Brian Usher

Over the past few weeks there has been a great deal of public messaging about the number of tests for the COVID-19 virus and the speed in processing the results. Questions from the public have revolved around why the local officials and emergency management folks are so insistent on these, why do they want so many, and what does it really mean to the official response. As severe weather approaches, we believe it is imperative government leaders know about possible heavy rain or tornadic threats.

This month, President Obama signed into law the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, giving the country its first long-term transportation funding bill in a decade. As president of the American Public Works Association (APWA), I congratulate Congress on its exceptional bi-partisan effort to pass the bill, providing $305 billion for the funding of transportation infrastructure in the United States over the next five years. But it’s not a perfect bill. We have more work to do.