Pam Maples

California expands historic commitment to local journalism fellowships This commitment will fund another infusion of California Local News Fellows — the nation’s largest publicly funded journalism initiative based at UC Berkeley Journalism — and will expand the program t...

Big win for local news: California commits $15 million in renewed funding for its Local News Fellowship Program. The funding will support new reporting and editor-level fellows, along with sustainability training.

Learn more: journalism.berkeley.edu/15-million-t...

Today @rebuildlocalnews.bsky.social and @muckrack.com released a major new study on the number of local journalists per 100,000 people. The local news crisis is more severe and widespread than we thought.

Your Prime Day reminder that half of Amazon warehouse workers struggle with food & housing costs.

A third have had to rely on government assistance like SNAP — which is about to get cut.

If Bezos can spend $50M on a wedding, Amazon can afford to treat its workers with dignity.

care > punishment

Exclusive: Operation Excalibur in Los Angeles “Show of Presence” Leaks from military's LA deployment reveal Coca Cola vs. Pepsi rivalry, sweaty guardsmen, and abject failure

I've obtained a trove of leaked documents about today's federal crackdown on Los Angeles' MacArthur Park. One revelation is its codename: "Operation Excalibur"

Just scrolled the court dockets to see if there was any new interesting filings for this evening’s talk.

We’re gonna have to break some news at my panel, #ire25

Hello #IRE25! I'll be presenting tomorrow on a panel about localizing data for investigative reporting. @cephillips.bsky.social, Samantha Sunne and Nicole Lewis are all on the panel as well! Not to be missed.
schedules.ire.org/ire-2025/ind...

Feeling very fortunate that I'll get to spend 9 months with these fabulous journalists.

Quite something.

This week we spoke with @conplnk.bsky.social & @johnmooneyirl.bsky.social on reporting on transnational organised crime and how they found a hidden side to one of Irelands most notorious cartel bosses. On podcast platforms search 'Stage Talks with Bellingcat' to listen back. rss.com/podcasts/bel...

Strong story ...

The Untold Story of How Ed Martin Ghostwrote Online Attacks Against a Judge — and Still Became a Top Trump Prosecutor Martin’s career is dotted with ethical and professional questions, records show. Some of the most serious ones about the interim U.S. attorney for D.C. have remained buried in court filings,…

Trump vowed to use the DOJ to reward allies and seek retribution against perceived enemies.

As interim U.S. attorney for D.C., Martin has dismissed all outstanding Jan. 6-related cases while firing more than a dozen prosecutors in his office.

Can Border Agents Search Your Electronic Devices? It’s Complicated. | ACLU We’ve been getting a lot of questions about when border agents can legally conduct searches of travelers’ electronic devices at international airports and other ports of entry. Unfortunately, the answ...

Can Border Agents Search Your Electronic Devices? It’s Complicated. (Very short answer: Prepare your devices to be boarded) www.aclu.org/news/privacy...

Introducing ProPublica’s 527 Explorer Nonprofits known as 527s can raise unlimited sums for political spending. ProPublica is releasing a new database that will allow journalists, researchers and others to more easily search these…

Nonprofits known as 527s can raise unlimited sums for political spending.

As a reminder, we've got a database that allows journalists, researchers and others to more easily search these organizations’ finances:

As major public flagship and private universities fall like dominoes to the current regime, bolstered by billions in endowments but no strong adherence to espoused principles, smaller schools such as LMU in Los Angeles have this to say:

ED, HHS, and GSA Initiate Federal Contract and Grant Review of Harvard University ED, HHS, and GSA Initiate Federal Contract and Grant Review of Harvard University

Next up...Harvard...

www.ed.gov/about/news/p...

Weather and climate office hour 04/02/2025: Ask me anything about weather, climate, and wildfire! - YouTube The latest in a recurring series of live, virtual, & interactive "office hours" hosted by Dr. Daniel Swain on various topics related to extreme weather and c...

I'll have an "ask me anything" (AMA)-style livestream this Wed, Apr 2nd, at 2pm Pacific Time! Join me then to ask whatever is on your mind in weather, climate, or wildfire realm. (I will also briefly discuss recent & upcoming CA weather.) #CAwater #CAWx youtube.com/live/edG...

Trump's comments imply he has no idea what is in the damning Signal text chain that was leaked to Jeffrey Goldberg. Trump says Pete Hegseth, who texted the attack plans, had "nothing to do" with it: "How do you bring Hegseth into it? He had nothing to do with it." (He had everything to do with it.)

Hegseth, Waltz, Gabbard: Private Data and Passwords of Senior U.S. Security Officials Found Online Donald Trump's most important security advisers used Signal to discuss an imminent military strike. Now, reporting by DER SPIEGEL has found that the contact data of some of those officials, including ...

www.spiegel.de/internationa...

And it's only Wednesday ...

Yes.

Wesley Lowery Exits Investigative Reporting Workshop and American University Following Student Complaints Lowery said he left voluntarily and denied any impropriety or wrongdoing.

Wesley Lowery exits Investigative Reporting Workshop and American University following student complaints. www.cjr.org/news/wesley-...

Playing with FOIA Pushing back on DOGE's lack of transparency.

Playing with FOIA: Pushing back on DOGE’s lack of transparency, by @sarahgrevy.bsky.social of @towcenter.bsky.social. www.cjr.org/the_media_to...

A few words on journalism, risk and what I actually said.

“The ecosystem of research and the creation of new knowledge in universities has been so powerful for American prosperity, American freedom, American ingenuity. To have that disrupted by government overreach is a disaster for this country.” —Wesleyan University President Michael Roth on
@msnbc.com

Arlington Cemetery Website Loses Pages on Black Soldiers, Women in Military and Civil War The cemetery, which is operated by the Army, said it was working to restore the content. Among the obscured pages was material about civil rights.

Materials on the Arlington National Cemetery website highlighting the graves of Black and female service members have vanished. The cemetery, which is operated by the Army, said it was working to restore the content. Among the obscured pages was material about civil rights.

Columbia University pushed out professor @katherinefranke.bsky.social because of her pro-Palestine advocacy. She joins @premthakker.bsky.social to discuss the systematic free speech crackdown at Columbia and across the US.

Watch the full conversation: zeteo.com/p/columbia-t...

A few spots left! Women in Journalism Workshop is $75 for professionals, $50 for students. Includes 2 meals a day, a reception and other fun surprises! We learn data security, self-defense, leading change in your newsroom and more.

bit.ly/wij25

🧵 This is a perfect example of what I've be describing as disordered discourse, and it's threat to democracy. Politicians are afraid to speak openly about key issues.

Why? Because disordered discourse has captured the system itself—forcing obedience, punishing dissent, and making truth irrelevant.