When Carpenter Media bought three Alaska newspapers, they had nine journalists in the state. Next week, they will have one.

As the Washington Post cut 300 journalists, I spoke to @wearehpr.bsky.social about a publisher rapidly taking over local newspapers and its similarly sweeping layoffs. It’s a timely look at political pushback against reporting, and why a free press matters to communities large and small.

Fundamentally flawed economic models mean #climatecrisis could crash global economy, experts warn - Shocks from extreme weather disasters and tipping points are entirely missed by the current models used by governments and financial institutions Story by me www.theguardian.com/environment/...

As someone laid off from investigative reporting last year, today’s news feels bleak. Journalism works like a mycorrhizal network—sharing critical info and warnings for democracy. When it disappears, the whole system suffers. And it doesn't work in isolation. talkingpointsmemo.com/tpm-25/patro...

Thrilled that @Longreads selected my Carpenter Media reporting as one of its Editor's Picks. Also, the Alaska State Legislature's ethics committee announced an investigation into Rep. Vance. As I reported, they say that Vance offered her opinion and urged corrective action on official letterhead.

People targeted by federal agents - for their skin color, accents, or immigration status - are afraid to seek healthcare; healthcare staff are fearful for their safety at work. Here's how Minnesota providers are responding to an unfolding crisis - my latest:

We dropped our paywall for this new piece. Court Watch picked one of the largest ‘news deserts’ in the South and examined all the new court dockets that went unreported to tell a larger story about the need for local journalism ‘Dockets Die In Darkness’ www.courtwatch.news/p/the-rabbit...

Climate change is increasing landslide risks in the U.S. too. I reported on how out of date some landslide maps were last year (and how hard it is to find the will to update them). www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

In just a few years, a publisher based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has become the country’s fourth-largest newspaper operator. Some reporters wonder if it isn’t the cruelest. (Just ask Homer, Alaska.) www.cjr.org/feature/carp... By @loisparshley.bsky.social via @columjournreview.bsky.social

Carpenter came in to Oregon like a wrecking ball and immediately closed at least one community’s paper, laid off many experienced journalists, and at the same time required more output from the ones they kept, leading to low quality stories. All in the name of “preserving local news”.

In Hawai'i, Carpenter Media owns the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Midweek, the Hawai'i Tribune-Herald and West Hawai'i Today. Notably, West Hawai'i Today no longer has any reporters and is essentially a ghost paper.

For years I’ve been begging for a comprehensive look at Carpenter Media and their whole deal and it dropped this morning; tales about an existential threat to local news in my hometown and others like it. From the Alaska resignations to mass layoffs to unrealistic quotas and ghost papers.

As public discourse feels increasingly unstable and official accounts can't be trusted, local reporters who know the ground they're covering are more important than ever. When something sudden breaks, they’re not parachuting in. They’re already rooted in their communities.

This is a list of American companies who endorsed the Big Beautiful Bill, and its $45 billion for ICE detention capacity and $29.9 billion for ICE enforcement and deportations. Notably, it includes Minnesota's 3M. www.whitehouse.gov/obbb/endorse...

A good list of resources and action items here to help you support immigrant communities in Minnesota. Would appreciate it if you helped me boost. ❤️ mspmag.com/arts-and-cul...

The StarTribune live blog is paywall free: - The man shot by federal agents this morning has died - Several witnesses have already been transported to the Whipple building. - ICE attempted to order local police from the scene, but O’Hara refused, sources said. www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...

NEW POD 🎧: "After 120 years of looking for democracy, can we just do that? Can we just get a democracy?" Hooman Majd joins us on Iran's brutal crackdown. And @loisparshley.bsky.social takes us through the billionaires behind Trump's obsession with Greenland podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...

The 5-year-old arrested by ICE In Minnesota is detained at Dilley. We reported on conditions there in the below article. Parents said the food was contaminated with mold and worms & that children were so under so much stress that they were hitting their own faces & wetting themselves.

Alaska officials gave false info to American Samoans, telling them they can vote. (They can’t, due to a unique status.) Now, the state is threatening them with years in prison, part of GOP’s voting fraud panic. @burness.bsky.social spent months reporting the story; spend some of your w-e with it.

How Chevron played the long game in Venezuela

A deep dive into how Chevron maneuvered alongside the Trump administration — and how that strategy left it uniquely positioned after last weekend’s U.S. strike. As the only U.S. oil major still operating in Venezuela, CEO Mike Wirth says, “we play a long game.” Here’s what that looks like ↓

ICE has recently bought the capability of monitoring the location histories of entire neighborhoods worth of phones. The data is likely harvested from apps that sell your data, which filters up through data brokers and eventually to companies that sell to ICE: www.404media.co/inside-ices-...

Since Greenland is back in the news, resharing this about the big tech donors in Trump’s circle who have been obsessed with the country for a long time, and the new financial reason adding to their interest www.levernews.com/trumps-tech-...

