President Trump says he is pro-agriculture, so why would the Department of Agriculture announce that it plans to vacate the nation’s largest agricultural research center?[1] Some actions taken by the Trump administration have already disrupted agricultural research, so the Trump … Read More
On July 24, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it would vacate the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC). BARC is the largest agricultural research facility in the country. The USDA proposed moving all BARC employees to five … Read More
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
There was no need for Greenbelters to go all the way to downtown DC to join in the great international “Hands-Off” demonstration against – you name it. So a big thanks to the local organizers, whoever they were! People gathered … Read More
UMD’s Conference on the “Local News Crisis” I recently attended a fascinating conference at the U.Maryland Merrill School of Journalism, along with Greenbelt News Review managing editor Anna Bedford-Dillow and dozens of other journalists from around the DMV. There was … Read More
This April, 17 students from Greenbelt’s Eleanor Roosevelt High School traveled to Dallas, bringing 3 robots that they had designed and built. They traveled to the 2024 VEX robotics World Championship, which is billed as the largest robotics competition in … 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
As one does at year-end (or a little late in my case), here’s a capsule look at what happened on Greenbelt Online during 2023, and changes coming in 2024. Top Traffic Pages The Top 10 traffic-getting pages on the … Read More
A big Greenbelt welcome to our new city manager Josue Salmeron and his family, who JUST bought a GHI home on Ridge Road! When I ran into them, Josue’s wife Tania Hutchinson was marveling at Roosevelt Center, and the kids … Read More
“What happened to emails from Greenbelt Online?” It took hearing that question (from someone in the grocery store) for me to finally realize that subscribers to this blog had stopped receiving updates by email – back in March of this … Read More
Greenbelt’s Second Annual Pride Festival earlier this month was a joyful and inspiring event, a feel-good happening I didn’t know I needed until suddenly I did. A sentiment no doubt shared by the large crowd. Seeing some very competent … Read More
In March 2023, four robots built by students at Eleanor Roosevelt High School competed at the US Open robotics championship that was held in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Pictured below is one of these robots at the US Open and three … 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
Great news! Greenbelt Makerspace Cooperative has launched a Tool Lending Library in its new Granite Building location in Roosevelt Center. How it Works The Library’s tentative hours (depending on volunteer staffing) are Fridays 5:30 pm to 7 pm and Sundays … Read More
