Cowboy Who?

In May, the Houston Landing shut down less than two years after its ambitious launch, laying off all 43 employees.

The announcement that the board of directors had voted to close the nonprofit news outlet generated national attention, and many questions. The big one: How does a local news startup that appeared so promising — one endowed with well-staffed newsroom and business operations, and more than $20 million in seed funding — fail?

In conversations with more than a dozen former Landing staffers, and additional nonprofit news observers and leaders, I heard about a news outlet with an unclear identity, led by a CEO who struggled to unify the organization. Leadership lacked the fundraising and nonprofit experience to achieve the lofty ambitions set out for the Landing. It spent quickly from the outset, and could not generate revenue to sustain its size.

The factors leading to the Landing’s closure may be unique. But the outlet’s challenges — how to balance the pursuit of impact with building an audience; how to carve out a niche among more established local outlets; how ample seed funding can become a liability — are relevant to other news nonprofits.

“We tried to be too much, too fast, for too many people,” a staffer and member of the Landing’s union told me.

“We’re doing good work, we’re doing good journalism,” Bhatia told Stuckey in a meeting she recorded, “but we’re basically putting out a newspaper on the web. And that’s not a recipe for success for us for the long term, nor is it a recipe for sustainability. And in order to accomplish that, I just feel like there needs to be some fairly dramatic changes.”

Bhatia said the firings were solely his decision. “It is my belief that we need new ideas to execute our mission…effectively in the digital space,” he told me at the time. “Our coverage needs to be more original, distinctive and not available elsewhere.”

The Landing was “behind on embracing all the tools digital offers us, such as video, data visualization, [and] interactive story treatments,” Bhatia added. In an interview with Texas Monthly, he cited The New York Times’ 2012 multimedia story “Snow Fall” as the type of journalism he wanted the Landing to produce.

The newsroom, overwhelmingly loyal to Rahman, unionized six weeks after the firings. The union created its own Twitter and Instagram pages and sometimes publicly called out management. The union’s social media accounts didn’t have many followers, but one union member recalled members of the fundraising team telling them in a staff meeting around mid-2024 that these posts were hurting fundraising. So “we cooled off on using social media and public-facing collective action,” they said. “And during that time, there was still no money brought in.”

Conflict over these two editorial directions has come up at other news nonprofits. But it’s not impossible to do both types of journalism well as a local news nonprofit. “Many of the organizations in our portfolio are successfully pursuing investigative reporting in addition to service reporting,” said AJP’s Ouimette, pointing to outlets like Mirror Indy, The City, and Outlier Media.

But the Landing’s execution for pursuing dual priorities “blew up in our faces,” the union member and former staffer told me. “The way that we tried to go about doing them both, ultimately, was a disservice to everyone in the long run, because we were spreading ourselves too thin, too fast.”

The Landing was not alone among nonprofit news outlets in wanting to use impact to define its success. Impact is, however, notoriously difficult to define and measure — not to mention achieve. What’s more, deemphasizing pageviews risks disregarding a tool for identifying a gap between what your target audience have said they want, and what they may actually read.

In April 2024, a year before the Landing closed, a Poynter report by Rick Edmonds described the Houston Landing as “not seeming as far along as [two experts involved in grantmaking and others] would have hoped in terms of audience numbers.” (At the time, Bhatia and AJP’s Ouimette disputed that statement and said the Landing was exceeding internal audience targets.)

Poynter pointed to Block Club Chicago and New York’s The City as examples of success “in building impressive audiences after years of focus.” But it suggested standout nonprofit news outlets delivering impactful reporting and building an audience, like The Baltimore Banner and Lookout Local, share two qualities: They’re paywalled, and broad in scope. “Tough-minded journalism is at the core of both, but it’s surrounded by softer community news content,” Edmonds wrote. “The result is something like a traditional newspaper mix but in digital format; an attractive bundle for a varied set of readers.”

The Houston Chronicle, which couples weather and sports coverage with a nationally recognized investigations unit that doubled in size last year, falls into this category.

