Greenbelt Anticipates Return Of Career Firefighters in February
This month Berwyn Heights Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad will be fully staffed with career firefighters for the first time since they were pulled on June 30, 2024. City officials now anticipate Greenbelt will also celebrate the return of career firefighters, likely in February. “Fire and EMS services remain a top priority for the […]
NASA Warned to Halt Goddard Closures; But Building 11 Is Next
On Monday, November 10, Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), ranking Democrat on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, sent a letter to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Acting Administrator Sean Duffy demanding that NASA “halt any and all laboratory, facility and building closure and relocation activities at Goddard as well as the relocation, disposal, excessing […]
The Shutdown’s Impact on One Greenbelt Family, 41 Days In
On Monday, 41 days and two-and-a-half missed paychecks into the longest government shutdown on record, a Greenbelt resident and single mother described how the current political stalemate has been impacting her. She is a federal employee, and she asked that we withhold her name out of fear of reprisal for speaking to the press. She’s […]
Furloughed Workers Recalled To Clear Buildings at Goddard
The shutdown is supposed to pause all non-essential work by government employees but while NASA usually furloughs 80 to 90 percent of its workers, Greenbelt’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) continues to hum with activity, including executing controversial directives critics say are illegal. Clearing of buildings on the campus and “divesting” of labs and equipment […]
Frankie Fritz Elected; Rodney Roberts Ends 34 Years on Council
On Tuesday, November 4, Greenbelt elected the next city council. Challenger Frankie Fritz has earned a seat on council, knocking incumbent Rodney Roberts from the seat he has held for 34 years. Preliminary results show Fritz, who campaigned hard, garnered more votes than three incumbents: Roberts, Silke Pope and Amy Knesel. Emmett Jordan was again […]
Federally Employed Greenbelters Miss Their First Full Paycheck
It’s been four weeks since the federal government shutdown ‒ 22 work days at publication time. For many Greenbelters who are federal workers, that means one fully missed paycheck and one partial one. “Disorienting” was how one Greenbelt resident who works for NASA described the experience of being furloughed. It’s his fourth furlough since 2010. […]
Landon Gets Life Without Parole For Murder of Greenbelt Teacher
On Friday, October 17, 35-year-old Harold Landon III was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of first-degree murder in the death of 59-year-old Mariame Toure Sylla, a Greenbelt resident and longtime teacher at Dora Kennedy French Immersion school. Sylla disappeared during her regular evening walk in Schrom Hills […]
Three Dead from Gun Violence Including Local 14-Year-Old
A 25-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy were fatally shot in separate incidents in Greenbelt over the weekend. Meanwhile, another man died Sunday after succumbing to injuries from an earlier shooting. Juan Gonzalez, 25; Carltin Bayong, 14; and Mancel Johnson, 49, were all fatally shot in the Franklin Park area of the city. Gonzalez was […]
Some Goddard Employees to Vacate Buildings Beginning This Week
On Monday, September 22 at 2:12 p.m. a memo from Associate Center Director Raymond J. Rubilotta was sent to all Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) employees advising them that the center had been working for months on areas of transformation and now had the green light from agency leadership to move ahead in one of […]
ERHS Graduate Tramell Tillman Wins Emmy Award for Severance
Eleanor Roosevelt High School (ERHS) graduate Tramell Tillman has won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his performance as Seth Milchick in the Apple TV+ series Severance (for more on Tillman and that role see our May 8 issue). Tillman makes history as the first Black man to […]