Leslie-Jean Thornton

Spring is arriving earlier across the US, and that’s not always good news Climate change has advanced the arrival of spring by as much as several weeks in some parts of the US. This can mean major crop losses and disconnects between species that need each other to thrive.

#Spring is arriving up to 20 days earlier in some parts of the US, disrupting ecosystems and human activities. Plants are leafing and flowering sooner, while animals are changing their migration patterns.

These mismatches can have serious ecological consequences.

The Trump White House is axing the wire service spot from the coverage pool, the latest salvo in its battle with the AP | CNN Business Instead of restoring access to The Associated Press newswire, as required by a federal judge, the Trump administration is removing the wire position in the daily press corps rotation altogether.

Instead of restoring access to The Associated Press newswire, as required by a federal judge, the Trump administration is removing the wire position in the daily press corps rotation altogether.

#BREAKING: By 5-4 vote, #SCOTUS puts on hold a Mass. district court temporary restraining order that had required the Department of Education to pay out grants for teacher training to schools with "DEI" policies.

Chief Justice Roberts and the three Democratic appointees dissent. (Link coming.)

New York Warns Trump It Will Not Comply With Public School D.E.I. Order New York’s stance differed from the muted and deferential responses from other major institutions to the administration’s threats.

New York warns Trump it will not comply with public school D.E.I. order.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/u...

Waltz and staff used Gmail for government communications, officials say Trump’s national security adviser is trying to manage his way out of a crisis. But new revelations about his team’s operational security are piling up in the inbox.

Gee. G-mail. wapo.st/42dVyTk (gift article)

Western officials say Russia is behind a campaign of sabotage across Europe. This AP map shows it Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of attacks and other incidents across Europe since the invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

apnews.com/article/russ... officials say Russia is behind a campaign of sabotage across Europe. This AP map shows it

White House bars AP reporter from Oval Office because of AP style policy on 'Gulf of America' The White House blocked an Associated Press reporter from attending an event in the Oval Office after demanding the news agency alter its style on the Gulf of Mexico, which President Donald Trump has ...

Alert. Big deal. --> apnews.com/article/trum...

Cyberattack Disrupts Publication of Lee Newspapers Across the U.S. (Gift Article) The media company Lee Enterprises said a “cybersecurity event” had created havoc at dozens of its newspapers, prompting some to publish shorter editions or not print at all.

More on the cyberattack that hit Lee's newspapers across the country (gift article): www.nytimes.com/2025/02/09/b...

Something worth watching, eh?

Engines of Outrage Pt. 1 : Landslide Just a few decades ago most people used — and trusted — the same news sources. Now, Americans are siloed in separate ecosystems, consuming conflicting depictions of reality. Misinformation runs rampan...

Cool to be paired with Andie Tucher for this first episode of the latest mini-season of Landslide — explaining how we got to our contemporary dysfunctional media environment. Give a listen!

www.npr.org/2026/01/01/1...

I hate when that happens. Seriously. All that planning that goes into flow, all those carefully plotted deadlines and incremental learning steps... Ack! I hear you.

I have found my people.

Where is the protest art? Those of you who know me or my work know I have a fascination and respect for art distributed on social media as a form of protest, advocacy, documentation. I have archived thousands of examples. I'm not finding much (if any) for current circumstances. Thoughts? Tips?

Please, everyone, drop what you’re doing and read this:

The split personality of Big Journalism in covering this nightmare The reporting is essential. But what about the ability to make sense of the chaos and sound the alarm?

It’s just not the big media outlets having trouble with the story. Local outlets, already struggling with staffing shortages and corporate interference, are way out of their depth on this story.

Good read, @sulliview.bsky.social margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/the-split-...

Trump will begin his presidency in delicate position, poll finds A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll shows that Americans' support for President-elect Donald Trump's top priorities is split, despite his claims of a mandate for his agenda.

A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll shows that Americans' support for President-elect Donald Trump's top priorities is split, despite his claims of a mandate for his agenda.

For more background on the crisis at the Washington Post, here's my past reports:

www.npr.org/series/g-s1-...

For fresh reporting, stay tuned.

Court annuls marriage after Melbourne bride thought wedding was ‘sham’ to boost groom’s Instagram Judge finds woman ‘believed she was acting in a social media event’ rather than official ceremony

Oh, yeah. I think this one's going in the class readings on social media culture... www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

LISTEN LIVE: Supreme Court hears arguments on whether TikTok can be banned in free speech case TikTok says it plans to shut down the social media site in the U.S. by Jan. 19 unless the Supreme Court strikes down or otherwise delays the effective date of a law aimed at forcing TikTok's sale by…

In one of the most important cases of the social media age, free speech and national security collided at the Supreme Court on Friday in arguments over the fate of TikTok.

I'm here for the TikTok argument. Here being in my son's old bedroom typing thoughts on Bluesky

The TikTok Ban Would Be Social Media’s First Extinction-Level Event TikTok transformed everyday users into influencers and made entrepreneurs rich via its Shop feature. With the US ban looming, they could lose everything—and many don’t know where to go next.

NEW: TikTok transformed everyday users into influencers and made entrepreneurs rich via its Shop feature. With the US ban looming, they could lose everything—and many don’t know where to go next.

🥁 Announcing the Public Domain Image Archive! 🥁

We are v excited to share our new sister-project, the Public Domain Image Archive (PDIA), a curated collection of 10k+ out-of-copyright historical images, all free to explore and reuse: pdimagearchive.org @pdimagearchive

Today's my day to update articles for this semester's class on social media foundations. Starting with this read:

Here’s tomorrow’s front page of the @latimes. All our fire coverage is here, and the paywall has been lifted: www.latimes.com/california/l...

From the screen, so far. The State Funeral of President Jimmy Carter at The Washington National Cathedral.

Ex-FBI informant who fabricated bribery story about Bidens gets 6 years in prison Alexander Smirnov pleaded guilty in December to lying to the FBI about a phony bribery scheme that prosecutors say was an effort to influence the 2020 election.

A former FBI informant who fabricated a story about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter accepting bribes that became central to Republicans’ impeachment effort has been sentenced to six years in prison.

The LA Times photo desk, which is doing incredible work covering these brutal fires, has set up a Bluesky account that is among the newest ones we have verified. They are well worth following right now. @latimesphotos.bsky.social

A screenshot of the Watch Duty app showing the multiple fires in the Los Angeles area on a colored grid.

I do want to applaud Watch Duty for having a very simple and approachable interface for basic wildfire data, like red flag alerts and different evacuation levels: app.watchduty.org

Henrico County is offering residents free water at several locations until 9 p.m., and local YMCAs are opening their doors to people who'd like to shower. Locations and details: https://buff.ly/3C1TK6T

All of Henrico County under a boil water advisory Henrico County is under a boil water advisory effective immediately Wednesday afternoon.

Henrico County is under a boil water advisory effective immediately Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.

Officials said it is under the guidance of VDH as the county continues to work to restore water service to communities in central and eastern areas, and is issued out of an abundance of caution.