Some personal news: This was my last assignment for Public Source. I tried to report every story on behalf of our most vulnerable neighbors. It's been my honor to serve them and the people of PGH for the past three years. I'll be freelancing for the foreseeable future. My DMs are open for tips.

Got something to say about your experience as a patient at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital? Or any other UPMC facility? Union nurses want to hear your feedback through their community survey. Here's how this novel approach is informing their collective bargaining. www.publicsource.org/upmc-magee-w...

“This city looks quieter and calmer and less lively since this whole thing started,” the Afghan community leader said, referring to the administration’s crackdown on refugees and immigrants.” this is heartbreaking. this point of this second term is cruelty.

Years ago, city officials tried to make PGH a more inclusive place for refugees, who curbed population loss and boosted the economy. My reporting shows they now face hate speech and the possibility of detention. Some are leaving the U.S. for third countries. www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-r... 1/

Local journalism is essential to a healthy democracy. As Pittsburgh loses critical newsrooms, conversations about what our communities need matter more than ever. Join @publicsource.org for a community town hall in McKeesport this Friday. Learn more & RSVP: www.publicsource.org/you-have-the...

When I got the contract to write a history of concentration camps in 2014, I hoped to keep the US from ending up here. That didn't work out! But now it's critical to understand how much is already in process and the enormity of what's coming. The sooner we act to stop it, the more people we'll save.

New from @jamiewiggan.bsky.social and @stephstrasburg.bsky.social : Turn-signal stop prompts ICE detention for father of two in Springdale www.publicsource.org/ice-detains-...

Great piece that draws parallels between what it took to activate white moderates during the Civil Rights Movement and the impact that Renee Good and Alex Pretti’s tragic deaths are having now. www.salon.com/2026/02/01/a...

We shouldn't have to carry around our passports while running errands, but so many of us are.

Most newsroom leaders come from families who've been in this country for generations. Many aren't capable of empathizing with those who endure the most brutal aspects of the immigration system. Some don't even try. These are the people who are shaping coverage of what's happening right now.

Just say the government is lying. The goal of journalism should be to inform, not gaslight.

If you have seen your favorite sex subreddit become abolish ICE overnight please DM me so I can write about it for The Verge dot com ✨

Wow, yeah, reddit.com/r/all is a remarkable tapestry of fuck ICE posts

is it good that the guardian’s Berlin correspondent is reporting on a US paramilitary leader?

They messed with Texas Monthly’s James Beard Award-winning senior taco editor (truly one of the best job titles in journalism) www.sacurrent.com/news/texas-n...

How sad is this? The CDC closed its FOIA office, so this story could only be published because a Danish journalist provided Rolling Stone with the documents, after obtaining them through a freedom of information request to the University of Southern Denmark www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

ICE killed a Black man, Keith Porter, 7 days before Renee Good, and I hadn't heard about it until today. His vigils went unnoticed. His life came and gone and America forgot to blink. Two Americas.

NEWS: In a heartbreaking video, after ICE shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, a woman who was in the same SUV cries out: “They killed my wife. I don’t know what to do." “We stopped to videotape, and they shot her in the head,” the distraught woman sobs. www.advocate.com/news/minneso...

I still haven't totally wrapped my head around what losing the CP means, because it's hard to believe that all of that reporting and writing—especially on the arts, small businesses, and marginalized neighborhoods—just won't happen regularly anymore. Support its staff who made all that possible.

Well folks, some news. Ownership is folding @pghcitypaper.com. I wish I could say this was more surprising. I'll be on the lookout for new roles while I continue to teach and hopefully find places to publish some stories I haven't finished. In the meantime, I'm all ears for opportunities.

As we enter the fall and winter respiratory virus season, @venuri.bsky.social interviewed local public health experts to learn how Allegheny County is navigating the shifting landscape of federal vaccine policy.

Actually I think more media unions should work some kind of right to expression into their contracts. It’s ridiculous that every major newspaper chain plus NYT and WaPo restricts journalists from expressing any meaningful opinion for the entirety of their careers.

Treble NLS suggested we return to the place where he was handcuffed in the midst of a mental health crisis for portraits for @venuri.bsky.social's story on how involuntary ‘302’ hospitalizations fall more heavily on Black patients. Trusting his vision, I met him at the edge of the Mon Wharf. 🧵

Do you live in Allegheny County and have you or a loved one experienced involuntary mental health commitment? Public Source would like to learn from you for our ongoing series When Care is Compulsory. Please email [email protected] if you are in a position to share.

