I asked Jack to begin reading about local governments in our text and compare them to our federal and state governments. We noted that they both have executive and legislative branches and learned that the legislative branch of a local government, called a city council, makes laws for the city, and that the mayor is the head. We also noted that citizens can attend city council meetings and that in some cities, people can watch the meetings on TV. We read that some cities have city managers head the executive branch, but that in larger cities, such as Chicago and NY, the mayor is the head of the executive branch. We discussed similarly to state governments, local governments provide services to people but that one major difference between them is the sharing of power; local governments have only the power that the state gives to them. Finally, we read that most cities use county courts where judges preside. After concluding our session, Jack was encouraged to think why some cities put their city council meetings on television.