Christiana Mercer Rigby
@mercerrigby.bsky.social
Very into local government, dipping a toe in over here. Hometown enthusiast.
Over 90% of Howard countians have and USE their library card. This will impact all of us. 📕 ❤️
Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social · last yr.NEW — Keith Sonderling, Trump’s Deputy Secretary of Labor, has been named the Acting Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), an agency source tells me. He’ll arrive tomorrow at their office with DOGE and their security detail.
@howard county MD’s town hall w/ @alsobrooks.senate.gov @elfreth.house.gov @vanhollen.senate.gov and CE Ball. Hearing from our federal leaders and federal workers in the face of unlawful and frankly, awful actions from the Trump/Musk administration.
Howard County: www.howardcountymd.gov/News020725 Anne Arundel County: www.aacounty.org/federal-employee-assistance Our office’s resources: elfreth.house.gov/services/resources-marylanders-affected-trump-administration-policies
Howard County Executive Calvin Ball Unveils Expanded County Resources Available to Federal Employees Impacted by President Trump’s Administration’s Proposed Changes | Howard County
howardcountymd.gov
Testify in support of @mercerrigby.bsky.social's sponsored CB 18 which promotes Transit Oriented Development and Disability Housing in Howard County at the Legislative hearing 3/17 at 7pm at the George Howard Building! #affordablehousing cc.howardcountymd.gov/calendar/cou...
COUNTY COUNCIL: Legislative Public Hearing | Howard County
cc.howardcountymd.gov
“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back into a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”
Finland ends homelessness and provides shelter for all in need - scoop.me
In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Why? The country applies the "Housing First" concept agains homelessness.
thebetter.news
Don’t worry MD isn’t in the top 25! We’re #26 😫😢
M. Nolan Gray 🥑@mnolangray.bsky.social · 2y ago"...a 10,000-square-foot increase in a Maine municipality’s minimum lot size is associated with a 4 percent increase in home prices. The typical buyer would save $16,000 if communities reduced minimum lot sizes by that much." www.bangordailynews.com/2025/03/04/b...
On Tuesday, March 11th, @chrisvanhollen.bsky.social, @alsobrooks.senate.gov, Howard County Executive Calvin Ball, and I are hosting a Town Hall at Howard Community College! We look forward to answering your questions and you can RSVP at the link below: iqconnect.house.gov/iqextranet/E...
“Loneliness and isolation can lead to: 29% increased risk of heart disease; 32% increased risk of stroke; 50% increased risk of developing dementia among older adults; and 60% increased risk of premature death.” Surgeon General recommends designing cities to create more connections. #WalkableCities
Walkable Neighborhoods Help Adults Socialize, Increase Community
Adults who live in walkable neighborhoods are more likely to socialize and have a stronger sense of community, report researchers at the UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human...
today.ucsd.edu
At National Association of Counties legislative conference and the room is PACKED to hear how the changes to immigration will affect child care, construction, home building, infrastructure work and more in our communities.
BREAKING: Office of Special Counsel Finds Many DOGE Firings Unlawful with Major Implications for the Future of the DOGE Purge and Potential Jeopardy for Those Who Executed DOGE's Orders talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/big-d...
BIG: DOGE Firings Found Unlawful by Office of Special Counsel
There was a very important development today, still only little noted in...
talkingpointsmemo.com
In a feat of impeccable timing, the wonderful editors at the Lewis & Clark Law Review have finished their work on my article, "Is Originalism Bullshit?" The final version is now online at SSRN: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
CSPAN Caller from West Virginia: I’m a diabetic and I’m on Medicare. When Biden was in there, my insulin was $6 for a 28 day supply. I just went to CVS, it went back up to $80…
New: DOGE's spending has been secret. No longer. My colleagues have uncovered it. www.propublica.org/article/doge...
Why it matters to elect younger leaders to local offices: Our experience in the housing market is wildly different! As of 2021, more than half of people under the age of 44 were renters. That changes the way you understand what matters in housing policy.
Catherine Rampell@crampell.bsky.social · 2y agoMedian age of homebuyers just hit a new record high of 56 (Via Torsten Slok)
-The Question: How the hell did we get here? -The Answer: Citizens United.
Less than a month since a crash that took 67 lives, Trump is firing hundreds of federal employees who inspect and maintain air traffic control communications, radio and computer systems. This is extremely dangerous and could have deadly consequences. www.cnn.com/2025/02/16/p...
