Rebecca Spiess

Everything Feels Like It Doesn't Make Sense Immigration, incentives, and the contradiction of Gentle Singularity

I wrote about the burning Waymos and gentle singularity and ragebait and how everything is coalescing into a giant contradiction kyla.substack.com/p/everything...

Do Market Basket prices really still offer ‘more for your dollar’? We put it to the test. - The Boston Globe A Globe reporter and video producer went to five local grocery stores, including Market Basket, to check the prices of a 10-item shopping list. Here’s what they found.

Is Market Basket really the cheapest grocery store in the Boston area? The Boston Globe compared prices at four other stores to find out.

Nearly 100 people killed seeking aid in Gaza on Sunday, Palestinian officials say Dozens of Palestinians were killed across Gaza on Sunday as they tried to get food aid, according to local health authorities, one of the deadliest days in recent months for those seeking assistance.

Dozens of Palestinians were killed across Gaza on Sunday as they tried to get food aid, according to local health authorities, one of the deadliest days in recent months for those seeking assistance.

By Joe Hernandez, @danielestrin.bsky.social and Anas Baba

I love how everybody is talking about Astronomer as if we all knew the company existed before 48 hrs ago

The front of a grey single-family house with two people on the porch. The white text reads: "The typical single-family house in Greater Boston now costs 81 million."

For the first time, the median price for a single-family house in Greater Boston has cracked $1 million.
https://trib.al/S4urWmQ

Op-ed: ‘Even God cannot hear us here’: What I witnessed inside an ICE women’s prison - The Tufts Daily On a Tuesday in March, I had spent most of my day working on my dissertation proposal and started to feel exhausted and hungry. It was the holy month of Ramadan, and I was fasting. Once finished, I qu...

“An Armenian woman I considered an aunt asked me every time I saw her, ‘Rümeysa, please write about us. Please let the world hear our story.’ I am keeping my promise, Auntie.” www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2025...

More than 450 subway passengers were led out of a tunnel beneath Boston Harbor after a Blue Line train became stuck due to a power outage Tuesday afternoon, officials said. https://trib.al/P9giBSj

The courts will not save us from tyranny - The Boston Globe The Supreme Court just washed its hands of its role in upholding the rule of law, the foundational principle that laws are meant to be followed by everyone, the government included, if we are to have ...

Essential anaylsis from @kimberlyeatkins.bsky.social: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/25/o...

Bragg Soldiers Who Cheered Trump's Political Attacks While in Uniform Were Checked for Allegiance, Appearance As Trump viciously attacked his perceived political foes, he whipped up boos from the gathered troops directed at California leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Really important story - army officials asked soldiers to identify themselves if they don't agree with Trump's politics that way he'd get only supportive soldiers in uniform during his political rally on base. Heavier soldiers were also barred from participating.

Being a progressive activist made me miserable - The Boston Globe My entire worldview changed when I realized that “being part of the solution” doesn’t require being part of a political tribe.

A fascinating look at leaving progressive movements by Sabrina Joy Stevens: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/11/o...

In the Trump era, where have all the protest songs gone? - The Boston Globe The lack of modern protest music is a phenomenon decades in the making, but now the silence is louder than ever.

Today, if artists are globally popular, they’re not singing protest songs, write @rebeccaspiess.bsky.social and Alicia Chen. The levers of mass media influence for political music don’t seem to exist anymore, and if listeners want to tune out politics, they can.

Thanks to @theweekendmsnbc.bsky.social for having me on. The problems with the MAHA report run far deeper than the AI fail.

‘He’s just a kid’: ICE detains Milford High student on his way to volleyball practice, administrator says - The Boston Globe The student, a junior whose name hasn't been released, had been in the country since he was 5 years old, a school administrator said.

From @camilo-fonseca.bsky.social:
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/05/31/m...

💯 @ashishkjha.bsky.social. Beautiful paragraph about the #UrbanAgglomeration in #KendallSquare. As federal funds dwindle how can we help support the innovators that fuel our city’s success? @massgovernor.bsky.social @mayorwu.boston.gov www.bostonglobe.com/2025/05/27/o...

‘My fear is that we cling to a self-defeating narrative’ - The Boston Globe Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Palestinian American political analyst, still believes peaceful coexistence with Israel is possible.

