News

5/4/2025: Brevity… For my Cough…

Alex Ghenis

04 May 2025 — 4 min read

After two full weeks of Covid, I finally tested not-positive (please clap)

I’m almost 3 weeks out from my first positive Covid test and finally tested negative a few days ago. Unfortunately, though, I have a lingering cough that’s been getting in the way of writing (voice dictation software + coughing = sad), so I’m going to keep things brief for this week. Still, there was a lot of relevant news this week – and I’ve broken things into three groups this time: Disability; Housing, Transit, and Urbanism; and Climate. Each has a paragraph of highlights and a list of links.

And Go Dubs 🏀🎉

Disability:

There are a few national disability news stories this week, but it looks like most action is happening at the state and local level (granted, much of it due to federal cuts). There’s some bad news, largely due to program stoppages and cuts out of DC. For example, 23 of 72 employees at the North Dakota Center for Persons with Disabilities are being let go and Disability Rights Mississippi is halting new cases due to funding freezes (last week’s newsletter covered similar actions at Disability Rights New Jersey and Disability Rights Arkansas). There’s also some good news, including cautious optimism at the Supreme Court about classroom accommodations case and relief as Arizona closed its disability services funding gap (for now). Oh, and the Corporation for Independent Living, “a nonprofit real estate developer committed to creating community-based housing for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), acquired brain injury (ABI), behavioral health conditions and others on the disability-housing front, the Corporation for Independent Living,” secured a $45 million line of credit to build disability-forward housing in the Northeast.

In other news:

People with disabilities explain how Medicaid cuts could impact their lives – PBS News Hour
Not One Generation Removed, Disability Advocates Fear Return to a Dark Era – The 74
Nearly one in four families of children with disabilities face financial hardships – Medical Xpress
Education Department stops $1 billion in funding for school mental health – NPR
Minnesota increasing screening requirements for autism and housing services providers – CBS News
N.J. county launches registry for individuals with disabilities – NJ.com
'They made a mistake': Parents pushing effort to recall Arizona lawmakers after funding fight – 12 News
Utah governor, state courts hit with lawsuit over new disability law – Utah News Dispatch
Ali France: disability activist who overcame grief to oust Australia opposition chief Dutton – Reuters
Minnesotans, lawmakers in St. Paul protest federal cuts to disability funding – MPR News
Now Serving Richmond and El Cerrito – Easy Does It Emergency Services

Housing, Transit, and Urbanism:

The housing, transit, and urbanism front also has a mix of good and bad. The good includes progress on parking minimums in New Hampshire, eliminating occupancy limits for unrelated persons in Texas, and an innovative financing model for affordable housing. Just like disability, most of the bad centers around cuts, including with VA emergency mortgage support and the Emergency Housing Voucher program. And in California, skyrocketing rents due to the state’s housing crisis are making it so Section 8 vouchers aren’t going as far, which is limiting how many vouchers get issued in a year.

In other news:

Realtor.com® Releases New State-by-State Housing Report Card: South and Midwest Dominate in Homebuilding and Affordability – realtor.com
Housing Assistance Programs on the Chopping Block Under Trump’s $163B Budget Cut Proposal – realtor.com
Housing Market Satisfaction Plummets in US – Newsweek
London's 'spiralling' housing crisis in numbers – BBC
Reports of the Death of California High-Speed Rail Have Been Greatly Exaggerated – Asterisk Mag
The Last Thing US Transit Agencies Should Do Now – Bloomberg CityLab
Infill development holds its own against urban sprawl at housing forum – Nevada Current
Housing authority uses tax credit model to move projects forward – Santa Fe New Mexican
Willowdale housing project for homeless seniors underway after years of community pushback, delays – CBC (Canada)
Affordable Housing in America Through Three People’s Eyes – Architectural Digest via Yahoo News
Florida Housing Market Mirroring 2008 Crash—Real Estate Analyst – Newsweek
Ohio housing advocates push senators to nix budget amendment – WBNS 10

Climate:

Climate change news is a mixed bag. Inside Climate News has a foursome of articles about the impact of NOAA cuts, our national insurance crisis, House Republicans targeting California’s tailpipe standards, and EPA cuts that target disadvantaged communities. The NOAA cuts plus shuttering of USGS water science centers will reduce our collective awareness of immediate climate dangers and throw water management into disarray. On a public health note, a new study says that climate change may fuel a rise in superbugs, which is certainly concerning for disabled folks that are prone to infections (myself included). Not all is bad, though. California lawmakers are exploring more geothermal energy, Hawaii lawmakers passed a hotel tax to help fund climate adaptation, and several scientific societies are banding together to do an independent national climate assessment after Trump disbanded the official Assessment authors.