The uber rich got enormous tax cuts. We got cyclosporiasis.

Trump’s deep public health cuts hinder response to record US cyclosporiasis outbreak

Experts say layoffs, reduced disease surveillance and Medicaid cuts have made the foodborne parasite more difficult to track and contain

theguardian.com

Always read what the brilliant @philiprocco.bsky.social has to say

Phil Rocco@philiprocco.bsky.social · 3w ago

Reporting on OMB's sweeping politicization of federal grants tends to focus on science / health research. But as I note in this piece for @crisesnotes.bsky.social, the rule is a huge threat to *intergovernmental* grants and state/local fiscal stability. www.crisesnotes.com/russell-voug...

New bog from me: goodjobsfirst.org/ida-tax-abat...

Good Jobs First@goodjobsfirst.org · 4w ago

New peer-reviewed research finds NY school districts serving more students of color tend to bear heavier losses from tax breaks. Yet school districts have no power to say no to the deals giving away their revenue. More about this new research: goodjobsfirst.org/ida-tax-abat...

The EEOC has historically enforced discrimination based on protected characteristics such as race and gender. But under the Trump Administration, it has shifted to a focus on enforcing anti-DEI practices and "anti-Christian bias." goodjobsfirst.org/a-new-era-at...

And stop by @goodjobsfirst.org's table to learn more about all our databases and work, including education and data centers. Say hi to @arlenemartinez.bsky.social, and meet our new Executive Director Allan Freyer! goodjobsfirst.org/dr-allan-fre...

Arlene Martínez@arlenemartinez.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Excited to be joined at #IRE26 by a cracker jack group of reporters sharing tips on covering the growing corporate influence. Learn how to dig into behavior and relationships, even when you're on deadline. Join us Thurs, June 18 at 2:30 p.m.! And don't forget to stop by the @goodjobsfirst.org table!

Excited to be joined at #IRE26 by a cracker jack group of reporters sharing tips on covering the growing corporate influence. Learn how to dig into behavior and relationships, even when you're on deadline. Join us Thurs, June 18 at 2:30 p.m.! And don't forget to stop by the @goodjobsfirst.org table!

Thank you DC for the relatively humidity free day and overall beautiful weather

New report from my fantastic colleague @kasia-t.bsky.social on the soaring cost of data center subsidies.

Good Jobs First@goodjobsfirst.org · 2mo ago

4 states now report losing $1 billion+ to data center tax breaks. Costs keep rising; 14 states still fail to disclose what these subsidies cost. Residents deserve to know what it's costing them to subsidize Big Tech *before* another deal is approved. ➡️ goodjobsfirst.org/even-cloudie...

At least for now, the owners of the Chicago Bears and other wealthy owners/developers have been blocked from getting the massive taxpayer subsidies they tried to score. chicago.suntimes.com/bears-stadiu...

Good Jobs First@goodjobsfirst.org · 3mo ago

Chicago Bears want a huge transfer of wealth from Illinois residents to their billionaire owners. That's bad enough. But almost every other big project would also get the same huge tax breaks, at a time residents are strapped. We break down Illinois' megadeal bill: goodjobsfirst.org/chicago-bear...

It is eye popping how wildly inaccurate estimates for data center tax breaks have been. Ohio thought its program would cost less than $150million, but it’s actually over $1billion

Good Jobs First@goodjobsfirst.org · 2mo ago

“These numbers confirm that lawmakers were working with wildly inaccurate information,” said @policymattersohio.bsky.social. “Forecasts weren’t just off, they missed the mark by more than a billion dollars, undermining responsible policymaking and public trust.” goodjobsfirst.org/ohio-data-ce...

It's bad enough the wealthy owners of the Chicago Bears want taxpayers to help fund their stadium, but the proposed mechanism to do that would give just about every other huge project massive, decades-long tax breaks. Our latest, with @itep.org, for Crains: www.chicagobusiness.com/opinion/comm...

Opinion: The Bears bill is bad by design. Here’s how.

State Senate leaders are debating whether to use taxpayer dollars to subsidize a new Chicago Bears stadium in Arlington Heights, but this bill has much broader impacts.

chicagobusiness.com

turning my attention to the Bears/megadevelopment proposed legislation… lot of thoughts on this one

Excited to be back in Chicago for this year’s ICUA @uaanews.bsky.social I‘m on panels Wednesday and Thursday, and my collaborator @akheilsingla.bsky.social is presenting Friday.