Palestinian American analyst Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib still believes peaceful coexistence with Israel is possible, writes Klara Vlahčević Lisinski.

Why are so many students in Mass. losing their visas? The answer lies in a little-known database. - The Boston Globe Federal immigration authorities are using a little-known database to find students and terminate their status, experts say.

ICYMI: Our explainer of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, or SEVIS, is mighty relevant today. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/15/m...

‘Love on the Spectrum’ — and for the T - The Boston Globe Pari Kim, a star on the third and latest season of “Love on the Spectrum,” has plenty of opinions about the MBTA.

Pari Kim’s appearance on Netflix’s “Love on the Spectrum” skyrocketed her into a niche pocket of MBTA-related fame.

“It’s unbelievable,” she told @rebeccaspiess.bsky.social. “People are already requesting to do meet-and-greets and ride the T with me.”

It’s my first week at @bostonglobe.com!

I’m in the opinions section, writing editorials, commissioning op-Eds and working on some longer-term projects. Email me: Rebecca.spiess@globe.com

I finished up my last day with the @post-gazette.com last week.

There were many highlights, but the biggest one will always be our recognition as Pulitzer Prize finalists.

Pittsburgh is an incredible city, and I'm sad to leave - but I have big news coming soon!

www.pulitzer.org/finalists/br...

Retracing Christi Spicuzza's Uber route before her 2022 murder Uber driver Christi Spicuzza was found shot to death Feb. 12, 2022, in Monroeville. Here is what police say happened that night.

The final ride: Retracing Christi Spicuzza's 2022 fatal Uber route in Monroeville

Fear and anxiety ripple through Western Pa. communities amid immigration crackdown As deportation efforts ramped up across the country this weekend as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to target illegal immigration,...

Updates:

I wrote the latest cover story for The Atlantic. It's about the far-ranging implications of one simple statistic: Americans have never spent so much time alone, and surging solitude is warping our society.

I'm really proud of it, and I hope you read it.

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

We're getting the social media crisis wrong The bigger problem isn't disinformation. It's degraded democratic publics

So much good thinking packed in this short @himself.bsky.social post, but to me this gets at the heart of it: "Making individuals better at thinking and seeing the blind spots in their own individual reasoning will only go so far. What we need are better *collective* means of thinking."

Nota bene #skystorians 🗃️

I bought my boyfriend a gaming laptop for Christmas that could like probably fly an aircraft but the only thing we’ve played on it is a Pokémon game from 2003 and Papa’s Pizzeria

Former Horne's department store in Downtown Pittsburgh gets big assessment cut, adding to city tax woes Another prominent Downtown building is getting a big cut in its assessed value for 2025, the latest in a wave of reductions issued over the past several...

The former Horne's department store is the latest downtown building to get an assessment cut, adding to Pittsburgh’s growing tax woes. The reassessment will cost the city, county, and Pittsburgh schools a combined $420,900 in lost tax revenue. From Mark Belko:
www.post-gazette.com/business/dev...

One of the best, most chilling and personal stories I’ve heard from Gaza

What an accomplishment

Live updates: House rejects Trump-backed plan on government shutdown, leaving next steps uncertain President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to fund the government was rejected by the House. Democrats refused to support the bill after Trump and Elon Musk helped to tank its predecessor.

BREAKING: House rejects a Trump-endorsed plan to fund the government and suspend the debt ceiling as time runs short to avert a shutdown.

Follow AP's coverage for live updates. apnews.com/live/governm...

10 years later, 'Jane Doe' remains unidentified in Beaver County For years, Andy Gall took care of the modest grave himself. The marker isn’t much bigger than a brick, and it’s tucked against the back wall...

Wildest story I’ve read this week, from my coworker Megan Guza: www.post-gazette.com/local/region...

Gainey administration's Pittsburgh zoning plans shelved for 2024 Dozens of Pittsburgh residents, critical of proposals to allow denser development near three transit nodes, convinced the City Planning Commission to hold off on all zoning change votes until next yea...

Zoning change in Pittsburgh will wait til next year after Gainey admin proposals hit a buzzsaw of public commenters including "a Santa impersonator, a self-described Polish Hill punk, and a person who identified as an Aborigine shaman," @publicsource.org reports www.publicsource.org/gainey-pitts...