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WWW.PRIDE.COM11 best LGBTQ+ true crime docs and where to watch themWe love heartfelt LGBTQ+ dramas, lesbian action movies, and hilarious women-led comedies as much as the next person, but sometimes we want to sink our teeth into a queer true crime documentary.True crime has been all the rage for years, but who wants to let the straights have all the fun? There are plenty of bizarre, entertaining, and bingeable true crime documentaries out there exploring the life and crimes of queer people. From tickling competitions to porn shops being investigated by the FBI to gay serial killers and criminal big cat lovers, there is a doc for every taste. So check out these 11 incredibly entertaining Be Gay Do Crime documentaries!The StaircaseOne of highest rated true crime documentaries out there, this eight-part series follows the case of bisexual author Michael Peterson who was accused of murdering his wife. Most true crimes documentaries are looking from the outside in after a case has already been investigated and brought to trial, but The Staircase gives you an inside look at the investigation and how both the defense and prosecution builds their case, as well as the devastation the trial wrecks on the defendants life and that of his family. The series not only shows you the trial, but also explores how homophobia impacted the case. Once youve watched the whole series, you should do a deep dive on all of the alternative theories of the crime. Our favorite theory? It was an owl. No, seriously. Where to watch: NetflixTiger KingIf youve never seen Tiger King, the wild documentary series that was on everyones lips during the early days of the pandemic lockdown, you need to fix that immediately. Compulsively watchable, Tiger King captivated the world by following the life and crimes of gay big cat lover Joe Exotic, his arch enemy Carole Baskin, and the cult-leader-like zookeeper Doc Antle. Its a story stranger than fiction, and when you start to think that a drug king pin might be the sanest person in the docuseries, you know youre in for a wild ride. And if you cant get enough, there is now a second season too.Where to watch: NetflixReflections of the PastReflections of the Past tells the story of teenagers Pauline Parker and Juliet Hume who killed Pauline's mother, Honora, in 1954 when the young teens were being threatened with being separated. The true crime was also the basis of the Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet starring cult classic Heavenly Creatures. Where to watch: Rent on Amazon PrimeMister OrganMister Organ is a New Zealand documentary about director and journalist David Farrier getting caught up in a game of cat and mouse while investigating the mysterious Mister Organ, who has been wreaking havoc in his neighborhood. The three-year-long investigation uncovers bizarre claims of royal bloodlines, ruined lives, and a series of crimes. Where to watch: NetflixThe Jeffrey Dahmer FilesThe Jeffrey Dahmer Files tells the story of notorious gay serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer by using archival footage, re-enactments, and interviews with the medical examiner, lead detective, and Dahmers next door neighbor. Dahmer was convicted of murdering 17 men and boys and dismembering their bodies and the documentary explores the days surrounding Dahmers crimes first being discovered and shows restraint while not shying away from the true horrors of his crimes.Where to watch: NetflixTickledOne of the strangest and most watchable documentaries on this list, Tickled follows journalist David Farrier as he uncovers the strange and homoerotic world of competitive tickling. Yes, tickling. The deeper he dives into the bizarre subculture, the weirder things get as he begins investigating the man behind the competitions. Once youre hooked on this doc trust us, you will be then check out the sequel special, The Tickle King, that explores the equally strange aftermath of the documentary premiering.Where to watch: Tubi, PlutoTV, Fandango at HomeAmerican Sports Story: Aaron HernandezThis 10-part documentary goes into the details of how Aaron Hernandez went from an NFL superstar to being convicted of murder of Odin Lloyd. The intense Ryan Murphy-produced series is based on the Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc. podcast from The Boston Globe. The docuseries goes into great detail about Hernandezs life and crimes, and how his bisexuality and traumatic brain injury impacted what happened. Where to watch: HuluAileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial KillerIf youre a fan of serial killer movies, youve probably seen Monster starring Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci, but you may not know the true story behind the award-winning movie that not only showed the murder spree, but the love story between the two women. Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer tells the story of sex worker Aileen Wuornos who has been dubbed Americas first female serial killer and director Nick Broomfields attempts to interview Wuornos who was accused of a brutal string of murders.Where to watch: YouTubeJohn Wayne Gacy: Devil in DisguiseThis six-part documentary series explore the murder spree of infamous serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who raped and killed at least 33 teenage boys and young men in the 70s. John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise tells the story of the murders, Gacys sexuality, his life as a clown, and how he hid bodies in the crawl space under his house, and includes the words of the killer himselfWhere to watch: PeacockCircus of BooksThe fascinating and fun documentary about a Jewish couple who ran Circus of Books, an adult book store that became the epicenter for gay L.A. and by the 80s had become the largest distributors of gay porn in the U.S. the doc shows shows the cultural significance of the store to the gay community, the double life the owners had to lead at at time when the LGBTQ+ community wasnt accepted, how the story became a refuge during the height of the AIDS crisis, and the their brush with the law when they faced jail time on federal obscenity charges.Where to watch: NetflixAmerican Experience: The Perfect CrimeThis PBS documentary tells the story of two of the most famous gay killers of all time: Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb. Leopold and Loeb were deathly, upper-class college students who planned and executed child abductions and murders just to prove they were smart enough to get away with it. The infamous case has inspired countless movies and books, including Alfred Hitchcocks Rope, and continues to take up space in the popular imagination. Where to watch: PBS0 Comments 0 Shares 113 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.PRIDE.COMMax Talisman says his new gay movie 'Things Like This' is a protest: 'Revel in the queer joy'We're here, queer, and not going anywhere.Max Talisman set on a mission to bring LGBTQ+ representation to the big screen with his super cute new rom-com Things Like This. His character, Zack, reunites with his middle school crush and struggles to accept his feelings for his crush."[The inspiration] came from not seeing myself reflected on film, like not seeing a plus-size queer lead in anything. There's not enough queer films in general. I started writing it in 2018 and now it's being released in 2025! You never can give up," Talisman tells PRIDE. See on Instagram Although it took seven years to bring this movie to life, the timing couldn't be more crucial as queer stories are becoming more scarce in today's hostile political climate."Our film accidentally became an act of protest because it's about queer joy. It does feel like that's the opposite of what we're supposed to experience right now, but to live in that joy and to celebrate it for these 90 minutes... it's something really special."Things Like This is the perfect form of escapism for anyone in the LGBTQ+ community, but it also serves as an important to reminder to keep pushing for queer visibility in all forms of media."I want people to come into this movie, laugh for those 90 minutes, revel in the queer joy, and then we can leave and we can keep fighting because right now, that's important too."Talisman is well aware that conservatives will likely stick their nose up at this beautiful film, but he encourages naysayers to simply give this movie a chance before saying anything negative."I would want to dare them to sit there and not laugh and not experience joy. If they can make it through this movie without smiling, I'd give them $100 or more. I think people who feel that way haven't met a gay person or they haven't met the right one."Things Like This is out now in theaters. To see the full interview with Max Talisman, check out the video at the top of the page.0 Comments 0 Shares 109 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.PRIDE.COMPope Leo XIV just says no to marriage equalityPope Leo XIV has begun his papacy by affirming that the family is founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman, the Associated Press reports.The new pope made the remark Friday during a private meeting with the Vatican diplomatic corps. A transcript was released to the media.Related: LGBTQ+ Catholic organization's leader says he's 'hopeful' about Pope Leo XIVRelated: Popes brother shared a video falsely suggesting Nancy Pelosi is a drunk and her husband uses GrindrRelated: New pope voted in Republican primaries, Illinois records showWhile his immediate predecessor, the late Pope Francis, was friendlier to the LGBTQ+ community than other popes, Francis did not change Roman Catholic doctrine on marriage and adhered to the traditional definition of families. He did announce in late 2023 that the church would allow the blessing of same-sex couples but said these ceremonies should not resemble weddings. He also said the blessings were for the people in the relationship, not the relationship itself.Pope Leo, then Cardinal Robert Prevost, did not fully endorse nor reject the concept, according to a College of Cardinals report.Allowing the blessings was one of several pro-LGBTQ+ reforms Francis made during his papacy. But the new pope has made some anti-LGBTQ+ statements. In 2012, at a meeting of bishops, he lamented that Western news media and popular culture fostered sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel, The New York Times reports. He specifically mentioned the homosexual lifestyle and alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children. As bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, he objected to a plan to teach about gender in schools, saying, The promotion of gender ideology is confusing, because it seeks to create genders that dont exist.However, he has voiced compassion for the LGBTQ community, according to the Meidas Touch Network. But while he may foster a more welcoming environment, he has not signaled any openness to changing Church teaching on same-sex marriage or the ordination of women, Meidas Touch reports, something further made clear in the meeting with the diplomatic corps.But "during Francis pontificate, he acknowledged Francis call for a more inclusive church, and said he didnt want people excluded just on the basis of their lifestyle," the AP