As someone who used to write a lot about music, who still loves music, it’s never not shocking to see the value of cultural dialogue, critique and education ignored yet again as another altweekly/magazine/website gets unceremoniously gutted

Leor Galil@imleor.bsky.social · 5h ago

“Music publications BrooklynVegan, Alternative Press, Revolver, and Goldmine have been gutted by parent company Veeps... Nearly all the staff at each publication appear to have been laid off yesterday. Veeps, which is now owned by Live Nation, acquired the publications in 2024 or 2025”

Fantastic reporting here by Libby Rainey that confirms what we've been hearing about the "clean zones" around LA28 venues: "Carter Hewgley, chief strategy officer for L.A. County’s Department of Homeless Services and Housing, said his office had been told to plan for perimeters as wide as a mile"

The LA Olympics is expected to displace unhoused people living around venues. So what's the plan?

L.A. officials say people living on the streets will likely have to leave certain areas come 2028. They don't know how they'll be moved or who will pay for it.

laist.com

We're working with @metroabundance.bsky.social to collect cost drivers in California building codes and standards above and beyond national model codes/standards. See here for more – please circulate among architects, engineers, etc. in the state! admin.centerforbuilding.org/wp-content/u...

Fascinating -- I did not know any of this www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/o...

Opinion | The ‘Civil War’ Is a Lie. Let’s Call It the ‘Slaveholders’ Rebellion’ Again. (Gift Article)

To face our own history, we must be honest about it.

nytimes.com

“Assistance and allowances toward housing, grants on down payments and rents at below-market rates are just some of those solutions.” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/b... By @patrickcsisson.bsky.social

To Recruit Teachers, School Districts Are Building Homes

The nation’s housing shortage has made it challenging for some essential workers like educators to live where they work. An increasing number of school districts are trying to change that.

nytimes.com

Looks like Gavin Newsom is going to bat for California Forever, the Network State "tech utopia" project backed by Marc Andreessen and other tech billionaires. 70% of local residents oppose it. But the billionaires hired Newsom's favorite lobbyist. Welcome to Sacramento. nypost.com/2026/07/29/u...

Exclusive | Inside Gavin Newsom’s desperate bid to save billionaire pals’ dream city

Newsom has been quietly whipping support for California’s billionaire-backed megacity as it faces the loss of a key tenant.

nypost.com

++BREAKING++ The UK and Spanish governments have issued a joint statement overnight: "[We] agreed that this summer’s wildfires demonstrated that climate change was now a national security emergency facing Europe and threatening our way of life." www.gov.uk/government/n...

For Commercial Observer, I looked at how Nithya Raman seeks to remake how LA does development, and why some in CRE see her as the right choice for LA mayor commercialobserver.com/2026/07/la-n...

How Nithya Raman Would Speed Housing Development in Los Angeles

The mayoral hopeful offers a blueprint for more, faster housing development.

commercialobserver.com

A new math equation for school districts: figuring out the right formula for affordable housing development on their property to pencil. My latest for @nytimes.com looks at attempts to develop workforce housing for teachers www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/b...

To Recruit Teachers, School Districts Are Building Homes

The nation’s housing shortage has made it challenging for some essential workers like educators to live where they work. An increasing number of school districts are trying to change that.

nytimes.com

Concrete makes up half of all human-made stuff on our planet. And its use will double, in part to battle climate threats created by the production of concrete itself.

The Spread of Concrete Is Wrecking the Planet. And Saving It

Concrete makes up half of all human-made stuff on our planet. And its use will double, in part to battle climate threats created by the production of concrete itself.

bloom.bg

A new math equation for school districts: figuring out the right formula for affordable housing development on their property to pencil. My latest for @nytimes.com looks at attempts to develop workforce housing for teachers www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/b...

To Recruit Teachers, School Districts Are Building Homes

The nation’s housing shortage has made it challenging for some essential workers like educators to live where they work. An increasing number of school districts are trying to change that.

nytimes.com

In farms fields across the Midwest, a new kind of automation if helping farmers deal with labor shortages. Sabanto sells kits to turn any old tractor into an automated vehicle, and the firm is growing fast. My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91579524/thi...

This automation tech turns old tractors into self-driving farming machines

Sabanto Tractors retrofits old machines to make them futuristic automated devices, helping farmers overcome staffing shortages.

fastcompany.com

As the battery energy storage space booms across the US due to an insatiable appetites for electricity, investors see new ways to invest in BESS. My latest for Bisnow www.bisnow.com/national/new...

Battery Storage Is Real Estate's Supercharged New Asset Class

The market for batteries and their storage facilities is becoming commercial real estate’s newest emerging asset class.

bisnow.com

Thrilled to have @weareravenous.com included in this @sf.gazetteer.co story on a new wave of independent food media. We can build it better! sf.gazetteer.co/welcome-to-t...

Welcome to the artisanal food media era

The portions may be smaller, but independent restaurant and recipe publications are savoring every morsel

sf.gazetteer.co

Now opening nominations for the Best Image of Climate Politics in a Nutshell 🌎

China's new renewable power generation goals 2025: 4 trillion kWh 2030: 6 trillion kWh Of which wind + solar will contribute 2025: 2.3 trillion kWh 2030: 4 trillion kWh So wind + solar will make up 85% of the increase in renewables thanks to batteries. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

China Aims to Boost Renewable Energy Consumption 53% by 2030

China wants renewable energy consumption to jump 53% over the next five years and to convert intermittent wind and solar into more dependable sources of electricity.

bloomberg.com

Insane new research. Scientists gave asthma patients free electric stoves to replace their gas stoves, then checked to see if symptoms improved. Not only did symptoms improve, ditching gas was *better than medicine.* Details in today's newsletter: www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/electric-s...