The Chronicle is mentioned 31 times in the AJP report. Introduced as “the ‘paper of record,’ but for whom?,” the Hearst-owned metro daily is characterized as generally covering news from a business perspective rather than a public service perspective. The slide deck describes the Chronicle as staffed by overextended reporters who leave Houston’s vast suburbs largely uncovered.

In the shutdown announcement, the Landing’s board indicated it was in early talks with The Texas Tribune about the possibility of bringing a local newsroom to Houston as part of its effort to establish a network of local newsrooms — but it’s unclear what, if anything, will come of that idea. Texas Tribune CEO Sonal Shah told me earlier this month that they’re “still exploring options.” Meanwhile, a new Local Journalist Index released last week counts just 3.9 Local Journalist Equivalents per 100,000 people in Harris County (which comprises most of Houston), and about five per 100,000 in nearby Fort Bend County — indicators of how underserved the city and its suburbs remain, relative to the area’s enormous population.

While Ouimette held firm on AJP’s original paywall and scaling recommendations for the Landing, he felt there were certainly other lessons to be learned from the organization’s challenges. “Successful nonprofit news startups require a strong alignment of capital, talent, and strategy,” he said. “What happened in Houston reinforces key lessons that shape our strategy: the value of building deep relationships with communities, the importance of maintaining focus on sustainability, and the need for strong leaders with vision and ability to build strong, impactful enterprises.”

The union member hopes the Landing’s failure doesn’t discourage others in the nonprofit news world. “I don’t want it to scare people away from the belief in community-driven, nonprofit news,” they said.

“The Landing’s failure is scary. It’s flashy news; it’s $20 million down the drain; I totally get that,” they added. But they felt this failure was fundamentally specific to the Landing — especially issues of leadership and management — and did not need to ring alarm bells for nonprofit news as a whole.

“I think that we should let the Landing be a teachable moment,” they said, “and not a red flag warning sign that something is necessarily wrong.”

Adobe Stock

1. Stern issued a single public statement when the closure was announced: “We are proud of the Landing’s coverage of Greater Houston and continue to believe deeply in the need for more free, independent journalism in our region. This decision was difficult but necessary. Houston Landing’s reporting has made a meaningful impact in the community, but it struggled to find its long-term financial footing.”
2. The Houston Landing wasn’t part of AJP’s “startup studio,” which has incubated news organizations like Signal Ohio and Mirror Indy. Instead, AJP provided a grant, served as fiscal sponsor while the new initiative awaited tax-exempt status, and offered some other support before leadership was hired, said Michael Ouimette, AJP’s chief investment officer.
3. The other three members were Anne Chao, manager of the Houston Asian American Archive at Rice; Rice’s now-president, Reginald DesRoches; and Armando Perez, executive VP of HEB Houston.
4. The Landing’s other two board members were Algenita Davis, of Central Houston, and Alex Lopez Negrete, of Lopez Negrete Communications.

californiasleazeking:

lofiholiday:

from BASIC magazine Japan

itsfullofstars:

http://dlvr.it/TJkWMX

fuzzyghost:

LEXINGTON, KY—Stressing the importance of regularly performing mental gymnastics to prevent cognitive decline, local 80-year-old Edna Connolly confirmed Thursday that she keeps her mind active by justifying President Donald Trump’s actions. “I try to break out of my routine and engage my mind by rationalizing what the president is doing, even when it’s completely against the promises he made to voters,” said Connolly, explaining that she spends at least 30 minutes a day improving her mental faculties and problem solving skills by making excuses for Trump’s constant attacks on civil liberties. “I’m developing new neural pathways each time I shrug off Trump’s clear violations of the Constitution and his total contempt for our system of checks and balances. You know, I have some friends who didn’t spend time rationalizing Trump’s actions, and they ended up in nursing homes.” At press time, Connolly was reportedly stimulating her creativity by justifying the president’s decision to reverse course on releasing the Epstein files.

The post Elderly Woman Keeps Mind Active Justifying Trump’s Actions appeared first on The Onion.

Our most-read article of 2025.

