Alex Pearlstein

The other reality is that because of the nutso incentives used to win many of these projects, there won't be much benefit to tax rolls.

Opinion | We Are Watching a Scientific Superpower Destroy Itself

The game is won when the cameras are off.

Of the top 10 research institution contributors to science journals, 8 are Chinese. A decade ago, there was only 1.

Harvard is the only U.S. institution on the current list.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/o...

Project 2025 group making plans to boost US birth rate The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank involved in crafting Project 2025, is planning to tackle the declining birth rate.

Level of myopia to think that a "Manhattan Project to restore the nuclear family" will succeed without more affordable housing, middle-class opportunity jobs, immigration reform, and open trade is ludicrous.

www.newsweek.com/heritage-fou...

Walton family eyes 2028 opening for new university, seeks president committed to STEM education | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette BENTONVILLE -- The Walton family has put out a call to find the inaugural president of a new business-oriented university focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, with the aim of o...

Billionaires who fund STEM colleges > than billionaires who buy super yachts.

www.nwaonline.com/news/2025/au...

Where will your team's next ballpark be? What Royals can teach us about the future of MLB stadiums Kansas City's ongoing search for a new home provides three models other franchises could follow.

The new calculus of sports stadium development. Battery-charged/inspired and all about the $$$$.

As an urbanist, it's great that "live, work, play" is actually used outside of a planning nerd context. But still not sold on a greenfield approach, especially in KCMO.

www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/...

Congrats to #PearlandTX for ranking #3 nationally and #1 in TX on US News' best places to live 2025.

BRS principals have managed all 4 Pearland Prosperity plans so we have seen first hand their vision to shoot for the stars and the perseverance to reach them.

realestate.usnews.com/places/texas...

The 10 public colleges with the best ROI in the U.S. If you're borrowing money to get a college education, it's smart to pick a school that helps you pay it back. These schools offer the best value.

Georgia Tech is arguably the number two asset in the state after Hartsfield-Jackson.

www.cnbc.com/2025/08/23/p...

IKEA is coming to Alabama: Where it will be and when it will open IKEA has consistently been on a "most-wanted" list among shoppers.

This says a ton about what the data show about Birmingham vs. Huntsville trajectory.

www.al.com/news/2025/08...

The Rise of OKC: How MAPS and the Thunder transformed Oklahoma City From Bricktown to the Oklahoma City Thunder, OKC has transformed a lot over the last 30 years. Karl Torp looks at what made the change possible.

So much about the OKC example is illustrative for #econdev strategy:

--Qualify of life > talent > jobs + investment > repeat
-- Transformational resources have to be approved/generated locally
--Lasting change takes time & perseverance
--Promoting your story matters

www.news9.com/story/688c34...

Amazingly enough, the cop's name was Officer Jerry.

"Boys of Summer" circa 2025.

"I saw a Harambe plate on a Mercedes Benz..."

Was the driver by any chance extremely hairy?

I think you could add Birmingham to the list, too. Lots of jobs, affordable suburban housing with solid schools, competitive quality of life amenities, traffic bad in stretches but only during peak periods.

I truly believe we're seeing the migration but the Census doesn't capture it.

Large study of scientists who move their labs reveals how location drives productivity Concentrating funding at high-powered universities can maximize output, paper argues, but may sacrifice broader benefits

Attracting a research professor's well-funded lab is the economic equivalent of a small steel mill. Never understood why #econdev doesn't reach out to institutions to support these types of efforts.

www.science.org/content/arti...

I should add, making a subsistence wage.

And when it's a working single parent, even the best educational support program in the world won't make a difference for those kids.

Props for at least reaching for the Holy Grail. They'd rule the world for sure if this works.

Seems to come up in every strategic process.

The #econdev component is attracting the tournaments. Ton of spending and secondary effects.

Plus, CB's food sucks and Buc-ee's is actually really quality-focused.

Until they pronounced it "Publee."

A Muslim Socialist beat the heavily funded Democratic machine candidate in the NY mayoral primary.

Progressive voters are pissed and have no confidence in the establishment that handed the election to Trump.

There's gonna be a shift left to candidates who are ready to truly fight for Democracy.

We went to Inter Miami v Porto. A lot of Porto fans came over which made the atmosphere very "European."

Probably won't be many PSG fans but the Messi Cult will make up for it.

Excited to read/admire it.

As Trump shuts out migrants, Spain opens its doors and fuels economic growth Defying the anti-immigrant trend in the U.S., Spain is reaping economic benefits by granting citizenship to tens of thousands of newly-arrived workers.

This times a dozen is why the era of American exceptionalism is over.

www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

I hope US folks on the No Kings rallies know how much people outside the US are heartened to see them. We always knew the US is full of very fine people who totally reject and revile what's happening, but my god it's good to see it.

Via Visual Capitalist:

2026 White House budget released.

It's a massive slashing of HUD:
—Eliminates new funds for public housing, housing vouchers, project-based S.8, Choice Neighborhoods, CDBG, HOME
—Replaces them with much smaller state block grant program
—Overall cut of 44%—$33.6 b—to fed affordable housing spending

"In South Dakota, the funds would have helped bring accessible and affordable internet access and technology to rural, aging and low-income South Dakotans, as well as tribal communities."

Trump administration simply stopped funding the broadband program, in violation of the Impoundment Control Act.

🔥 CHAMPIONNNNSSSSS!!!!! WE'VE DONE IT!!!!

Apricot Backbruise

Strive to be a person who's mourned in your community with billboards.

RIP Jay Byers