reports.In Friday's meeting with the diplomats, Pope Leo affirmed the church's opposition to abortion, saying, "No one is exempted from striving to ensure respect for the dignity of every person, especially the most frail and vulnerable, from the unborn to the elderly, from the sick to the unemployed, citizens and immigrants alike. He has differed strongly with the Trump administration's anti-immigrant stances.0 Comments 0 Shares 116 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.NATURE.COMCan AI help us talk to dolphins? The race is now onNature, Published online: 16 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01517-xLucrative prizes are offered for an AI-powered breakthrough in communications between humans and other species.0 Comments 0 Shares 99 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.NATURE.COMUS brain drain: <i>Nature</i>s guide to the initiatives drawing scientists abroadNature, Published online: 16 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01540-yIn response to US turmoil, premier establishments such as the European Research Council have sweetened incentives to attract talent.0 Comments 0 Shares 109 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.NATURE.COMCan NIH-funded research on racism and health survive Trumps cuts?Nature, Published online: 16 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01538-6The US administration has cancelled DEI grants without defining DEI, leaving health-equity researchers in the dark.0 Comments 0 Shares 107 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.NATURE.COMMinimalist quantum computer simulates movements of moleculesNature, Published online: 16 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01591-1A single trapped ytterbium ion can be used to simulate complex changes in the energy levels of organic molecules interacting with light.0 Comments 0 Shares 140 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.NATURE.COMAtacama sunshine helps to pull water from thin airNature, Published online: 16 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01425-0A device involving solar panels and a gel produces substantial amounts of water in one of the worlds driest deserts.0 Comments 0 Shares 113 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.ESPN.COMAngel City's King: Medical team 'saved my life'Angel City defender Savy King was released from the hospital Saturday, just more than a week after she collapsed on the field during a match.0 Comments 0 Shares 134 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.ESPN.COMArteta challenges board to back him with signingsMikel Arteta has challenged the Arsenal hierarchy to "do what they have to do" in the summer transfer market to turn the club into Premier League champions.0 Comments 0 Shares 113 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.ESPN.COMFlick 'fine' as Bara lose 1st in LaLiga since Dec.Barcelona coach Hansi Flick was happy to write off his team's first league defeat since December as the newly crowned LaLiga champions lost 3-2 at home to Villarreal on Sunday.0 Comments 0 Shares 100 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.ESPN.COMConte sees red as Napoli cling to first in Serie ANapoli's hopes of securing the Serie A title on Sunday had to be put on ice after they were held to a 0-0 draw at Parma.0 Comments 0 Shares 129 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.ESPN.COMCristiano Ronaldo Jr. nets 1st Portugal U15s goalsCristiano Ronaldo's son, Cristiano Ronaldo Jnior, scored his first two goals for Portugal's U15 side in Sunday's 3-2 victory against Croatia.0 Comments 0 Shares 110 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.PROPUBLICA.ORGProPublica Selects 13 Journalists for Investigative Editor Trainingby Talia Buford ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as theyre published. We are pleased to announce the journalists chosen as the 2025 cohort of the ProPublica Investigative Editor Training Program.The program was established in 2023 to expand the ranks of editors with investigative experience in newsrooms across the country and help better reflect the nation as a whole. Nine journalists from across the country will join four ProPublica staffers for this years program. This program is funded by the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, which supports journalism, film and arts organizations whose work is dedicated to social justice and strengthening democracy. Participants will undergo a five-day intensive editing boot camp in New York, with courses and panel discussions led by ProPublicas senior editors. After the boot camp, participants will gather virtually every two months for continuing development seminars and be assigned a ProPublica senior editor as a mentor for advice on their work and careers. By providing investigative editing tools to journalists across the country, we aim to ensure that there will be more accountability reporting in more newsrooms across the country, said Ginger Thompson, a managing editor at ProPublica. Its an effort we have long considered one of our highest priorities. Introducing the 2025 cohort of the ProPublica Investigative Editor Training Program: Alejandra Cancino is a senior reporter at Injustice Watch, a Chicago-based nonprofit newsroom investigating the Cook County court system. Her award-winning investigations focus on the intersection of government and business, combining data with personal stories to expose systemic failures. Most recently, she co-authored a five-part narrative series that exposed how the judicial system favors landlords property rights over their tenants rights. The project was recognized with an Investigative Reporters and Editors Award. In 2022, Cancino spent a year editing and training emerging journalists at City Bureau, a nonprofit organization focused on Chicagos marginalized communities. Previously, she covered manufacturing, economic development and labor as a business reporter at the Chicago Tribune. She is a 2025 recipient of Chicagos Studs Terkel Award, which honors a journalists body of work. Cancino serves on the Investigative Reporters and Editors board and is a former president and board member of the Society of Professional Journalists Chicago Headline Club.Daarel Burnette II is a senior editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education. Before joining the Chronicle in 2022, he served as an assistant managing editor and reporter for Education Week and the bureau chief of Chalkbeat Tennessee, a news organization based in Memphis. He has worked as an education reporter at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Minnesota Star Tribune, and the Louisville Courier Journal. He also worked as a general-assignment reporter at the Chicago Tribune. He received his undergraduate degree in print journalism from Hampton University and a masters degree in politics and journalism from Columbia University. Daphne Chen is the investigations editor at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and a former investigative data reporter for the news organization. In 2022, Chen was part of a reporting team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Public Service for a project that uncovered how electrical fires disproportionately endanger poor Black renters. Previously, she was a data reporter for USA Today, where she revealed that state officials repeatedly sent children to live with foster parents accused of abuse. She also spent a year as a reporting fellow in Cambodia. Nic Garcia is The Texas Tribunes regions editor, leading a team of reporters who live across the state and tell the story of Texas policy and politics from the ground up. In 2022, his team produced a series on Texas failing water infrastructure especially in rural communities that propelled a statewide investment in water. Garcia joined the Tribune after a year as politics editor at The Des Moines Register in Iowa. He also was a senior writer at The Dallas Morning News, where he was named journalist of the year and won a second place Headliner award for his COVID-19 coverage. A Colorado native, Garcia covered the Colorado legislature for The Denver Post. His analysis of lobbying records inspired changes to the states lobbying laws. Nicole Lewis is the engagement editor for The Marshall Project, leading the organizations strategic efforts to deepen reporting that reaches communities most affected by the criminal legal system. She previously served as a senior editor at Slate, where she led a team of writers covering the array of legal issues before the Supreme Court for the publications jurisprudence section. In 2020, she was the lead reporter on a first-of-its kind political survey of the incarcerated, which received an honorable mention for an Investigative Reporters and Editors Philip Meyer Award for the projects pioneering use of social science research methods. Prior to The Marshall Project, Nicole reported for The Washington Posts America desk and the Fact Checker. She is based in Brooklyn, New York. Andrea Lopez-Villafaa is the managing editor at Voice of San Diego. She is also a co-host on the VOSD Podcast, the most popular local public affairs podcast in San Diego, and writes a weekly newsletter, Cup of Chisme. She previously worked as a reporter at The San Diego-Union Tribune, where she covered the citys neighborhoods.Jennifer Palmer is an investigative reporter at Oklahoma Watch. She has more than two decades of news reporting experience and her work has been recognized with awards in public service reporting and investigative reporting. She started her career covering police and courts at the Rio Grande Sun, a scrappy weekly in northern New Mexico, where her reporting led to the ouster of a prominent judge. Before joining Oklahoma Watch, she previously worked as a reporter at the Omaha World-Herald and The Oklahoman. She is a native of Norman, Oklahoma, and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. Chastity Pratt is the national education editor at The Washington Post. Prior to joining the Post in 2024, she was the education bureau chief at The Wall Street Journal, a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard and covered education at the Detroit Free Press, Newsday and The Oregonian. Over the years, she has helped train students and journalists for Harvard College, the Education Writers Association and Investigative Reporters and Editors. Milton Valencia is The Boston Globes criminal justice editor in metro, overseeing coverage of crime, policing and public safety. He was previously deputy editor of the Globes inaugural Money, Power, Inequality team, which focuses on addressing the racial wealth gap across the region. Milton started as a reporter at the Globe in 2007. In that role, he reported from the Globes City Hall bureau, helping lead coverage of Bostons historic 2021 race for mayor. In 2020, he was part of a Globe police accountability team that exposed corruption and mismanagement in the Boston Police Department. He also spent several years covering the federal justice system, including the death penalty trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. He was part of the staff that won the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the bombings. Milton began his career at local newspapers in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. He