Cash strapped towns and cities are scrambling to find ways to save and keep services going. For Highland Park Michigan, the solution is both dangerous and sad: As the sun dips below the rooftops each evening, parts of this Detroit enclave turn to pitch black, the only illumination coming from a few streetlights at the end of the block or from glowing yellow yard globes. It wasn't always this way. But when the debt-ridden community could no longer afford its monthly electric bill, elected officials not only turned off 1,000 streetlights. They had them ripped out - bulbs, poles and all. Now nightfall cloaks most neighborhoods in inky darkness. "How can you darken any city?" asked Victoria Dowdell, standing in the halo of a light in her front yard. "I think that was a disgrace. She said the decision endangers everyone, especially people who have to walk around at night or catch the bus. Highland Park's decision is one of the nation's most extreme austerity measures, even among the...(Read Full Post)