Statement from @postguild.bsky.social on the firing of Karen Attiah:

The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced. I spoke out against hatred and violence in America — and it cost me my job.

Some personal news:

I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting.

Thread incoming.

substack.com/@karenattiah...

Signal Ohio workers across the state walked off the job for two hours! We're still demanding that our CEO & board members recognize us as one bargaining unit. @newsguild.org

Show your support by sending an email to them here: actionnetwork.org/letters/one-...

📸: Reporters in Akron & Cleveland

Vulnerable Kansans already struggled to find housing. Federal funding cuts will make it even harder. When a Kansas state agency was told to cut $2.3 million in housing programs, some closed their doors while others found temporary life rafts.

Scoop! Kansas housing programs lost $2.3 million in federal funds, forcing some providers to close programs, eliminate jobs or work at a financial loss. Read more about how these cuts hurt vulnerable Kansans and those serving them: klcjournal.com/doge-federal...

The health risks from plastics almost nobody knows about Researchers have linked phthalates, chemicals found in plastics, to premature birth, infertility and ADHD.

For the last several months, I've been digging through endless scientific literature on what happens when pregnant mothers are exposed to plastic chemicals in their food, water, and everyday household products.

The result is this story.

I hope you'll take the time to read.
wapo.st/4g3ZoFc

Vulnerable Kansans already struggled to find housing. Federal funding cuts will make it even harder. When a Kansas state agency was told to cut $2.3 million in housing programs, some closed their doors while others found temporary life rafts.

Scoop! Kansas housing programs lost $2.3 million in federal funds, forcing some providers to close programs, eliminate jobs or work at a financial loss. Read more about how these cuts hurt vulnerable Kansans and those serving them: klcjournal.com/doge-federal...

After Dangerous Understaffing Due To DOGE, National Weather Service Hiring 450 People Meteorologists and climate scientists have warned of consequences with fewer workers in crucial positions.

The National Weather Service will hire as many as 450 people after Elon Musk's DOGE gutted the agency, leaving it dangerously understaffed.

‘We cannot fail’: Wichita’s emerging homeless shelter is finding its footing The former winter shelter transitioned to a privately-run operation on April 1. Operators are optimistic about its future while shelter residents express frustrations.

… but because word travels fast. If a shelter has a less-than-ideal reputation, people won’t go. They hesitate to engage with services if they think they’ll be dehumanized for it.

Read the story about what can be done to prioritize the very people it needs to thrive. klcjournal.com/second-light...

One of my priorities as a reporter is to elevate the voices of lived experience to the same level of dignity and visibility as a CEO of elected official. Feedback from the impacted, critical or complimentary, are worth attention. Not just because they are the community to serve…

Second Light, Wichita’s emerging homeless shelter, is a haven from the elements and a place where you know when you’ll have your next meal. The residents are grateful for that. But they wait for more.

‘We cannot fail’: Wichita’s emerging homeless shelter is finding its footing The former winter shelter transitioned to a privately-run operation on April 1. Operators are optimistic about its future while shelter residents express frustrations.

Second Light, Wichita’s emerging homeless shelter, faces steep challenges—building a campus while housing residents, uncertain funding, little state support, and earning trust from homeless Wichitans.

✍️ @steflugli.bsky.social
📸 Jeff Tuttle

screenshot from pharmacy for a med not covered by insurance costing $2,478.99 for a 30 day prescription

oh ok

What went wrong at the Houston Landing? “We tried to be too much, too fast, for too many people.”

If you are involved in trying to make nonprofit news sustainable, I wrote and reported this story for you!

So much news that deserves our attention right now, but I hope you'll spend some time with my Houston Landing retrospective for @niemanlab.org (1/3)

www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/what...

In Texas flood response, FEMA slowed by Noem’s cost controls | CNN Politics As monstrous floodwaters surged across central Texas late last week, officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency leapt into action, preparing to deploy critical search and rescue teams and li...

So Kristi Noem now requires that any FEMA contracts over $100K get her personal signoff.

She didn't authorize search and rescue teams in Texas for more than 72 hours.

www.cnn.com/2025/07/09/p...

This Is DOGE 2.0 Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency is continuing its wholesale assault on federal agencies—even without Musk in government.

Musk may have left Washington, but DOGE is continuing its assault on the federal government unabated.

More incredible reporting from the all stars of DOGE reporting @telliotter.bsky.social and @makenakelly.bsky.social

www.wired.com/story/next-s...