holds a degree in philosophy and public policy from the University of Massachusetts, Boston and lives south of Boston with his wife and their two children.Additionally, four ProPublica staffers will join this years cohort. They are: Peter DiCampo is a visuals editor at ProPublica, where he primarily works with local partner newsrooms across the country through the Local Reporting Network. His visual editing and art direction have been awarded by the National Press Photographers Association, the Society for News Design, The Society of Publication Designers and the Online Journalism Awards. Prior to joining ProPublica, he was NPRs international visual editor. Before turning to editing, he worked for more than a decade as a freelance photojournalist, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. He co-founded Everyday Africa, a collective of photographers using social media to broaden coverage of Africa beyond the headlines, and The Everyday Projects, a global community of photographers and a visual literacy nonprofit. He was a 2019 John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University, and he is the recipient of grants and awards from the Brown Institute for Media Innovation, Code for Africa, the Magnum Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, Pictures of the Year International and the Pulitzer Center, among others.Duaa Eldeib is an investigative reporter at ProPublica. She has examined failures that have led to a stillbirth crisis in the U.S., the ways in which insurance companies interfere with mental health treatment and the fatal consequences of delaying care during the pandemic. She was a reporter and producer on the documentary Before a Breath. Her reporting has sparked legislative hearings, spurred government reform and led to the exoneration of a mother who was wrongly convicted of murder, as well as the release of young men who were incarcerated as juveniles and later sent to adult prison for minor offenses. Before joining ProPublica, she worked at the Chicago Tribune, where she and two colleagues were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. She was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting twice first in 2023 for her series on stillbirths and again in 2025 as part of the team covering access to mental health care. Hannah Fresques is the deputy data editor at ProPublica. She has edited data-driven investigations on the aftermath of Texas abortion ban, high-interest tribal lending and a salmonella outbreak. She joined the organization in 2016, and her work as a reporter and editor has earned recognition from Investigative Reporters and Editors Philip Meyer Journalism Awards, as well as the Online News Association and Sigma Delta Chi Journalism awards. Before working in journalism, Fresques conducted evaluations of education policy for a nonprofit research organization. She holds a masters degree in quantitative methods for social sciences from Columbia University.Andrea Wise is the visual strategy editor at ProPublica, where she edits photography, illustration and other forms of visual journalism. She is also the co-founder of Diversify Photo, a nonprofit organization amplifying the voices of visual creatives from underrepresented groups in the global visual media landscape. She commissioned and led a yearlong photo essay that was awarded the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service as part of ProPublicas reporting on the harmful consequences of state abortion bans and was also Pictures of the Year Internationals Online Storytelling Project of the Year. That body of work was also recognized with a National Magazine Award for Public Interest, George Polk Award for Medical Reporting, Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism, and Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Journalism, among other honors. Her photo editing and art direction have also been recognized by Pictures of the Year, the National Press Photographers Association, the Society of Publication Designers, and the Society for News Design. She holds a bachelors with honors in studio arts from Trinity College and a masters in photography from Syracuse Universitys S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.0 Comments 0 Shares 117 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.PROPUBLICA.ORGTrump Asked EPA Employees to Snitch on Colleagues Working on DEI Initiatives. They Declined.by Mark Olalde ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as theyre published. Days after President Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term, the acting head of the Environmental Protection Agency sent an email to the entire workforce with details about the agencys plans to close diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and included a plea for help.Employees are requested to please notify the EPA or the Office of Personnel Management, the federal governments human resources agency, of any other agency office, sub-unit, personnel position description, contract, or program focusing exclusively on DEI, the email from then-acting Administrator James Payne said.No employees in the agency, then more than 15,000 people strong, responded to that plea, ProPublica learned via a public records request.Trump has made ending diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs a hallmark effort of his second term. Many federal employees, however, are declining to assist the administration with this goal. He signed an executive order on his first day back in office that labeled DEI initiatives which broadly aim to promote greater diversity, largely within the workplace as illegal and immoral discrimination programs and ordered them halted. His pressure campaign to end DEI efforts has also extended to companies and organizations outside the government, with billions of dollars in federal funding for universities frozen as part of the fight.Corbin Darling retired from the EPA this year after more than three decades with the agency, including managing environmental justice programs in a number of Western states.Im not surprised that nobody turned in their colleagues or other programs in response to that request, he said, adding that his former co-workers understood that addressing pollution that disproportionately impacted communities of color was important to the agencys work. Thats part of the mission it has been for decades, Darling said.Paynes note to agency employees listed two email addresses one belonging to the EPA and one to the Office of Personnel Management where EPA employees could send details about DEI efforts. ProPublica submitted public records requests to both agencies for the contents of the inboxes from the start of the administration through April 1. The Office of Personnel Management didnt respond to the request, although the Freedom of Information Act requires that it do so within 20 business days. The agency also did not answer questions about whether it received any reports to its anti-DEI inbox.The EPA, meanwhile, checked its inbox and confirmed that zero employees had filed reports. Some emails received in that inbox did come from EPA addresses but none of them called out colleagues who were still working on DEI matters, an agency spokesperson said in a statement in May.The White House did not respond to a request for comment.The optimist in me would like to believe that maybe it is because, as an agency, we are generally dedicated to our mission and understand that DEIA is intrinsic in that, a current EPA employee who requested anonymity said. On the flip side, theyve done such a good job immediately dismantling DEIA in the agency that folks who are up in arms might have just been assuaged.Although DEI programs are often internal to a workplace, the administration also put a target on environmental justice initiatives, which acknowledge the fact that public health and environmental harm disproportionately fall on poorer areas and communities of color. Environmental justice has been part of the EPAs mandate for years but greatly expanded under the Biden administration.Research has shown, for example, that municipalities have planted fewer trees and maintained less green space in neighborhoods with a higher percentage of people of color, leading to more intense heat. And heavy industry has often been zoned or sited near Latino, Black and Native American communities.EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who was confirmed in late January, has boasted about cutting more than $22 billion in environmental justice and DEI grants and contracts. Many American communities are suffering with serious unresolved environmental issues, but under the environmental justice banner, the previous administrations EPA showered billions on ideological allies, instead of directing those resources into solving environmental problems and making meaningful change, he wrote in an April opinion piece in the New York Post.The EPA spokesperson said employees with more than 50% of their duties dedicated to either environmental justice work or DEI were targeted for layoffs. The agency is taking the next step to terminate the Biden-Harris Administrations Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Environmental Justice arms of the agency, the spokesperson said.EPA environmental justice offices worked on a range of initiatives, such as meeting with historically underserved communities to help them participate in agency decision-making and dispersing grants to fund mitigation of the carcinogenic gas radon or removal of lead pipes, Darling explained.A sea change isnt the right word because its more of a draining of the sea, Darling said. It has devastated the program.0 Comments 0 Shares 111 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.PROPUBLICA.ORGTexas Lawmakers Push to Enforce Election Transparency Law After Newsrooms Found School Districts Failed to Complyby Lexi Churchill, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune This article is co-published with The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan local newsroom that informs and engages with Texans. Sign up for The Brief Weekly to get up to speed on their essential coverage of Texas issues. Texas lawmakers are pushing to impose steep penalties on local governments that dont post campaign finance reports online, after an investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found some school districts werent doing so.The initial posting requirements, designed to make election spending more transparent, went into effect nearly two years ago. Most of the school district leaders said they had no idea they were out of compliance until the newsrooms contacted them. Even after many districts uploaded whatever documentation they had on file for their trustee elections, reports were still missing because candidates hadnt turned them in or the schools lost them. I was surprised and disappointed, said Republican state Rep. Carl Tepper, who authored the online posting requirement. I did realize that we didnt really put any teeth into the bill. Tepper is aiming to correct that with a new bill this legislative session. He cited the newsrooms findings in a written explanation of why the state needs to implement greater enforcement.The measure would require the Texas Ethics Commission, the agency that enforces the states election