Laura Wenus

Google has long been a key source of traffic for news and all manner of sites across the web.

This week @mattdpearce.com joins @parismarx.com to discuss how Google’s pursuit of AI is causing fewer people to click through, causing traffic to plummet.

Full ep: techwontsave.us/episode/288_...

😭

Most U.S. adults stressed by grocery costs: poll Just 14% said the price of groceries was not a source of stress.

New polling shows that 1 in 7 Americans report using Buy Now, Pay Later service like Klarna, Affirm, and Afterpay to get groceries.

www.axios.com/2025/08/04/g...

The Trump administration has reversed a rule that allowed undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as kids to buy health insurance on Affordable Care Act marketplaces. calmatters.org/health/2025/...

I do appreciate the emphasis on someone needing to be ready for treatment in order for it to be appropriate: "this is the moment that San Francisco’s, and many cities’, strategy to address this problem is built on."

It's at least better than implying the city coddles addicts and calling it a day

oh yeah, playing all the hits.

- Obligatory juxtaposition of squalor and a self-driving car (but how can tech city have problem!?!?!)

- Drug user rejects temporary housing where they'd detox with 0 medical care (choosing beggars!!)

- Shoplifting portrayed as easy money (crime is legal!!!)

me and Noah used to work for the Chronicle on a project exploring solutions to SF's big problems.

In that time, the Atlantic declared SF a "failed city," using some truly bizarro vignettes that strained credulity.

Betcha these "not easy" fixes they propose will be some form of austerity.

Text reads "Journalism Futures: Funding Under Fascism, register: bit.ly/FundingUnderFascism". The panelists are listed as Alicia Bell, Director, Racial Equity in Journalism Fund; Lara Witt, E.I.C. of Prism; and Mazin Sidahmed, Co-Founder of Documented. Roshan Abraham, freelance journalist/FSP member, will moderate. The date reads August 5th, 12pm EST. The logos for FSP and NWU are displayed at the bottom left. The background is red, and a black lightning strike trails down the right side ending in a red fist holding a pen. The words "a virtual panel series about funding the news" are written above it.

The journalism industry is facing economic breakdown. What promises and pitfalls does the nonprofit news model offer? Hear from Mazin Sidahmed of @documentedny.bsky.social, Alicia Bell of @borealisphil.bsky.social, & Lara Witt of @prismreports.org on August 5. Register: bit.ly/FundingUnderFascism

2,123 lives: Inside the stats and stories of those arrested by ICE from the S.F. area See the path from arrest to detention to deportation for immigrants arrested by ICE in the 'San Francisco Area of Responsibility'

2,123 people have been arrested by ICE in the S.F. area since January 20, 2025.

By cross-referencing three datasets released this month, on ICE arrests, detentions and deportations, Mission Local was able to follow the journeys of those arrested:

missionlocal.org/2025/07/ice-...

US confirms plan for private firms to deliver Gaza aid despite UN alarm UN agencies say they will not co-operate with the proposed system because it appears to "weaponise" aid.

I think it’s important for Americans to understand that the current famine in Gaza is a joint US-Israeli production. We are not “failing to stop this”. We did this. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Severe malnutrition among under-5s in Gaza City has tripled in two weeks, charity says MSF says number of people needing care for malnutrition has quadrupled since May and blames Israeli ‘policy of starvation’ * Middle East crisis – live updates The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has said that rates of severe malnutrition among children under five at its Gaza City clinic have tripled in the last two weeks as starvation in the Israeli-besieged strip worsens. The global aid community has sounded the alarm as Gaza descends deeper into mass starvation, with daily deaths from starvation reported as Israel allows only a trickle of aid into the territory. Continue reading...

Severe malnutrition among under-5s in Gaza City has tripled in two weeks, charity says

apropos of nothing, if an unknown contact messages out of nowhere with no intro, no context, etc... do NOT reply. no retort is witty enough to justify communicating to scammers that you are one of the ~1% of people credulous enough to reply to scam messages.

So many people I know in the US are emotionally dysregulated (politically, how could you not be?) and their relationships are paying the price.

It’s tough to watch so many of us take it out on each other, whether with friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, public figures, comment sections.

