HIGHLIGHTS
JUMP: EDUCATION | INFRASTRUCTURE | PUBLIC SERVICES | THE REST
First, the Good News
1) National: In the Public Interest Communications Director Jeff Hagan spells out the good and the bad news about the government shutdown. “The good news is that national parks will remain open during the government shutdown. The bad news is that national parks will remain open during the government shutdown. Park roads, lookouts, trails, and open-air memorials will generally remain accessible to visitors, according to a national parks contingency plan issued just ahead of the shutdown. But about ⅔ of agency staff were expected to be furloughed during the shutdown and national park advocates, including more than three dozen former superintendents, urged the government to close the parks. ”
AFSCME President Lee Saunders says “These mass firings are illegal and will have devastating effects on the services millions of Americans rely on every day. Whether it’s food inspectors, public safety workers, or the countless other public service workers who keep America running, federal employees should not be bargaining chips in this administration’s political games. By illegally firing these workers, the administration isn’t just targeting federal employees, it’s hurting their families and the communities they serve every day. We will pursue every available legal avenue to stop this administration’s unlawful attacks on public service workers’ freedoms and jobs.”
2) National/International: Registered nurses from across the United States and 28 other countries took part in the “Democracy Is Not for Sale” march in San Francisco on Oct. 8, 2025. “The march is intended to highlight the international resistance to billionaire agendas that deprive tens of millions of people across the world from access to health care, educational and employment opportunities, and safe environments to live and raise families.”
3) Tennessee: Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon “suffered a significant defeat from the city council when it voted 5 to 4 to withdraw a proposal to sell 12.7 acres of Chilhowee Park public land to the private Emerald Youth Foundation.” East Knoxville locals plan to form a group to help protect Chilhowee Park from privatization.
4) Texas: Texas Tribune reports that noise from a crypto mine has pushed Texas neighbors to start a town. “Now, community members have turned to an ambitious strategy to lower the volume: create a city. Lakey and others led a drive to collect enough signatures supporting incorporation, and in November, residents will vote on whether to create the city of Mitchell Bend, named after Mitchell Bend Highway, the two-lane road that binds the neighborhood. If the roughly 250 registered voters approve the measure, Mitchell Bend would cover two square miles and have around 600 residents and one stop sign.”
5) Wisconsin: Regulators have approved a wind farm. “A green revolution is underway.” Blanquivioletas.com reports that “Wisconsin is returning to the wind energy game after 14 years without new projects, which is a lot for the US. The Public Service Commission (PSC) authorized a 118 megawatt wind farm in Grant and Iowa counties on September 26, 2025. The decision, according to campaign leaders like Rick Coelho and advocates like Clean Wisconsin, means huge progress on climate change, more renewable energy on the grid, and stronger local economies. At the same time, regulators approved the 180-megawatt Whitewater Solar Farm, showing the synergy between solar and wind energy.”
6) National: Channeling the Project 2025 Playbook, the Trump administration is weighing privatizing student loans. “The idea of bringing in private consultants to determine the value of the government’s debt holdings and selling some student loan debt to private investors was floated during the first Trump term, but never came to fruition. However, this idea was fleshed out more thoroughly in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 playbook, which states that ‘student loans and grants should ultimately be restored to the private sector.’ While details of how exactly the administration may plan to sell off this debt are scarce, critics have warned that privatization will put even more borrowers in precarious situations.”
7) National: The Chronicle of Higher Education runs an opinion piece saying that “Autocracy Is Eroding Higher Education: Colleges’ compromises with Trump risk the very thing they promise to protect.” Brian Rosenberg says “those that continue to pursue this mission will need to accept a new level of risk for themselves and their campus communities. The experience of other autocracies suggests that some institutions will replace education for engagement with education for loyalty, perhaps lured, as The Washington Post reports, by the promise of a competitive advantage in the awarding of research grants “to schools that pledge to adhere to the values and policies of the Trump administration.” Rosenberg is president emeritus of Macalester College and a visiting professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Robert Scheer interviewed Rosenberg on his podcast. [Audio, about 45 minutes]
8) Florida: A Miami-based charter school operator has launched a “hostile takeover” of three Sarasota public schools, Suncoast Searchlight reports. “The notices, submitted early Wednesday, target Brookside Middle, Emma E. Booker Elementary and Oak Park School, a K-12 campus that serves students with disabilities. They are among similar notices sent to school districts statewide this week, according to Sarasota County Schools officials. ‘We have significant concerns about the impact these proposals would have on students, staff, and programs currently in place at these schools,’ said Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Terry Connor in a statement to Suncoast Searchlight. ‘These are established district-operated campuses that serve important roles in their communities.’”