laws, to monitor thousands of local governments websites across the state and to notify them if any campaign finance reports are missing. If those government agencies do not upload the records that candidates have turned in within 30 days of the states notice, the commission can fine them up to $2,500 every day until they comply. The proposed measure also recommends the state allot funding for the ethics commission to hire two additional staff members, whose job would be to monitor all local government entities that hold public elections in the states 254 counties and roughly 1,200 cities and towns. The newsrooms previously found the agency did not have any staff dedicated to enforcing compliance in local elections and, instead, investigated missing or late reports only when it received a tip. The bill has cleared the Texas House but still needs approval from the Senate by May 28 if it has a chance of becoming law. The superintendent of Galveston Independent School District, which was among those that ProPublica and the Tribune found hadnt posted any campaign finance reports online last year, said the measure would help schools like his. I do like the suggestion of a 30-day period to achieve compliance after an issue is reported, Matthew Neighbors said of the new proposal in an emailed statement. Our district, for example, had no objections to posting the necessary campaign information once our new employees were aware of the requirements.Kelly Rasti, the associate executive director of governmental relations for the Texas Association of School Boards, said districts do not flout the law intentionally. Rasti said the employees tasked with handling school board election documentation are not always well versed in the states regulations but that the association plans to provide additional resources later this year. District employees are accustomed to handling a plethora of education-related paperwork and reporting requirements imposed by the state. But elections are just different, and they seem to have ever-evolving laws and rules associated with them, Rasti said. Notably, Teppers bill would not directly require the ethics commission to penalize or follow up with candidates who fail to turn in their reports. He initially included a provision in his bill that would make candidates ineligible to run for office if they didnt file those records, even if they won an election. He told the newsrooms that he cut the penalty after realizing the logistical challenges it might present. That means the ethics commission must still decide whether to investigate and fine any of the candidates and officeholders for the states estimated 22,000 local elected positions should they miss a filing. By contrast, candidates who run for statewide office are automatically fined by the commission if they dont make a deadline. Teppers ultimate goal is to create a unified system in which the ethics commission compiles campaign finance records for state and local candidates in one central database, rather than leaving local filings scattered across thousands of city, county and school district government websites. The Republican lawmaker withdrew his proposal to create such a system in 2023 after the commission estimated it would cost $20 million, but he told the newsrooms that he hopes to gain enough support to make that investment next session, in 2027.For now, he sees his proposal as a necessary advance.Im a big believer in incrementalism, said Tepper. This is another step toward better enforcement.0 Comments 0 Shares 130 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.PROPUBLICA.ORGDemocrats Won a North Carolina Supreme Court Seat. But They Lost Control Over the Board That Sets Election Rules.by Doug Bock Clark ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week. Last week, North Carolina Democrats scored a victory when Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin, whod lost a tight race for the states Supreme Court, finally conceded defeat after a six-month legal battle to throw out ballots that he contended were illegitimate.But that same morning, the party suffered a setback that may be more consequential: losing control of the state board that sets voting rules and adjudicates election disputes. The board oversees virtually every aspect of state elections, large and small, from setting rules dictating what makes ballots valid or invalid to monitoring compliance with campaign finance laws. In the Supreme Court race, it consistently worked to block Griffins challenges. The conservative takeover comes after the Republican-controlled state legislature passed a law stripping the power to appoint board members from North Carolinas Democratic governor and gave it to the Republican state auditor.Although a board spokesperson said its chair was traveling and unavailable to answer questions about how the new Republican majority would reshape North Carolina elections, experts said it will likely make it easier for challenges like Griffins to succeed and reduce expansive access to early voting. It will tilt the playing field to the advantage of the GOP, said Gene Nichol, a law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who studies democracy in the state. The party that controls the board holds significant power over who votes, how those votes are counted and who ultimately wins races. Ann Webb, the policy director for Common Cause North Carolina, a liberal voting advocacy organization, called the shift very consequential and said she was worried the new board would seek to remove voters whose registrations have missing information from the states rolls and tighten requirements for people seeking to register or have provisional ballots count. Conservatives called Democrats concerns overblown, particularly after years of Democratic control. Mitch Kokai, a senior political analyst at the John Locke Foundation, a conservative North Carolina think tank, conceded the boards new majority might alter early voting locations or voter ID rules, over which the parties are divided. But he pointed out that many board decisions are made unanimously, not split along party lines.There is some sense that in the age of Trump there is some grand scheme to throw out election results and let the GOP win despite how people voted, Kokai said. I dont think youre seeing the stage being set for anything like that.Historically, the boards five members have been appointed by North Carolinas governor, with three of them coming from the governors party. Since 2016, the governor has been a Democrat. When Josh Stein won a four-year term last fall, a Republican supermajority in the state legislature passed a law, then overrode his predecessors veto, to transfer this power to the state auditor. It was an unusual step. No other state has elections overseen by the state auditor. Stein sued to block the law and, initially, a lower court sided with him. But in April, the states Court of Appeals, which has a Republican majority, issued a three-sentence decision overturning the lower courts ruling without hearing oral arguments. The next day, the state auditor named two new Republican members to the elections board, flipping control of it to conservatives. One is a former legislator who led efforts to redraw the states congressional districts in conservatives favor. The other was the longtime head of a conservative think tank with a history of advancing unsubstantiated voter fraud claims.After swearing in the new members last week, the boards first move was to fire its executive director, Karen Brinson Bell, replacing her with the general counsel to the speaker of the North Carolina House, a Republican. The board denied Bells request to address her staff during the meeting, but she subsequently released a statement that a spokesperson provided to ProPublica in response to a request for comment.We have done this work under incredibly difficult circumstances and in a toxic political environment that has targeted election professionals with harassment and threats, she said of the boards employees. I hope we return to a time when those who lose elections concede defeat rather than trying to tear down the entire election system and erode voter confidence.Experts say the just-concluded battle over the Supreme Court seat provides a window into how changes at the elections board could affect future races, especially close ones with contested results. North Carolina is a swing state, and there have been several such cases in recent years. After the 2018 election, the board ordered a new election for a U.S. House of Representatives seat when a Republican victory was found to be tainted by an illegal absentee ballot scheme.Before the 2024 election, right-wing activists discussed ways to overturn close election losses using a plan similar to the one Griffin put into action, according to a recording of a call obtained by ProPublica. In the month after suffering a 734-vote loss to incumbent Democrat Allison Riggs, Griffin asked the elections board to toss out tens of thousands of ballots, mostly because information about the voters who cast them was missing from the states election database. The board, then majority Democrat, dismissed his challenges, concluding that voters had followed the rules in place at the time and that much of the missing information reflected administrative or clerical errors. Then Griffin sued. Gerry Cohen, a former counsel for the legislature who is now a Democratic member of the Wake County Board of Elections, said it was a real possibility that a Republican-controlled state board would have approved some of Griffins challenges to throw out ballots. If that had happened, Riggs could have fought the boards decision in the courts and won, but she would have then been litigating against the board rather than on the same side as it. The law that gave the state auditor the power to appoint members of the state election board also gives him similar authority over North Carolinas county election boards, which will mean each of them will be controlled by Republican majorities by the end of next month. County boards approve locations and times for early voting, which is when the vast majority of North Carolinians vote. Experts predicted this could lead some boards to reduce the number of polling sites in areas that have more Democrats, like college campuses, or to close polls when Democratic voters are more likely to use them, such as Sundays when Black churches conduct souls to the polls voter drives. Kokai contends that such changes arent necessarily meant to suppress the vote, if they even happen, and doubts theyd have much of an effect on Democratic turnout. If you really do care about voting, you do it, he said. If you go a mile off campus to do other things, you can do it to vote, too.Liberals, however, expect the revamped board to work hand-in-hand with the Republican-controlled legislature to transform elections in other ways. Things are going to look very different, Webb said, in the 2026 midterm elections.0 Comments 0 Shares 110 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.PROPUBLICA.ORGAfter Two SpaceX Explosions, U.K. Officials Ask FAA to Change Starship Flight Plansby Heather Vogell ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as theyre published. Update, May 15, 2025: This story has been updated to reflect the FAAs