It's that time of year again, when The Local staff gather round the figurative fireplace and look back on a year in publishing. From election after election, to wildlife reporting, to some standout office snacks, take a look at the Local's Year in Review: thelocal.to/2025-year-in...

Great to see my investigation into "Victoria Goldiee" make this New Yorker list (one slot ahead of the Ryan Lizza chronicles). www.newyorker.com/news/fault-l...

concluding that people don't need their newspapers to be accurate is professional self-harm done for no particular reason other than to justify layoffs and satisfy the AI lords

Was glad to participate in @niemanstoryboard.org's year-end best of package! I picked stories from @defector.com / @laurentheisen.bsky.social and @thelocal.to / @nickhunebrown.bsky.social.

"Horse racing was once the only form of legal gambling. The story of the sport’s decline is, among other things, the story of an industry losing its monopoly power..." I'm late to this tough but very good @nickhunebrown.bsky.social about the state of horse racing in Ontario. (CW horse deaths.)

News today about the Ontario Science Centre: Its "temporary location" will take over most, or possibly all, of Harbourfront Centre. 86,000 square feet is a larger fraction, if not all, of Harbourfront's buildings. news.ontario.ca/en/release/1...

So hard to find the font that best expresses my specific political ideology.

"In 2025, powerful people, companies, and institutions welcomed fakeness and deception like never before"

Two years ago, @thelocal.to did an issue on how this long-awaited transit line promised to transform northwest Toronto. Yesterday, @royinori.bsky.social and photographer Duane Cole rode the line with locals to try to find out if the LRT can keep up with its promises. thelocal.to/finch-west-l...

Guess where The Local is today!

Big milestone in Toronto transit history: the first Line 6 delay notification

“We don’t have enough social care, we don’t have enough supportive housing, and we have a lot of people under a lot of stress... So who is going to have to deal with that? At the moment it looks like the TTC."

Three horses euthanized at Woodbine last weekend. www.thestar.com/news/gta/thr.... A reminder that this industry is wholly dependent on government subsidy. thelocal.to/breakdown-at...

Great story from @curiouslana.bsky.social. “We don’t have enough social care, we don’t have enough supportive housing, and we have a lot of people under a lot of stress... So who is going to have to deal with that? At the moment it looks like the TTC." thelocal.to/ttc-mental-h...

Since publishing our investigation into "Victoria Goldiee" at @thelocal.to, I've heard from editors from around the world who've had their own run-ins. A quick follow-up, plus a conversation with @cstarnino.bsky.social about journalism in a world of AI fakery. thelocal.to/fallout-from...

Jack White is the king of “indie dudes love sports too” representation matters baby

I spoke to @thewalrus.ca EIC Carmine Starnino about Victoria Goldiee, fake reporters, and what the hell journalists are supposed to do in this AI slop era. thewalrus.ca/the-phantom-...

Genuine question, cuz this isn't my beat, but what do the AI overlords say is the SECOND step, once recipe makers, journalists, product reviewers, etc, stop doing the work because all their traffic is stolen by crappy AI summaries?

“Freelance journalism in 2025 is an incredibly difficult place to build a career,” Nicholas Hune-Brown writes. “But, it turns out, it’s a decent enough arena for a scam.” @jacobfeldman.bsky.social's favorite this week thelocal.to/investigatin...

Advocates have long struggled to improve special education at the TDSB. But now that the board is under supervision, they’re finding transparency and accountability are disappearing. New from @wencyleung.bsky.social: thelocal.to/tdsb-special...

Well put by @drrachelbarr.bsky.social

"Every media era gets the fabulists it deserves... this generation’s internet scammers are scavenging in the wreckage of a degraded media environment." Oof, this bleakly fascinating story from @nickhunebrown.bsky.social is today's media industry must-read, and with a hell of a kicker:

"Every media era gets the fabulists it deserves." This @nickhunebrown.bsky.social piece about journalism grifters in the age of AI slop is fantastic, bonkers & sad on so many levels thelocal.to/investigatin...

This is a wild ride, from surprise to anger to sadness. Fantastic storytelling about storytelling.

"Every media era gets the fabulists it deserves." Brilliant essay/investigation by @nickhunebrown.bsky.social into journalism scammers in the age of AI. thelocal.to/investigatin...

A few months ago @thelocal.to got a promising pitch from a writer with bylines in whole bunch of reputable publications—The Cut, The Guardian, Dwell, Architectural Digest, etc. Then I started investigating. Here's a story about fabulists in journalism's AI slop era. thelocal.to/investigatin...

GAWKER! thou shouldst be living at this hour

From the Star's Moira Welsh: the Ford government gave Postmedia more than $1 million to train employees on AI as part of its under-fire job training fund www.thestar.com/politics/pro...

Attention Black and/or Indigenous early-career journalists! The Local is partnering with The Philanthropist for a $10,000 fellowship. The fellow will write about issues that matter to their community and civil society, and will be offered mentorship and industry guidance. thelocal.to/early-career...

Well, it's a little clearer now why billionaires are so invested in technology that produces better written emails.

I'm curious to hear about people's experiences with Health811 (formerly Telehealth Ontario), good or bad. Please DM or email me: [email protected]

Baseball, such a game of inches. That was so close to being the greatest World Series ever but instead is probably the worst thing I've ever seen?

So close. Centimetres.

Oh my god. Having a team in an epic World Series is probably the worst thing that's ever happened to me

Vladdy, what a hero

This photo of rookie Yesavage casually walking off the mound as future Hall of Famer and helmet-less Ohtani is still in motion striking out is everything. #WantItAll

if they have to bring in a position player to pitch all the pitchers from earlier in the game should have to bat

They’re cooking over on /r/baseball right now

But everyone told me the Dodgers bullpen was terrible

Fine, my defences are down, just give me the full-body MRI they keep advertising

This game…

What a game, I absolutely hate it

When you make a team with as much as much heart as the Jays stand for a minute and really consider everyone they’ve ever lost to cancer that’s obviously gonna have an effect.

I blame the Jonas Brothers

I’m in standing room at @torontobluejays.bsky.social , behind accessible seating, where a kid/teen in a wheelchair is distraught because he can’t see anything with everyone standing up. If anyone happens to be in a box or something with extra seats, this is your chance to do a good deed.

I know a lot of people talk about "Ken Griffey's swing", "John Olerud's swing" but for my money there is nothing more beautiful than Alejandro Kirk: - 5'7 and built like a Welsh corgi - basically drops halfway into a splits on each swing - each swing is a Street Fighter "Shooooryuken" uppercut

The Ford government has announced plans to shred a bunch of tenant protections: news.ontario.ca/assets/files... (pdf, see p. 13-15)

Big story about a burgeoning young conservative movement from an event at UTM that brought in a crowd of (checks second graf)... 50 people. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

Applications for our Early-Career Journalism Fellowship are now open! The fellowship, a joint undertaking with @thephilanthropist.ca, provides one Black and/or Indigenous journalist an opportunity to write about issues that matter to their community and civil society. thelocal.to/early-career...