On July 24, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it would close the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC). This blog post examines the plan’s legal justification. The July 24 announcement was made in the form of a … Read More
On Thursday, July 24, 2025, a Trump appointee announced a major reorganization of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) (Rollins 2025). The plan includes winding down operations at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) over a few years and … Read More
The City of Greenbelt’s Manager, Josué Salmerón, discovered a need when he assumed the job in 2023 – for someone to respond to citizen complaints and going beyond that, coordinate responses on big issues. After posting the new job as … Read More
I was listening to the podcast “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” about the bipartisan-by-design Ethics Committee that’s able to do things like – in the news this week – investigate Matt Gaetz for possible sex-trafficking, lobbying violations and obstruction of justice. … Read More
The following letter by Mark Cheater and me was published 1/18/24 in the Greenbelt News Review. Here it includes a correction suggested by the editor. Title: “Charter Fixes Needed for Council Elections The tragic loss of Councilmember Ric Gordon has … Read More
Voting Starts this Saturday Click here for details about voting in the 2023 City Council elections. Problems with Greenbelt’s Council Elections Back in 2017 I predicted low voter turn-out in the Council elections due to Greenbelt’s system of voting – … Read More
A status update on the Baltimore-Washington maglev proposal, 17 months after the federal government halted its environmental review On November 14, 2022, a maglev representative spoke at NASA Goddard in Greenbelt, and he seemed inexplicably confident that the proposed maglev … Read More
These are the faces of many of our Greenbelt city staffers and nonprofit service providers, seen lighting candles in the window of their facility and waving to the camera for a special holiday video. The YouTube text explains that … Read More
With so many regular voting places closed this year, it was nice that all of us voted at the same place on Election Day, or dropped off our ballots there in advance. The name Eleanor Roosevelt inspires so many of … Read More
If you haven’t voted yet, DO IT! Here’s how: EARLY VOTING CONTINUES THRU TOMORROW – MONDAY, NOV 2 FROM 7 AM TO 8 PM The closest location to Greenbelt is just 9 minutes away (on a Sunday) – DuVal High … Read More
Back in November, Governor Hogan appointed lawyer, Democratic Party activist, feminist and Greenbelter Nicole Williams to fill the District 22 seat in the Maryland House of Delegates previously held by Tawanna Gaines. That new role for her became a reality … Read More
Due to scheduling difficulties, the City Council Candidate Forum for a Progressive Greenbelt planning group decided to pursue alternative ways to share candidate’s views on progressive issues rather than to hold a forum. The following are questions submitted by progressive … Read More
I expect to hear lamentations about poor voting turn-out for this year’s City Council elections, but let’s be honest. With no real challenger, it’s to be expected. (The single challenger, Bill Orleans, has tried before and fared badly.) The only … Read More
Big thanks to the Greenbelt News Review (page 1) for this full report on local voting in the 2018 midterm and gubernatorial election. Time to look at the races that were in play and what the results say about us. … Read More
A big thank-you to Maryland Democratic candidate for governor Ben Jealous for spending the afternoon with us at the New Deal Cafe, and to everyone who donated their time and talents to the event. It was terrific. On behalf of … Read More
