Abigail Higgins
@abigailhiggins.bsky.social
Journalist in DC, previously Kenya. Co-founder and Managing Editor of @51stnews.bsky.social. Covering inequality, gender, labor for the Washington Post, The Nation, Lux, etc. Organizing with The National Writers Union.
This August, our newsroom is tripling our reporting capacity — and deepening our politics coverage. Today's news: Alex Koma (@alexkoma.bsky.social) is joining our team later this month. More about Alex's work — and the reporting he's excited to dig into as part of our team:
Alex Koma joins The 51st as a Senior Reporter
The 51st is tripling our reporting capacity and deepening our political coverage.
51st.news
We’re thrilled that our newsroom is growing. Elliot Williams is joining our team starting next (!) week (!!) @ecwilliams.bsky.social has covered D.C.'s arts and culture for the better part of a decade and we can't wait to see what he does at The 51st. 51st.news/elliot-willi...
Elliot C. Williams joins The 51st as a Senior Reporter
The 51st is tripling our reporting capacity and expanding coverage of D.C.'s arts and culture.
51st.news
Wild. The Minnesota Star Tribune's old printing press is being redeveloped as an AI data center. The message is not subtle. www.startribune.com/data-center-...
Data center developer signs deal to buy Minnesota Star Tribune’s shuttered North Loop printing plant
The 13-acre property is one of downtown Minneapolis’ last large industrial sites.
startribune.com
Trump absolutely cratering by many metrics in new CNN poll: 66% say he puts himself over country 61% disapprove of ballroom, arch, etc 57% say lacks sharpness to serve (!) 73% say he's out of touch w/regular people (!!) His personalist project is over. New piece: newrepublic.com/article/2137...
We’ve Officially Entered the Twilight of Late-Stage Trumpism
It’s all there in a new CNN poll, and it’s heartening to see: Large majorities are sick of Donald Trump’s vanity, venality, and megalomania.
newrepublic.com
It’s a Fair Question….. “Why is it that it takes 900 years and 5000 impact studies to build high speed rail but a 5 minute city council meeting is all it takes to approve a massive data center?”
Thread of updates on an unusually busy day in ICE flights. This Omni ICE flight just landed in Laos. Passengers have been shackled for 25+ hours. There is likely at least one more stop. 1/
Gillian Brockell@gillianbrockell.com · last wk.Overnight this Omni ICE removal trip refueled in Anchorage and is now likely headed to its second refueling stop in Guam. It’ll be another 10 hours at least before it makes its first removal stop. The people onboard have been shackled for at least 14 hours so far.
A suite of new laws restricting cooperation between Maine law enforcement and DHS agents is set to take effect today, less than three weeks after an ICE agent shot and killed 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Maine just told ICE to get out
Hundreds of the state's police departments, school districts, and libraries are now required to refuse cooperation with the agency.
motherjones.com
My Haitian friend was just fired from his job. "They said I don't have a legal status now." This is likely happening to hundreds of thousands of people across this country today. Sick.
As I've said many times, the revocation of TPS for Haitians is horrific on its face, but it's *also* going to have a devastating cascade of effects because Haitian workers are the backbone of health and human services supports for elderly and disabled folks, especially here in Massachusetts.
Heba Gowayed هبة جويد@hebagowayed.bsky.social · last wk.My Haitian friend was just fired from his job. "They said I don't have a legal status now." This is likely happening to hundreds of thousands of people across this country today. Sick.
We’ve seen so much cruelty from ICE over the past year. But using kids as “bait” to arrest & detain their relatives is a new level of evil. I witnessed it last week at 201 Varick Street. Per this article in the Texas Tribune, it’s happened over 100X. (1/3)
ICE arresting relatives trying to take custody of migrant kids
Attorneys say the federal agencies are using children as “bait” to detain sponsors, leaving kids waiting in shelters for months.
texastribune.org
The National Guard Bureau will spend $292 million to provide a "long-term housing solution" for thousands of troop members deployed in DC in "apartment-style lodging units"
National Guard Signs $292M Housing Contract for Troops in Washington, D.C.
The deal would provide 2,000 “apartment-style lodging units” for service members deployed in the city.
notus.org
🚨 NEW TOOL for U.S. legal journalists ⚖️ I turned @allyjar.bsky.social's incredible crowdsourced Google doc on accessing state court records into an interactive map. Check it out and let me know about any errors, missing information, or ways I can improve this thing (link below)
BREAKING: @wired.com (apparently undeterred by James Dolan's bogus lawsuit) reveals that MSG turned off their controversial facial recognition system during Taylor Swift's wedding. MSG has always claimed their use of AI surveillance is for security. It's hard to imagine a higher security event...
For Taylor Swift, Madison Square Garden’s Controversial Cameras Briefly Went Dark
MSG’s sprawling surveillance system can monitor guests down to the second. Its owners made an exception for the pop star’s rehearsal dinner.
wired.com
MedStar Washington Hospital Center delivers more babies than any other hospital in DC. Now, they're cutting over a third of their postpartum beds. Nurses & health advocates are very concerned about this decision. I spoke with them to understand why. @51st.news 51st.news/dc-hospital-...
This hospital is cutting over a third of its postpartum beds
As the city faces a Black maternal health crisis, health advocates are concerned about cuts at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.
