourworldindata.org)
In many countries, a substantial share of aid is spent domestically on hosting refugees, offering student scholarships, and administrative costs.

Foreign Aid, Development Aid, Domestic Spending, Public Policy, International Relations

6 points by therabbithole 60 days ago | 0 comments

Rules to improve air quality are under attack (heatpumped.org)
Rules to improve air quality and accelerate building electrification are under attack, and you can help defend them.

Environmental Policy, Climate Change, Public Policy, Advocacy

104 points by ssuds 78 days ago | 49 comments

Local social spending and political dissatisfaction of the economically deprived (frontiersin.org)
Previous research demonstrates that local conditions are highly visible and proximate for citizens and thus have a distinct impact on political attitude formation. However, we still lack knowledge of the interplay of the local and the individual level. In this study, we examine how a specific group (economically deprived individuals) responds to local social spending in the formation of political dissatisfaction.

Political Science, Social Policy, Economics, Public Policy

47 points by PaulHoule 85 days ago | 46 comments

How an obscure advisory board lets utilities steal $50B/year from ratepayers (pluralistic.net)
How an obscure advisory board lets utilities steal $50b/year from ratepayers: The Society of Utility and Regulatory Financial Analysts is a hell of a henhouse fox.

Utilities, Finance, Corruption, Regulation, Public Policy

7 points by hn_acker 88 days ago | 1 comments

Musk Team Cuts Education Department Arm That Tracks National School Performance (propublica.org)
The Trump administration has terminated more than $900 million in Education Department contracts, taking away a key source of data on the quality and performance of the nation’s schools.

Education, Politics, Data, Government, Public Policy

11 points by hn_acker 101 days ago | 4 comments

Fire the Contractors: Paradoxically adding government employees reduces costs (washingtonmonthly.com)
Voters are right to want a less bloated and wasteful government. But Elon Musk’s plan will fail because the most inefficient parts lie outside it.

Government, Economics, Politics, Efficiency, Public Policy

45 points by pdfernhout 105 days ago | 37 comments

Subway crime plummets as ridership jumps significantly in congestion pricing era (amny.com)
NYC subway crime has dropped significantly so far this year even as ridership increased in the congestion pricing era, according to the newest NYPD data released on Tuesday.

NYC, Crime, Transportation, Public Policy

156 points by ceejayoz 107 days ago | 207 comments

The Movement to Redirect Billions of Taxpayer Dollars to Private Schools (propublica.org)
Private letters reveal the strategy behind the decadeslong quest — successful in 12 states and counting — by politicians, church officials and activists to make taxpayer-funded school vouchers available not just to the poor but to the wealthy.

Education, Politics, Public Policy, Funding

33 points by rbanffy 130 days ago | 60 comments

'Mainlined into UK's veins': Labour announces public rollout of AI (theguardian.com)
Artificial intelligence will be “mainlined into the veins” of the nation, ministers have announced, with a multibillion-pound investment in the UK’s computing capacity despite widespread public fear about the technology’s effects.

Artificial Intelligence, Government, UK, Public Policy, Technology

20 points by chrisjj 131 days ago | 29 comments

Open letter to Mark Zuckerberg from the fact-checkers, nine years later (poynter.org)
As Meta announces end to U.S. fact-checking, program partners warn of a setback for accuracy online and potential global consequences

Social Media, Fact-Checking, Journalism, Meta, Public Policy

9 points by bjourne 133 days ago | 0 comments

Finland's zero homeless strategy (2021) (oecdecoscope.blog)
Following a period when homelessness rose in many countries, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted governments across the OECD area to provide unprecedented public support – including to the homeless.

Homelessness, Finland, Public Policy, COVID-19

288 points by zdw 133 days ago | 629 comments

English-friendly Romanization system proposed for Japanese language (asahi.com)
The Agency for Cultural Affairs is soliciting public comments about its plans to change romanization rules of the Japanese language for the first time in about 70 years.

Language, Japan, Linguistics, Public Policy

19 points by anigbrowl 138 days ago | 23 comments

UK bans daytime TV ads for cereals, muffins and burgers (france24.com)
The UK government is banning daytime TV adverts for sugary foods like granola and muffins in its battle against child obesity, branding such popular items as junk food.

Health, Food, Public Policy, Advertising

295 points by ivewonyoung 166 days ago | 337 comments

Taxpayers spend 22% more per patient to support Medicare Advantage (theconversation.com)
Medicare Advantage – the commercial alternative to traditional Medicare – is drawing down federal health care funds, costing taxpayers an extra 22% per enrollee to the tune of US$83 billion a year.

Medicare, Healthcare Costs, Government Spending, Public Policy

95 points by paulpauper 166 days ago | 106 comments

Launch HN: Parsagon (YC W21) – AI for public affairs and government relations (ycombinator.com)
Hi HN! I’m Sandy, and I’m excited to introduce Parsagon. Parsagon is using AI to automate workflows for government affairs professionals, starting with an AI search for public policy. Here's a demo: https://parsagon.io/explore-search

AI, Government, Public Policy, Startups, YC

73 points by sand1929 170 days ago | 53 comments

Save Standard Time (savestandardtime.com)
Permanent Standard Time is best for health, safety, sports, education, productivity, wages, environment, and civil liberties. Save Standard Time is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, donor-funded, volunteer-supported effort to preserve and extend the observation of longitudinally correct Standard Time.

Time Zones, Public Policy, Nonprofits, Health

5 points by baxtr 170 days ago | 3 comments

What to Do About Conspiracy Theories? (taylorfrancis.com)
Increasingly social activists, journalists and policy makers have expressed concern over the proliferation of conspiracy theories in the public space.

Conspiracy Theories, Journalism, Social Activism, Public Policy

13 points by tokai 170 days ago | 9 comments

US House Select Subcommittee 2-Year Review of Covid-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned (house.gov)
The single most thorough review of the pandemic conducted to date

Covid-19, Government, Health, Public Policy, Pandemic

5 points by walterbell 171 days ago | 0 comments

How Every Computer Is a Chinese Computer (cigionline.org)
You're listening to Policy Prompt. I'm Vass Bednar, and I'm joined by my co-host, Paul Sampson. He's the president of the Center for International Governance Innovation. Policy Prompt features long-form interviews where we go in-depth to find nuances in the conversation with leading global scholars, writers, policymakers, business leaders, and technologists who are all working at the intersection of technology, society, and public policy. Listen now wherever you find your podcasts.

Technology, China, International Relations, Public Policy, Podcast

10 points by catobear 180 days ago | 0 comments

3 Years After Allocating $5B for EV Chargers, 17 Stations Completed (nationalreview.com)

Electric Vehicles, Infrastructure, Government Spending, Public Policy

24 points by fortran77 213 days ago | 11 comments

Mozilla becoming active in online advertising (mozilla.org)
As Mark shared in his blog, Mozilla is going to be more active in digital advertising. Our hypothesis is that we need to simultaneously work on public policy, standards, products and infrastructure.

Mozilla, Online Advertising, Digital Advertising, Public Policy, Standards

35 points by brentjanderson 231 days ago | 55 comments

Elon Musk Claims Subsidizing Starlink Would Have Saved Hurricane Helene Victims (techdirt.com)
I know I’ve argued that not every Elon Musk brain fart warrants its own news cycle, but this one is particularly gross given recent events.

Elon Musk, Starlink, Natural Disasters, Internet Access, Public Policy

6 points by speckx 231 days ago | 10 comments