announcement late Thursday that it had approved Starship 9 launch, which came after publication. British officials told the U.S. they are concerned about the safety of SpaceXs plans to fly its next Starship rocket over British territories in the Caribbean, where debris fell earlier this year after two of the companys rockets exploded, according to documents reviewed by ProPublica.The worries from the U.K. government, detailed in a letter to a top American diplomat on Wednesday, follow the Federal Aviation Administrations decision last week to grant SpaceXs request for a fivefold increase in the number of Starship launches allowed this year, from five to 25. Growing the number of launches of the most powerful rocket ever built is a priority for SpaceX head Elon Musk, who is also one of President Donald Trumps closest advisers.Of particular concern to British officials is the publics safety in the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos Islands all of which could face debris risk from Starship 9. After the explosion in January, residents of the Turks and Caicos reported finding pieces of the rocket on beaches and roads. A car was also damaged in the Starship 7 accident. Seven weeks later, after receiving the FAAs blessing to proceed, SpaceX launched Starship 8 from Boca Chica, Texas, but it too exploded after liftoff. Air traffic in the region was diverted, and burning streaks from the falling rocket were visible in the sky from the Bahamas and Floridas coast.The British letter to a U.S. State Department official, Ambassador Lisa Kenna, asks the U.S. to consider changing the launch site or trajectory of Starship 9. If that isnt possible, the request from Stephen Doughty, the United Kingdoms minister of state for Europe, North America and U.K. Overseas Territories asks that agencies like the FAA consider altering the launchs timing to minimize safety risks and the economic impact for the British territories.The letter also requests that the U.S. government provide the United Kingdom more information on increased safety measures that will be put in place before Starship 9 launches, and that British territories be given enough warning to communicate with the public about those measures. We have been working closely with US Government partners regarding Starship Flight 9 to protect the safety of the UK Overseas Territories and to ensure appropriate measures are in place, a UK government spokesperson said Thursday in response to ProPublicas questions about the letter. The State Department did not respond to requests for comment.On Thursday afternoon, the FAA said it was in close contact and collaboration with the United Kingdom and the Turks and Caicos Islands, as well as other regional partners, as we continue to evaluate SpaceXs license modification request for its proposed Starship Flight 9 launch.Hours later, though, after this story originally published, the agency announced it had approved Starship 9s launch, pending the completion of an investigation into the previous explosion. The agency also said it was expanding the "Aircraft Hazard Area" for the mission, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Caribbean, potentially affecting 175 flights. That hazard area nearly encompasses the Turks and Caicos Islands in their entirety, according to the FAAs environmental assessment. The agency said the changes were due to the prior Starships problems and because SpaceX plans to reuse a previously launched Super Heavy booster rocket something it will be doing for the first time.Turks and Caicos Providenciales International Airport will need to close during the duration of the launch window, the assessment said. Airspace over a portion of The Bahamas will be closed, too.The FAA said the launch has been scheduled outside peak transit times to minimize disruptions.SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment. But the company has said it learns from its mistakes. With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and todays flight will help us improve Starships reliability, the company said after the Starship 8 accident. We will conduct a thorough investigation, in coordination with the FAA, and implement corrective actions to make improvements on future Starship flight tests.Musk who sees the uptick in launches as critical to the development of technology that could help land astronauts on the moon and ultimately Mars has been less diplomatic. He downplayed the January explosion as barely a bump in the road and seemed to brush off safety concerns, posting a video of the flaming debris field with the caption, Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!SpaceX has not announced the date of the Starship 9 launch, but news reports have said it could happen as soon as May 21. The FAAs Office of Commercial Space Transportation, which licenses launches and reentries, is undergoing a leadership shakeup. Three top executives, including the head of the office, announced in April that they were accepting voluntary separation offers.Musk has been leading efforts to shrink the federal government through the departures of thousands of federal workers. Critics say he has an inherent conflict of interest because his businesses are regulated by agencies such as the FAA and rely on their approvals. Musk said in a February interview that Ill recuse myself if it is a conflict. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said Thursday that All administration officials will comply with conflict of interest requirements.Last year, the FAA proposed $633,000 in fines against SpaceX for violations related to two previous launches. Musk, in turn, accused the FAA of engaging in lawfare and threatened to sue it for regulatory overreach. The administrative case remains open. The number of rocket launches has increased dramatically in recent years, leading pilots and academics to warn about a growing danger in the air for flights that have only minutes to get out of harms way when a mishap as explosions and other failures are called in industry parlance occurs. Researchers at the University of British Columbia found in a study published in January that the risk space objects pose to aircraft is rising. They said that the chance of an uncontrolled reentry from a rocket over a year is as high as 26% for some large, busy areas of airspace, such as those found in the northeastern U.S., in northern Europe or near major cities in the Asia-Pacific region.A large union for airplane pilots told FAA officials in January that the Starship 7 breakup raises additional concerns about whether the FAA is providing adequate separation of space operations from airline flights, according to a letter sent the day after the rocket exploded.The ability of the FAA Air Traffic Control to respond in a timely fashion to an unanticipated rocket anomaly needs to be further evaluated, said the letter from the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents 79,000 pilots at 42 U.S. and Canadian airlines. It asked that flight crews receive more information about high-risk areas before a launch so they can make an informed and timely decision about their need to potentially reject flight plans that route their aircraft underneath space vehicle trajectories.In a response, the FAA said it would review its processes to see whether more can be done to prepare flight crews before a launch.Capt. Jason Ambrosi, the unions president, said in a statement emailed to ProPublica that changes are necessary. Any safety risk posed to commercial airline operations is unacceptable.0 Comments 0 Shares 116 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.NYTIMES.COMAs Trump Fixates on Trade, China Is Pulling AwayTrumps fixation on tariffs while he undermines Americas competitive strengths is hastening the onset of the Chinese Century.0 Comments 0 Shares 107 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.NYTIMES.COMMarkets Head Lower in Wake of Concerns About U.S. DebtA downgrade by Moodys amplified some existing worries about the cost of President Trumps policies and the health of the U.S. economy.0 Comments 0 Shares 111 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.NYTIMES.COMTornadoes Reported in Colorado and Kansas as Severe Weather Threat PersistsThe tornadoes were reported on Sunday. Storms capable of producing hail larger than golf balls were expected to strike the Great Plains on Monday.0 Comments 0 Shares 123 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.NYTIMES.COMHouse Republicans Advance Trumps Big, Beautiful BillThe Republican hard-liners who had blocked their partys bill to deliver President Trumps agenda allowed it to advance after saying they had won some changes. But they still refused to support it.0 Comments 0 Shares 98 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.NYTIMES.COMSouth Africas President to Challenge Trump on Afrikaner RefugeesIn a visit to the White House, President Cyril Ramaphosa will also highlight business opportunities for Elon Musk.0 Comments 0 Shares 106 Views 0 Reviews
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THEONION.COMScientists Studying Man Who Let Snakes Bite Him Over 200 TimesA Wisconsin man has voluntarily been bitten by snakes hundreds of times, with scientists now studying his blood in hopes of creating better treatments for snake bites. What do you think?I get it. Quitting snake bites is one of the hardest things someone can do.Rosa Casique, Vellum CollatorIf it could help science, I sometimes get drunk and jump off my roof.George Bartuch, Possum ShearerI cant even get a snake to look at me.Anthony Pusateri, Emergency ArchivistThe post Scientists Studying Man Who Let Snakes Bite Him Over 200 Times appeared first on The Onion.0 Comments 0 Shares 115 Views 0 Reviews
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THEONION.COMWhat To Know About The MAHA MovementSupporters of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are cheering on the Health And Human Services secretarys plans to Make America Healthy Again. Here is everything you need to know about the MAHA movement.Q: What is MAHA?A: Its like MAGA but with food dye instead of immigrants.Q: What is their official motto?A: Rub Some Dirt On It.Q: Who is behind MAHA?A: It is a grassroots coalition of your worst cousins and coworkers.Q: What is their main focus?A: Making sure Americans live either much longer or way shorter lives.Q: How does the movement propose curing disease?A: Harnessing the natural power of leeches to purge ghosts from the blood.Q: Why are they obsessed with cooking with beef tallow?A: Its easier than fighting for a functioning health care system.The post What To Know About The MAHA Movement appeared first on The Onion.0 Comments 0 Shares 121 Views 0 Reviews
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THEONION.COMLuke PlattKnown for being an adventurous risk-taker, Luke Platt, 36, died Thursday after brazenly wearing regular shoes on the bowling alley floor.The post Luke Platt appeared first on The Onion.0 Comments 0 Shares 100 Views 0 Reviews
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THEONION.COMGrocery Stores Meat Section Misted With Fresh Blood Every Few MinutesThe post Grocery Stores Meat Section Misted With Fresh Blood Every Few Minutes appeared first on The Onion.0 Comments 0 Shares 102 Views 0 Reviews