After a child care worker is detained by ICE, a community is left reeling Nicolle Orozco Forero is one of the thousands of immigrant women who provide child care for American children, and one of the few who cares for children with disabilities. Now she and her seriously il...

"Shortly after 10 a.m., Orozco Forero texted her family member: 'They are going to deport us'

'Nicolle what happened? Nicolle answer me,' they texted back. 'What do I do?'"

An important yet heartbreaking read.
19thnews.org/2025/07/chil...

New report maps a “severe” shortage of local journalists in the U.S. The report from Rebuild Local News and Muck Rack finds that more than 1,000 counties — one out of three in the nation — do not have the equivalent of even one full-time local journalist.

More than 1,000 U.S. counties — one out of three in the nation — do not have the equivalent of even one full-time local journalist. www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/new-...

my desk neighbor asked if I got a bad phone call because she heard me "muttering" at my desk

... I was not-silently mouthing along to the Wicked soundtrack

New insight into Texas family detention reveals adults fighting kids for clean water A new court filing in an ongoing legal dispute with the federal government reveals the psychological and physical trauma endured by children and families held at Texas family detention centers.

NEW: Adults fighting kids for clean water, despondent toddlers and a child with swollen feet denied a medical exam - these first-hand accounts from immigrant families are offering a glimpse at conditions in TX detention centers. according to court filing.

apnews.com/article/migr...

I know a lot of people just don't really know much about foreign cities, but please imagine how it would go if someone told all of NYC to evacuate "immediately," and then add two million more people to that scenario

"Tear gas is banned in international warfare, but it is classified as a 'riot control agent' that law enforcement can use for crowd control."

‘Our nation is in distress’: Thousands protest Trump in ‘No Kings’ rally at Kansas Statehouse Thousands of Kansans rallied Saturday at the Statehouse in Topeka as part of a nationwide backlash to President Donald Trump, hoisting signs, joining in pro-democracy chants and speaking out against i...

Thousands of Kansans rallied today at the Statehouse in Topeka as part of a nationwide backlash to President Donald Trump, hoisting signs, joining in pro-democracy chants and speaking out against immigration raids.
Via @kansasreflector.com:
lawrenceks.news/400zXxl

Live: Rep. Melissa Hortman assassinated, others shot in ‘targeted’ attack Authorities said suspect impersonated a police officer, and a “manifesto” was recovered with lawmakers’ names.

Strib lifts paywall for this critical story:
www.startribune.com/brooklyn-par...

White House: "Violent mobs have attacked ICE officers and Federal Law Enforcement Officers."

LAPD: "Today, demonstrations across the City of Los Angeles remained peaceful."

‘Hobo codes’ public art tracks the past alongside the present In downtown Wichita, Jeff Best's Hobo Code Railings is tucked beneath an underpass. The art piece celebrates past nomadic life but permanently sits in a place where homelessness is present.

I was invited to write about art!

"On the day of my visit, there was a makeshift bed a dozen feet away. Its maker was absent, but it made me wonder, where do your eyes go in a tunnel like this? Left to glyphics you don’t understand? Or right to a stranger you think you do?"

One attorney, Lizbeth Mateo, said ICE officials slated several of her clients for check-ins at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown L.A. but when they showed up on Tuesday, they were detained and immediately escorted to the basement. Mateo said a couple and their two children, one of whom is a U.S. citizen, spent the night in a room with no beds and limited access to food and water. Mateo said the father had previously been issued a stay of removal, barring him from deportation but he and his family were detained anyway. His wife was released Wednesday evening along with their children since she needed medical attention due to a high-risk pregnancy. He was still being detained early Friday, Mateo said.

🚨NEW: @cbsnews.com reports ICE is arresting people who can't even legally be deported and holding them without enough food or water in a federal building BASEMENT in Los Angeles.

Families dutifully attending check-ins with ICE are being arrested and held for days, forced to sleep on the floor.

The "fact sheet" associated with this executive order is of course even more deranged and preposterous than the executive order itself. www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...

🚨🚨🚨 In the last two hours, the Trump admin:

- Banned all immigrant visas from 19 countries, including Cuba, Haiti, and Venezuela
- Banned all student and researcher visas to Harvard
- Colluded with Texas to kick 20,000 undocumented college students off of in-state tuition.

"Yes, robots can do some things better than humans — none more so than spread disinformation."

Let that sink in.

The very best #writing advice, perhaps the only advice a fledgling writer needs, is to read as many books as possible. Let the rhythms of fiction soak into you, and you can figure out the rest from there.