Kae McCarty, ass't professor of public health at USM, writes in her opinion piece on evidence backing why trans athletes do not have an unfair advantage and that they do not take away opportunities. "If the issue were really about safety, we would create a system to prevent assault." #MEpolitics

"The super PACs pouring money into the US Senate race in Maine are doing a great job of proving Graham Platner’s point." ~ Stephen Prager, of @commondreams.org, on the flood of corporate dark money targeting the Platner campaign. And a lot of America is falling for their ads. #MEpolitics

ICYMI: The comment window for the planned modernization of the Cooperative Observer Program (COOP) closes on June 8.

Wrote about Delaney Hall and the moral injury of American concentration camps

another day, another story about the administration's war on knowledge itself, all in service of allow its corporate patrons free rein to rob us blind and poison our world www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/c...

NSF grantmaking update Two weeks ago (5/17) New grants: 1080/3772 — 28.6% of avg. *Obligations: 1.2/2.12 billion — 56.6% of avg. Now (5/31) New grants: 1,355/4,125 — 32.8% of avg. Obligations: 1.50/2.34 billion — 64.1% of avg. Data from grant-witness.us/funding_curv...

NSF uses staffing cuts to strip Inspector General's office of its ability to investigate research misconduct www.science.org/content/arti...

One federal grant was just terminated ($1.3 million from DHS) and one was awarded but not funded ($46,748 from NOAA) due to the new federal administration priorities and executive orders. PIs, how are you addressing these situations on your CVs? 💸

Apply to be a NIH PO. Open application portal, closes June 5th. www.usajobs.gov/job/870714000

🚨PLEASE everyone submit a comment regarding these proposed policy changes by the OMB which will completely and utterly destroy USA science. Elizabeth's guide is great. The point is to be personal and specific. Non-scientists can respond. Get your friends and neighbors to respond. Can be anonymous

Calling all Scientists! Research Administrators! Deans! Fans of Science! No one is coming to save us. Here is your assignment. I have written a step by step, easy to understand "how-to" document to help you comment on the proposed OMB rule. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/what-we-ne...

My talented lab tech is looking for a position in CA starting in August. She is looking for: -University research -Clinical setting -Clinical organization ideally, but open to any position Her skills: -microbiome research (from tissue collection to bioinformatics) -Genome assembly/annotation

Poster abstract submission for the ISB virtual session are open for 1 more week. Please join us to show off all the great work being done to curate biological data www.biocuration.org/events/biocu... #Biocuration

1 June 1937 | A Dutch Jewish boy, Manuel Scheffer, was born in Amsterdam. In September 1942 he was deported to #Auschwitz and murdered in a gas chamber together with his mother, Rachel.

The White House has cut or frozen billions in scientific research funds that had been approved by Congress. It’s an assault on the rule of law and on the security, health, and prosperity of all Americans. bit.ly/42ytB9B

It’s no big surprise that Trump’s DOJ is deleting all of the January 6th press releases from its website. Here’s the thing: I downloaded all of them in Feb. 2025 (that’s right, more than a year ago) suspecting that they’d do just that. And we’re working to post them all online, as are others.

The Trump administration’s push for mass deportations has resulted in more than 45,000 challenges in federal court from immigrants claiming their detention is illegal. We're continuing to track the increase in these cases:

Email to Director Bhattacharya regarding the proposed OMB regulations. 1/5

NEW: A lot of bad has happened to American science over the last year but nothing comes even close to what’s about to happen if we don’t speak out in opposition to the OMB rule changes and I hope @aaas-socsci.bsky.social @apsphysics.bsky.social and others will launch public campaigns about this. 🧪🔭⚛️

AS PROMISED: Stop Vought. Save Science. The @standupforscience.net action center is live: fight2win.standupforscience.net REGISTER for our Emergency Science Meeting (6/2, 4pm et), Call and email Congress, and leave your public comment all in one place! #standupforscience #TakeActionNow

Emergency meeting called by Stand Up For Science: events.standupforscience.net/stand-up-for...

An especially disruptive change would be the elimination of publication costs. The move towards open access publishing--based on the idea that if the public pays for it, they should be able to read it--has resulted in skyrocketing up-front costs of $4000-$6000 or more per paper. 12/n

The new rules would also require that the budgeting for conferences is only allowable if participation is approved by the agency and included in the award when it is made. In other words, you have to specify the conferences you want to attend when you apply, and those must be pre-approved. 10/n

🧵 Public science in the US has taken some heavy hits over the last year, but the White House OMB is proposing a series of changes that will result in a TKO for science as we know it unless we fight back. Here's what's happening, and why it matters. 1/n

If you are based in Colombia and store/preserve non-human samples, then you should be part of this new initiative: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

NEW: A group of activists have built an awesome new tool to help immigration attorneys and the general public know when an ICE flight is headed to their area. gillianbrockell.com/habeas-fligh...