9) Mississippi: An online charter school wants to open in a Mississippi Delta town with sparse broadband access, Mississippi Today reports. “The county, where over a fifth of the residents live below the poverty level, ranks 61st in broadband access out of Mississippi’s 82 counties, according to research from Mississippi State University. (…) These facts, including lack of internet access, concerned the state’s third-party evaluator when Archway first sought approval of its charter in October 2024 ‘I have seen a hybrid model that worked, but not in rural areas where there’s a high rate of poverty and families that may not have access to equipment or resources to be successful,’ said Wanda Giulliaume, one of three independent evaluators who issued a recommendation to the board.”
10) North Dakota: Strong public schools make North Dakota strong, says Nick Archuleta. “At the center of this work are our teachers and education support professionals. North Dakota’s educators do more than instruct; they nurture, inspire, and guide. Whether in a small elementary school on the prairie or in a bustling high school in North Dakota’s more urban areas, teachers meet students where they are and help them reach their potential. These education professionals know their students by name, communicate with their families, and place our kids at the center of their best intentions. Most importantly, they educate every student who walks, runs, or rolls through their schoolhouse doors. That is the obligation and passion of every public school teacher.”
11) National/Mountain West: In a letter to the editor of the Salt Lake Tribune, Kathryn Kair says if Utahns let Rocky Mountain Power have its way, expect rate increases, higher utility bills and missed opportunities for clean air. “The latest Lazard research on energy costs shows that renewables are cheaper than coal. But while PacifiCorp invests in affordable clean energy in other states, it chooses to forego billions in federal clean energy savings in Utah. RMP and PacifiCorp would keep us locked into increasingly unaffordable coal power. (…) We can speak up. On Oct. 29, the Utah Public Service Commission has scheduled a public hearing in Salt Lake City on the 2025 IRP. Rocky Mountain Power customers can tell the PSC that the IRP is unrealistic, unaffordable, and unfair. Commissioners should require the utility to serve its Utah customers, not a fossil fueled monster.”
12) Kentucky: Writing in the Louisville Courier-Journal, Paul Wesslund says, “Your electric bill could rise as much as $800 a year in the next 10 years. It doesn’t have to. These increases are being blamed on the construction of new data centers that will devour massive amounts of energy for the artificial intelligence boom. Much of the blame lies elsewhere. The bigger culprits are the Trump administration, the Kentucky legislature and Kentucky’s big utility, LG&E/KU.”
13) Wyoming: Natrona County OK’s privatizing Vista West roads. “Opponents, primarily Vista West 3 residents, argued the public has held a legal right to use the roads for 30 years. They said the Grass Creek access is critical when the main access route—Willow Creek and 6WN Road—is blocked by construction or accidents. Concerns were also raised that reducing access points to one point of entry/exit could violate subdivision regulations. County legal staff said the subdivision regulations concerning road dedication use the word ‘may’ instead of ‘shall,’ lessening the legal restriction on the commission’s decision regarding existing roads.”
14) International/Latin America: “The head of Latin America’s largest water utility is ready to start making deals now that the newly privatized Brazilian company has met a key benchmark for the expansion of services set by the state.” Bloomberg reports. “Sabesp, as the company is known, hopes to benefit from the more than 62 billion reais ($11.6 billion) in auctions, partnerships and concessions expected to happen in Brazil through the end of 2027. It’s also open to acquisitions, snapping up a majority stake over the weekend in another utility that also provides energy and water in Brazil’s most populous state.”
15) Think Tanks: A new study finds that we’re drinking microplastics, the Texas Public Interest Research Group (TexPIRG) reports. “The new study from the University of Birmingham tested seven categories of beverages for microplastics: soft drinks, energy drinks, fruit juices, iced teas, hot teas, hot coffees and iced coffees. The results showed that regardless of packaging, all beverages tested contained microplastics. It also demonstrated several factors which lead to increased microplastic consumption.”
