CALIFORNIA

The silver-haired woman in a jacket of robin's-egg blue marched straight to the counter of the shoe repair shop.

To reduce air pollution and traffic congestion, California legislators passed an innovative law in 1992 to encourage solo commuters to get out of their cars and bike, carpool or take public transit to work.

A $1.3-billion iPads-for-all program in Los Angeles schools was plagued by lack of resources and inadequate planning for how the devices would be used in classrooms and, later, how they would be evaluated, according to a federal review.

Under the fluorescent lights of a drab office in Compton, Robert Hill huddled with his vocational counselor.