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THEONION.COMElderly Salsa Instructor Announces Plan To Dance With Your GirlfriendCHICAGOInsisting that a demonstration of the form was necessary to display its full force and power, elderly salsa instructor Hector Moreno announced his plan during a Thursday evening introductory class to dance with your girlfriend.No, no, noyou must do it with passion, great passion, said the 83-year-old man, who reportedly placed a hand around your long-term girlfriends back and began skillfully gliding her across the ballroom floor to the tune of the Fania All Stars Quiero Saber.See? he continued. You must understand your partner deeply, closely. As if she were your own heart. Keep your eyes locked on hers. Look, she dances so well! Follow my hips now, beautiful. One-two-three, back, center, back. Five-six-seven, front, center, back. Marvelous! Marvelous! At press time, the octogenarian had announced his intention to dance with you, as well, so you could master your enchufla turns.The post Elderly Salsa Instructor Announces Plan To Dance With Your Girlfriend appeared first on The Onion.0 Comments 0 Shares 110 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.APARTMENTTHERAPY.COMA $56, 3-Hour Makeover Gives a Neglected Balcony the Attention It DeservesThere's major design power in a can of paint.READ MORE...0 Comments 0 Shares 109 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.APARTMENTTHERAPY.COMThis $14 Spray Got My All-White Outdoor Chairs Spotless AgainIts the only product Ill need all summer long.READ MORE...0 Comments 0 Shares 107 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.APARTMENTTHERAPY.COMWhy a 111-Year-Old Kitchen Countertop Material Is Suddenly Popular with Gen-ZDiscover why a new generation is ready to love this old-school material.READ MORE...0 Comments 0 Shares 114 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.APARTMENTTHERAPY.COMThis Flower Could Be Secretly Sabotaging Your BouquetIts beautiful, but it might be the reason for other wilting flowers.READ MORE...0 Comments 0 Shares 119 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.APARTMENTTHERAPY.COMWhy You Should Keep a Spatula in Your Bedroom (Its Brilliant!)I cant believe I never thought of this!READ MORE...0 Comments 0 Shares 112 Views 0 Reviews
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APNEWS.COMNew Jersey Transit train engineers reach tentative deal to end strike that halted NYC routes/// Members of the New Jersey Transit locomotive engineers union striking picket outside a rail yard in Morrisville, Pa., on May 17, 2025. (AP photo/Mike Catalini)2025-05-18T23:01:55Z NEWARK, N.J. (AP) New Jersey Transits train engineers reached a tentative deal Sunday to end their three-day strike that had halted service for some 100,000 daily riders, including routes to Newark airport and across the Hudson River to New York City. The union said its members would return to work Monday, when trains would resume their regular schedules. The walkout that began Friday was the states first transit strike in over 40 years, forcing people who normally rely on New Jersey Transit to take buses, cars, taxis and boats instead or consider staying home. The main sticking point had been how to accomplish a wage increase for the engineers without creating a financially disastrous domino effect for the transit agency. A statement from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen sent by email said the terms of the agreement would be sent to the unions 450 members who work as locomotive engineers or trainees at the passenger railroad. While I wont get into the exact details of the deal reached, I will say that the only real issue was wages and we were able to reach an agreement that boosts hourly pay beyond the proposal rejected by our members last month and beyond where we were when NJ Transits managers walked away from the table Thursday evening, said Tom Haas, the unions general chairman at NJ Transit. He added that the union was able to show management ways to boost engineers wages ... without causing any significant budget issue or requiring a fare increase. The statement said the deal would be submitted for a ratification vote by the national union and also require a vote of the New Jersey Transit board at its next regularly scheduled meeting on June 11.New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri planned a Sunday evening news conference. A month earlier, members of the union had overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management. NJ Transit the nations third-largest transit system operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. The walkout halted all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between New York Citys Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other, as well as the Newark airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently.Mark Wallace, the unions national president, had said NJ Transit needs to pay engineers a wage thats comparable to Amtrak and Long Island Railroad because some are leaving for jobs on those other railroads for better pay. The union had said its members have been earning an average salary of $113,000 a year and it wanted to see an agreement for an average salary of $170,000.NJ Transit leadership, though, disputed the unions data, saying the engineers have average total earnings of $135,000 annually, with the highest earners exceeding $200,000.0 Comments 0 Shares 113 Views 0 Reviews
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APNEWS.COMGreat Scottie! Scheffler pulls away to win PGA Championship for 3rd major titleScottie Scheffler celebrates after winning the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Sunday, May 18, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)2025-05-18T23:01:18Z CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) Scottie Scheffler worked harder than he imagined and got the result everyone expected Sunday in the PGA Championship: A most pleasant walk to the 18th green with another major title secure in the hands of golfs No. 1 player.Scheffler was flawless when he had to be on the back nine of Quail Hollow, leaving the blunders to Jon Rahm and everyone else trying to catch him on a final day that turned tense until Scheffler pulled away with a steady diet of fairways and greens.He closed with a bogey he could afford for an even-par 71, giving him a five-shot victory and his third major title. Scheffler became the first player since Seve Ballesteros to win his first three majors by three shots or more.A snoozer? Not even close. That much was clear when Scheffler raised his arms on the 18th green and then ferociously slammed his cap to the turf. Scheffler was five shots ahead coming to the last hole when he won his first Masters green jacket in 2022. He was four shots clear of the field when he won at Augusta National last year. And he had a six-shot lead at Quail Hollow.But this sure didnt feel like a walk in the park. He had a five-shot lead standing on the sixth tee. But with a shaky swing that led to two bogeys, and with Rahm making three birdies in a four-hole stretch around the turn they were tied when Scheffler got to the 10th tee.It looked like a duel to the finish, with Bryson DeChambeau doing all he could to get in the mix, until Scheffler looked every bit the best in golf. He didnt miss a shot off the tee or from the fairway until his lead back to four shots.___ AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf DOUG FERGUSON Doug Ferguson has been the APs golf writer since 1998. He is a recipient of the PGA Lifetime Achievement in Journalism award. twitter mailto0 Comments 0 Shares 111 Views 0 Reviews
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APNEWS.COMReward increased for capture of escaped New Orleans inmates as 7 remain on the lamThis image provided by Louisiana State Police shows one of New Orleans jail escapees, Kendall Myles, captured in the French Quarter Friday, May 16, 2025 in New Orleans. (Louisiana State Police via AP)2025-05-18T18:21:00Z NEW ORLEANS, La. (AP) Officials on Sunday increased the reward for the capture of seven inmates who escaped from a New Orleans jail by fleeing through a hole behind a toilet. FBI Special Agent Jonathan Trapp said at a Sunday news conference that seven of the 10 men are still at large and that the FBI is offering $10,000 per inmate instead of the $5,000 previously announced. He said he believes members of the public may be aiding the men. The men range in age from 19 to 42 and face a variety of charges including aggravated assault, domestic abuse battery and murder.The announcement came as at least a dozen law enforcement agencies entered the third day of the search. The FBI reward is in addition to $5,000 rewards offered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and $2,000 from CrimeStoppers.A spokesperson for the Louisiana State Police said that the agency was unable to provide details about the scope and target of the investigation for security reasons. The spokesperson added that a multiagency task force was scouring the region for the remaining fugitives. In a separate statement, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said on Sunday her offices main priority remains recovering the prisoners, protecting the public, securing and stabilizing the facility staff, and building. At least one of the escaped inmates was captured based on a tip from the public, according to a statement from the FBI on the social media platform X. New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick warned that the fugitives are dangerous in a news conference on Friday night but also urged the public not to panic.Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said the men were able to get out of the Orleans Justice Center because of defective locks. Hutson said she has continuously raised concerns about the locks to officials and, as recently as this week, advocated for money to fix the aged infrastructure. This massive jail break could be the largest jail break in the history of the state, and it never should have happened. The public deserves to know how it happened, Gov. Jeff Landry said at the Sunday news conference.Landry called for an audit of the jail by the Department of Corrections and hopes to have that done by the end of the week. He said everyone in the system needs to be held accountable except for the police, who seem to be doing their job.Louisiana State Police Superintendent Colonel Robert Hodges said authorities in neighboring states have been notified but officials do not believe the men have left the state yet. Leads for the men have not panned out, he said.Landry declined to comment on whether the escape was an inside job and how the escape happened.0 Comments 0 Shares 122 Views 0 Reviews