16) National: Trump’s layoffs have hit over 4,000 people across seven agencies, the Washington Post reports. “The size of the federal workforce is unrelated to the government’s ability to pay its bills during a shutdown, though White House officials have falsely suggested otherwise. (…) The layoffs run counter to recent internal warnings from senior government officials that such dismissals are legally questionable. In the first days of the shutdown, officials privately counseled agencies against conducting reductions in force while the government lacks funding, because it would probably violate the law, The Post reported this month. The officials cautioned that the Antideficiency Act forbids the government from obligating or expending any money not appropriated by Congress, which means the government cannot incur new expenses during a shutdown, when funding has lapsed. The RIF process, which is extensive and involves promising severance payments, would probably be prohibited under the act, the officials concluded.”
17) National: Federal and postal workers are to see double-digit health care premium increases again next year, Government Executive reports. “National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association National President Bill Shackelford said that paired with the ongoing government shutdown, a proposed 1% pay raise for non-law enforcement or military personnel and the Trump administration’s other efforts to downsize the federal workforce, the premium increase “erodes the appeal” of public service.”
18) National: How does the government shutdown affect workers for private contractors? “For contract workers, the pain can be even greater. Contractors often have no guarantee of back pay and fewer safety nets; their livelihoods are tied directly to the flow of federal funds. And then there are the invisible losses: delayed patents, unfinished audits, postponed regulatory approvals that ripple through industry and civil life.”
19) Ohio: Owen McMillan says in the Chronicle-Telegram waste privatization is likely to save Elyria money, but would service pay the price? “A study and three bids commissioned by the city show that privatizing Elyria’s sanitation services would save the city and residents significant money, but fears of losing Elyria’s lauded pickup services hang heavy over the conversation. In December, City Council President Vic Stewart, D-at-Large, asked city officials to look into the finances of the Sanitation Department as well as the costs of the city privatizing its trash and recycling services, a move that most other communities in the area have made. This month, the city released a study from Rea Business Advisors as well as three bids from private companies outlining what they would charge for a five-year contract—with additional option years—to carry out the city’s refuse pickup services.”
20) Think Tanks: James A. Lomastro reports in Nonprofit Quarterly on how private equity extracts profit from social safety net systems. “The 1960s Civil Rights era produced a cynical but prescient observation that continues to haunt US social policy: ‘There’s money to be made from poverty.’ Take the old example of Ross Perot: Before he was a presidential candidate, he made his fortune producing welfare forms for the federal government. Today, this dynamic has evolved into sophisticated disaster capitalism, where public benefit systems create ideal conditions for private equity extraction that devastate both vulnerable communities and nonprofits.”
21) National: Trump fires Black officials from an overwhelmingly white administration, The New York Times’
Elisabeth Bumiller and Erica L. Green report. And “of the president’s 98 Senate-confirmed appointees to the administration’s most senior leadership roles in its first 200 days, ending on Aug. 7, only two, or 2 percent—Scott Turner, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Earl G. Matthews, the Defense Department’s general counsel—are Black. (…) ‘Trump seemed to be very proud to have ‘Blacks for Trump’ at all of his rallies and behind the podium, but not behind him in the cabinet meetings,’ said Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, the president of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank that tracks Black representation in government leadership, among other markers. The dearth of Black people at the top, he said, would result in ‘radical substantive policy changes’ for African Americans. ‘When we’re not in the room,’ he said, ‘things don’t tend to go better for us.’”
22) National: Opposition builds to Trump’s assault on good governance. “Government Employees (AFGE), whose members are prime victims of President Donald Trump’s shutdown, furloughs, and looming firings, are striking back: They’re asking members and supporters to join the next round of No Kings Day protests, scheduled for October 18. Since AFGE members are scattered all over the U.S.—85% live outside the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia area—and in Europe, too, they’ll have a lot of No Kings events to choose from. ‘Shutting down the government is another authoritarian power grab by this administration, which has threatened to lay off mass numbers of furloughed workers as part of an ongoing quest to gut federal programs and services the administration finds objectionable,’ says AFGE President Everett Kelley, who, like many federal workers, is a military veteran.”
23) International/Canada: CUPE members have rallied in Toronto to stop privatization and protect public jobs. “Liberal and Conservative governments have been quietly dismantling our public services for decades, and they are doubling down. With a stroke of a pen, they are cutting essential services, attacking education, healthcare, social services, and other programs working class Canadians rely on.”