SCOOP: I FOIA'd economic development agreements & the ground lease for Meta's massive data center in Louisiana and found the state secured no explicit mandates for Meta to create locally-hired full time jobs to receive property tax breaks www.wired.com/story/louisi...

This story — which asks what happened to all of those newsroom DEI jobs, committees, and promises from 2020 — is the hardest one I've ever worked on. I hope you'll spend some time with it today. www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/from...

PSA from a @flaminghydra.com reader, recommending this AI-free Google search link udm14.com

Prism almost worked with this person, but we didn't because she was being weird & non-human via email. I'm also surprised Wired doesn't top edit and fact-check every piece. Prism runs every piece through 3-4 different editors and fact-checks everything. www.wired.com/story/how-wi...

also @flaminghydra.com referenced on this episode 👀

TODAY: @markyarm.bsky.social talks with @karenattiah.bsky.social about her Resistance Summer School program, and about what's going on at Columbia: "This is not an environment conducive to academic freedom at all, particularly if you’re a marginalized professor." flaminghydra.com/issue-384/#a...

New York’s public radio and TV stations are facing major blows to their budgets after Congress two weeks ago approved a bill that cancelled over $1 billion in federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.https://nysfocus.com/2025/07/30/public-radio-tv-cuts-npr-pbs-new-york

TODAY: @kimkelly.bsky.social on all the friends and lovers and cultural memory we can’t find on Facebook anymore, and what still remains. “My heart warmed, then cooled. As I was searching for the image I wanted, I saw other dead men looking up at me.” flaminghydra.com/r/6b663d52?m...

I strongly encourage freelancers to join @fspnwu.bsky.social, to share rates and information about publishers, to advocate for themselves in an increasingly hostile media climate. And I urge other indie pubs to work with @nwu.org on policies of their own.

Over 100 ppl (& counting) are registered for this @fspnwu.bsky.social convo abt funding news under fascism, happening TMRW @ 12 pm EST! Signing up is free and takes 2 min. You won't wanna miss out: bit.ly/FundingUnder...

Thousands in New York state prisons are left in scorching cells for 20+ hours a day as the system continues to grapple with the effects this winter's guard strike. “You have no sense of relief. ... You’re just sitting in a cell, baking.” New in @nysfocus.bsky.social: nysfocus.com/2025/08/04/s...

I will be moderating this talk on funding the news under fascism!! How do we pay the bills when even the nonprofit news model is under attack??? I don't know but we're gonna figure it out!

The journalism industry is facing economic breakdown. What promises and pitfalls does the nonprofit news model offer? Hear from Mazin Sidahmed of @documentedny.bsky.social, Alicia Bell of @borealisphil.bsky.social, & Lara Witt of @prismreports.org on August 5. Register: bit.ly/FundingUnderFascism

Got the nonprofit industrial complex on your mind? Us too. Join @fspnwu.bsky.social, moderator @roshanabraham.bsky.social, and these stellar speakers for a chat about ~funding under fascism~ next week! Register & send us your burning q's here - it's totally free & takes 2 min: tinyurl.com/mrxubuyj

Excellent roundup from @keharloe.bsky.social of the impact public broadcasting cuts on New York's rural stations

Maybe you've heard @nysfocus.bsky.social reporters on Radio Catskill or Capitol Pressroom or NCPR - we're regularly partnering with public radio organizations across the state. Read @keharloe.bsky.social's report on the federal cuts coming to public radio and tv.

For @nysfocus.bsky.social, I reported on what New York state will lose as a result of the federal cuts to public media: at least $57 million, and probably more when all is said and done.

Tell everyone you know to subscribe to @flaminghydra.com ! It is $36/year for top shelf criticism, interviews, comics, essays, and more, from the 60+ talented members of our cooperative. I love it so MUCH flaminghydra.com

Free Press is grieving the loss of our dear friend Brandi Collins-Dexter, who devoted her career to improving the material conditions of humankind and redressing anti-Black racism. https://www.freepress.net/blog/remembering-brandi-collins-dexter

NEW: Hotels and motels have quietly become New York’s most common solution for emergency shelter for homeless people outside NYC. Many stay in dilapidated rooms without the social services that shelters are required to provide. With @nysfocus.bsky.social

“If we value the medicine the land offers us so generously, we must become medicine for the land.” Robin Wall Kimmerer explores the medicinal plants of the Adirondacks.

