Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Will Royce

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities @centeronbudget.bsky.social · 2d

Reports raise red flags: Georgia spent $54M on admin costs for its #Medicaid waiver, nearly twice the $26M spent on care, while enrolling under 3,500 people. CMS still extended the costly program that ties coverage to work requirements. www.cbpp.org/research/fed...

CMS Extends Georgia’s Medicaid Waiver Program, Despite GAO Report Raising Concerns with Costs | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

September 23, 2025: A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) raising concerns about the cost of Georgia’s Pathways to Coverage Medicaid waiver program is a forewarning about how ex...

www.cbpp.org

1 33 54

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · 2d

Always funny to get updates from DOGE

1

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · 5d

Apparently I accidentally stole the color scheme for my Substack from Baker McKenzie

1

Reposted by Will Royce

John Gramlich @johngramlich.bsky.social · 6d

% of US men under 30 who say legal sports betting is a *bad thing* for society

22% in 2022
47% in 2025

No other demographic group has seen a bigger increase.

Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society and sports

Today, 43% of U.S. adults say the fact that sports betting is now legal in much of the country is a bad thing for society, up from 34% in 2022.

www.pewresearch.org

180 820 3.7K

Reposted by Will Royce

Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 8d

NEW

US labor market flows remained sluggish in August, as hiring slowed to the lowest level since early COVID

The hiring rate fell to 3.2%, layoffs fell to 1.1%, quits fell to 1.9%, and job openings rose to 4.3%

1 48 200

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · 8d

Really interesting story in @404media.co on how lawyers explain themselves when they are caught using AI-hallucinated citations www.404media.co/18-lawyers-c...

2

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · 9d

Thankfully we have 37 years to address this, assuming 2% inflation

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · 9d

It would be really funny (tragic) if the max SSI benefit amount surpassed $2,000 without Congress altering the asset limit. An SSI beneficiary would presumably be made ineligible for SSI benefits upon receiving them.

1

Reposted by Will Royce

Marcia Brown @marciabrown.bsky.social · 9d

A government shutdown is looming.

If it happens, the nation’s top nutrition program for low-income moms and babies will run out of $$ within days.

Story for @politico.com w/ Rachel Shin

subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...

POLITICO Pro: Shutdown would impact nutrition benefits for moms, babies within days

A signature program that serves millions of people may run out of money in one week. The White House says it could be even faster than that.

subscriber.politicopro.com

18 67 120

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · 9d

One weird trick to getting your insured unemployment rate down, and thereby making it unlikely that extended benefits will trigger in your state: Administer unemployment benefits as a lump sum rather than a weekly payment. (Or just cut the duration of benefits. That works too.)

1

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · 9d

The "insured unemployment rate" is a strange metric to use for automatically extending unemployment benefits. But that's exactly what we do. I wrote about it. Lots of charts, if you're into that sort of thing.

The Weird Way We Automatically Extend Unemployment Benefits

The “insured unemployment rate” plays an important role in our unemployment insurance system. Should it?

willroyce.substack.com

2 5

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · 10d

I'm starting a newsletter (ik, ik) focused on the administration of the welfare state. It's called Makeshift Arrangements, which is a reference to my favorite Frances Perkins quote. First full piece out tomorrow.

Read more below! Free to subscribe, and hey, you can always just unsubscribe later.

Presenting MAKESHIFT ARRANGEMENTS

A newsletter about the administration of the welfare state.

willroyce.substack.com

1 3

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · 13d

Anyone who is reading this who has worked with the SIPP: am I correct in thinking that there is no way to directly observe respondents' hours worked within the reference month? Because I would really like to do that and the way that weeks are coded make it not possible.

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · 13d

New HSGAC D staff report: DOGE had armed security at SSA. Per officials cited in the report, this was because "some DOGE staff felt threatened based on a communication with an SSA employee that 'included cursing.'"

But when cmte staff viewed the DOGE workspace, it was empty—DOGE worked remotely.

1 1

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · 14d

1

Reposted by Will Royce

ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 15d

in Greenland, the government owns a bunch of businesses--a fishing company that is the largest single employer, a shipping company, a ferry company, several retail and logistics companies, etc, and it all works pretty well?? I traveled there to investigate: prospect.org/world/2025-0...

This Greenland Is Red

The small island nation has one of the largest and most successful portfolios of state-owned companies in the world. What?

prospect.org

9 93 610

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · 14d

Are connected scatterplots really so bad? 😁

1

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · 15d

Working on some extremely incomprehensible charts. Watch this space

2 2

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · 28d

why did they remove the greatest hits :(

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · 28d

my update tracker for DOGE dot gov seems to suggest that the updates will not converge to real time

1

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · 29d

a fascinating portrait and fantastic reporting

The Untold Saga of What Happened When DOGE Stormed Social Security

DOGE has ignored urgently needed reforms and upgrades at the Social Security Administration, according to dozens of insiders and 15 hours of candid interviews with the former acting chief of the agenc...

www.propublica.org

Reposted by Will Royce

Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · Sep 8

So Cato seems to have decided to use fake, AI-generated young people expressing worries about the future of Social Security to illustrate the need to overhaul social security.

www.cato.org/blog/reimagi...

Reimagining Social Security Is Out Today!

Reimagining Social Security presents bold, evidence-based ideas to protect younger workers from rising tax burdens and mounting debt, while supporting the most vulnerable seniors.

www.cato.org

21 48 200

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · Sep 5

definitely am left wondering to what extent this divergence is real

1

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · Sep 5

13% in latest jobs report, btw

(monthly estimates are noisy which is why chart below is six-month average)

Will Royce @willroyce.bsky.social · Sep 4

This is currently reflecting my lived experience

1 1

Reposted by Will Royce

Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · Sep 4

Here is part I of my piece w/ Noa Rosinplotz on "ABAWDs," a category constructed to provide a rhetorical punching bag for politicians who want to cut the social safety net. This piece focuses on misconceptions about the group. Part II will be on the consequences of sorting folks by "deservingness."

Roosevelt Forward @rooseveltforward.org · Sep 4

“ABAWDs,” aren’t the lazy caricature politicians make them out to be.

They’re caregivers, neighbors, and workers trying to get by.

The latest #FiresideStacks 🔥 from @socio-steve.bsky.social and Noa Rosinplotz unveils the truth behind the rhetoric: www.firesidestacks.com/p/abawds-are...

Two individuals, one appearing elderly, look at a laptop in a kitchen, with text overlay emphasizing that ABAWDs are workers, caregivers, and neighbors, not political punching bags.

2 11 25