(Originally published Juily 17, 2025.)

“In recent months, a curious fixation has emerged in corners of academia: the em dash. More specifically, the apparent moral panic around how it is spaced. A dash with no spaces on either side? That must be AI-generated writing. Case closed.”
— Joseph Mellors, Inside Higher Ed

I would like to address the recent slander circulating on social media, in editorial Slack channels, and in the margins of otherwise decent Substack newsletters. Specifically, the baseless, libelous accusation that my usage is a telltale sign of artificial intelligence.

Listen here, my good bitch.

Writers have been using me long before the advent of AI. I am the punctuation equivalent of a cardigan—beloved by MFA grads, used by editors when it’s actually cold, and worn year-round by screenwriters. I am not new here. I am not novel. I’m the cigarette you keep saying you’ll quit.

You think I showed up with ChatGPT? Mary Shelley used me… gratuitously. Dickinson? Obsessed. David Foster Wallace built a temple of footnotes in my name. I am not some sleek, futuristic glyph. I am the battered, coffee-stained backbone of writerly panic—the gasping pause where a thought should have ended but simply could not.

Let’s be honest: The real issue isn’t me—it’s you. You simply don’t read enough. If you did, you’d know I’ve been here for centuries. I’m in Austen. I’m in Baldwin. I’ve appeared in Pulitzer-winning prose, viral op-eds, and the final paragraphs of breakup emails that needed “a little more punch.” I am wielded by novelists, bloggers, essayists, and that one friend who types exclusively in lowercase but still demands emotional range.

If anything, AI uses me as often as any kind of sentence-obsessive who’s ever stared at a line like it owed them rent. In fact, go to your nearest café and look to your left, then to your right. A hundred percent of those people are slathering me across sentences like adding more cheese to a risotto that’s already drowning in parmesan—without tasting, without thinking, without remorse.

And yet, when a think piece packed with me goes live, somehow, I’m the problem—never the flagrant lack of fact-checking.

Just because I’m not on the keyboard—and you have to add two extra steps for me to appear correctly—I’m suddenly the product of some soulless technology? Please. AI has no deadlines. No ego. No sleep-deprived human brain stockpiling forty of me in a draft, just for an editor to cut twenty.

I am the punctuation mark of human frailty.

I am the writer’s block, resolved mid-sentence.

I am the OG vibe shift.

So next time you read something and think, “AI wrote this—it has a lot of em dashes,” ask yourself: Is it AI? Or is it just a poet trying to give you vertigo in four lines or fewer?

Exactly.

Signed,
—The Em Dash

P.S. You’re probably thinking of the en dash. That whore has always been suspicious.

It is not clear why Maurene Comey was removed from her job, but in a message to her former colleagues she notes "fear is the tool of a tyrant".

In anticipation of potentially severe weather in Southeast Texas late Thursday through early Saturday, Gov. Greg Abbott has activated the state’s emergency resources.

Trump’s rollback is another example of the federal government’s lackluster efforts at giving Black farmers a boost in recent years.

Here are four updates from past letter-writers.

1. Can I ask for a raise after covering for remote coworkers for over a year? (#3 at the link; first update here)

It’s been three years since I last sent an update, I’m still working for the same organization and the same boss, yet so much has happened since then, both personally and professionally.

Not long after I wrote in to you for the second time, a member of my immediate family had a series of serious medical emergencies that resulted in some pretty scary moments over the course of the year. I was the primary caretaker, so ironically, I was the one now working remotely quite a bit during this time to deal with it all.

While I made every effort to be on top of my work and to not overwhelm those in office, my boss and colleagues could not have been more supportive and willing to help with anything I needed. My boss constantly checked in because she didn’t want me overworked or overwhelmed and we had many conversations on what I needed. They gave me the flexibility to do my work yet focus on being there for my loved ones and make some challenging decisions. I cannot express how much easier this made my life when I wasn’t at 100%. It really goes to show how much that flexibility and support for everyone in the workplace is needed and how it can benefit everyone no matter where you are in life or what your situation is. (I’m so fortunate to say that after many months my family member is now doing much better.)