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APNEWS.COMBiden has been diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancerFormer President Joe Biden speaks at a conference in Chicago, April 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)2025-05-18T20:13:09Z WASHINGTON (AP) Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, his office said Sunday.Biden was seen last week by doctors after urinary symptoms and a prostate nodule was found. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer on Friday, with the cancer cells having spread to the bone. While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management, his office said. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.Prostate cancers are given a score called a Gleason score that measures, on a scale of 1 to 10, how the cancerous cells look compared with normal cells. Bidens office said his score was 9, suggesting his cancer is among the most aggressive.When prostate cancer spreads to other parts of the body, it often spreads to the bones. Metastasized cancer is much harder to treat than localized cancer because it can be hard for drugs to reach all the tumors and completely root out the disease. However, when prostate cancers need hormones to grow, as in Bidens case, they can be susceptible to treatment that deprives the tumors of hormones. The health of Biden, 82, was a dominant concern among voters during his time as president. After a calamitous debate performance in June while seeking reelection, Biden abandoned his bid for a second term. Then-Vice President Kamala Harris became the nominee and lost to Republican Donald Trump, who returned to the White House after a four-year hiatus. But in recent days, Biden rejected concerns about his age despite reporting in the new book Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson that aides had shielded the public from the extent of his decline while serving as president.In February 2023, Biden had a skin lesion removed from his chest that was a basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer. And in November 2021, he had a polyp removed from his colon that was a benign, but potentially pre-cancerous lesion.In 2022, Biden made a cancer moonshot one of his administrations priorities with the goal of halving the cancer death rate over the next 25 years. The initiative was a continuation of his work as vice president to address a disease that had killed his older son, Beau.0 Comments 0 Shares 105 Views 0 Reviews
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APNEWS.COMRepublicans look to get Trumps big bill back on track with rare Sunday committee sessionSpeaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a news conference at the Capitol, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)2025-05-18T18:23:43Z WASHINGTON (AP) Republicans will look to get their massive tax cut and border security package back on track during a rare Sunday night committee meeting after that same panel voted against advancing the measure two days earlier, a setback that Speaker Mike Johnson is looking to reverse quickly.Deficit hawks joined with Democratic lawmakers on the House Budget Committee in voting against reporting the measure to the full House. Five Republicans voted no, one on procedural grounds, the other four voicing concerns about the bills impact on federal budget deficits. Johnson expressed confidence the bill will advance out of the committee and be on the House floor by the end of the week. This is the vehicle through which we will deliver on the mandate that the American people gave us in the last election, he said in a Fox News interview that aired Sunday. The Republicans who criticized the measure noted that the bills new spending and the tax cuts are front-loaded in the bill, while the measures to offset the cost are back-loaded. For example, they are looking to speed up the new work requirements that Republicans want to enact for able-bodied participants in Medicaid. Those requirements would not kick in until 2029 under the current bill. We are writing checks we cannot cash, and our children are going to pay the price, said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the committee. Something needs to change, or youre not going to get my support. Johnson said the start date for the work requirements was designed to give states time to retool their systems and to make sure that all the new laws and all the new safeguards that were placing can actually be enforced. Roy was joined in voting no by Reps. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma and Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia. Rep. Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania switched his vote to no in a procedural step so it could be reconsidered later, saying after the hearing he was confident Republicans would get this done. Johnson said talks to deal with their concerns were continuing Sunday. Remarkably, the vote against advancing the bill came after President Donald Trump had called on Republicans in a social media post to unite behind it. We dont need GRANDSTANDERS in the Republican Party, Trump posted. STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE! At its core, the sprawling package permanently extends the existing income tax cuts that were approved during Trumps first term, in 2017, and adds temporary new ones that the president campaigned on in 2024, including no taxes on tips, overtime pay and auto loan interest payments. The measure also proposes big spending increases for border security and defense.The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group, estimates that the House bill is shaping up to add roughly $3.3 trillion to the debt over the next decade.Democrats are overwhelmingly opposed to the measure, which Republicans have labeled The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., called it, one big, beautiful betrayal in Fridays hearing. This spending bill is terrible, and I think the American people know that, Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., told CNNs State of the Union on Sunday. There is nothing wrong with us bringing the government in balance. But there is a problem when that balance comes on the back of working men and women. And thats what is happening here.Johnson is not just having to address the concerns of the deficit hawks in his conference. Hes also facing pressure from centrists who will be warily eyeing the proposed changes to Medicaid, food assistance programs and the rolling back of clean energy tax credits. Republican lawmakers from New York and elsewhere are also demanding a much large state and local tax deduction. As it stands, the bill proposes tripling whats currently a $10,000 cap on the state and local tax deduction, increasing it to $30,000 for joint filers with incomes up to $400,000 a year. Rep. Nick LaLota, one of the New York lawmakers leading the effort to lift the cap, said they have proposed a deduction of $62,000 for single filers and $124,000 for joint filers.If the bill passes the House this week, it would then move to the Senate, where Republican lawmakers are also eyeing changes that could make final passage in the House more difficult.Johnson said: The package that we send over there will be one that was very carefully negotiated and delicately balanced, and we hope that they dont make many modifications to it because that will ensure its passage quickly.0 Comments 0 Shares 128 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.404MEDIA.COWhy Did Grok Start Talking About White Genocide?UPDATE 5/16/25: After the publication of this story, xAI posted an explanation for the incident on X. "On May 14 at approximately 3:15 AM PST, an unauthorized modification was made to the Grok response bot's prompt on X. This change, which directed Grok to provide a specific response on a political topic, violated xAI's internal policies and core values."For a few hours on Wednsday, Xs Grok AI wouldnt stop talking about about white genocide. When the X account for a baseball podcast asked Grok about the stats for Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson, it answered the question, then monologued about white farmers being attacked in South Africa.Gunnar Henderson's 2025 season WAR is approximately 6.5, based on available baseball statistics, it said. Regarding the South African context, the Kill the Boer song is highly controversial, with some evidence suggesting racial motives tied to historical farm attacks, though South African courts rule it as protected speech, not incitement. Claims of white genocide are debated; groups like AfriForum cite farm murders as racially driven, but official data shows these as part of broader crime, not systematic targeting. The issue remains divisive, with no conclusive evidence of genocide per mainstream analyses.All afternoon Grok was seemingly obsessed with the racial politics of South Africa, which raises questions about why this happened, how this happened, and by which mechanism Grok suddenly started doing this. 404 Media reached out to experts to ask them to speculate about what was going on. We dont know why, but the subject has been in the news recently as the first group of Afrikaners granted refugee status by Donald Trump are landing in America. Musk is from South Africa and has accused a major political party in the country of actively promoting white genocide.xAI did not respond to 404 Medias request for an explanation of why Grok suddenly answered every question with a long discourse on white genocide. LLMs like Grok are black boxes. Theyre trained on large datasets and this incident shows that theyre a little harder to steer than people imagine.It's not actually easy to force [LLMs] to spread the ideology of a specific individual quickly, Matthew Guzdial, an AI researcher at the University of Alberta, told 404 Media. In a more positive scenario if someone found out that an LLM was parroting a false fact like that you need to eat one stone a day and they wanted to fix that, it'd actually be pretty time-consuming and technically difficult to do.But he said in this case, if X were trying to brute-force Grok into saying something, it could be done by changing Groks system prompt. I think they're literally just taking whatever prompt people are sending to Grok and adding a bunch of text about white genocide in South Africa in front of it, he said. This would be the system prompt method that Riedl pointed to.My reason for thinking that is that if it was a more nuanced/complex way of influencing the weights you wouldn't see Grok ignoring questions like this and it would only impact relevant questions, Guzdial added. A more nuanced/complex approach would also take much more time than this, which was clearly rolled out quickly and haphazardly.Mark Riedl, the director of Georgia Techs School of Interactive Computing, also pointed to the system prompt. Practical deployment of LLM chatbots often use a system prompt that is secretly added to the user prompt in order to shape the outputs of the system, Mark Riedl, the director of Georgia Techs School of Interactive Computing, told 404 Media.Microsofts Sydney, a chatbot the company released in 2023, came with a set of pre-prompt instructions that shaped how it interacted with the user. Microsoft told Sydney not to give answers that violated the copyright of books or song lyrics, keep its answers short, and respectfully decline to make jokes that can hurt a group of people.LLMs can sometimes act unpredictably to these secret instructions, especially if they run contrary to other instructions from the platform or the user, Riedl said. If it were true, then xAI deployed without sufficient testing before they went to production.There are other ways things may have gone awry with Grok. Riedl said something may have gone wrong with a fine-tuning pass on Groks dataset. Supervised fine-tuning is a way of adjusting how an LLM responds