Latest news with #Stier
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
As summer begins, GRPS renovation projects ‘kicking into full speed'
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Thursday marks the last day of classes for students at Grand Rapids Public Schools. While they may be eager to begin summer vacation, administrators at GRPS are gearing up for a busy summer of their own — starting with renovations to the old Sigsbee Elementary building, which will soon become Southeast Career Pathways. The building, located on the corner of Fuller and Logan, is the first to receive funding from the $7 million is being invested to revamp the space that hasn't housed students in the district in over 10 years. Dark walls are being painted lighter, larger windows are being installed to bring in more daylight and new air conditioning systems — soon to be a hallmark of each building in the district — have also been installed. Upgrades will be complete in late July, but there's plenty more planned elsewhere in the district — including resurfacing Houseman and Briggs Fields and major updates to a number of other buildings. It's a , but leaders say it all starts at the former Sigsbee Elementary. GRPS future plans include security upgrades, electric buses 'This is the first major renovation project of the Reimagine GRPS with Us bond,' said Luke Stier, director of communications for the district. 'We want to create new, inspirational, flexible learning spaces, and that's what this project does.' The includes a wide range of projects that leaders say looks to create a more equitable district. Upgrades include a new environmental academy at Ken-O-Sha Park and expanding the existing Riverside Middle School to become a pre-K through 12th grade Montessori school. The district has also committed to installing secured entryways at each of its schools. 'This is really where it's kicking into full speed,' Stier said. 'It's renovation projects, building projects. It's also work across our district to improve things like transportation. We've seen big improvements throughout this year with on time performance. Really working at that from all aspects to create a better GRPS for all our scholars and staff.' GRPS approves plan to build new school at Aberdeen site The $7 million worth of renovations to create Southeast Career Pathways are just the tip of the iceberg. The Reimagine GRPS with Us bond will ultimately inject over $300 million into the district over the next few years. 'It's an exciting year,' Stier said. 'It's work that takes our entire team, our families, our community to come together to reimage GRPS. It's work that's well underway, and we're excited to see it continue.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Meet the nominees for Press-Citizen's Athletes of the Week, April 7-13
Meet the nominees for Press-Citizen's Athletes of the Week, April 7-13 The Iowa high school tennis season got underway this past week while soccer and track and field also headlined a full week of action. Here are the nominees for the Iowa City Press-Citizen's high school Athletes of the Week for April 7-13. readers vote to decide this week's winners. Voting closes at 8 p.m. Thursday. Advertisement Athletes are listed in alphabetical order by last name. Girls Caitlyn Bell, Jr., Iowa City Regina Bell helped Regina soccer pick up its second win of the season with a 2-1 victory over Northeast on April 7. She scored a goal against the Rebels. Stella Demarest, Soph., Iowa City High Demarest scored for the first time this season during Iowa City High soccer's 4-4 tie with Solon on April 10. The second-year Little Hawk scored two goals against the Spartans. Kate Shafer, Sr., Solon Shafer earned a pair of top-five finishes at the Williamsburg Co-Ed Invitational on April 8. The thrower placed second with a personal record in discus (123 feet, nine inches). She placed fourth in the shot put (36 feet, 4.50 inches). Marie Stier, Sr., Iowa City West Stier earned a hard-fought singles win during the Iowa City West tennis team's 7-2 win over Dubuque Hempstead on April 8. Advertisement Stier dropped the first set, 4-6, and clinched the second set, 6-3. She then secured the third set (1-0 (10-3)). Stier also earned a doubles victory with teammate Sasha Postnikov. Erin Quinn, Sr., Iowa City Liberty Quinn recorded her first varsity goal during Liberty's 3-1 win over North Scott on April 10. She received a pass from teammate Callie Stanley to score Liberty's second goal of the night. Boys Solon senior Caleb Bock is a nominee for boys Athlete of the Week. Caleb Bock, Sr., Solon Bock earned a first-place finish for Solon track and field at the Clear Creek Amana boys invitational on April 10. Bock placed first in the long jump (20 feet, 5.5 inches). Joey Dains, Sr., Clear Creek Amana Dains won gold at the Clear Creek Amana boys invitational. Advertisement The fourth-year Clipper placed first in the 200 meters with a time of 22.33. Harel Gameti, Sr., Iowa City West Gameti earned a pair of top-three finishes at the Clear Creek Amana boys invitational. He placed first in the 100 meters (11.22) and third in the 200 meters (22.85). Bernard Grant, Sr., Iowa City High Grant earned gold for Iowa City High track and field at the Cedar Falls Co-ed meet on April 10. He placed first in the high jump with a leap of six feet, two inches. Collin Weis, Jr., Iowa City Liberty Weis found the back of the net during Iowa City Liberty soccer's 3-0 shutout over Iowa City West on April 10. Advertisement It was his first goal of the season. Marc Ray is the high school sports reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. He can be reached at MARay@ , and on X, formerly Twitter, at @themarcszn. This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Vote: Iowa City Press-Citizen's Athletes of the Week, April 7-13
Washington Post
11-04-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Optimism lives despite Trump's ‘arson of our public infrastructure'
Max Stier might keep a closer eye on federal agencies and their employees than anyone else not in government. A former employee of all three federal branches who worked for Democrats and Republicans, Stier is the founding president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit that promotes good governance. Among its projects are the annual Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings and the Service to America Medals, a.k.a. the Sammies, which honor federal workers.