Over the last couple of years I also received additional raises, really wonderful reviews from my boss, and additional promotions. This all culminated with me being awarded an industry recognition last month, one that my boss nominated me for along with other higher-ups in our organization. I was and am still in shock! I’ve never had my work recognized to this degree before, so this is new and very humbling for me.

Don’t get me wrong, my job, boss, and company are far from perfect! But I realize how extremely lucky I am to have a reasonable, supportive boss and coworkers and flexibility in my job, especially when so many are facing challenges in the job market today. I’m grateful for that and for Alison’s advice to keep speaking up to let people know what you need. Here’s to positive updates for everyone here for current and future jobs!

2. I’m having second thoughts about the new job I’ve already accepted (#2 at the link)

Thank you so much for your advice, which was to dig a bit deeper into why I didn’t want the new job to see whether these are valid reasons or just fear of change. It was very helpful as a framework, as were the very kind commenters.

Did I take the advice? … not as much as I should have. I never did get to the bottom of what was bothering me about the new job, and I am now just over a week into it, not really vibing with it, and still none-the-wiser as to WHY. It has been a little in-at-the-deep-end in a busy period and I am feeling somewhat overwhelmed, although trying to maintain some good initial boundaries. The people are for the most part very pleasant, although the culture is very different from that which I am used to. The work itself is very different from that of my former role in terms of substance, which I was expecting to some extent, and in approach and external partnerships, which I was not (although probably should have), and these differences are quite challenging. I don’t know whether it would have been better had I come in feeling more confident and optimistic about the move; I’m trying to lean into it now. One thing I was very worried about was missing my team and my manager, which I do — but I’m still in a lot of contact with my former manager and we’re meeting for drinks next week to discuss and debrief; I met my former teammate last week, and my former team still include me on current affairs gossip (to some extent), so it doesn’t feel like a complete break.

Commenter advice I took: talk with others/write down pros and cons lists. I talked to SO many people, all with differing perspectives and advice. I think on balance it was helpful — not necessarily for the advice, but just to talk about it. Commenter advice I should have taken: take some leave. I was burning out on work and on decision angst and had I taken a week or so off in January I think I would have been able to think more clearly. A lesson for the future!

3. I reported a manager, who’s now trashing me whenever my name comes up

My employer settled with me for a significant monetary amount (think a large portion of my annual salary). It’s not clear whether the responsible managers will face any consequences, but that’s not something I’d necessarily know.

This settlement would not have occurred without the benefit of extensive documentation on my end. Some of the most damning pieces of evidence turned out to be my requests to management to deal with the situation, and their responses to those requests, which ranged from unhelpful to illegal. I don’t know that I’d have had the confidence to make those requests if it had not been for the encouragement from both you and the comment section.

I also did ultimately retain an employment lawyer, who was a tremendous asset in both confirming the strength of my position and explaining the complexities of relevant laws. I was fortunate that I was able to access one – I know that’s not possible for everyone. But, it made a difference and is worth doing for those who find themselves in similar situations and are able to do so.

This was a terrible experience that I would not wish upon anyone. I’d rather have the last year of my life back than any amount of money.

4. Am I a bad employee? (#2 at the link)

Whew, my letter was written a whole pandemic ago.

Well … lots has changed in these few years: most notably that all of the admin team that considered me as “satisfactory” versus “outstanding” has moved on. For my next two evaluations I told my new administrators that I was not filling out volumes of self-reflection or explanations and told them why. Showing just how subjective the county’s evaluation system was and is, these admins still gave me several “outstandings” when I specifically said I didn’t want them. I was really surprised as I hadn’t filled out the paperwork to get them. They did! Twice! Funny too that they are so new to our building that they aren’t even aware that of the various projects I have worked on over the years (like creating a building schedule for 1000 students).