51st.news
If you love this you'll also love the images from John Wymer, who, in the late '40s and '50s, went around the District taking tons of street pictures as a hobby. His collection here is laid out on a Google Map so you can browse any part of the city to see how it looked decades ago.
Wymer's DC
Wymer's DC hosts an interactive story map which overlays historic images of Washington, DC onto Google Street View. Users can toggle between a mid-twentieth century photograph collection and modern im...
wymersdc.com
The 51st@51st.news · 2w agoThe District of Columbia Archives has released its largest digital collection of historic photos — showing new views of the city from 1947 through 1959. Find anything interesting? Let us know!
"'To be using AI without a thought about the problems that it causes for people around the world, and the water and electricity it’s consuming,' [16-year-old] Owens says, 'feels like [his peers are] failing an open-book test with the answers being screamed at them.’”
Some Kids Will Never Think AI Is Cool
“I think it should stand for ‘artificial idiot,’” one 9-year-old says. Here’s why kids of all ages are calling AI “disgusting” and “creepy.”
wired.com
The only real profitability of AI has always been that the government artificially subsidizes this politically-connected industry by forcing citizens to subsidize its otherwise very middling-to-poor products; k-12 education is one of the main places for that to happen. www.ft.com/content/e23e...
AI labs begin to muscle in on $6tn education market
Anthropic and OpenAI are among groups providing free and cut-price tailored solutions for educators and students
ft.com
I’m glad that the walls seem to be closing in on Andrew Tate, but it took criminal investigations across three countries, dozens of outspoken victims, and a hit TV show implying he drives boys to murder girls for this to happen—and he still hasn’t been convicted yet. This is why 98% get away with it
"This might be unpopular but I'd like to discriminate against an entire class of people" If this is you, I hope the next 500 books you try to read are a disappointment.
This was fun to pull together after covering our city for a chunk of recent history. It followed on learning a ton from a panel of local archivists at our event last week: www.eventbrite.com/e/historys-f...
The 51st@51st.news · 2w agoThe District of Columbia Archives has released its largest digital collection of historic photos — showing new views of the city from 1947 through 1959. Find anything interesting? Let us know!
Fine to disagree on tax policy, but not fine to work with GOP to significantly limit DC home rule. If DoorDash thinks DC will accept them intervening in our tax code, they don't deserve our business. I've deleted my DoorDash account and encourage others to do the same.
Martin Austermuhle@maustermuhle.bsky.social · 2w agoIn a statement, DoorDash tells me that the council passed the "arbitrary" new fee without holding any hearings. "We have always supported home rule for D.C.," says the company. "But will continue to defend D.C.'s small businesses, local economy, and underserved residents."
Interesting: DoorDash is supporting the GOP bill in Congress to limit D.C.'s ability to increase or decrease taxes and fees, largely in response to the D.C. Council's recent vote in impose a new 20-cent delivery fee to help fund food-access programs. www.notus.org/metro/uberea...
That Food Delivery Is Soon Going To Cost You a Little More in D.C.
DoorDash unsuccessfully fought a 20-cent fee approved by the D.C. Council that will also affect UberEats deliveries.
notus.org
First Nations are bearing the worst of Canada's wildfire crisis. Indigenous-led organizations are leading the most grounded response on the ground. If you can give, here's where to start: → Anishinabek Nation 7th Generation Charity: an7gc.ca/donate/ → True North Aid: truenorthaid.ca
DONATE - Anishinabek Nation 7th Generation Charity
Individuals who support the goals and vision of AN7GC can make a donation. The ways to donate: call us, mail your donation, use Paypal or CanadaHelps.
an7gc.ca
companies are sourcing millions of printed books for AI labs that scan them for training data, then destroy them. printed books are more valuable because they're free of AI slop, and AI labs know destroying them is an "optics problem." www.404media.co/ai-companies...
AI Companies Are Buying Tons of Old Books Because They're Free of AI Slop
ISBNdb, a company that sources printed books for AI companies to turn into training data, tells clients “the optics problem is real.”
404media.co
A couple times when I worked at the Strand I had to fulfill rich peoples' interior decorator requests, which would be like, "12 feet of old hardcover books with gray binding," and I was so disgusted that these mfers were never even gonna open them, but holy cow this is way worse
Emanuel Maiberg@emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social · 2w agocompanies are sourcing millions of printed books for AI labs that scan them for training data, then destroy them. printed books are more valuable because they're free of AI slop, and AI labs know destroying them is an "optics problem." www.404media.co/ai-companies...
INBOX: the last dedicated science reporter at The Wall Street Journal, @aylinwoodward.bsky.social, has left the newsroom. This came after the Murdoch-owned newspaper dissolved its Health and Science Bureau last October. NPR, CBS, and WaPo also gutted their climate desks in the last eight months.
RAPIDAN: We “no longer assume a near-term return to freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, we expect ongoing military risks to constrain vessel transits .. well into next year ..” 👀
“Even if you assume that they will make 100% of all revenue from chatbot advertising five years from now, OpenAI will still miss their number by 90%.” www.adweek.com/media/openai...
OpenAI's Ad Business Is on Pace to Miss Its Own Forecast By 90%, Analyst Says
OpenAI is projecting $100 billion in ad revenue by 2030. Emarketer puts the ceiling for the entire chatbot ad market at just $5.41 billion.
adweek.com