A YEAR OF FLAMING HYDRA @flaminghydra.com PLUS • THE AWL THE BOOK • SUCH A DEAL mailchi.mp/popula/the-a...

reading this made me wonder whether AI bullshit will render professional writers completely irrelevant, or eventually create *more* demand for our work in response to the flood of ChatGPT-generated slop nymag.com/intelligence...

“‘I am saying it clear and loud to President Trump and his cabinet: I am not afraid of you,’ Mahdawi said outside the Vermont courtroom.” www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

We've received a letter officially cutting out IMLS funding. We expect to get a similar cut letter from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a $250,000 capital grant, and we have a $3.6 million grant from the EPA to support construction of our Interpretive Center, which has been frozen.

Contact your representatives via our letters here tell them that the funding for Teen Program HAS been cut undergroundrailroadhistory.org/call-to-acti...

Critics say.

NEW: Residents of Sackets Harbor, NY were shocked after immigration authorities detained three children and their mother on a dairy farm. The incident highlighted just how much key industries upstate depend on workers with few paths to citizenship.

In more uplifting news, 1,000 people protested ICE’s abduction of a mother and children at the home of the agency’s acting head Tom Homan. Notably, the entire population of the town is just 1,450. www.syracuse.com/state/2025/0...

Even more ashamed than usual of the alma mater. You can support Steven here: forms.gle/Rn9Rmq5fQUhq...

Mahmoud Khalil finally gets the chance to speak for himself: “My arrest was a direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza, which resumed in full force Monday night.”

We're LIVE! Free Press Action is excited to partner with the Media Power Collaborative to launch an ambitious framework that journalists and community members can unite behind: "Local News for the People: A Policy Agenda for Meeting Civic-Information Needs." www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJZw...

They don't own their fortunes, their fortunes own them. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/the-more-y...

👷 Earlier this week, we joined the @fewcoalition, elected officials & allies in Albany to remind legislators that 750,000 workers can’t wait any longer. Immigrants contribute labor and millions in taxes, but we can't get access to the safety net we help fund. 🧵(1/2)

I am ordering all of my opinion-writing employees to only write about the importance of personal liberty, if they don't want to write on the assigned topic, they will lose their jobs

Thank you for having New York Focus on the @studyhall.bsky.social podcast! @alexarriaga.bsky.social and @keharloe.bsky.social talked about our statewide listening tour where we asked New Yorkers what they want from local news.

On the latest podcast episode, @danielspielberger.bsky.social chatted with @keharloe.bsky.social and @alexarriaga.bsky.social of @nysfocus.bsky.social about their community listening tour across New York, asking residents about how they get their news. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

Read the full @nysfocus.bsky.social and @columbiajournalism.bsky.social investigation and meet the people behind these cases:

NEW: New York’s conviction integrity units promise justice for the wrongfully convicted. Our investigation with @columbiajournalism.bsky.social Investigations shows these units have fallen short. Applicants found the CIU process slow and haphazard, leaving them in limbo, sometimes for years. 🧵

From community members to lobbyists who work in Albany, New Yorkers are frustrated with the loss of local news coverage and a lack of government transparency. Our partner @ncprnews.bsky.social shared the findings of our statewide study with @keharloe.bsky.social and @alexarriaga.bsky.social.

As LA burns, Hochul again delays a climate funding program she's promised for two years. She was going to promise a plan by the end of 2025, but backed out at the last minute. Scoop from @colinreports.bsky.social: nysfocus.com/2025/01/17/h...

@nysfocus.bsky.social set out to understand what sources of information New Yorkers rely on to navigate state and local government services. Read their top findings and the stories they heard while hosting listening sessions in several cities across the state: bit.ly/3ZVfXM0

“New Yorkers are eager for change. Residents explained that the decline of local news has left a major hole when it comes to finding basic civic information about municipal, town, village, county, and even state government."

As gift subscriptions go, it's basically a stocking stuffer. Obviously I'm biased, but I think it's a steal at twice the price.

There’s a photo of @cuppacourtney.bsky.social and I in here as @keharloe.bsky.social recommend my workplace, the Underground Railroad Education Center, underneath some Upstate New York Ice cream opinions. Enjoy the piece, ice cream and come hear about freedom, activism and its long history in NY