Erica Meltzer

How Former N.Y.C. Schools Chief Joel Klein Became Friendly With Epstein

At the time, Joel Klein was leading edtech company Amplify, now a pretty prominent curriculum provider.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/u...

A cluster of easter daisies in pea gravel next to some flagstone. These are small white flowers with a yellow center growing from low-to-the-ground needle-leaved plants.

Easter daisies. Blooming in mid-February. Like I said, we basically haven't had winter.

Screenshot from the North Carolina Vital Records homepage showing a notice that reads "Due to increased demand related to REAL ID requirements, certificate orders have significantly increased. Any certificate ordered in 2025 will be processed within 110-115 business days."

Well then.

For all intents and purposes, we have not had winter this year in Colorado. Every day is gorgeous. Collectively, they're terrifying.

Whoops apparently basing our entire gifted and talented structure on "precociousness" is a mistake.

Calling the requirement for a judicial warrant before entering a person’s home one of the Democrats’ “new restrictions on federal immigration agents” crosses the line into outright falsehood. It’s in the Bill of Rights! A rule as old as the republic.

Border Officials Are Said to Have Caused El Paso Closure by Firing Anti-Drone Laser

Truly we live in the stupidest timeline.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/u...

Hope this brings some stability to this district. Students deserve it.

Oklahoma officials say they’re eager for new social studies standards • Oklahoma Voice A version last year contained controversial content on COVID-19 and the 2020 presidential election. It has since been overturned.

The de-Baathification of the Oklahoma education system continues.

oklahomavoice.com/2026/02/06/o...

On a related note:

God bless the barista who pretended to think I was my daughter's older sister.

"Is there anything you wanted to say that I didn't ask you?"

This is a thing I don't get about "give us access to the prisons and jails." If you're a law and order type of person, and you think someone did a crime, wouldn't you want them to experience punishment under the law? Instead of going free, escaping any consequence, and maybe doing more crime.

Huge database aims to include photo of every Tucson house Photographers from a Canadian company are going house to house, shooting pictures of the roughly 300,000 houses in metropolitan Tucson.

I wrote this 19 years ago today. So many feelings about having a picture of your house on the internet! So much to say about privacy and commerce and the public realm! The past truly is a different country.

tucson.com/news/local/a...

There's a real "religious freedom for me but not for thee" thing going on. I don't love religious groups proselytizing in public schools! But when the state wants to make everyone read the Christian Bible, how do you get mad about this?

ICE surge news: Minneapolis Public Schools has extended *optional* distance learning until April 6.

One of many reasons why we can't Substack our way out of this crisis in journalism? Writers and reporters, even the best reporters, need editors. They need people who pester them about the smallest details. I fully include myself in this.

McMahon is on a civics tour. This Chicago private school debated whether to host her. Some parents and students oppose the Trump administration and took issue with McMahon’s visit. But the principal wondered if they could set their ideological differences aside.

Linda McMahon wanted to visit a Christian private school in Chicago. Parents and students were divided. Here's what happened.

www.chalkbeat.org/chicago/2026...

I just got off the phone with Elizabeth's dad...she and her mom were freed tonight! Updated story: sahanjournal.com/education/co...

A taste of America’s oldest restaurants Tom Sietsema traveled coast to coast to dine at some of the nation’s oldest restaurants, exploring their history, legacy and recipe for success.

Glad to see Tucson's El Charro featured here. "We're not the best because we're the oldest. We're the oldest because we're best!" www.washingtonpost.com/food/interac...

Large cities take a longer time to count votes, and also the more liberal you are, the more you procrastinate. My totally anecdotal but so far never wrong premise is that the same day vote favors the more left-leaning candidate. See it in Dem primaries too.

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A last-minute ruling has prevented one-fourth of Springfield from losing the right to live and work legally in the U.S. https://nbc4i.co/4qSuVhV?utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky_ 

They agreed to close the school after the county threatened to shut off the utilities. Yikes.

As a former small-town city reporter, I love a good zoning / building department story.

Feels like we are seeing the rise and fall of 1:1 devices. Used to be sought after goal for school districts, finally made possible during the pandemic, now seen as misguided.

Wake County school board member Cheryl Caulfield suggested the district no longer give Chromebooks or other devices to any elementary school students. She said it would both save money & be better for children by reducing screen time. #wcpss #nced

I feel like this is really one-upping all the other fraudsters.

Again, this is FALSE. Administrative warrants are NOT signed by an immigration judge (or any judge at all). They are generated and signed by ICE officers themselves with no external oversight whatsoever.

Here is a blank sample warrant. Note who signs off on it; an "immigration officer."

What a Philly lawsuit on high school admissions means for diversity at elite schools The Philadelphia school district’s efforts to increase racial diversity at magnet schools like Masterman may be discriminatory, an appeals court ruled. The U.S. Supreme Court has let similar policies in other school districts stand.

The Philadelphia school district’s efforts to increase racial diversity at magnet schools like Masterman may be discriminatory, an appeals court ruled. The U.S. Supreme Court has let similar policies in other school districts stand.

In all seriousness, the worst reaction I've ever had from readers was when I mistakenly described picas as rodents.

Are the people leaving long-time residents or people who gave Colorado a try and didn't like it? How many people would have to leave to have an effect on the price of housing?

Where Private School Choice Enrollment—and Spending—Is Surging States have devoted billions of dollars recently in public funds families can use on private schooling.

Where Private School Choice Enrollment—and Spending—Is Surging: States have devoted billions of dollars recently in public funds families can use on private schooling.