MuniSquare hosted by @nancyjhess
@munisquare.bsky.social
Elevating Public Service, Expanding Possibilities... a collaborative hub for those who lead, manage, teach, research, write, consult, and host conversations about local government. Find us at https://munisquare.substack.com/
Is there is a good chicken factory to work in - anywhere? It strikes me as a horrible for both chickens and humans.
[Spotlight WVA] In one of the most dangerous workplaces in West Virginia, a poultry giant has profited from immigrant labor for decades
mountainstatespotlight.org/2024/06/05/p...
[Spotlight WVA] In one of the most dangerous workplaces in West Virginia, a poultry giant has profited from immigrant labor for decades
mountainstatespotlight.org/2024/06/05/p...
Pilgrim’s Pride: Inside one of the most dangerous workplaces in West Virginia
Seeking safety and jobs, people from around the world have come to Hardy County to work at a poultry processing plant.
mountainstatespotlight.org
November 8, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Is there is a good chicken factory to work in - anywhere? It strikes me as a horrible for both chickens and humans.
[Spotlight WVA] In one of the most dangerous workplaces in West Virginia, a poultry giant has profited from immigrant labor for decades
mountainstatespotlight.org/2024/06/05/p...
[Spotlight WVA] In one of the most dangerous workplaces in West Virginia, a poultry giant has profited from immigrant labor for decades
mountainstatespotlight.org/2024/06/05/p...
GENERATION ON THE RISE Host Eden Ratliff leads the team into networking and mentorship, both the good and the bad. Bad mentoring advice, when to leave the nest, how to network and the unwritten map to local governments that only peers understand….
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
GENERATION ON THE RISE
Networking, Mentorship, and the Art of Going There
open.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:25 PM
GENERATION ON THE RISE Host Eden Ratliff leads the team into networking and mentorship, both the good and the bad. Bad mentoring advice, when to leave the nest, how to network and the unwritten map to local governments that only peers understand….
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
Reposted by MuniSquare hosted by @nancyjhess
“...private ownership is the single biggest factor in higher drinking water rates among large systems, playing a larger role than aging infrastructure or drought.” inthepublicinterest.org/under-pressu...
Under Pressure
Water privatization threats are relentless–and now they’re federal.
inthepublicinterest.org
October 17, 2025 at 8:25 PM
“...private ownership is the single biggest factor in higher drinking water rates among large systems, playing a larger role than aging infrastructure or drought.” inthepublicinterest.org/under-pressu...
Reposted by MuniSquare hosted by @nancyjhess
Better things come to those who wait: The importance of patience in diagnosing labor force participation rates and prescribing policy solutions www.epi.org/publication/...
Better things come to those who wait: The importance of patience in diagnosing labor force participation rates and prescribing policy solutions
Introduction A recent EPI report surveyed trends in labor force participation in the United States in recent decades. Besides presenting basic facts, the report also reviewed the research literature o...
www.epi.org
October 9, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Better things come to those who wait: The importance of patience in diagnosing labor force participation rates and prescribing policy solutions www.epi.org/publication/...
James C Scott suggests that people everywhere, even those who’ve never heard the word “anarchism,” quietly act out its principles through cooperation, autonomy, and mutual aid. open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
What Your Community Does When Government Isn’t Looking
(Part 6 of the James C. Scott Series: The Anarchist Squint)
open.substack.com
October 5, 2025 at 4:41 PM
James C Scott suggests that people everywhere, even those who’ve never heard the word “anarchism,” quietly act out its principles through cooperation, autonomy, and mutual aid. open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
Long before we understood the way the world works, we were hearing stories ... fairy tales, folktales, myths and faith traditions that left us wide-eyed, mystified, and captivated. These stories were the beginning of our sense-making skills in the world. open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
Empathy, Reason...and the Stories That Shape Us
Balancing the Head and the Heart
open.substack.com
October 4, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Long before we understood the way the world works, we were hearing stories ... fairy tales, folktales, myths and faith traditions that left us wide-eyed, mystified, and captivated. These stories were the beginning of our sense-making skills in the world. open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
September 30, 2025 at 10:31 PM
We've been told a story about human progress: people invented agriculture, settled down, built cities, and life got better...not so fast. Adaptation and resilience are not new challenges. They're the foundation of what local government has always been about.
