Journalist
Using FOIA requests and hidden-camera videos, the groups targeted universities, leading to the firing of faculty and staff. In February of 2025, as college students across the country settled into their spring semesters, administrators at four major public universities in the Midwest received public records requests about their policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion, or […]
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Metric Media filed more than nine thousand public records requests last year. It used the data to target Democratic politicians and private citizens. Two days after the 2024 elections, Metric Media, the online publishing company, started filing thousands of public records requests. Metric, which operates a network of nearly twelve hundred news sites, sent letters […]
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California nearly triggered a seismic shift in American kitchens this fall. A bill phasing out the sale of nonstick pans made with polytetrafluoroethylene—a type of PFAS “forever chemical”—cleared the state legislature in September with overwhelming support. Given the well-documented health risks associated with production of PTFE, commonly known as Teflon, advocates fully expected Gov. Gavin Newsom […]
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Each week, award-winning climate journalist Miranda Green offers a look beneath the climate headlines—into how decisions are being made, why they matter, and what they reveal about this moment. Subscribe to The Understory to never miss an edition. As world leaders gather in Belem, Brazil, for the 30th Conference of the Parties to discuss our collective climate future, […]
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Sweltering summers are making an AC a lifesaving device. But despite the heatwaves, millions of Americans simply can’t afford it. The heat in swampy New Orleans, Louisiana is so pervasive that locals say the weather is a mix of mostly summer with other seasons scattered in. Jeffrey Elder, medical director for emergency management at University […]
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In the wake of January’s deadly wildfires, Los Angeles County leaders are weighing a disaster registry intended to help disabled and senior residents get connected to emergency responders to bring them to safety during disasters. County supervisors approved a feasibility study this spring for such a voluntary database. Supporters applauded the effort to give more notice and […]
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Inspired by a mountain lion isolated from potential mates, the world’s largest wildlife bridge is being built in Los Angeles to allow animals to roam freely. There had been rumours for a few months in the Hollywood Hills that a 90lb (41kg) beast was skulking through one of Los Angeles’s most heavily trafficked parks at night. But […]
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Montecito suffered a devastating mudslide in 2018. Now the community has rallied to try to make sure the same thing will never happen again. Curtis Skene was asleep at 03:30 on 9 January 2018, when he heard the light rain turn into a downpour at his home in Montecito, California. A bright light drew the […]
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People snatched off the streets. Residents in hiding. This is the past week in Los Angeles. Hermanita Conchita was tending to her stand on Monday afternoon, selling pupusas and fruit outside her home in the South Central neighborhood of Los Angeles, when she saw two suspicious cars pull up. “I said, ‘That’s immigration!’ and everyone […]
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Esther Bejarano’s son was 11 months old when asthma landed him in the hospital. She didn’t know what had triggered his symptoms — neither she nor her husband had asthma — but she suspected it was the pesticides sprayed on the agricultural fields near her family’s home. Pesticides are a known contributor to asthma and are commonly […]
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