New York Times
05-04-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Trump Is on Shaky Legal Ground With Mass Layoffs at H.H.S., Experts Say
A 'policy lab' that generates ideas to improve mental health. An office that studies the effects of smoking. A team of scientists and public health experts who focus on birth defects. All three are programs in the Department of Health and Human Services that were created by Congress, which funds them. And all three have been hollowed out by mass layoffs at the agency ordered by President Trump and Elon Musk, the billionaire adviser leading the federal government's cost-cutting efforts. Since Tuesday, when the layoffs began, lawmakers, medical associations, research universities and state health agencies have scrambled to sort out which jobs were eliminated, and how to respond. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has already admitted that some workers were mistakenly fired alongside nearly 20 percent of the agency's work force, and has promised that they will be reinstated. The Republican chairman and top Democrat on the Senate health committee asked Mr. Kennedy to testify about the cuts next week, but it is not clear if he has accepted the invitation. One thing is clear: The layoffs and wholesale reorganization of the department are the latest in a series of Trump administration actions ripe for legal challenges. The administration has been on shaky ground, legal experts said, in dissolving agencies created and funded by Congress. Max Stier, the president of Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit that promotes best practices in government, said that the administration had overstepped its authority. 'Is it legal for them to essentially demolish agencies by either firing all the vital talent that's necessary to run them, or to say that they're reorganizing?' said Mr. Stier, who is also a lawyer. 'I believe it is illegal. The reality of this is they are not even close to the line. They've tread over it in terms of the constitutional framework.' Mr. Stier added, 'It's going to be a question for the courts to resolve.' The scope of the latest layoffs at the health department — 10,000 people, on top of 10,000 others who had been fired or had left voluntarily — has set the department apart from other federal agencies that have seen similar staff reductions since the start of Mr. Trump's second term. The agency has been left with the same congressionally mandated responsibilities overseeing a $1.8 trillion budget, most of it devoted to mandatory spending programs like Medicare. The department runs more than 100 other programs that, through drug regulation, biomedical research, hospital reimbursement and child welfare initiatives, touch the lives of every American family. In many cases, those initiatives now have no staff members to administer them. Congress recently adopted a stopgap spending measure with funding 'that referenced some of these agencies by name,' said Samuel R. Bagenstos, a law professor at the University of Michigan and former health department lawyer under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. He added, 'I think there is a very serious legal question about whether just weeks later the administration can eliminate these agencies.' Mr. Bagenstos said that more information was needed before lawsuits could be filed. 'They have been very cagey about what exactly they're doing to implement these cuts and this reorganization,' he said. Mr. Kennedy, acting on orders from Mr. Trump to make large-scale cuts, has said that the staff reductions would save taxpayer money, even though federal health workers make up less than 1 percent of agency spending. Andrew Nixon, a department spokesman, said that the roughly $1.8 billion the department would recoup through the layoffs was 'still a lot of money,' and that the firings were intended to 'prioritize efficiencies.' 'Any effort to trim wasteful spending, streamline operations and ensure efficiency in government is a win for the American people,' he said. From the start of the second Trump administration, Mr. Musk's team has pushed agencies to claw back government funds for everything from teacher-training grants to H.I.V. prevention overseas. The lawsuits challenging those actions have focused on restoring frozen and canceled funding, and halting the mass layoffs. But they have largely not addressed broader legal questions about the president's power to refuse spending appropriated by Congress. This week, coalitions of Democratic state attorneys general brought two lawsuits targeting the disruptions at the federal health department. Each argued broadly that layoffs and funding cuts across the agency had disrupted the flow of federal funds to states. The rounds of layoffs, they argued, had culled the ranks of grant management, program and scientific staff members who help funds get to state health departments and who approve grants for scientific research. On Thursday, one federal judge agreed, temporarily barring the agency from terminating around $11 billion in pandemic-era funding to states. The lawsuits, and others brought against the Trump administration, have relied heavily on the Administrative Procedure Act, a law that bars the executive branch from taking sweeping actions — such as blanket terminations of grant programs — without good reason or consideration. Even though the administration's actions might violate the Constitution and infringe the authority of Congress, the lawsuits have focused more narrowly on whether the administration's actions were arbitrary. David A. Super, a law professor at Georgetown University, said that the strategy allowed federal courts to stop the government in any case in which a decision could be deemed reckless, without needing to address larger constitutional questions, such as whether Mr. Trump or Mr. Kennedy can withdraw funding from programs they oppose. 'There's a very entrenched rule that courts are not supposed to reach for issues unnecessary to resolve a case,' Mr. Super said. 