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
[Series] Reading Like a River – Part 4
Lessons from Uruk: The Stat(e)ness of Being
open.substack.com
September 28, 2025 at 1:39 PM
We've been told a story about human progress: people invented agriculture, settled down, built cities, and life got better...not so fast. Adaptation and resilience are not new challenges. They're the foundation of what local government has always been about.
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
Experimental gene therapy for Huntington’s markedly slowed disease progression in key trial www.statnews.com/2025/09/24/h... via @statnews.com
Experimental gene therapy for Huntington’s markedly slowed disease progression in key trial
An experimental gene therapy slowed the progression of Huntington’s disease by 75% after three years — study results likely to support the first approval of a genetic treatment for the condition.
www.statnews.com
September 24, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Experimental gene therapy for Huntington’s markedly slowed disease progression in key trial www.statnews.com/2025/09/24/h... via @statnews.com
Reposted by MuniSquare hosted by @nancyjhess
I love living amongst remnants of an industrial history. Within walking distance from my house is the land where my Grandad was an apprentice potter (Drayton Brothers Pottery), and where my Uncle made parts for Sunshine Harvesters (H V McKay).
September 22, 2025 at 12:16 AM
I love living amongst remnants of an industrial history. Within walking distance from my house is the land where my Grandad was an apprentice potter (Drayton Brothers Pottery), and where my Uncle made parts for Sunshine Harvesters (H V McKay).
Reposted by MuniSquare hosted by @nancyjhess
It’s Irish oatmeal season again in New England.
Like so many seemingly ‘simple’ things, the variance between awful and amazing is huge.
It was not until instructed by an older Irish woman that I figured out how to make - and enjoy - oatmeal.
Like so many seemingly ‘simple’ things, the variance between awful and amazing is huge.
It was not until instructed by an older Irish woman that I figured out how to make - and enjoy - oatmeal.
September 21, 2025 at 1:13 PM
It’s Irish oatmeal season again in New England.
Like so many seemingly ‘simple’ things, the variance between awful and amazing is huge.
It was not until instructed by an older Irish woman that I figured out how to make - and enjoy - oatmeal.
Like so many seemingly ‘simple’ things, the variance between awful and amazing is huge.
It was not until instructed by an older Irish woman that I figured out how to make - and enjoy - oatmeal.
Reposted by MuniSquare hosted by @nancyjhess
Everyone should read this, from the best writer in the transit/urbanism space
I have a major piece in Bloomberg Citylab today. Should the US let transit fail, as Pennsylvania is already doing? And if not, what are the arguments we need to let it succeed?
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Should We Let Public Transit Die?
Urban-rural hostility is fueling a public transportation crisis in US cities. But demands to abandon bus and train riders ignore the economic and social costs of cutting service.
www.bloomberg.com
September 21, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Everyone should read this, from the best writer in the transit/urbanism space
"A man who is pious and wise will know that a real victory is won only when integrity is safeguarded and greatness kept intact." -Montaigne munisquare.substack.com/p/whether-th...
Whether the governor of a besieged fortress should go out and parlay...
... leadership during crises
munisquare.substack.com
September 21, 2025 at 5:21 PM
"A man who is pious and wise will know that a real victory is won only when integrity is safeguarded and greatness kept intact." -Montaigne munisquare.substack.com/p/whether-th...
When organizations meander…
Do we look at the river and see it as the same river every day, or do we really observe it closely, noticing the sounds, smells, and currents of the water?
How often do we do the same thing in our own lives and organizations?
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
Do we look at the river and see it as the same river every day, or do we really observe it closely, noticing the sounds, smells, and currents of the water?
How often do we do the same thing in our own lives and organizations?
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
Reading Like a River, Part 4
When Organizations Meander
open.substack.com
September 21, 2025 at 3:54 PM
When organizations meander…
Do we look at the river and see it as the same river every day, or do we really observe it closely, noticing the sounds, smells, and currents of the water?
How often do we do the same thing in our own lives and organizations?
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
Do we look at the river and see it as the same river every day, or do we really observe it closely, noticing the sounds, smells, and currents of the water?
How often do we do the same thing in our own lives and organizations?
