Author | Lightnews

Ariane Lange @arianelange.bsky.social · 2d

first BART, now the Tilden Park steam train??? when will this assault on rail end!

San Francisco Chronicle @sfchronicle.com · 2d

The operator of the old-timey amusement ride says she will “pick up everything and leave” if she cannot secure a long-term lease.

This little steam train has delighted Bay Area families for 70 years. Now its future is uncertain

The operator of the old-timey amusement ride says she will “pick up everything and leave” if she cannot secure a long-term lease.

bit.ly

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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 3d

We’ve updated our story with an additional comment provided by the United States Justice Department.

At 4:10 p.m., she texted me: "By the way-everything I ever sent you is off record. You're not a journalist so it's weird saying that but just letting you know."
I responded: "I'm sorry, but that's not how this works. You don't get to say that in retrospect."
Halligan was unpersuaded: "Yes I do. Off record."
"I am really sorry. I would have been happy to speak with you on an off the record basis had you asked," I said. "But you didn't ask, and I still haven't agreed to speak on that basis. Do you have any further comment for the story?
To my surprise, she kept going: "It's obvious the whole convo is off record. There's disappearing messages and it's on signal. What is your story? You never told me about a story."
I didn't respond. It was time to publish my story. I'll text it to her.
Postscript: Read the full exchange between Lindsey Halligan and Lawfare's Anna Bower here.

Highlighted text: “Hours after Lawfare published this article, Justice Department spokeswoman Natalie Baldassarre provided the following additional comment:

“Thank you for including my statement in your story. I just realized I spelled Lindsey's name wrong in the initial response, would you mind correcting?

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Pete Fraser @petefrasermusic.bsky.social · 3d

Nothing warms my heart as much as seeing someone doing this. The world is *full* of people doubling down on shit they don’t even believe out of a sense of pride, and seeing someone graciously acknowledge being wrong, in full public view, is quite inspiring.

Technical appreciator @whatahellofawaytodad.com · 4d

Reminder that Violent J of Insane Clown Posse has the correct response to a lot of the shitty things he said in the early days.

STEREOGUM: People my age, we talk about how we were lucky that we didn’t have social media growing up, and there’s no record of all the dumb shit we said and did. You didn’t have social media, but everything you said and did in those years is on record, and you’ve got to live with it now. That’s tough.

VIOLENT J: And the amount of gay Juggalos out there is really surprising. I think about them doing their research and getting the old records, getting excited about it, and getting their hearts broke or something, you know? I tell my daughter, “For the rest of your life, when your friends ask why your dad said that, say it’s because your dad was a fool. Don’t defend me. Say I was a fool then, but I’m not now.” There’s no excuse. I was going with the flow, and that’s the very thing we preach against — being a sheep. And that’s what I was doing.

https://www.stereogum.com/2083804/icp-interview-juggalos/interviews/weve-got-a-file-on-you/

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Ariane Lange @arianelange.bsky.social · 4d

A 1979 Sacramento Bee editorial about public transit begins by saying "A desire named streetcar is growing," & u know what, lol

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Ariane Lange @arianelange.bsky.social · 5d

Thank you. I didn't know any of the victims, and the real loss lives with their families and loved ones. But I do carry a small part of that grief, and even that small part feels very heavy. The worst part is also the best part: This is a policy choice, and we can have a better world.

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Ariane Lange @arianelange.bsky.social · 5d

I have been tracking road deaths in the city of Sacramento since January 2024. Less than two years, and I'm getting close to 60 names on my spreadsheet. It makes me feel sick to my stomach.

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Ariane Lange @arianelange.bsky.social · 5d

I'm sad to read about the death of a pedestrian this morning. She was fatally struck on N 16th & N C Streets. By coincidence, I nervously rode my bike across 16th at B Street Saturday night. Traffic on 16th is fast-moving, lighting is dim, & it's a wide one-way street. www.sacbee.com/news/local/a...

Pedestrian struck by car at downtown Sacramento intersection dies at hospital

Sacramento police said the crash happened in the 200 block of North 16th Street near North C Street.

www.sacbee.com

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 8d

It’s tiresome at this point, but again, their entire pitch is “wouldn’t it be great if there were no such things as talent, craft, and skill,” and what that means is a bland, slop-filled world. www.businessinsider.com/marc-andrees...

Didn't go to film school? Don't worry. Legendary investor and movie buff Marc Andreessen doesn't think that will be an issue for future creatives.

During an episode of "Monitoring the Situation," the podcast for the venture capitalist firm that Andreessen cofounded, A16z, he said advancements in AI technology — like OpenAI's Sora 2 — have made it possible for a new type of filmmaker to emerge.

"The filmmaker with no visual skill, or access to a set, or to a camera, or to actors, but with an idea," Andreessen said on Friday. "It's going to start with shorts and animated things and so forth, but it's going to work its way up to full movies."

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Ariane Lange @arianelange.bsky.social · 8d

Aww! I love that and I wish him the safest of travels

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Ariane Lange @arianelange.bsky.social · 8d

Would kids spend less time on their iPads if they could ride their bikes to Stockton on a whim?? (This guy's whim was visiting his friend at a summer camp in Stockton)

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Ariane Lange @arianelange.bsky.social · 8d

I'm sad to read about this pedestrian death on Highway 99. Reminds me of a recent interview during which a guy told me that as a tween in the early '60s he rode his BICYCLE all the way to STOCKTON on 99. Wild to contemplate now. www.sacbee.com/news/local/a...