Hundreds of FAA probationary workers fired by Trump administration, union says | CNN Politics
The Trump administration has started firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration probationary employees who maintain critical air traffic control infrastructure, according to their union.
cnn.com
No, 150-year-olds aren't collecting Social Security benefits. Elon Musk claims to have found rampant fraud; but there's a much simpler explanation.
No, 150-Year-Olds Aren't Collecting Social Security Benefits
Elon Musk claims to have found rampant fraud in the Social Security Administration. There's a much simpler explanation.
wrd.cm
People who don’t live in the DC area have little idea of the mass panic and confusion folks are experiencing here. Everyone knows dozens and dozens of people who are being indiscriminately fired or who face the imminent threat of layoff. Imagine 1/2 of your neighbors facing this.
This feels like a horror movie. Real estate markets, which basically secure all our communities and associated public services, will implode with these actions.
Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies@harvard-jchs.bsky.social · 2y agoThe administration plans to lay off at least 40% of workers at FHA, the agency that provides mortgage insurance on loans for people who otherwise wouldn’t qualify for one. HUD, the parent agency of FHA, will discharge 50% of its workforce as well. news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-...
Friday SCOOP: @vox.com has learned that USFWS has frozen its vast portfolio of international conservation grants. This is far beyond the scope of USAID-funded work and will inevitably harm wildlife internationally and in the US. @benjij.bsky.social has the story: www.vox.com/down-to-eart...
Leaked emails show the nation’s leading wildlife agency has halted critical funding for conservation
Exclusive: The US Fish and Wildlife Service has frozen millions of dollars, imperiling animals abroad.
vox.com
🚨Calling all creative youth 🚨 ♻️ @mtamaryland.bsky.social is accepting submissions for its 2nd Annual Earth Day Art Competition! 🖼️ Your artwork connecting public transportation & sustainability could be featured on a specially wrapped bus! www.mta.maryland.gov/earthdayart
I am curious to know the distribution between FL, AL, MD, and more state communities. Trump/Musk are torpedoing towns, counties, cities, and states across America. Federal worker payroll taxes, property taxes (all the taxes we pay) help fund 🎓🚌👵🏻🍎🚰🚽📚🗳️♻️🧩⚽️🚒🚑🚓🍂☃️🌊🚲✈️🚧🚦🏨🛣️🌉⚖️💉🔬🧸 (and more!)
Alt National Park Service@altnps.bsky.social · 2y ago10% of NASA’s workforce has been laid off—guess that’ll be a boost for SpaceX.
This is horrifying and will have effects across communities. HUD is essential to communities like mine.
Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies@harvard-jchs.bsky.social · 2y agoThe Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs minority letter begins: "We are deeply alarmed and troubled by reports that you terminated hundreds of probationary employees on Friday and are planning to cut HUD's workforce by 50 percent or nearly 4,300 staff.” www.banking.senate.gov/newsroom/min...
Every community across America could have “nice things” like increased safety, better physical and social connections and more-IF more of us participate in our local, state, and especially now-federal processes.
Brent Toderian@brenttoderian.bsky.social · 2y ago“They cut speed limits, changed street design, removed space for cars… Now it appears that work is paying off. Oslo & Helsinki are reaping the rewards of committed action on making their roads safer, reducing pedestrian fatalities to zero last year.” #VisionZero #SpeedKills #Oslo #Helsinki
CEQA is the law that swallowed CA. A developer who criticized CEQA for adding endless red tape then uses it to challenge a neighboring project. When you give people a leverage tool, they’ll use it — unless you take it away. Let’s take it away & focus CEQA on actual climate action, not NIMBYism.
Rick Caruso wants LA to build faster — just not near his property
Just two days after Caruso embarked upon a press tour touting his red-tape-slashing plan, his other LA mall sued the city to delay the construction of a major job center right next door
torched.la
THIS. More state and local jurisdictions are creating offices of the inspector general to increase trust, accountability, and transparency with the communities they serve. #inspectorsgeneral
Pete Buttigieg@petebuttigieg.bsky.social · 2y agoIf you wanted to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, you would empower the inspectors general. If you wanted more waste, fraud, and abuse, you would fire them.
JUST IN: Another medical horror story in an affidavit from a USAID employee stationed overseas. Says his pregnant wife was not medevac-ed for emergency health care because of directives from DC. Took intervention of a U.S. senator to reverse — but was too late. s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
