Justin O'Neill

Sales Up, Prices Down? A Few DC Housing Predictions For 2026 As an up and down year for the housing market winds down, forecasts are being made for what 2026 may bring.

Bright MLS predictions for the DC housing market in 2026 (via
@urbanturf.bsky.social)

- Home sales will rise 8% in the region
- Prices will fall slightly. Bright predicts that median home prices in the region will drop 1% to $617,000.
- The inventory of homes for sale will rise by 14%

Look inside Sheraton Boston's whimsical new Goodnight Moon suite Look inside Sheraton Boston's whimsical new limited-time Goodnight Moon suite, which is available through Feb. 28, 2026.

Goodnight bears, goodnight chairs. Goodnight kittens. And goodnight Green Monster

Meet our newest patient here at the Alaska Raptor Center, a Northern Pygmy Owl named King Owlbert by his rescuers. Owlbert arrived with a drooping wing, making flight difficult. We’ve given him a supportive wing wrap, plenty of tasty mice, and time to heal. #small #owls #adorable

I’m finishing a book about billionaires and trillion-dollar investment firms behind the news. Waking up to a blue wave, I can’t help but think Mamdani and other pols surging in a period of deepening inequality are going to face the full brunt of those media owners’ political power and wealth.

How author F. Scott Fitzgerald ended up being buried twice in suburban Maryland In WAMU’s new series Hidden City, we uncover the stories behind the history, people, and places in our region.

TIL, F. Scott Fitzgerald's name is "Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald" and his dad's cousin's mother-in-law was executed for helping in the assassination of Abe Lincoln

wamu.org/story/25/11/...

Rock creek park fall views from the @wamu.org newsroom

White House begins demolishing East Wing facade to build Trump’s ballroom The president had claimed construction of the $250 million ballroom wouldn’t ‘interfere’ with the existing White House structure.

Scoop: Trump has started demolishing the White House's East Wing facade to build his ballroom. The president had claimed construction of the $250 million building wouldn’t ‘interfere’ with the existing White House structure. /W @ddiamond.bsky.social wapo.st/4hqBNiU

NPR "founding mother" Susan Stamberg - who got her start at WAMU - has died Susan Stamberg – the first woman to anchor a national nightly news broadcast, and often remembered as one of NPR’s “Founding Mothers” – died on Thursday. She was 87. But before she was revolutionizing...

At a time when public radio is under attack in the United States, we lost a pioneer & icon. I listened yesterday to many archival interviews of Susan discussing what audio journalism meant to her, I found myself in awe of her lyricism & grieving an industry

My obit of Susan Stamberg for @wamu.org

Thousands participate in the No Kings rally in downtown D.C. protesting the policies of the Trump administration.

NPR "founding mother" Susan Stamberg - who got her start at WAMU - has died Susan Stamberg – the first woman to anchor a national nightly news broadcast, and often remembered as one of NPR’s “Founding Mothers” – died on Thursday. She was 87. But before she was revolutionizing...

At a time when public radio is under attack in the United States, we lost a pioneer & icon. I listened yesterday to many archival interviews of Susan discussing what audio journalism meant to her, I found myself in awe of her lyricism & grieving an industry

My obit of Susan Stamberg for @wamu.org

What a government shutdown could mean for D.C. In D.C., with its lack of statehood and close relationship with the federal government, the prospect of a shutdown is particularly troubling. Here’s what it could mean for the District.

In case you were wondering:

Unless the DC Council passes legislation, you won't be able to (officially / legally) get married in the District during a government shutdown, but you *can* get divorced

The Baltimore Banner names WNYC’s Audrey Cooper as its next editor-in-chief The nonprofit newsroom won a Pulitzer Prize before its third birthday but is still pursuing financial sustainability. Banner news executives said to expect "an evolution, not a revolution” under the…

The Baltimore Banner names WNYC’s Audrey Cooper as its next editor-in-chief www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/the-...

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA

10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

Beautiful but also 😭

Spotted on the DC Metro today! @propublica.org

100,000 Ecuadorians protest Canadian mining project threatening key water source More than 100,000 people marched through Cuenca, a city in southern Ecuador, on Sept. 16, demanding that federal authorities revoke an environmental license for a gold mining project that may impact an important freshwater source. The Loma Larga mining project, run by Canadian mining company Dundee Precious Metals, borders the 3,200-hectare (7,900-acre) Quimsacocha National Recreation […]

100,000 Ecuadorians protest Canadian mining project threatening key water source news.mongabay.com/short-articl...

Made a friend in the window of a Bethesda florist this afternoon

Whale and her calf entangled in shark net off Queensland coast ‘Heartbreaking’ drone footage has captured the moment a mother and calf became trapped. Four humpbacks have been snared in recent days

It’s not offshore wind that’s killing whales.

Sicily, western Mediterranean & South Asia is an absolute no brainer. Plus vegemite?!

I boiled my wooden spoons – and what emerged from them will haunt me for ever | Adrian Chiles A sleepless night of doomscrolling led me to dunk my cherished kitchen utensils in bubbling water. The murky results were horrifying, writes Adrian Chiles

This guy is really intense about his wooden spoons but I can't stop thinking about this weird op-ed every time I cook

If Sepinwall’s job isn’t safe, what hope do the rest of us have

Here’s hoping

I love DC — out at dinner, through mutual acquaintances (our young children), I struck up a conversation with a materials physicist. Not many towns let you fall into a involved conversation about materials under pressure & score you an invitation to an open house at a major science research hub

Speaking of Rock Creek Park: “Rock Creek Park turns 135 this month and the National Park Service is hosting a series of Punk Rocks! special events.” - PoPville "Boulder Bridge is an iconic landmark within Rock Creek Park. NPS Photo / Tony DeYoung" From NPS: "Rock Creek Park turns 135 this month and the National Park Service is hosting a series of Punk Rocks!...

Speaking of Rock Creek Park: “Rock Creek Park turns 135 this month and the National Park Service is hosting a series of Punk Rocks! special events.” www.popville.com/2025/09/rock...

Also, I guarantee these shows will steal IP and it's going to be impossible to know which/how many of these lazy productions are stealing our work

"The company is able to produce each episode for $1 or less, depending on length and complexity, and attach programmatic advertising to it. This generally means that if about 20 people listen to that episode, the company made a profit on that episode, without factoring in overhead."

5,000 Podcasts. 3,000 Episodes a Week. $1 Cost Per Episode — Behind an AI Start Up’s Plan Former Wondery exec Jeanine Wright is leading a new firm, Inception Point AI, that's betting on flooding the zone with audio content: “I think that people who are still referring to all AI-generated c...

I don't have enough negative things to say about the people behind this project

Wrote this up here: wamu.org/story/25/09/...

100%. Couldn't agree more.

Also been wondering about journalism schools... I don't know how they can keep charging $35-60k / year to train students for an industry that barely exists outside of a handful of major media orgs in 5 markets

Honestly, at this point, given the state of the media industry, I think the growing number of workshops charging people to learn how to freelance or land successful pitches if you do these 7 things or make XX amount of money working for yourself or whatever is getting kind of exploitative.