Something I see a lot of folks missing in discussions about what's happening Venezuela, particularly around oil, is the role U.S. oil majors' interest in Guyana—and the threat Venezuela posed to it—has in all of it. Explainer here: drilled.media/news/guyana-...

So we now appear to be up to at least 80 Venezuelans killed. For an operation that anonymous admin officials said yesterday was"virtually flawless." www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...

When Trump returned to office in 2025, his administration revoked oil licenses that had previously let foreign companies operate in Venezuela despite sanctions. Chevron was a stakeholder in the country's state-owned oil company. As a May deadline approached, CEO Mike Wirth met with Trump.

Chevron CEO last month on Bloomberg TV: "The Venezuelan oil is sought after by US refiners...we're in discussions with the administration to ensure that we stay in compliance, that they understand the value that our presence [in Venezuela] brings to America" www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/...

I asked Chevron if anyone at the company had any communication with the White House prior to the U.S. military strike on Venezuela.

Case in point: Alaska’s LNG project. In case you missed it grist.org/energy/alask...

In this article republished by the @alaskabeacon.com, @grist.org writer Lois Parshley takes a hard look at Alaska’s $44 billion bet on natural gas alaskabeacon.com/2025/12/22/a...

The best story you'll read all day www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/u... [gift link]

"The pipeline has become a mirror, reflecting an enduring faith in a future powered by fossil fuels. It hearkens back to a time when deals were struck behind closed doors and entire economies bent to the will of a few." Excellent reporting by @loisparshley.bsky.social for @grist.org.

Weekend read: I spent months reporting on Alaska’s LNG pipeline, a $44 or $70 billion dollar project, depending on who’s counting. The reporting included dog teams north of the Arctic Circle, pricey Italian loafers, one of the world’s most endangered whales, and asks who energy policy is for.

🧵 No-bid deals, undisclosed contracts, and billions on the line: This investigation details the wild story of the Alaska gas pipeline that will not die. A pillar of the Trump administration's “energy dominance” agenda, the President hails it as “truly spectacular.” So is its price tag.

The US has already lost 12% of its current income due to climate change. Most studies project future losses, but new research from the University of Arizona has calculated the costs to date. news.arizona.edu/news/climate... #climatechange #economy #income #impacts #supplychains

This story is hilarious (and a much better use in newsrooms than Reuters’ chatbot-authored pieces.) It’s also why AI shouldn’t be making decisions about what healthcare your insurance covers. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...

Here's why yesterday's @nytimes.com article on rusting rivers misses the boat. For Nat Geo earlier this fall, I reported on how thawing permafrost is exposing bedrock, releasing sulfuric acid and oxidizing iron into a toxic cocktail remarkably similar to acid rock drainage.

The Miami Herald tracked 16,569 flood complaints from over 12,000 locations in Miami-Dade and Broward over the last 11 years, and found 32% were outside the newly-expanded 500-year flood zones scheduled to go into effect as early as 2026: www.miamiherald.com/news/local/e...

By me and @andy-rowell.bsky.social Two fossil-fuel billionaires with close ties to Donald Trump bought millions of shares in the company they co-founded just days after a meeting with senior White House officials, who then issued them key regulatory permit www.theguardian.com/business/202...

This is really good, nuanced reporting about pricing climate risks - and the groups who do it - that gets at why Zillow removing its climate scores is a complicated story.

This gift season buy books! For example! Mobility is about oil & human frailty! It has scenic locations & a polarizing protagonist loved ones can argue about! bookshop.org/p/books/mobi.... The Golden State has scenic rural CA & a frazzled mom they can also argue about! bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

Reuters has a new story on state insurer-of-last-resort programs being stretched to their limits, using data from @cplusc.bsky.social's recent report. What I would add to this coverage is more analysis of WHY these programs are in trouble & whether it's the right... www.reuters.com/graphics/USA...

More than 1 in 4 physicians surveyed by the AMA in December said that prior authorization had led to a serious adverse event for a patient in their care. And 8% responded that prior authorization led to a disability, birth defect, or death. #RSNA25 kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

'Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has made Tehran impossible to sustain' #Iran 🇮🇷

Fossil fuel companies have been doing this for years. grist.org/internationa...

From @advaitarun.bsky.social's phenomenal data center report. Two interdependent factors decide which firms survive a bust: 1. Anticipated revenues are *deemed by investors* as insufficient to collateralize debt 2. Who seizes market share when the worst happens publicenterprise.org/report/bubbl...

Jaw dropped. Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content

I'm sorry, I'm still having a hard time getting over that the owner of the NY Times is in the Epstein files thing and they haven't even acknowledged this in any reporting.

"Investors have been selling off the debt of US tech heavyweights, showing how jitters over Silicon Valley’s boom in spending on artificial intelligence have spilled into the bond market."

Trump's dream of an Alaskan oil boom is feeling more like a bust