Your advice was right, Alison, as all those extras did burnish my resume and reputation over the years. At the mid-point of my career I changed schools and was considered a top candidate. I’m glad that I worked hard for 20 plus years and still understand a lot of what goes on in running a school. I’ve enjoyed mentoring new teachers and student teachers and get my real appreciation when I visit with them. It was time to slow down and maybe I should’ve done it sooner. I am still a “go to” person when my colleagues have a question or concern about something. Still, saying no has been a positive game changer.

Now for the best news: I’m going to retire this year! I’ve put in my time and am ready to go. Financially it makes sense and I’m happy that my evaluation bitterness is long behind me. I truly chuckle about it these days and the then-principal now admits she was too much of a rule follower and should have done some things differently. I’m glad for my career choices and still like my school and appreciate the new leadership there. I hope to come back and substitute for extra spending money. I try to tell new teachers (there are two in my family now) to unplug on nights and weekends, consider doing ONE extra (unless there’s pay involved) and try to focus on teaching and learning. Thanks!

The post updates: asking for a raise, reporting a manager, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

My last remaining immediate family member recently passed away, leaving me enough of an inheritance to possibly allow me to stop working now (before retirement age) while maintaining my current standard of living. I had been saving under the assumption that I would not receive any help, and I thought retirement was still 10 years away.

My job is understaffed and the commute is long and extremely stressful. My health (mental and physical) have been in decline for a few years, due to stress from work and concern for the family member. For the past year or so, I’ve been saying that if I won the lottery, I’d retire in a heartbeat. But now that I have the means to do so, I hesitate to suddenly abandon the career I’ve worked so hard on and leave my colleagues in the lurch when we are already understaffed.

On the other hand, I can’t imagine returning to 11-hour workdays and my terrible commute while grieving and trying to settle the estate. I’m having trouble focusing and making dumb mistakes in simple things like writing the check to the funeral home, so I worry about my ability to function at work. They say you shouldn’t make major decisions immediately following a loss, but I need to make some sort of change soon — I’m scheduled to return to work Monday after time off for the funeral and I’m not going to be able to keep up.

I’m considering asking my boss if there are any options to reduce my workload to allow me to switch to part-time while I figure out next steps. But given how shorthanded we are, I don’t expect that to be realistic. I might be able to use FMLA to get a reduced schedule or time off for my heath problems. That would give me more time to make a decision, but would be worse for my colleagues because they are not likely to get additional resources to cover a temporary staffing shortage like that. Just never going back at all is very appealing, other than the guilt.

I know my organization’s terrible staffing practices are outside my control and that the resource issue is not my problem to solve, but I can’t help worrying that my coworkers (who are talented and truly nice people) will be the ones picking up the slack if I do less.

I’m looking for advice on how to approach the conversation with my boss, who is a kind and decent person (but who also needs to keep the organization running). I’d like to offer to do what I can to help out, with the recognition that I can’t manage my old full workload, and ask what my options are. Is that abdicating responsibility? Do I need to figure out exactly what I want and ask for that, or is it okay to go to my boss with general ideas and ask for her help in figuring out next steps?

You don’t need to know exactly what you want to ask for before you talk to your boss, but you’re more likely to come away with the best outcome for yourself if you do. Otherwise, if you leave it open-ended, there’s a good chance your boss will propose something that falls short of what you actually want. If she knows what your real goal is, it will be easier for her to help you, or at least to give you a realistic assessment of what they can do.

If you’d really be happy with a whole range of options (like going half-time or going three-quarters time or having the next three months off or getting your biggest annual project off your plate), then sure, you could go to her with some general ideas. But my bet is that you wouldn’t be equally happy with all of those, and so figuring out what you really want and presenting that will increase the chances of getting it, or at least something close to it.

You should also think about working less would look like in your current job. It’s not uncommon for someone to move from full-time to part-time within the same job and realize that they’re still expected to produce the same amount, just in fewer hours. So you’d want to (a) nail down exactly what part-time work and part-time results would look like, and (b) be really realistic about how that would likely play out on your team. Sometimes — not always, but sometimes — it’s easier to move to a new part-time job somewhere else rather than trying to cut down an already full-time one.