🚨NEW ANALYSIS🚨 14 states and scores of localities fail to disclose how much revenue they lose to data center tax breaks. Yet such losses are known to be soaring in states that do disclose, with three states already losing $1 billion or more per year. 🧵 goodjobsfirst.org/data-center-...

🚨NEW ANALYSIS 🚨 Public money for immigration enforcement is flowing to a small number of corporations with long regulatory rap sheets. Read our new report about the $4 billion per year private ICE contractor business: goodjobsfirst.org/ice-contract...

another day, another blizzard 🌨️

Lincoln, Nebraska is taking an unusual approach with Tax Increment Financing: it's using the program to boost its affordable housing stock. Landlords get $15,000 per unit, and in exchange must accept vouchers & keep rents below HUD limits for 20 years. goodjobsfirst.org/lincolns-exe...

Last month I joined @goodjobsfirst.org as its research director. And while I’m still very much in learning mode, I had the chance to write a blog on how Lincoln is using TIF to help landlords weatherize and rehab buildings while keeping rents affordable goodjobsfirst.org/lincolns-exe...

Gotta say, big perk of living on the east coast is Amtrak for travel. So much better than flying

It has been a bracing moment for American federalism, with both unprecedented efforts to extend executive control over state and local govts, novel forms of subnational resistance. Where is federalism going? Paul Nolette and I have edited a new issue of Publius on that question. Short thread:

Turning to intergovernmental finance, @akass.bsky.social weighs in on how pandemic-era aid reshaped the local fiscal landscape. While ARPA represented a significant intervention, she argues, it did not represent a paradigm shift in American fiscal federalism. academic.oup.com/publius/arti...

Money Is Not Enough: The Temporary Impact of Pandemic-Era Aid on American Fiscal Federalism

Abstract. As part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the US federal government sent an unprecedented amount of flexible aid to local governments. Wh

academic.oup.com

the journal Publius is out with a special issue on American federalism, just in time for your winter break reading. very excited to see my article out in print! academic.oup.com/publius/issu...

Volume 56 Issue 1 | Publius: The Journal of Federalism | Oxford Academic

The official journal of CSF Associates Inc. Publishes research relating to federalism, providing coverage of the latest developments, trends, and empirical and theoretical work on federalism and inter...

academic.oup.com

Do I have book recommendations for municipal finance? Yes, of course! But what kind of book are you looking for? History, textbook, muni market basics?

sonic & frankie knuckles@tsimbl.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Cc @akass.bsky.social maybe?

Cc @akass.bsky.social maybe?

Mayor Brandon Johnson called for more than $617M in new taxes on the wealthiest Chicagoans and largest firms in order to blunt cuts imposed by the Trump administration while avoiding drastic cuts in city services and thousands of layoffs. news.wttw.com/2025/10/16/m...

Mayor Brandon Johnson Calls for $617M in New Taxes to Close Budget Gap, Avoid Layoffs

“The line to draw here is that we either are going to protect working people in Chicago from Trump’s cuts, or we are going to open up the floodgates and allow these individuals to be hurt and harmed f...

news.wttw.com

I really wonder what is going to happen. Some places are all in, some are hard no. Within a department it can vary from instructor to instructor. Then there’s the entire state government of PA that all in on AI (see the Governor’s EO www.pa.gov/content/dam/...)

Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 10mo ago

In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.

was just forced to update to Windows11. Initial impression is I'm not a fan, but at least I don't think a bunch of AI is integrated

Along with Will Payne and Jovan Lewis, I'm organizing an AAG session on the economic geography of scams for the 2026 conference in San Francisco. Please share widely! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

AAG 2026 CFP: Putting the ‘Con’ in Economic Geography

AAG 2026 CFP: Schemes, Scams, and Flim-flam: Putting the ‘Con’ in Economic Geography Will B. Payne, Rutgers University Desiree Fields, University of California, Berkeley Jovan Scott Lewis, University ...

docs.google.com

Thank you Chicago for greeting me with this horrible weather and losing my ventra card. It's good to be back

going down a rabbit hole of looking at property tax videos on tik tok....are any public finance or public admin scholars on the platform?