Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · 3d

@bikemore.net @electryandorsey.bsky.social 👀

Mike Eliason @holz-bau.bsky.social · 3d

since denver launched its e-bike rebate program - the have sold 10,000 e-bikes and reduced an estimated 1,000,000 car trips - replacing millions of VMTs and reducing air pollution

there are no climate silver bullets... but damn - e-bikes and e-cargo bikes are close

denvergov.org/Government/A...

Denver Celebrates 10,000 E-Bike Rebates

Since its inception in April 2022, Denver has distributed over 10,000 electric bikes (e-bikes) to community members through its pioneering e-bike rebate program. As the first U.S. city to implement su...

denvergov.org

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Reposted by Kevin Himberger

Data for Progress @dataforprogress.org · 12d

NEW: A majority of Americans report at least one sign of housing precarity, including:

- Cutting back on essentials to afford housing (44%)

- Reducing other portions of their budget for housing (44%)

- Having difficulty paying housing-related costs like utility bills (35%)

Crosstab chart of polling data from Data For Progress
Title: Experiences of Housing Precarity Vary Widely, With Having to Cut Back on Essentials as the Most Commonly Reported Challenge.
Description: Please indicate if you have personally experienced any of the following housing challenges in the past year.

Having to significantly cut back on essentials (groceries, health care, etc.) to afford housing — All adults: 44%

Having to reduce other portions of my budget to account for rising housing costs — All adults: 44%

Having difficulty paying for housing costs unrelated to my rent or mortgage, like my utility bill or home repairs — All adults: 35%

Difficulty paying rent or mortgage — All adults: 31%

Being unable to find an affordable unit to live in when searching for new housing — All adults: 25%

Missing or being delayed on a payment to my landlord/mortgage lender for financial reasons — All adults: 25%

Read the full crosstabs: https://www.filesforprogress.org/datasets/2025/9/dfp_green_housing.pdf

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Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · 9d

Non-fatal shootings, relative to murder cases, have a higher likelihood of catching the shooter. Knowing the frequency of NFS cases can illuminate the need for greater focus.

Jeff Asher @jeffasher.bsky.social · 14d

New this week: I wrote about the very big change that the FBI recently announced very quietly - NIBRS now allows agencies to report non-fatal shooting data for the first time.

jasher.substack.com/p/the-fbi-ca...

The FBI Can Now Collect Non-Fatal Shooting Data

A big change, subtly announced.

jasher.substack.com

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Reposted by Kevin Himberger

Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 10d

NEW: November general elections are around the corner, so it’s time to launch my cheat sheet of what’s on the ballot this fall!

I guide you thru the *185* elections I'm watching, & why: lawmakers, governors, judges, DAs, mayors, school boards, & dozens of ballot measures.

Explore, share, save:

Your Cheat Sheet to the 2025 General Elections - Bolts

Four contests have come to largely define the 2025 elections: the elections to lead New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City, plus California’s redistricting measure. But there’s so much else... Read M...

boltsmag.org

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Reposted by Kevin Himberger

Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 10d

NEW📝: A flood of billionaire money in elections started after the SCOTUS #CitizensUnited decision.

Since 2010, billionaire 💰💰 in elections has grown 160x, giving the wealthy huge power over policy while regular voters lose influence. 🧵1/3

Graph showing billionaire spending in Presidential elections before and after Citizen's United.

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Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · 26d

The 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act desperately needs updating to include more people, more inclusion reasons, and a guaranteed duration. The FAMILY Act is a good start. #PaidLeaveForAll

National Women's Law Center @nwlc.org · 26d

We’re #ForFAMILY and #PaidLeaveForAll — and we call on congress to support working families.

Time To Care: Paid Family and Medical Leave and the FAMILY Act - National Women's Law Center

People across the country—especially women—are struggling to care for themselves and their loved ones while paying the bills and supporting their families.

nwlc.org

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Reposted by Kevin Himberger

Senator Chris Van Hollen @vanhollen.senate.gov · Sep 11

🚨@merkley.senate.gov and I just released our report detailing how the Netanyahu government is engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Gaza. The U.S. is complicit and the world must stop it.

Read it in full here: www.vanhollen.senate.gov/download/van...

Van Hollen, Merkley Report Following
2025 CODEL to Gaza Border, Israel,
West Bank, Jordan, and Egypt

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Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · Sep 6

Often the default explanation of economic decline is "crime". This example from Towson, MD shows how a little investigation can disprove the assumption: towsontorch.com/p/towson-squ...

Towson Square’s Challenges Explained: Separating Fact from Fiction on Restaurant Closures

Let's use data to answer the question "What happened at Towson Square?"

towsontorch.com

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Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · Aug 29

"nearly half of Bluesky posts summarized academic articles and that only 6.3% simply mentioned the article name and journal. By contrast, [a much larger share of original X posts] referred to little more than the study title"

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · Aug 29

Posts about scientific research on Bluesky receive substantially more attention than similar posts on Twitter. More importantly, you're far less likely to get sexist or racist replies.

Research posts on Bluesky are more original — and get better engagement

Bluesky posts about science garner more likes and reposts than similar ones on X.

go.nature.com

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Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · Aug 28

According to SAMHSA (2017) and @prisonpolicy.org, the majority of people with 2+ arrests in the past year have mental health and/or substance use issues. Many have no health insurance.

