Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dani Sandler @dismalscientist86.bsky.social · 1h

These jeans are too comfy, you'll have to find another pair #caturday

Black cat snuggled into a pair of jeans on a bed

Reposted by Dani Sandler

Riley Acton @riacton.bsky.social · 1h

"An ED staffer told USA TODAY the agency laid off just about every employee who works to administer funding for the IDEA, the primary federal law supporting students with disabilities. He was unsure how those programs will exist moving forward."

An absolute disaster for this nation's children.

Honesty for Ohio Education @honesty4ohioed.bsky.social · 1h

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Education fired nearly everyone in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in a wave of new layoffs that began Friday, according to the union representing the agency's employees.
www.usatoday.com/story/news/e...

Education Department wipes out special ed office in shutdown layoffs, union says

The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

www.usatoday.com

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Reposted by Dani Sandler

Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 5h

For more information about the Friday night massacre at CDC, I wrote up an analysis of who got terminated and what that means for public health.

Grateful to @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social for supporting and amplifying. We are in really terrible trouble.

rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/the-death-...

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Dani Sandler @dismalscientist86.bsky.social · 6d

Rosie is doing her groundhog routine #Caturday

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Dani Sandler @dismalscientist86.bsky.social · 7d

Seen at the local Spirit Halloween

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Reposted by Dani Sandler

Mirya R. Holman @mirya.bsky.social · 8d

"Full-day kindergarten expansions were responsible for as much as 24 percent of the growth in employment of mothers with kindergartenaged children in this time frame."

AEA Journals @aeajournals.bsky.social · 8d

Forthcoming in AEJ: Economic Policy: "A Matter of Time? Measuring Effects of Public Schooling Expansions on Families" by Chloe R. Gibbs, Jocelyn Wikle, and Riley Wilson. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

A Matter of Time? Measuring Effects of Public Schooling Expansions on Families

(Forthcoming Article) - We leverage pronounced changes in the availability of public schooling for young children— through duration expansions to the kindergarten day—to better understand how an impli...

www.aeaweb.org

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Reposted by Dani Sandler

Corey Sparks @coreysparks1.bsky.social · 8d

For those of you interested in accessing U.S. Census Bureau data from data.census.gov during the government shutdown, the Census APIs are still working.

Here is an example of how to access the Census API using both #Rstats and #Python

coreysparks.quarto.pub/accessing-th...

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Reposted by Dani Sandler

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 13d

Cannot be repeated enough: this was not a voluntary resignation program. Workers were told they were more valuable in the private sector, that they might be fired from their jobs, that they could expect no reasonable work accommodations, that they would work for leaders who were undermining services

Michael Sainato @msainato.bsky.social · 13d

I spoke with federal workers who took the deferred resignation program set to take effect on September 30

"I was forced to" one worker said "through fear and intimidation."

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

US set for largest mass resignation in history as Trump continues deep cuts

Federal workers say they have little choice but to depart, with 100,000 leaving under deferred resignation program

www.theguardian.com

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Dani Sandler @dismalscientist86.bsky.social · 14d

It's a good #Caturday when the sunshine hits the dresser drawer

Grey and white chat sitting in a white dresser drawer under a lofted bed

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Reposted by Dani Sandler

Jason Wright @astrowright.bsky.social · 16d

She basically invented astrophysics.
She proved the laws of chemistry, quantum mechanics, and statistical mechanics, not just gravity, applied universally.
She determined the composition of the sun and primacy of hydrogen in the universe.
She advised the PhDs of Frank Drake and Frank Kameny.

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 17d

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin ✨ figured out what stars are made of ✨ when she was just 25. 🔭🧪

Her PhD thesis basically established the Harvard astro department — at a time when Harvard didn't officially allow woman students.

I wrote this little profile to mark the 100th anniversary of her thesis:

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Reposted by Dani Sandler

Shelly Lundberg @shellyjlundberg.bsky.social · 18d

New CSWEP newsletter focused on visibility in the economics profession:
Christine Exley on self-promotion,
Olga Stoddard on professional visibility,
Corinne Low on public scholarship and how to write and publish a trade press book,
Khoa Vu on social media and its professional uses.

CSWEP @aeacswep.bsky.social · 18d

The 2025 @aeacswep.bsky.social News Issue III “Focus on Visibility and Voice in the Economics Profession” by Olga Shurchkov is now available at: www.aeaweb.org/content/file...

www.aeaweb.org

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Dani Sandler @dismalscientist86.bsky.social · 21d

Sleepy #Caturday means I need to wait to wash the sheets

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Hansi Lo Wang (he/him) @hansilowang.bsky.social · 22d

SCOOP: The Trump administration has installed a new acting director of the Census Bureau, @npr.org has learned. George Cook takes over the federal government’s largest statistical agency after it's been thrust into the middle of a renewed attempt by President Trump to alter the national head count

The Census Bureau is now headed by a Trump official in an acting position

George Cook is the Trump administration's new acting director of the Census Bureau, which has been thrust into the middle of a renewed attempt by President Trump to alter the national head count.

www.npr.org

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Dani Sandler @dismalscientist86.bsky.social · 21d

This one hits a little close to home

The Onion @theonion.com · 22d

Fearful Americans Stockpiling Facts Before Federal Government Comes To Take Them Away https://theonion.com/fearful-americans-stockpiling-facts-before-federal-gove-1819579589/

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Erika McEntarfer @erikamcentarfer.bsky.social · Sep 9

The big story here is of an agency of dedicated statisticians and public servants working tirelessly to improve economic data in a climate of budgetary cuts to data collection. They have been very innovative in meeting that mandate. But we should also just fund our economic infrastructure.