Cliff Lane, longtime NIAID researcher and leader is suing for wrongful termination. democracyforward.org/news/press-r...

SCOOP: The Trump administration is paying millions to quickly cover four enormous bronze horses with extra-thick 23.75 karat gold leaf. The money for the rush job is coming from National Park Service funds. In total, I found ~$100 mil spent on new DC beautification projects.

🚨UPDATE: We will launch our action center on this issue tomorrow. 📣JOIN US: Emergency Science Meeting (Virtual) June 2nd at 4pm et. Details to come. Our Policy Team has read through the entire 400 page hot mess express from Russ Vought...here are the high level details. A Thread🧵 1/x

#EastCoastKin #ECK #Photography #ArtChallenge #ClassicMono

=================== THURS, MAY 28, 6-8PM HANNAFORD HALL, USM 88 Bedford St, Portland ME =================== Join York & Cumberland Cty Democratic Committees for an evening of conversation, ideas, & civic engagement as we bring together candidates for Maine’s next Governor. Cash bar & convos 8-9PM.

1/ We're back with this week’s disease weather report, which is our attempt to keep you up to speed on everything that's going on. We'll start with a hantavirus update: the global case count tied to the cruise outbreak is now 13 cases (11 confirmed) with 3 deaths.

Just talked to a federal science agency program officer about why no money is going out the door despite congressional appropriations. To award funding, they have to publish a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Those aren’t being approved. And funding over $100k has to be approved. They aren’t.🤬

"OMB proposes the new discretionary termination provision to provide that the Federal agency or pass-through entity, to the extent permitted by law, may terminate a Federal award in part or its entirety...

A new proposed rule on federal grantmaking — across agencies, this is much broader than research awards — just dropped. Screenshot from page 48 public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-10817.pdf

An unapologetically angry post about what’s being done to US science:

28 May 1924 | Czech Jew, Vilém Glanzberg, was born in Prague. He was deported to #Auschwitz from #Theresienstadt ghetto on 18 May 1944. He did not survive.

So... I got more information about this plan. The most important points follow on the next posts. 1/3

The National Science Foundation is terminating and suspending grants again, and at Grant Witness we need you to help to track them! 🧪 We can only identify research being suppressed by under-the-radar suspensions directly from researchers. Please report! grant-witness.us/posts/2026-0... #NSF

'Liquid Dreams' (2026) -- Swinging Bridge River Path, Topsham, ME 'Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it' -- Lao Tzu #Scape ✨ #BWFri ✨ #ImageAndVerse ✨ #BlueSkyMonday ✨ #TidesOutTuesday ✨ #Photography #BlackAndWhite #Monochrome #ClassicMono #ECK #JayceeCrawford

Scoop: NSF has been quietly blocking new funds and grants to four top universities: Duke, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. Dozens of proposals from PIs at these universities—and their collaborators—have been stuck at the Office of Award Management awaiting finalization for months.

“I write with dismay, grief and sorrow for the permanent closure of MIT Libraries Barker, Dewey and Rotch, and termination of library staff in those libraries. For MIT to be closing three of its four major libraries..." fnl.mit.edu/may-june-202...

Didn't realize the Trump administration had all-but-ended @seaneddy.bsky.social's research group. For those of you who don't know, Sean literally wrote the book on bioinformatics. Incredibly dismaying. www.npr.org/2026/05/21/n...

I heard from several sources yesterday that NIH is planning to release a Request for Information (RFI) that apparently will include this: Scores and percentiles for NIH grant applications will not be shared with applicants although they will be provided to NIH program officers and staff. 1/3

Not only do we need to rebuild public health systems (challenge level: pure pain). We have to concurrently build a new system to keep people constantly reminded and engaged about WHY we need to maintain public health. #MedSky 🩺 Programs like this are a must. hcrl.wustl.edu

Sunny, high 85º, breezy =============== MAINE RESISTANCE TUES MAY 26, 2026 =============== #ORGANIZE #RESIST #OPPOSE #NonViolenceIsPower #EveryEffortCounts #GetInvolved MAINE ICE WATCH HOTLINE: 207-544-9989 ICE abductions are on the rise... p4/4 – REPOST & SHARE! #Maine #MEpolitics

27 May 1908 | French Jewish woman, Pauline Blumenfeld (née Goldenberg) was born in Marseille. She was deported to #Auschwitz from #Drancy on 28 October 1943. She did not survive.

I was at Delaney Hall yesterday. Everything the detainees wrote in their S.O.S. letter is 100% correct. DHS is lying to keep their abuses from being exposed. And to make things worse, they pepper sprayed @kim.senate.gov and are lying about it to cover their tracks.

American science is under siege & the firing of the NSB is the latest iteration of a continuous line of attacks under Trump. Visit the link in our bio to sign your support for the restoration of the NSB, and to email your Members of Congress! Sign: zurl.co/Ug4ZZ Email: zurl.co/2uoFm #NSB #NSF