Researchers used electric stoves to treat asthma. It worked.

The latest evidence that gas is bad for your health.

climatecoloredgoggles.com

NEW: The number of Amazon workers on food stamps or Medicaid nearly tripled between 2020 and 2025. The number of Uber, DoorDash, Lyft and other gig workers on these benefits also exploded. From @laurenkaorigurley.bsky.social and me Gift link: wapo.st/4gS59s1

Amazon, gig companies see spike in workers on SNAP and Medicaid, study shows

Amazon workers on federal aid nearly tripled between 2020 and 2025, while ride-hailing and food delivery app drivers shot up on lists compiled by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

wapo.st

🔎📄 I'm honored to be one of the judges for the @freedom.press Foundation's inaugural Penlight Prize for excellence in paywall-free public records reporting. There is a $25,000 cash prize! Submit your entries! Deadline is Sept 1. #FOIA

Freedom of the Press Foundation@freedom.press · 2w ago

📢 Are you a journalist who uses FOIA or other public records laws in your reporting? You could win $25K with our new journalism award, the Penlight Prize. Submission deadline: Sept. 1, 2026 Read more and apply today:

Suddenly, things are happening at Oceanwide Plaza in LA — I listened to the hearing yesterday, published this update today, and got a press release that graffiti abatement starts in less then 24 hours commercialobserver.com/2026/07/ocea...

Oceanwide Plaza Sale Set to Advance After L.A. Drops Objections

As part of the deal, a federal judge gives the buyers 90 days to scrub and remediate the ‘Graffiti Towers.’

commercialobserver.com

🚨NEW: In the 9 months after last year’s reconciliation law enacted unprecedented SNAP cuts, the number of people receiving SNAP fell by more than 4.5 million. Based on available data, we estimate that at least 1.5 million fewer kids are receiving SNAP. www.cbpp.org/research/foo...

Not to be pedantic, but if I wrote a story & deliberately w/o credit copied someone’s work/ideas, I’d not only be in trouble but would face severe career consequences. If a large enough company does the same w/entire books & bodies of work, they pay a one-time fee? www.reuters.com/world/us-jud...

US judge approves Anthropic's $1.5 billion settlement of copyright lawsuit

A federal judge in San Francisco on Monday signed off on ‌artificial intelligence company Anthropic's landmark $1.5 billion settlement of a class action lawsuit brought by a group of authors who accus...

reuters.com

Senior living facilities in the U.S. are in distress as immigrant caregivers are pushed out because of Trump administration policies.

How Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Is Hurting Elder Care

Retirement communities already grappling with labor shortages are being forced to terminate caregivers at a time when more Americans are living longer.

nyti.ms

It’s a new kind of forever home: For @fastcompany.com I looked at the rise in longevity architecture, a focus on enhancing the health of a home that seems to have an expensive, very literal definition of what a “machine for living“ is. www.fastcompany.com/91576716/wan...

Want to live forever? There’s a house for that

Over-optimization is coming to your home—if you can afford it.

fastcompany.com

For @theguardian.com Design a Better World Series, I looked at agrivoltaics, the practice of planting amid and below solar panels. Farmers get more revenue, shade and water savings, with panels creating microclimates that boost crops in a changing climate www.theguardian.com/environment/...

On a Colorado farm, solar panels bring shade for plants, power – and cash: in pictures

More than 3,000 solar panels power Jack’s Solar Garden, cool the land and help it turn a profitThe Guardian receives support for visual climate coverage from the Outrider Foundation. The Guardian’s co...

theguardian.com

In Colorado, the practice of agrivoltaics—planting amid solar panels so the same land supplies food and power—is helping a farm generate income, vary crops, and be a more sustainable steward amid climate change. My latest for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/environment/...

On a Colorado farm, solar panels bring shade for plants, power – and cash: in pictures

More than 3,000 solar panels power Jack’s Solar Garden, cool the land and help it turn a profitThe Guardian receives support for visual climate coverage from the Outrider Foundation. The Guardian’s co...

theguardian.com

HUGE news from China last night, and I have a comprehensive analysis of its implications for the AI bubble this morning. Xi Jinping has more or less declared war on OpenAI and Anthropic and any U.S. tech firm that insists on closed, proprietary AI models. 🎁🔗: www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chea...

AI’s Wider Availability Is Good for China, Not Great for OpenAI and Anthropic

Intelligence “too cheap to meter” could threaten the leading AI labs, while creating opportunity for their competitors.

wsj.com

Can a megaevelopment solve downtown LA’s woes? Fourth & Central alone can’t do it, but the massive $2 billion project certainly shows how the neighborhood may be moving in the right direction commercialobserver.com/2026/07/los-...

Downtown L.A.’s Fourth & Central Could Change the Area’s Trajectory

The 7.6-acre project includes 1,500 housing units as well as almost 550,000 square feet of office and retail space.

commercialobserver.com

Activists damage the building foundations of data centre 🫡 > The group said that they threw water balloons filled with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, acetic acid, salt, and acrylic paint at the under-construction facility.

Amsterdam activists throw acid at Microsoft datacenter project

Extinction Rebellion claims responsibility for chemical-filled balloon attack targeting concrete and steel

theregister.com

"If we keep reading China only as 'weak demand for oil' instead of as 'strong supply of electric freight solutions,' we will mis-diagnose the transition and mis-design our response."

China’s Electric Truck Moment Has Arrived — And It’s About To Hit Global Diesel Demand - CleanTechnica

Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription, on Patreon, or on Stripe. Help us produce all of the high-quality, original content we publish week after week despite the challenges of c...

cleantechnica.com