People with multiple arrests have serious health needs

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Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · Aug 28

@zekecohen.bsky.social makes excellent calls for more behavioral health funding and (subsequently) more diversions of 911 calls to 988!

Baltimore Banner @thebaltimorebanner.com · Aug 28

Brother of 70-year-old woman killed by police calls for reforming city’s crisis response

The brother of 70-year-old Pytorcarcha Brooks, who was shot and killed by Baltimore Police officers last month, demanded “action” in response to his sister’s death — a tragedy, he said, that should...

buff.ly

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Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · Aug 27

"nearly 7 out of every 10 adults in state prison were first arrested before the age of 19"

Prison Policy Initiative @prisonpolicy.org · Aug 27

The carceral system is no place for children.

Infographic with text: 400 confined children in the U.S. are 12 years old or younger.

Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · Aug 26

A wonderful and implementable list for health care providers who want to support their patients.

Interrupting Criminalization @interruptcrim.bsky.social · Aug 26

If you are a health care provider committed to actually upholding your oath and continuing to provide crucial, life-saving care for your patients, connect with our Beyond Do No Harm network for support, connection, and strategies around resisting harm and criminalization in the context of care:

Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · Aug 26

A searchable database of Californian police use of force and misconduct. Authors note several cases where force was used, the person died, but the official death reason makes no note of force: clean.calmatters.org

Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · Aug 26

"The goal [of Baltimore's Group Violence Reduction Strategy] was to move away from reactive and fragmented government toward focused, coordinated action across partners working on violence intervention and reduction." www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/wha...

Vital City | What’s Behind Baltimore’s Drastic Reduction in Violence

Inside the architecture of a strategy reversing the trajectory of one of America’s most dangerous cities

www.vitalcitynyc.org

Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · Aug 26

"Health shocks" have multiple negative effects. Provides more evidence that health care (a) reduces crime, (b) increases employment, and (c) has positive network effects: pca.st/episode/1626...

Episode 119: Elin Colmsjö on how health shocks affect criminal behavior

pca.st

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Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · Aug 22

Council on Criminal Justice created several clear figures on the lack of federal data (and it's getting worse) counciloncj.org/federal-data...

Federal Data in the Crosshairs: What's at Stake for Public Safety? - Council on Criminal Justice

A new report from our Justice in Perspective series analyzes how the federal government has eliminated or altered public safety and health datasets—and the impact that such disruptions have on creatin...

counciloncj.org

Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · Aug 11

"for every $100 increase in rent, homelessness goes up by 9%"

National Homelessness Law Center @homelesslaw.bsky.social · Aug 11

Trump began a federal takeover of DC today, testing the forced displacement of unhoused people.

Locking up people you don’t don’t want to see is textbook authoritarianism. When a fascist tells you who they are, believe them. @jesserbnwtz.bsky.social: housingnothandcuffs.org/2025/08/11/h...

Breaking: Trump begins federal takeover of DC, orders forced displacement of unhoused people

Just hours ago, Trump federalized the national guard and D.C. police and reiterated his plan to remove homeless people living in D.C. Click here to read our statement on the anti-homeless order and wa...

housingnothandcuffs.org

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Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · Jul 31

It is very easy to conflate ChatGPT and a thinking "AI". This experiment again shows that a language model (i.e. ChatGPT) is predicting words, not making decisions. This fact is especially dangerous when people in power (e.g. prosecutors) use it as a proxy for their own decision making.

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Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · Jul 31

In this experiment, researchers found that ChatGPT overwhelmingly chose to prosecute anyone accused of a crime, even when innocent: www.justiceinnovationlab.org//reports/ai-...

www.justiceinnovationlab.org

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Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · Jul 25

Reducing the NYPD PR team is a wonderful suggestion.

Kumar Rao @kumar.bsky.social · Jul 25

Good piece from @alexvitale.bsky.social www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Zohran Mamdani Must Confront the NYPD. Here's What He Can Do.

No single issue will be more challenging for a Mayor Mamdani than policing. But there are concrete steps he can take to reform the NYPD and curb its culture of impunity.

www.thenation.com

Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · Jul 16

A sorely needed public good. Glad @thebaltimorebanner.com is highlighting the reason why public pools don't exist.

Baltimore Banner @thebaltimorebanner.com · Jul 16

Why doesn’t Baltimore County have any public pools? Blame segregation.

There are no public pools in Baltimore County. Nearly 70 years after the Supreme Court's Brown decision overturning the "separate but equal" principle, some attribute this to the legacy of segregation.

buff.ly

Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · Jul 3

Baltimore is experiencing the lowest homicide rate in 50 years. Much credit to MONSE and the comprehensive violence prevention program! www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/lo...

Baltimore homicides hit historic low in first half of 2025

There have been 68 homicides and 164 nonfatal shootings in Baltimore the first six months of the year, according to police.

www.thebaltimorebanner.com

Kevin Himberger @himbe.bsky.social · Jun 26

Good recap of some 2025 criminal justice legislative wins in Maryland per @arnoldventures.bsky.social: www.arnoldventures.org/stories/mary...

Arnold Ventures | Maryland Policymakers Promote Public Safety and…

During the 2025 legislative session, the state has passed several new laws that improve prison oversight and create pathways for reentry.

www.arnoldventures.org