I came here to share @phillewis.bsky.social post about Mrs. Willie Bell Gibson. There are truly no words to describe the impact of her life and calling. She wasn’t just a classroom teacher, she was a bridge between the past and present. She taught us excellence as the only option.

Today is Veterans Day — a time to send our thanks to all those who have sacrificed so much to defend our freedoms and values. To all those who have served and put their lives on the line — thank you.

"Key monthly costs for most Americans — shelter, food, health care, electricity — are outpacing inflation. Rents are up 3.8% — the largest increase since 2011..." www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Meanwhile…

“A respected network of hospitals and cancer centers is halting enrollment in clinical trials for children with brain cancer after the federal government said it would no longer provide funding to the group”

I celebrate every victory for voting rights, but this one is particularly special. No issue has been more hotly contested or more important to PA voters than this one. The DSCC and DCCC fought hard and it is great to see them prevail. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Beautiful art in my neighborhood #art

American elections withstood great pressure in 2020, 2022, and 2024. Doing so again will take vigilance, courage, and ferocious determination to defend democracy. bit.ly/46ETsQp

The price of vegetables rose 38.9% in July.

The Voting Rights Act, the watershed Civil Rights era law that has prevented attempts to dilute minority votes through racially gerrymandered electoral maps hundreds of times, turns 60 Wednesday. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.

@roycoopernc.bsky.social highlights his work as governor to expand Medicaid to 670,000 North Carolinians... which is currently being undermined by Republicans, Trump and Michael Whatley as they strip Medicaid away from 17 million Americans. Support Roy Cooper: secure.actblue.com/donate/roy_c...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The UN's top court in a landmark climate decision says a 'clean, healthy and sustainable environment' is a human right.

In honor of Juneteenth, we published a blog that examines the potential implications of the shifting federal landscape on Black Americans. Saddened to hear about the loss of vital support to and repair for land theft and other injustices to Black farmers. www.urban.org/urban-wire/j...

Note also that the lawsuit alleges that because race and class are correlated, providing free tuition to lower income students is also racial preference. They just want a pure aristocracy of inherited wealth

I'm old enough to remember when the prevailing argument against affirmative action was that it failed to consider the "real" form of unfairness, which was income disparity

After resigning from Michigan and bending over backwards to try and appease them, "The Florida Board of Governors voted Tuesday to reject Santa Ono as the next president of the University of Florida" www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

It’s been around since 1983.

NPR took a walk through Minneapolis with its former police chief Medaria Arradondo. He says "the worst thing we can do" is dismiss the 2020 protests and outrage over police brutality as an anomaly.

Lorraine Hansberry and Malcolm X were both born in May 19, in 1930 and 1925 respectively. The world lost them both in 1965, within a month of each other. What an all too brief gift, what a time for the world that 40 year period was.

Pope Leo XIV presided over his inaugural Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/18/w...

Very sad news. apnews.com/article/bide...

This is just not true. The majority view among researchers at this point is that work requirements do not work. There is a reason they do not cite a single study here.

"If the large increases in tariffs that have been announced are sustained, they are likely to generate a rise in inflation, a slowdown in economic growth, and an increase in unemployment." -Jerome Powell, Chair of the Federal Reserve

Six months after the November election, Republican state supreme court candidate Jefferson Griffin finally conceded to Democratic Justice Allison Riggs on Wednesday after his unprecedented effort to throw out thousands of votes and overturn Riggs’ win was rejected by a federal court.

The VA has abruptly ended the only low-interest, affordable loan modification option for thousands of vets who are behind on their mortgages. If you're a vet at risk of foreclosure, we want to hear your story.

Walz: If you say you love freedom but you don't believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love is not freedom, it is privilege.

Pope Francis walked humbly, loved mercifully, and pursued justice with God – not just in word, but in deed. He sought to heal a world too often fractured by hate. I join people around the globe in mourning his loss, and honoring his memory.

New beginnings. Renewal. Triumph over grief. Life. A Happy Easter, to all who observe.

How to cross thin ice, #polar #bear edition: spread out wide to distribute weight and reduce pressure. This clever move helps avoid breaking the fragile surface. A survival tactic perfected in the Arctic #physics

"46% of Head Start funding goes to rural areas, often in places without any other child care option..." www.axios.com/2025/04/16/h...

NEW: In a landmark ruling, Michigan's supreme court has struck down mandatory life without parole sentences for youth up to age 21. What this means: Nearly 600 Michiganders who expected to die in prison will now get a shot at a different outcome. I took a few days to write about what's next:

So good and the longer video is even better.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about aging households. Today, the aging housing STOCK. US homes are aging but renovation financing is not accessible. We outline solutions to the problem, which contributes to institutional-ownership of homes that could be owner-occupied: www.urban.org/urban-wire/c...

This means so much to me. Whew.

The Monarch #butterfly embarks on one of nature's most incredible journeys, migrating up to 3,000 miles from #Canada to central #Mexico. These tiny travelers, with wings of vibrant orange, navigate the vast distances using the sun and Earth’s magnetic fields, defying the odds

BlackPast has a comprehensive list of Black history museums across the country:

Here is how WaPo handled Dem's 10-day long effort to count every vote in PA vs. GOP's 5-month long effort to throw out thousands of votes in NC. Support independent, pro-democracy media.

Nine years ago today, the Mamba was out — but not before Kobe Bryant dropped 60 points in his final NBA game 🐍

I'm not saying journalists should never interview admitted propagandists. There are journalistic reasons to do so. But if we do, we must be prepared to -- in fact it is our duty to -- challenge vociferously all unsubstantiated claims. Otherwise, we ourselves become propagandists.

This National Library Week, I’m thinking of my mother, a librarian, and the libraries that shaped me. If we want to keep these sacred spaces of learning in our communities, we can’t take them for granted—we have to defend them.

NEW: A Louisiana law cedes much of the power of the parole board to an algorithm that bars thousands of prisoners from a shot at early release. Civil rights attorneys say it could disproportionately harm Black people — and may even be unconstitutional. @richardawebster.bsky.social / @veritenews.org

I had the pleasure of partnering with IMLS to evaluate the Museum Grants for African American History and Culture Program (AAHC). IMLS awards support museum educators, archivists, curators, and fund librairies, museums, archives, collections & HBCUs across the country. www.urban.org/research/pub...

Reminder that (a) the current share of U.S. workers in the public sector (working for government agencies) is at historic lows (b) It was not until the 'post'-Civil Rights era, when Black workers gained footing in public sector jobs, policymakers began to frame public sector workers as "waste"

Can we get more of this? “The Japanese American National Museum will ‘scrub nothing,’ Fujioka said, and instead will highlight the importance of DEI. “Our community is based on diversity, equity is guaranteed to us in the Constitution, and inclusion is what we believe in,” Fujioka said.

I was raised in Second Baptist Church in Detroit. My grandparents met and married there. It was there that more than 5,000 enslaved Americans arrived at the last stop on the Underground Railroad before escaping to Canada and to freedom. Visitors can still tour what was known as Croghan Station.

if the united states ever has even a hope of recovering we have to destroy the idea of american individualism. "they don't owe you anything" we owe each other everything actually

Sen. Cory Booker breaks the record for the longest Senate floor speech, passing former Sen. Strom Thurmond's 24 hr, 18 min filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. As Sen. Booker neared the record, he invoked the late Rep. John Lewis and called on the Senate to get into "good trouble."