Trying to wrap my head around this one. We're going to pay European firms *not* to build offshore wind? It's a like an own-goal shakedown in which you have to pay someone to shoot you in the foot ... Or something. Language falters www.nytimes.com/2026/03/17/c...

ALL buildings should have running water — dont blame supply chains or the trades! gothamist.com/news/crappy-...

“When insurance, gas, repairs and maintenance are included, the total cost of owning a vehicle has risen more than 40% since January 2020.” This is not sustainable.

When a federal judge (finally) put ICE officers under oath, they admitted that they are given daily detention quotas and rely heavily on a Palantir-supplied AI tool to select targets, without warrants and without enough evidence to obtain one. They simply go into neighborhoods and round people up.

Imagine taking the production of affordable housing as seriously as the federal government took the space race in the 1960s. This actually happened, thanks to the REPUBLICANS running HUD. My story for @bloomberg.com on Operation Breakthrough. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

LA28 was seen as a chance to do something more sustainable with Olympic transportation, including a chance to showcase EV infrastructure and electric buses. For @bloomberg.com I looked at the uncertain progress of the charger buildout www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Every homeowner knows the pain and cost of unexpected repairs. But when the home in question is Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, the tasks, and costs, become a lot more complicated. For @dwell.bsky.social I peeled away the layers of the recently completed $7.5M reno www.dwell.com/article/fran...

I am so tired of writing about LA's most infamous surface parking lot, Lot 731

NEW: We just published a deep dive into just how much billionaires are now dominating U.S. politics. We found 300 billionaire families accounted for 19% of federal donations in 2024. The deluge was even larger in many state and local races. 1/7 www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/u...

We now have three years of post-ULA permitting data to compare to pre-ULA, and...it's not good. Average annual building permits issued in LA City have fallen by 1/3 since the measure passed. If you think this is due to macro factors, look at the rest of the county and state - doing mostly fine.

New: The number of days where extreme heat makes it too dangerously hot to walk the dog, sweep the porch and engage in other ordinary pursuits has doubled since 1950. Older people experience a month a year when heat prevents them from routine activities. Free link. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Cannot recommend taking the time to read this article more strongly. Truly compelling reporting that does the best work I have seen in a long time depicting the jobs that AI is creating: precarious data works. Huge congrats to @joshdzieza.bsky.social.

A paused Army Corp dredging of the Cape Fear River in North Carolina points to a huge potential issue with PFAS: the presence of forever chemicals in sediment in our harbors and waterways. My latest, and first for Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/1-3-...

there's a lot going on right now but did you know a massive amount of the world's fertilizer flows through the middle east, and did you know that that fertilizer needs to be shipped to the us *right now* for planting season, and uh did you know we are at war with iran

Reflections on the war from the streets of Tehrangeles; for @bloomberg.com I wrote about the reaction of the Iranian diaspora in LA w/John Gittelsohn www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Every American should have this in their wallet:

Single-stair gets the New York Times treatment. @holz-bau.bsky.social reminds us why they call the last line the kicker: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/b... (gift link)

did a little back of the envelope math for how much all this shit is costing. on the order of $1-2 billion per day just in direct spending, maybe 10 times that much in indirect effects

The future and limits of petro politics. while oil embargo is crushing the island, Cuba has increased solar panel imports 34x in a year, may “experience fastest energy transition in the world” www.economist.com/the-americas...

In a world of digital renderings and virtual tours, nothing beats a building model. For AIA, I looked at the ways that model making in modern architecture not only stays alive, but can help architects sell their ideas to clients www.aia.org/aia-architec...

For my story on the legal strategies cities are using to push back on ICE detention center plans—zoning, infrastructure, NEPA and federal laws—I created this Schoolhouse Rock-style graphic that I‘m assuming 5 people will love www.bisnow.com/national/new...

New from 404 Media: CBP tapped into the online advertising ecosystem to track peoples' movements, according to an internal DHS document. Shows for the first time DHS tracked phones via process for putting ads in ordinary apps—video games, fitness apps, many more www.404media.co/cbp-tapped-i...

As ICE expands its network of detention centers, as part of a rapid, unprecedented expansion of detention facilities, local governments are trying to push back with any legal option available. For Bisnow, I looked at the different strategies being used and considered www.bisnow.com/national/new...

For the Old Heads

"Western carmakers’ share of China’s EV market fell to just over a third last year from two-thirds in 2020, according to a study by New York-based independent research firm Rhodium Group. During this period, Chinese original equipment manufacturers were able to bring down prices drastically."