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
I have been guilty in my life of what I call flat thinking.... open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
Reading Like a River, Part 3
Considering Local Government Through the Eyes of James C. Scott
open.substack.com
September 14, 2025 at 1:10 PM
I have been guilty in my life of what I call flat thinking.... open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
Rivers Are “Good to Think With” - James C. Scott, In Praise of Floods
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
READING LIKE A RIVER, PART 2
Considering Local Government Through the Eyes of James C. Scott
open.substack.com
September 13, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Rivers Are “Good to Think With” - James C. Scott, In Praise of Floods
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
"Patrol officers, already inundated with sensory input and required to act decisively under pressure, face significant risk when policies are overly detailed, overlapping, or ambiguous." open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
Designing Policies for Real-World Policing: From Compliance to Cognitive Accessibility
Guest post written by Dr. Rudolph B. Hall Jr., Hall and Harrison Solutions, and Dr. Brian Sprowal, Future Policing Institute Fellow
open.substack.com
September 13, 2025 at 12:11 PM
"Patrol officers, already inundated with sensory input and required to act decisively under pressure, face significant risk when policies are overly detailed, overlapping, or ambiguous." open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
Tom Bryer writes: I invite you to join me and my students in our reading, reflection, and discussion, and help others across our communities and country understand that the "off-ramp" is not a fictional path towards a dream land that will never exist.
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
The Civic Off-Ramp
Responding to the Political Assassination of Charlie Kirk
open.substack.com
September 13, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Tom Bryer writes: I invite you to join me and my students in our reading, reflection, and discussion, and help others across our communities and country understand that the "off-ramp" is not a fictional path towards a dream land that will never exist.
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
The river is a changing living organism that will never be contained by humans because of the natural connection to a larger system over which we have no control. open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
READING LIKE A RIVER
CONSIDERING LOCAL GOVERNMENT THROUGH THE EYES JAMES C. SCOTT
open.substack.com
August 29, 2025 at 4:20 PM
The river is a changing living organism that will never be contained by humans because of the natural connection to a larger system over which we have no control. open.substack.com/pub/munisqua...
Reposted by MuniSquare hosted by @nancyjhess
A more in depth view of local government efforts to obtain warning system. Still no answer as to why cabins were allowed to exist in flood way on FEMA map. Gift article. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/p...
Did the Texas Floods Have to Be This Deadly?
www.nytimes.com
July 15, 2025 at 10:47 AM
A more in depth view of local government efforts to obtain warning system. Still no answer as to why cabins were allowed to exist in flood way on FEMA map. Gift article. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/p...
Reposted by MuniSquare hosted by @nancyjhess
Nigeria's foreign minister on why they refuse to take deportees from the US:
“We already have enough problems of our own. We cannot accept Venezuelan deportees in Nigeria, for crying out loud."
Then he quotes Flavor Fav: "I can't do nothin' for you, man.”
www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
“We already have enough problems of our own. We cannot accept Venezuelan deportees in Nigeria, for crying out loud."
Then he quotes Flavor Fav: "I can't do nothin' for you, man.”
www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
‘Can’t do nothin’ for you, man’: Nigeria rejects U.S. pressure to accept deported Venezuelans
Nigeria’s foreign minister has delivered a pointed rebuke to the United States, rejecting what he described as mounting pressure from Washington to accept deported Venezuelan nationals — including som...
www.miamiherald.com
July 11, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Nigeria's foreign minister on why they refuse to take deportees from the US:
“We already have enough problems of our own. We cannot accept Venezuelan deportees in Nigeria, for crying out loud."
Then he quotes Flavor Fav: "I can't do nothin' for you, man.”
www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
“We already have enough problems of our own. We cannot accept Venezuelan deportees in Nigeria, for crying out loud."
Then he quotes Flavor Fav: "I can't do nothin' for you, man.”
www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
"...each of the long canoe-like boats in the race has, as part of its large crew, a Tukang Tari who dances and provides inspiration for the rowers." Gift article from The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/s...
What Is ‘Aura Farming’? This Tween Will Show You.
www.nytimes.com
July 13, 2025 at 8:11 PM
"...each of the long canoe-like boats in the race has, as part of its large crew, a Tukang Tari who dances and provides inspiration for the rowers." Gift article from The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/s...
Mike Baumwoll on why human-connected communication matters in local government. #PCCLocalTime pcc-local-time.captivate.fm/episode/mike...
Mike Baumwoll on why human-connected communication matters in local government. - PCC Local Time
In this episode of PCC Local Time, Nancy Hess talks with Mike Baumwoll, co-founder and CEO of Rep’d, about how short-form video and authentic communic...
pcc-local-time.captivate.fm
July 12, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Mike Baumwoll on why human-connected communication matters in local government. #PCCLocalTime pcc-local-time.captivate.fm/episode/mike...