'And once a court determines something is arbitrary and capricious, they have no reason to think any further about what else might be wrong with it.' Mr. Trump's decimation of the health department has also led to unusual bipartisan blowback this week. On Friday, a group of lawmakers from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, including several Republicans, sent a letter to Mr. Trump and Mr. Kennedy asking about the fate of the World Trade Center Health Program, which supports survivors of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The program had already lost around 20 percent of its staff in a round of layoffs earlier this year, but the Trump administration reversed course after a pressure campaign from lawmakers. On Thursday, 13 senators, including Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, and Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, sent a letter criticizing the firing of the entire staff of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps households pay heating and cooling bills. Zachary S. Price, a law professor at the University of California, San Francisco, said that Congress could assert its authority over federal spending in a variety of ways, but had chosen not to under Republican control. 'Congress has just been kind of passive in accepting these changes that could really damage its long-term authority,' he said. 'Litigation can address certain things but is not a great solution when it comes to these programmatic problems.' Under other circumstances, Congress could withhold funds from agencies other than the health department that Mr. Trump values deeply, or use its oversight authority to subpoena top officials over whether funds are being spent, with the threat of criminal charges for contempt of Congress if the officials do not comply. Mr. Price said that the budget process has long provided a key check on the White House's power, by forcing the legislative and executive branches to negotiate over the programs Congress funds. The sudden and dramatic cuts spearheaded by Mr. Musk have given Congress outsize importance, he added. 'It gives Congress an opportunity to override presidential policies or choices by either requiring spending or cutting off spending, but that all operates against these background assumptions about the executive branch being bound by the choices reflected in those appropriations,' Mr. Price said. 'So if the executive branch is going to assert unilateral authority to depart from that, then it kind of changes the ballgame.' Mr. Super, the Georgetown law professor, said that until courts reach firmer conclusions about how the Trump administration may have overstepped its authority, or until they issue final rulings halting some cuts, there was little Congress could do. 'If the administration can disregard two laws, they can disregard three,' he said.
Axios
27-02-2025
- Business
- Axios
Philadelphia weighs big business tax cuts
A panel of experts bets that deep tax cuts for businesses and overhauling Philadelphia's tax code could fuel business growth, add jobs and reduce poverty. Why it matters: Big businesses and workers would be winners, while property owners would likely get stuck with bigger bills. Driving the news: The Tax Reform Commission's interim report this week called for eliminating the city's business income and receipts tax (BIRT) over the next 8-12 years and for reducing the wage tax, among other recommendations. Although loathed by most, these taxes are king in Philly: They accounted for more than half the city's tax revenues last year. Context: Lawmakers and business leaders have sought tax reforms for decades, but this is the first time since 2003 that a city tax reform commission has issued a formal report. Zoom in: The commission calls for shifting the city's dependence on business taxes to real estate, i.e. property taxes. Worth noting: Philly now enjoys some of the lowest property taxes in the state. Reality check: This latest attempt to slash the business taxes is likely to fail, Marc Stier, director of the nonprofit Pennsylvania Policy Center, tells Axios. Philly not only lacks existing revenues to fund the business tax cuts, but elected officials would face massive backlash if they tried to hike property taxes, Stier says. "It's a bad solution to a non-existent problem," he says. "The city needs that revenue far more than it needs a tax cut." The other side: Allan Domb, a former city legislator who's on the commission, tells Axios that Philly's existing tax structure is uncompetitive and that investing in the city's economy will spur growth. "You have two choices: Keep taxing the same people and raising their rates, or expand the base," he says. The commission blames Philly's business taxes for hindering business growth and investments, and driving away residents. The taxes are higher than similar taxes elsewhere in the region and most other big cities, per the report. The commission estimates the tax cuts would create 31,200-93,200 jobs over five years. How it works: Philly companies with revenues over $100,000 — about a third of businesses — pay around 6% tax on their net profits and another .14% on their gross receipts. Meanwhile, all Philly workers pay between 3%-4% in wage taxes, whether you live in the city or not. The fine print: Pennsylvania law limits how Philly can tax businesses and residents, so some changes would need approval from the state Legislature. For example, Philly officials can't put in place a millionaire's tax, or tax commercial and residential buildings at different rates. What to watch: City legislators formed the commission last year. It remains to be seen whether they or Mayor Cherelle Parker take up the commission's recommendations and shake up the city's tax code. Parker will deliver her budget proposal on March 13. The bottom line: "Once we have a proposed budget, we'll see if the City can [cut the taxes] without passing the tax burden on to people who can't afford it," Lauren Cristella, the executive director of the city watchdog Committee of 70, tells Axios.