Priced Out of Phone Calls Home The FCC blocked Biden-era limits on the exorbitant rates and fees charged by prison telecom companies, leaving incarcerated people and their families to fight for state-level reforms.

As a result of the FCC blocking new regulations, incarcerated people in North Carolina will continue to pay 10 cents per minute for phone calls. The new rules would have dropped the price to 6 cents per minute.

boltsmag.org/north-c...

Farmworker Dead and More Than 300 More Detained in California ICE Raid Agents tear-gassed community members, including children, as crowds attempted to protect farmworkers from arrest.

An immigration raid in Camarillo, California, on Thursday led to an hourslong standoff between protesters and border agents, who blocked the roads with military-style vehicles and tear-gassed community members, including children, as crowds attempted to protect dozens of farmworkers from arrest.

Trump SNAP Cuts Risk Business at This Historic SF Farmers Market More than 100,000 in SF use the benefits. The more who get squeezed out, the harder for low-cost sellers to serve them, even with the state’s bonus boost.

🍎 NEW, FOOD INSECURITY: At the Heart of the City Farmers Market, SNAP dollars go extra far for farmers and shoppers. But changes to benefits in Trump’s big bill could upend a statewide program that’s served the city’s low income residents for 10 years. Tina Li reports: thefrisc.com/trump-snap-c...

Minneapolis metro to the airport: half hour ride from downtown, cost $2. I didn't need an advanced degree to read the transit map or figure out how to pay on the app. No stairs from platform to train.

Working on a German word for "the shame you feel visiting a city with better transit than yours"

A print newspaper open to the "Letters" page

good to see a local community paper going strong (Southside Pride, vol. 35, issue 7)

this way of thinking is also about democratizing the newsmaking process. Uyiosa talked about training your audience to participate, and how this expands story ideation.

These are critical conversations to be having at a time of corporate consolidation and deep mistrust of media institutions!

really appreciated this session by Uyiosa Elegon from Shift Press (neither on bsky but look them up) about movement journalism meeting the moment. We need to be thinking about journalism as infrastructure in the sense of what our news enables or makes it easy for people to do

Great advice from

@karenho.bsky.social: Use business language in convos about accommodations/expectations. Talk like a 6'2" white guy named Steve

@mizzousundevil.bsky.social: Managers, create psychological safety w/ clear expectations. Listen to individuals' specific needs and follow through

loved that @karenho.bsky.social and @mizzousundevil.bsky.social listed some benefits to hiring neurodivergent journalists (e.g. creative idea generation, attention to detail, strong sense of justice). Also explained reasonable accommodations — and that greater accessibility *benefits everyone*

I stopped posting yesterday bc I was in sessions with a lot of participation (too busy doing to be online) but I am back with a dispatch from a session on neurodivergence and journalism!

This will not come as a surprise: Folks are exhausted from masking in the workplace and lack of accommodations.

But people DO trust tiktokers. Ben Reininga and @amandayarnell.bsky.social on why:
- intimacy
- (diverse!) individuals more trusted than institutions
- engaging disagreement by "showing your work" not just citing sources
- transparency/not hiding your opinion
- often: fun!

In a session about trust in media....well you already know. 📉 It's grim.
Why is that? Folks weigh in: It's negative, inaccessible, not trusted. Condescending.

good conversations in this session about how traditional news media, including some of the most venerated, do not practice corrections in a way that builds connection. Some change entire grafs silently, or "apologize" for mistakes without care, consideration, emotional vulnerability

Presenter Matt Kiser next to a slide listing responses to corrections that build trust and belonging (e.g. "my mistake") and responses that erode them (e.g. "it's not a big deal")

starting things off talking about screwups with @mattkiser.bsky.social who tells us about sending out an edition of @whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com consisting entirely of lorem ipsum text.

which is funny but this is about building trust by *owning our mistakes*

v excited to be at @opennews.bsky.social 's SRCCON, the conference that acknowledges the serious problems in journalism and builds community to fix them, and I intend not to shut up about it for the next few days let's goooo

Director of IT and Security New York City, United States

Come work with me, supporting in-house technology and security to help a vital non-profit investigative newsroom work more safely and effectively using technology. This is one of those roles where you can truly make a difference. job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/j...