"His pinhole view of both markets and states leaves little room for the more complicated, sometimes antagonistic interplay between them." "...if capitalism thrives on accumulation *and* non-accumulation, stability *and* crisis, the suspicion grows that we’ve been sold a story without a subject."

On DOGE’s watch, federal spending did not go down at all. It went up. But is still led to cuts that closed offices, canceled programs and deprived people of food, medicine and other aid. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...

After Bari Weiss, the new CBS News editor in chief, abruptly postponed a segment of “60 Minutes” that was critical of the Trump administration, several veteran correspondents questioned how she had handled the segment after she defended her decision on a call with the newsroom.

1/ Just weeks after a Democrat was elected governor of NC in 2024 by an overwhelming margin, the state’s GOP-controlled legislature set out to strip him of powers. What happened next illuminates the breakdown in the separation of powers throughout the nation. THREAD 👇 tinyurl.com/y3v6np59

STUNNING: Nearly a year since President Donald Trump took office, his education department’s Office for Civil Rights has not entered into a single new resolution agreement involving racial harassment of students, we found.  @jsmithrichards.bsky.social @megomatz.bsky.social @jodiscohen.bsky.social

THREAD: The FDA has made it difficult to find where medications are made. Today we're changing that with our latest tool. With Rx Inspector, it’s possible to see your drug’s manufacturing facility and what the FDA found during its inspections. Here's how you can use it. 1/

The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down the controversial state social studies standards -- but not because of the many Biblical references and skepticism about the 2020 election and origins of Covid-19. The court ruled the state board of ed violated the Open Meetings Act. Nondoc explains here.

NEW: Inside the Trump administration’s man-made hunger crisis in the world’s third largest refugee camp. After the U.S. failed to fund the World Food Program in Kenya, we went to the Kakuma refugee camp. This is what we found:

Smart as always by @victorpickard.bsky.social on the systemwide failure when local production is lost. We keep using the word “ecosystem” exactly because information produced in one place affects a whole food chain.

"In a corner conference room, it was time to party. They traded congratulatory speeches and cut into a sheet cake."

NEW: For more than a century, a smelter spewed lead dust over Omaha. For decades, the government cleaned it up. But a shift in guidance from the Trump administration may stop thousands more from potential cleanup, exposing families to the harmful metal. With @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social

"Indiana Republicans have withstood immense pressure from President Donald Trump — and ignored threats on their lives — to defeat his plan to redraw the state’s congressional map ..." By @adamwren.bsky.social / @politico.com

Please come on a little journey with @megomatz.bsky.social's latest story about how WI Sen. Ron Johnson has endorsed a book that advocates chlorine dioxide (a chemical used for disinfecting and bleaching) as a treatment for cancer, malaria, autism and COVID: www.propublica.org/article/ron-...

NEW: Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick tries to shed $830K debt to Detroiters from corruption scandal www.detroitnews.com/story/news/l...

ProPublica is hiring and we have a slew of great job opportunities: * Copy editor * Texas reporter * Senior editor, Business * Senior editor, LRN * YouTube senior producer * YouTube producer (two-year) job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica

Instacart prices vary by 20% or more depending on the customer, despite buying the same item from the same store at the same time. Instacart admits that customers are subject to "pricing tests." Surveillance pricing is so much more pervasive than we know. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/b...

Community health centers were created to be medical safety nets for people who struggle to afford primary care. But we found that several are suing patients and garnishing their paychecks – which experts say contradicts their mission. www.propublica.org/article/fede...

"Nearly 80% of the settlement is set aside to claimants who were minors a decade ago during the water crisis." Somebody needs to write the definitive book on the remarkably long + tangled effort to deliver a fair class-action settlement to folks in Flint.

What I love about @gingerthompson.bsky.social’s project is that it shows the power of a journalist’s curiosity and sincere search for truth, beyond expected narratives. Immersing in a story, and changing as you discover more information, more history, more nuance. There’s no substitute for this.

NEW: In a five-part series, “Sick in a Hospital Town,” ProPublica’s @gingerthompson.bsky.social pursues the question: Why are people in Albany, Georgia, so sick when its most powerful institution is a hospital? Start with Part 1 here:

Closing out the semester at Alma College's low-res MFA program in creative writing, and I have to say ... This shit WORKS. Getting to teach students who dig deep, work hard and dream big is an honor. And seeing, over time, as their writing deepens does my soul good.

Ann Hermes spent six years photographing American newsrooms, from Juneau to St. Louis, forming a witty and elegiac portrait of local journalism in action. See her images. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/YCzYut

Oh, damn.