Extreme weather conditions that stoke wildfires around the world are happening on more days each year, causing fire seasons in different regions to overlap more, a new study found. The simultaneous emergencies could stop countries from sharing ground crews and equipment.

This is part two in @outliermedia.org's series on home repair. Read part one here: outliermedia.org/home-repair-...

Ultra-rich buyers are consolidating New York townhouse apartments into giant single-family homes. Some are buying two, even three adjacent townhomes to build a franken-house. Step inside a Manhattan mega-mansion, the latest status symbol in this second Gilded Age: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

San Francisco’s AI tech boom has brought more workers and placed even more pressure on a crowded rental market. But today’s tech boom isn’t the same as the last. For @fastcompany.com why the explosion of AI agents is also good business for real estate agents www.fastcompany.com/91496327/can...

still pondering this piece. if you are interested in why rents (particularly in NYC) are so high, can't recommend it enough

Some of the nation’s largest real estate investors are selling industrial facilities to ICE as the agency rushes to buy & turn warehouses into detention facilities. I contributed reporting to an excellent Bisnow dive into the dealmaking by Chloe Gallivan & Ciara Long www.bisnow.com/national/new...

So, let me get this straight. “Hi, we’re from the Tech Corp. Oh, no, not the Peace Corp. Common mistake, haha. Um, no, not the group with the medicine, vaccines, and food aid, either. We fired all of them. But we can totally show you how to make some AI slop.” restofworld.org/2026/us-tech...

The Sun-Times and WBEZ have published about 20 stories and audio pieces this week about the Rev. Jesse Jackson, showing how his civil rights work intersected with film, education, Chicago mayors and much more. So, here's an ICYMI thread with some highlights. 🧵

Watching the Olympics I wondered how athletes mastered those death-defying jumps and tricks. Turns out it was a giant airbag. My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91496276/the...

"There is no dirt in heaven": Barns, brooms, bonnets may sound trad, but the Shakers stood for something more // new @bloomberg.com CityLab www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

"Last year, the city spent nearly $4 million on a park needs assessment that identified a road map for improving this sorry state of affairs... but City Hall is doing little to support a grassroots campaign to put a park funding measure on the November ballot" — @jonchristensen.bsky.social

For @nytimes.com I looked at a certain kind of home renovation happening in LA that’s shifting the character, and challenging affordability www.nytimes.com/2026/02/19/r...

Synchrony, a social media site launching today, was launched by the mom of a neurodivergent child to help him & his peers socialize, w/an AI assistant to spur dialogue. For @fastcompany.com I looked at this attempt to harness AI chatbots for healthy conversation www.fastcompany.com/91494001/syn...

So thrilled @lizzylawrence.bsky.social and @statnews.com have won a Polk Award for our coverage of the Trump Administration assault on science+health. I couldn’t be prouder of our powerful coverage and the many stories we were first on. What a team. www.statnews.com/american-sci...

US union coverage was 16.5 million workers in 2025, the highest since 2009 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Wesleyan University President Michael Roth, a leader in organizing college presidents, has proposed Democracy Summer 2026, evoking the heroic Freedom Summer of 1964 that aimed to advance voting rights in Mississippi, now employed to safeguard the midterm elections. From Bob Kuttner:

I shared someone's post about this previously but just want to state how Curbed and Vox Media should be embarassed (if not straight up socially ostracized) for not maintaing their archive. What a fucking disaster. www.archpaper.com/2026/02/curb...

I wrote about why LA28's vote to keep Casey Wasserman in power should outrage LA taxpayers who are on the hook for the games — and how it signifies yet another way that this organization is out of sync with the city it claims to represent

This is a nice move in an interview www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/u...

Will immediately read anything @kashhill.bsky.social writes www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/t...

If a 2028 presidential candidate ran on a cheap berries platform, he or she would definitely lock up the parent vote ambrook.com/offrange/cro...

LA's golden megaevent era kicks off *this weekend* with the All-Star Game and I found weird and wacky activations all over LA. Also, the latest Casey Wasserman news which I was very annoyed I had to stay awake last night to update. All of this and more in my weekly news roundup, Hot Links🔥

In 2021, I reported on an internal meeting at Facebook about discussions to put facial recognition on new smartglasses. One of their execs complained about the coverage and said the co would have a "very public discussion" about the tech. They never did. And now: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...

Wow, I'm impressed. Bloomberg has the best article on the Sepulveda Line I've seen. No errors, very detailed, pushed back on nimby talking points, centered voices like Matute, Schneider, and Raman, and even mentions an EIFD! Full marks.