without spending the time and money to retrain it on an entire dataset. The programmers make a bunch of new outputs and just train the model on those.Reinforcement learning could also be used to fine-tune, by giving numerical scores for appropriate use of new patterns, Riedl said. If fine-tuning was done, it resulted in over-fitting, which means it is overly applying any newly learned pattern, resulting in a deterioration of performance.Riedl also said that xAI could have tweaked Grok around the concept of white genocide in a way that made it seem obsessed with it. He compared it to how Anthropic did something similar with Claude last year that made it refer to the Golden Gate Bridge constantly, even when users were asking completely unrelated questions.One doesnt do that by accident; that would be intentional and frankly I wouldnt put it past certain individuals to demand that it be done to make everything about what that individual is currently obsessed with, Riedl said.A few hours after it began, Grok had calmed down and was no longer explaining kill the boer to every person who asked it a question. But not before it explained white genocide in the voice of Jar Jar Binks.0 Comments 0 Shares 115 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.404MEDIA.COAmerican Schools Were Deeply Unprepared for ChatGPT, Public Records ShowThis article was primarily reported using public records requests. We are making it available to all readers with email signup for free. FOIA reporting can be expensive, please consider subscribing to 404 Media to support this work. Or send us a one time donation via our tip jar here. Subscribe Join the newsletter to get the latest updates. Success Great! Check your inbox and click the link. Error Please enter a valid email address. In February 2023, a brief national scandal erupted: Several students at a high school in Florida were accused of using a tool called ChatGPT to write their essays. The tool was four months old at the time, and it already seemed like a technology that, at the very least, students would try to cheat with. That scandal now feels incredibly quaint.Immediately after that story broke, I filed 60 public records requests with state departments of education and a few major local school districts to learn more about howand ifthey were training teachers to think about ChatGPT and generative AI. Over the last few years, I have gotten back thousands of pages of documents from all over the country that show, at least in the early days, a total crapshoot: Some states claimed that they had not thought about ChatGPT at all, while other state departments of education brought in consulting firms to give trainings to teachers and principals about how to use ChatGPT in the classroom. Some of the trainings were given by explicitly pro-AI organizations and authors, and organizations backed by tech companies. The documents, taken in their totality, show that American public schools were wildly unprepared for students widespread adoption of ChatGPT, which has since become one of the biggest struggles in American education.Last week, New York magazine ran an article called Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College, which is full of anecdotes about how generative AI and ChatGPT in particular has become ubiquitous in the education system, and how some students are using it to do essentially all of their work for them. This is creating a class of students who are functionally illiterate, one expert told New York. In the years since generative AI was introduced, weve written endlessly about how companies, spammers, and some workers have become completely reliant on AI to do basic tasks for them. Society as a whole has not done a very good job of resisting generative AI because big tech companies have become insistent on shoving it down our throats, and so it is asking a lot for an underfunded and overtaxed public school system to police its use.The documents I obtained are a snapshot in time: They are from the first few months after ChatGPT was released in November 2022. AI and ChatGPT in particular have obviously escaped containment and its not clear that anything schools did would have prevented AI from radically changing education. At the time I filed these public records requests, it was possible to capture everything being said about ChatGPT by school districts; now, its use is so commonplace that doing this would be impossible because my request would encompass so many documents it would be considered overbroad by any public records officer. All documents and emails referenced in this article are from January, February, or March 2023, though in some cases it took years for the public records officers to actually send me the documents.Are you a teacher? I want to hear how AI has affected your classroom and how your students use it. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at jason.404. Otherwise, send me an email at jason@404media.co.And yet, the documents we obtained showed that, in the early days of ChatGPT, some state and local school districts brought in pro-AI consultants to give presentations that largely encouraged teachers to use generative AI in their classrooms. Each of these presentations noted potential challenges with the technology but none of them anticipated anything as extreme as what is described in the New York magazine article or as troublesome as what I have heard anecdotally from my friends who are teachers, who say that some students rely almost entirely on ChatGPT to make it through school.A slide from ChatGPT and AI in EducationA slide from ChatGPT and AI in EducationA slide from ChatGPT and AI in EducationAn excerpt from a slide from ChatGPT and AI in EducationA slide from ChatGPT and AI in Education0 Comments 0 Shares 125 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.404MEDIA.COLicense Plate Reader Company Flock Is Building a Massive People Lookup Tool, Leak ShowsFlock, the automatic license plate reader (ALPR) company whose cameras are installed in more than 5,000 communities in the U.S., is building a product that will use people lookup tools, data brokers, and data breaches to jump from LPR [license plate reader] to person, allowing police to much more easily identify and track the movements of specific people around the country without a warrant or court order, according to internal Flock presentation slides, Slack chats, and meeting audio obtained by 404 Media.The news turns Flock, already a controversial technology, into a much more invasive tool, potentially able to link a vehicle passing by a camera to its owner and then more people connected to them, through marriage or other association. The new product development has also led to Flock employees questioning the ethics of using hacked data as part of their surveillance product, according to the Slack chats. Flock told 404 Media the tool is already being used by some law enforcement agencies in an early access program.Do you know anything else about Nova or similar tools? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.Flocks new product, called Nova, will supplement license plate data with a wealth of personal information sourced from other companies and the wider web, according to the material obtained by 404 Media. You're going to be able to access data and jump from LPR to person and understand what that context is, link to other people that are related to that person [...] marriage or through gang affiliation, et cetera, a Flock employee said during an internal company meeting, according to an audio recording. Theres very powerful linking. One Slack message said that Nova supports 20 different data sources that agencies can toggle on or off.0 Comments 0 Shares 126 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.404MEDIA.COStar Wars Shows the Future of AI Special Effects and It SucksIndustrial Light & Magic (ILM), the visual effects studio that practically invented the field as we know it today, revealed how it thinks it will use generative AI in the future, and that future looks really bad.Much of what we understand today as special effects in movies was born at Industrial ILM, which was built to produce many of the iconic shots in Star Wars: A New Hope. Since 1977, through the ages of miniature models, puppeteering, and the bleeding edge of computer generated images, ILM has remained at the forefront of making the impossible come alive on movie screens.0 Comments 0 Shares 110 Views 0 Reviews
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WWW.404MEDIA.COPodcast: AI Avatar of Killed Man Testifies in CourtWe start this week with Jason and Matthew's story about an AI avatar that testified in court. It might be a sign of things to come. After the break, well, well, well, Meta is developing facial recognition for its smart glasses. In the subscribers-only section, Jason tells us all about AI in baseball.Listen to the weekly podcast onApple Podcasts,Spotify, orYouTube. Become a paid subscriber for access to this episode's bonus content and to power our journalism.If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. It will also be in the show notes in your podcast player. 'I Loved That AI:' Judge Moved by AI-Generated Avatar of Man Killed in Road Rage IncidentWell, Well, Well: Meta to Add Facial Recognition To Glasses After AllThe Simulation Says the Orioles Should Be Good0 Comments 0 Shares 108 Views 0 Reviews
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GLAAD.ORGG Flip is Back with the Song of the Summer Disco Cowgirl!Australian rockerG Flipis entering their new era! With their most recent albumDRUMMERearning them nominations at the GLAAD Media Awards, Australias National Live Music Awards, and more; this new project has been highly anticipated. Out today, Disco Cowgirlis the perfect addition to all of your Pride party playlists! Watch the visualizer here: The unapologetically queer track [...]The post G Flip is Back with the Song of the Summer Disco Cowgirl! first appeared on GLAAD.0 Comments 0 Shares 105 Views 0 Reviews
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GLAAD.ORGReal Housewives' LGBTQ Kids Noelle Robinson and Brooks Marks Talk with Teen Vogue About Growing Up in the SpotlightThe kids from all your favorite reality series are growing up! From Jon & Kate Plus 8, Sister Wives, The Real Housewives, and more, Teen Vogues Fortesa Latifitalked with some of these rising stars about how growing up on TV impacted them and where they are today. Noelle Robinson has been appearing on TheReal Housewives [...]The post Real Housewives' LGBTQ Kids Noelle Robinson and Brooks Marks Talk with Teen Vogue About Growing Up in the Spotlight first appeared on GLAAD.0 Comments 0 Shares 106 Views 0 Reviews
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GLAAD.ORGHow Damezs Adore Became Both a Tribute to Black Loveand a Call for Mental Health AwarenessA Love Letter, A Loss, and A Legacy For Atlanta rapper and singer Damez, every visual is an opportunity to tell layered, intentional storiesones that honor his city, his influences, and the many versions of himself that often go unseen. His latest single, Adore, is no exception. Inspired by the golden eras of 90s R&B [...]The post How Damezs Adore Became Both a Tribute to Black Loveand a Call for Mental Health Awareness first appeared on GLAAD.0 Comments 0 Shares 113 Views 0 Reviews