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Personal income grew in 2014 in 2,662 counties, fell in 438, and was unchanged in 13, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. On average, personal income rose 4.6 percent in 2014 in the metropolitan portion of the United States and rose 3.2 percent in the nonmetropolitan portion. The metropolitan and nonmetropolitan portions grew 1.1 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively, in 2013. The percent change from 2013 to 2014 in personal income ranged from -35.1 percent in Wallace County, Kansas to 83.7 percent in McPherson County, Nebraska.

Until the 1970s, when Jerry Brown first became California’s governor, state policy makers were unflinching in their mission to build infrastructure that would meet the demands of a rapidly growing state. Building great public works projects was a source of pride. It was costly, but viewed as a small price to pay to live in this verdant paradise.

Contrary to predictions used to promote the first phase of the Expo light rail line between downtown and Los Angeles’ Westside, a new study has found that the $930-million project has done little to relieve traffic congestion in the area.

With the recession over, Sacramento-area freeways and roads are crowded again. Some say more than ever.

Whether or not El Niño turns out to be a drought-buster, this parched period has highlighted California’s larger need to get smarter about its water supply as the population grows and future droughts loom.

The crazy cost structure in the U.S. also bears scrutiny. America’s infrastructure is so hard to fix in part because it is so much more expensive to do stuff here than in many other countries. It’s a bit like our health care system, in that regulatory capture, cronyism, and sweetheart deals involving both business and labor combine to drive up public costs. It ought to be getting cheaper to fix infrastructure—we use materials more efficiently, the machines are more powerful and faster, designs have improved—but costs are instead exploding.

Located in Carlsbad, in the San Diego area, the plant has raised hopes for drought relief — but has brought elevated stakes along with it. “The billion-dollar project is only the nation’s second major seawater plant,” noted the Associated Press. “The first U.S. foray in Tampa Bay is widely considered a flop.” That plant, a decade in the making, lost financing and couldn’t pass performance tests, the AP added. Its capacity was only half that of the Carlsbad plant, expected to churn out 50 million gallons of drinking water every day.

Currently, California voters must approve public-works projects that are funded through general-obligation bonds paid from the general fund. These are taxpayer dollars, so the thinking is taxpayers ought to approve these outlays. This initiative would also require voter approval for projects larger than $2 billion that are financed through “revenue bonds.”

Auditors found the agency’s projects to be over budget a whopping 62 percent of the time. Caltrans spends three times the national average on its per-mile road spending, making California one of the least-efficient users of existing tax dollars. Meanwhile, the state’s infrastructure is crumbling.

With gas-tax revenues drying up as more fuel-efficient cars take over the roads in California and across the nation, the race to repair critical highway infrastructure before tragedy strikes is becoming more pressing. Two people were hospitalized in the Oct. 20 collapse.

Severe drought struck the state four decades ago. Since then, California has spent untold billions of dollars on supposedly addressing its severe imbalance between water supply and demand. But we never really did anything concrete, leaving us extremely vulnerable when severe drought struck again.

However, a Times analysis of project documents, as well as interviews with scientists, engineers and construction experts, indicates that the deadline and budget targets will almost certainly be missed — and that the state has underestimated the challenges ahead, particularly completing the tunneling on time.

The state may be entering the fifth year of a catastrophic drought, but California has not started building any of the new reservoirs that were planned but long ago canceled under the unfinished California Water Project. Water may remain scarce, but legislators — many of whom have their daily water needs met by the ancient reservoirs and canals that their grandparents built — don’t seem overly bothered. They prefer to designate transgender restrooms, ban plastic bags at grocery stores, and prohibit pet dogs from chasing bears and bobcats.

The roads and highways are the veins and arteries that pump life into our economic system. They must be cared for to prevent the economic system from getting a form of man-made sclerosis. The governor and legislators during the Special Session are walking a tightrope to balance the need to improve the roads and highways with voters being turned-off by a slew of tax proposals.

Businesses that might bid to build a high-speed rail network across California are questioning whether there will be enough government funding to complete the complex and ambitious project.