Pedestrian killed in early morning collision on Highway 99 in south Sacramento

CHP officials said the pedestrian was walking on northbound Highway 99 before stepping into the path of a car south of Mack Road.

www.sacbee.com

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Ariane Lange @arianelange.bsky.social · 10d

Lotta vivid moments in this story, the one that stands out to me when someone calls an oncologist "a pharma whore" to her face www.npr.org/sections/sho...

In rural America, scarce doctors battle misinformation as they practice medicine

Conspiracy theories about health fill a vacuum created by the lack of doctors in many rural communities. Meanwhile, doctors in these areas say patients have become increasingly distrustful and sometim...

www.npr.org

Reposted by Ariane Lange

paris martineau @paris.nyc · 11d

my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements

we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)

www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports

CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

www.consumerreports.org

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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 11d

Sam Altman went from “AI will cure cancer" to "ChatGPT porn" in less than a month

ChatGPT boss predicts when AI could cure cancer

We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.

In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!). If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing).

In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our “treat adult users like adults” principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.
12:02 PM · Oct 14, 2025
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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 11d

Thanks in large part to Safe Routes to School (a program created in Marin before it was rolled out nationwide), Marin County sees 3x the rate of kids walking or rolling to school.

Over the past 15 years we've gone from 1 in 4 kids to 1 in 3 kids. This compares to 1 in 9(!) nationally.

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bleary @bleary.off-the-records.com · 12d

If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.

Did people really memorize phone numbers before cell phones, or is that just a movie thing?
2? Questions
I was watching some old shows from the 90s and noticed people would just dial numbers from memory - like they'd call their friends or family without looking anything up.
Made me wonder if that was actually normal back then? Did people genuinely have all their important numbers memorized, or did most folks keep a little address book or written list nearby?

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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 16d

Okay this is a good headline

Guardian Australia @australia.theguardian.com · 16d

You won’t believe what degrading practice the Pope just condemned

Communication must be freed from clickbait and misguided thinking, head of Catholic church tells journalists The Pope has condemned clickbait as a “degrading” part of journalism, at a private audience with global newswires. Australian media representatives were among those to hear directly from Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Thursday with about 150 members of newswire alliance MINDS International. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 16d

Some exciting news: 404 Media just won a grant via Muckrock to investigate book bans and educational censorship in the U.S. The plan is to file hundreds of public records requests around the country and to report on and archive all the documents for public use:

www.404media.co/help-us-inve...

Help Us Investigate Book Bans and Educational Censorship Around America

404 Media has gotten a grant to unearth public records about systematic censorship of books, schools, and libraries in the U.S.

www.404media.co

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Ariane Lange @arianelange.bsky.social · 16d

The sinking highway project marches forward: www.sacbee.com/news/politic...

Gavin Newsom greenlights a half-billion dollars for California’s sinking Hwy. 37

The state plans to widen a wine country highway that is “settling” into a marsh.

www.sacbee.com

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Ariane Lange @arianelange.bsky.social · 17d

CA governor candidates saying things like “We need a leader who will...answer simple questions” & "I welcome the hard questions—the next governor must be accessible and transparent” are they seeking the popular vote or the REPORTER vote omg
www.sacbee.com/news/politic... via @nicolenixon.bsky.social

CA governor candidate nearly walks out of interview. ‘Don’t want all this on camera’

“I don’t want to have an unhappy experience,” Democrat Katie Porter told a CBS News reporter before the interview cut.

www.sacbee.com

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Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 22d

Absolutely molten-hot language here from Professor Fraser Shilling, Director of the Road Ecology Center at UC Davis, on the decision to spend *half a billion* to widen Highway 37, which is sinking into the bay.

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Alfred Twu @alfredtwu.com · 18d

The entire proposed Highway 37 Solano-Marin super bridge is estimated to cost $11 billion, all to replace an existing road between a couple of suburbs. And it's proposed at 114 feet wide.

For comparison, the Golden Gate Bridge is 90 feet wide.

Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 18d

Caltrans has released a cross section for the ultimate (raised viaduct) version of SR-37.

Now maybe I'm just being paranoid, but if you were building a road that you planned to keep at 4 lanes wide, I don't think it would look like this.

Cross section of 114' wide bridge structure with each direction having a 12' outside shoulder and a 10' inside shoulder.

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 18d

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

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Kate Wolffe @katewolffe.bsky.social · 18d

New investigation from me into the new Republican Leader of the CA Assembly, Heath Flora.

I dug into Flora's voluminous campaign finance records and drove down to his legal address to see who lives there (not him!)

Read more here (gift article): www.sacbee.com/news/politic...

Top CA Republican vowed to cut waste, corruption. His spending says otherwise

An investigation by The Bee raises questions about the new leader’s registered address, his travel stipend and his personal conduct.

www.sacbee.com

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Ariane Lange @arianelange.bsky.social · 18d

A helicopter crashed onto the freeway in Sacramento last night; 3 people were critically injured. Wall-to-wall news coverage as two federal agencies investigate what went wrong and prepare to correct any systemic problems. A real contrast with fatal car crashes, which are accepted as routine.

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