Ben Zipperer @benzipperer.org · Sep 9

Important to remember that thanks to the dedicated public servants at BLS, employment estimates have become MORE accurate over time

And the final version of the preliminary revision reported today will probably be smaller when it is incorporated early next year

Ernie Tedeschi @ernietedeschi.bsky.social · Sep 9

The preliminary benchmark revision of -911K amounts to -0.6% to March 2025 payroll employment. Combined with 2-month revisions, recent total revisions are big but hardly unprecedented, & smoothed over the business cycle the payroll survey has gotten more accurate over time.

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Reposted by Dani Sandler

Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 24d

Thank you for your service, @erikamcentarfer.bsky.social

The US Administration’s choice to purge you and so many other nonpartisan experts—replaced with loyalist propagandists—will ultimately harm Conservative and Liberal Americans in equal measure.

Fired BLS Chief Breaks Silence, Calls Her Dismissal a ‘Dangerous Step’

In first public remarks since Trump removed her, Erika McEntarfer says she wanted to modernize federal statistics but the agency got caught in DOGE’s crosshairs.

www.wsj.com

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Dani Sandler @dismalscientist86.bsky.social · 25d

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson would be great for this

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Dani Sandler @dismalscientist86.bsky.social · 28d

I wish everyone as relaxing a day as Rosie's is #Caturday

Grey cat sleeping on back on grey carpet and red tile floor

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Reposted by Dani Sandler

Guy Berger @econberger.bsky.social · 29d

Wonderful news! Hooray.

California YIMBY @cayimby.bsky.social · 29d

[BILL ALERT] SB 79, which broadly legalizes more homes near high quality transit stops, has passed the Senate floor! The bill is now on the Governor’s desk. Learn more: cayimby.org/legislation/...

SB 79 (Wiener): Transit-Oriented Development and Upzoning

SB 79 will make it faster and easier to build multi-family housing near transit stops, like train and rapid bus lines, by making it legal for more homes to be built in these areas and streamlining exi...

cayimby.org

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Michel Grosz @michelgrosz.bsky.social · 28d

The FTC is hiring Statisticians in the Bureau of Economics!

This is a great opportunity for seniors or recent grads interested in antitrust and consumer protection economics, and applied microeconomics research.

Come work with me! Happy to answer any questions.

www.usajobs.gov/job/845835200

STATISTICIAN

The Bureau of Economics seeks candidates for the position of Statistician. Statisticians work directly with BE staff economists to (1) provide economic analysis in support of antitrust and consumer pr...

www.usajobs.gov

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Erika McEntarfer @erikamcentarfer.bsky.social · Sep 9

Your daily reminder that US economic data is of extremely high quality even when compared to other advanced nations and the envy of the world

The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · Sep 8

Exclusive: The White House is preparing a report laying out alleged shortcomings of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ jobs data, five weeks after President Trump fired the chief of the agency

White House Prepares Report Critical of Statistics Agency

The assessment would follow President Trump’s firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

on.wsj.com

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Dani Sandler @dismalscientist86.bsky.social · Sep 7

My family's weekly schedule ☠️

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Reposted by Dani Sandler

Erika McEntarfer @erikamcentarfer.bsky.social · Sep 5

The larger-than-usual downward revision last month was in large part driven by a negative skew in the job growth distribution among late reporting firms. That’s unusual, but it’s happened before when the pace of job growth slows rapidly. This print is more evidence that was the case

Ben Casselman @bencasselman.bsky.social · Sep 5

U.S. employers added 22,000 jobs in August and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3 percent.
Data: www.bls.gov/news.release...
Live coverage: www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09... #NumbersDay

Employment Situation Summary - 2025 M07 Results

www.bls.gov

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Kasey Buckles @kaseybuckles.bsky.social · Sep 3

Census Tree birthday party Day 9 🎂🎉:

@withrowjenny.bsky.social uses the Census Tree to explore the roles of race & gender in migrant selection & sorting during the exodus of single young people from U.S. Southern farms from 1900-1940. Female migration rates ⬆️ in response to ⬇️ male marriageability.

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Ben Hyman @revisenretweet.bsky.social · Aug 31

🚨Excited to share our short paper “How Retrainable are AI-Exposed Workers?” w/ @benlahey.bsky.social, @karenxni.bsky.social, @pilossopher.bsky.social, on how training programs affect workers highly exposed to AI prior to job loss, and those targeting AI-intensive jobs. nber.org/papers/w34174. 1/🧵

How Retrainable are AI-Exposed Workers?

Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

nber.org

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