And experts are very clear: these people are fringe. Scientific consensus is that race and IQ studies are shoddy. But journalism has trouble saying that; it’s nearly impossible for them to figure out what whole fields believe. That’s why “Merchants of Doubt” work.

Magee nurses say executives' jetsetting stands in contrast to low staffing levels and employee burnout:

political journalists obsess over the public’s lack of trust in our profession but strangely see that as downstream of things like “we didn’t talk enough about how biden was old” and not “many of us appear to be indifferent to a nihilistic attack on the constitution”

This kid is 15, and so has a moral clarity and uprightness that no adult elected official would or could ever have. There aren't really and never have been two sides of this issue, but if it has to be argued as a binary thing I don't see how anything less than this could seem like the side to be on.

Emerging journalists/photojournalists– come join our independent, nonprofit newsroom in Pittsburgh! Delight in the joys of holding power to account & Pittsburgh's fries on salad habit. @publicsource.org interns get to work across their interests from reporting to fact checking to engagement & more.

Pitt faculty, students and staff sent an open letter to university officials this morning. It's got 902 signatures and counting. Among their demands: 1) Protect the campus from immigration raids 2) Fight "unjust federal grant termination" 3) Avoid layoffs 4) Create a crisis task force

The Trump administration is cutting staff and grant funding at Health and Human Services including the NIH. Those agencies fund much of Pittsburgh’s research. Are you an affected researcher? Please consider emailing PublicSource at encrypted [email protected] or Signal at PublicSource.412

New from @tessastuart.bsky.social www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

My uncle is a big time IP lawyer in NYC. I cannot stress enough how taking away IP laws would benefit the wealthy who would steal and then out produce any ideas they find useful. Thus destroying all creatives and their livelihoods.

Follow a buncha local journalists and news outlets here: go.bsky.app/FzSc9z They're way better than our substandard national press.

So many student visas have been revoked that Inside Higher Ed started mapping them

Want to stay up to speed with what our PublicSource journalists are sharing about news in Pittsburgh? Check out our PublicSource journalist starter pack: go.bsky.app/8xEPt5J

Many Medicaid recipients do not know they receive it because Medicaid is called different things in different states. The public narrative of Medicaid focuses on a distant other, but 40% of US children and 60% of nursing home residents receive Medicaid. Just SOME of the names by state are below:

1/ Think cuts to Medicaid won't affect you because you have fancy private insurance? Here's my Q&A with an expert who explained how even those with high incomes could suffer under the cuts that Congress is considering. www.publicsource.org/medicaid-cut... 🧵

THIS IS SERIOUS: The Times of India is reporting that there are hundreds of international students getting their student visas immediately revoked, reportedly for supporting Gaza on social media, based on a Marco Rubio directive to analyze/surveil students' social media posts.

When scholars of authoritarianism and fascism leave U.S. universities because of the deteriorating political situation here, we should really worry.

An ICE agent told Neri Alvarado "We're finding and questioning everyone who has tattoos, and that's why he was arrested. Stunningly, after Neri explained his autism tattoos' meanings, THE ICE AGENT SAID HE WAS CLEAN. And yet he stayed detained — then got sent to El Salvador!

Prof. Gananath Obesekere has passed away slguardian.org/obeyesekere-...

Seems like the media should *at least* point out *in the headline* that you can't shut down the Department of Education via an Executive Order? But... I guess that's asking too much.

Columbia University senior Maryam Alwan was visiting family in Jordan over winter break when she received an email from the school accusing her of harassment. Her supposed top offense: writing an op-ed in the student newspaper calling for divestment from Israel.

BREAKING: The University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University has reneged on their commitment to host the @sciencewriters.org annual conference and withdrew their entire financial support. The National Association of Science Writers is now looking for a new venue, sponsors, and partners.

Our News Editor, @colinbwilliams.com isn’t the only one whose calls were ignored by John Fetterman and his disappearing staff. How about you?

Just received notice that our grant was terminated. 5R24AG066599-03 TheRiseRegistry.org

Exactly. Let's be clear eyed. To be perceived as an activist in elite journalistic circles is looked down upon. What gets defined as activism reflects values systems of those circles not the reality. To keep a job means writing within the narrow confines of a value system that isn't honest to itself

Science journalists are unsung heroes! When engaging with them, please take a moment to express gratitude for their efforts. Their science communication plays a vital role in fostering a well-informed public. I, for one, appreciate their tireless work in sharing scientific advancements (cont)