With so many nonprofits making a year-end push for donations, it helps to do some research before deciding where to give. @propublica.org's Nonprofit Explorer tool has details on millions of orgs (including ProPublica) with helpful info like executive compensation, revenue, and expenses.

"A ruling against the president could also force the Trump administration to pay back a substantial portion of the roughly $200 billion it has collected in duties ...."

Wong’s plight — arms raised in anguish and weeping as he stands against the backdrop of what became Hong Kong’s deadliest fire since 1948 — was captured in a Reuters photograph that went viral, becoming the emblematic frame of the disaster reut.rs/4rzTZek

This is so gorgeous. And great reporting, too.

NEW: President Trump has repeatedly threatened to bring federal agents, or even soldiers, to San Francisco to battle crime. His administration has actually done the opposite, quietly taking federal law enforcement away from the city to do immigration work instead. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

Journalists: I can't recommend the Knight-Wallace fellowship enough. Personally and professionally, it changed my life. Here's a chance to learn more if you're considering giving it a go! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

"Uncle Sam has yet to acknowledge any federal liability" for the Flint water crisis ... "but he's in line for a cut from the civil settlement fund." Via @paulegan4.bsky.social / @freep.com

In Congress, Pete Hoekstra warned of tariffs causing job loss + price increases. Especially for furniture makers in his Michigan district. One of them is citing tariffs as it closes after 99 years. 195 jobs will be lost. But Hoekstra — Trump’s ambassador in Canada — now sings a different tune.

Want to support great journalism and score one of the coolest totes around? Give to @propublica.org and be part of journalism that makes a difference! give.propublica.org/campaign/749...

Good story by @annaleighclark.bsky.social about US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra In Congress, He Said Tariffs Were Bad for Business. As Trump’s Ambassador to Canada, He’s Reversed Course.

Legend.

Just thinking …

Was recently cleaning up some work stuff and found my souvenir from when our art director took an actual sledgehammer to the ceramic pill piggy banks she'd crafted for this story. No CGI or AI on this one, just the thrilling cycle of creation and destruction.

Jack White brings out Eminem

My Michigan heart swelled three sizes this day. At home, sister and I jumped and sang along. There’s something special about the musicians you grow up with.

"The denial came after the Trump administration documented $90 million in damage to utility infrastructure, according to records obtained by @eenews.bsky.social. The amount is nearly five times the federal threshold to qualify for disaster aid" "Trump’s denial is both unprecedented and unexplained"

Gov. Jeff Landry eliminated parole for prisoners arrested after Aug. 1, 2024, and tightened eligibility rules for those already in prison. Then he set all of that aside for one group: undocumented immigrants. Why? To have them deported. By @richardawebster.bsky.social & Bobbi-Jeanne Misick

Unfortunately there's no option that turns off the permission for the LLM to be trained on your e-mails but retains spellcheck and the crucial automated tab sorting. When I turned it off my primary inbox jumped from 1300 to 83,000. I'm really not sure what to do here.

If you don't want your Gmail contents to be used to train Google's AI - here's how to opt out:

BREAKING via AP: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. personally directed the CDC to update its website to contradict its longtime guidance that vaccines don't cause autism, he told the New York Times in an interview published Friday. https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/washington-watch/118658

To the point: Here's a 1933 @detroitnews.com feature on Kahlo when she and Rivera were living in city as he painted the epic mural in the Detroit Institute of Arts

“He was so brazen about it — and there was so little done about it — that he thought it was permission." Chills. A haunting story by @jlussenhop.bsky.social + Andy Mannix

1/ It should be forgiven. It should be forgotten. If she spoke of it again, the sins would be hers, she was told. But she could never forget. And neither could the other girls. This is the story of how her church enabled a child abuser for years 👇 [content warning: sexual abuse]

Now that’s a lede. Story by @taracopp.bsky.social and @michelleboorstein.bsky.social. Read here: www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

John Oliver and Co did a great explanation of what public media does, and who exactly the funding recission actually hurts (Hint: it's not liberal elites.) Also very proud to see my old friend and former WBEZ reporter Lauren Chooljian featured for her amazing work. youtu.be/yknMJOgy2pA?...

It began with a $4,500 coffeemaker. But it sure didn't end there. I can't wait to moderate this virtual conversation with Beth LeBlanc + @chadlivengood.bsky.social on their investigative series into a $20 million earmark, revealing reckless spending, corruption and loose oversight in government.