As you think this over, try to take your organization’s staffing out of your consideration. You’re not doing your team any favors if you return to your previous schedule and then start dropping balls or making mistakes, or burn out to the point that you leave without notice in a health crisis one day. Your coworkers are also able to advocate for themselves, whether that means setting limits on their own time or deciding to leave for a job that doesn’t overwork them. You don’t need to work more than you want to save them from having to do that, and few reasonable people would expect it of you.

Also, if it’s really true that guilt is the only thing preventing you from not going back at all … you don’t need to feel guilty. People leave jobs! It’s a normal thing that happens. Your organization will figure things out. I can see why you might not want to make a big decision right now in case you’re not thinking clearly, and that would be a reason to delay that choice (and so would needing to make sure you really can afford to retire) — but guilt is not. Quitting is not leaving people in the lurch. Quitting is a normal part of employment, and your coworkers will adjust.

Last, if you’re not 100% sure that your finances show you can retire now, talk with a financial planner, who can help you decide with confidence. And if you’re close to that point but not quite there, that’s definitely a situation where it would make sense to just work less; there’s no reason to work 11-hour days or anything close to it if you’re not doing it for love or money.

The post I inherited enough to stop working — what now? appeared first on Ask a Manager.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Epstein files has divided MAGA world, with many Trump supporters calling on the president to fire her. The Onion shares everything you need to know about Bondi.

Ethnicity: Floridian American

Political Party: Democratic (Until 2010) Republican (2010-2026) National Front For Making America Great (2026-)

Preferred Debate Style: Knocking on a car window

Favorite Hobby: Redacting 

Biggest Political Liability: Has never hosted a podcast

Thoughts On Jeffrey Epstein: Classified

Recurring Nightmare: Being saved from drowning by a trans swimmer

Who Trump Thinks She Is: Lara Trump

Biggest Regret: Not becoming a dance mom

Eventual Cause Of Death: Presumed suicide

The post Political Profile: Pam Bondi appeared first on The Onion.

WASHINGTON—During a speech Friday in which he sought to convince MAGA supporters that his administration did not withhold any important information from its partial release of “the Epstein files” in February, President Donald Trump reportedly invited Jeffrey Epstein on stage to explain that there was no conspiracy. “Hey, everybody, I’m Jeffrey—you probably know me from the pedophile stuff in the news,” the financier said to a group of right-wing influencers and members of the White House press pool, admitting that he and the president had a good laugh over the notion that there was something suspicious about the way he died. “To address any confusion or rumors that may have come up over the past five years, I just want everyone to know that I definitely did kill myself, and I am dead. As you can see, there are no suspicious marks on my neck that would suggest somebody else did it. I’m just a regular old corpse—case closed. I’d be happy to tell you exactly what happened in my prison cell during the nearly three minutes when the security tape blacked out, but I’ve got to warn you, it’s pretty boring. This whole thing has been really blown out of proportion. As you can see, I’m dead, and we should all move on now.” At press time, Epstein was seen patting his empty pockets as proof that there was no such thing as a client list.

The post Trump Invites Jeffrey Epstein On Stage To Explain There No Conspiracy appeared first on The Onion.

The post Trump: ‘I’m Not In These Nonexistent Files Concocted To Destroy Me’ appeared first on The Onion.

Even maimed, I’m handsome.

In brief: In this morning’s post we discuss the end game for the tropical disturbance in the northern Gulf, look ahead to elevated rain chances on Friday, and then see what high pressure will bring us next week.

Invest 93L

As expected, the tropical disturbance in the northern Gulf of Mexico (aka Hurricane TikTok) is moving steadily westward and nearing the far eastern end of Southeastern Louisiana. The center of the storm continues to hug the coast, which has limited intensification, and thus this system remains poorly organized. The odds of it becoming a tropical depression or storm have been lowered to 30 percent this morning, and even this seems a little generous to me. It should move into Louisiana later today or tonight, bringing a chance of heavy rain to that state. Impacts to Texas will be minimal, although parts of our area will see increased rain chances on Friday as a result of atmospheric moisture related to this system.

Thursday

If you liked the weather on Wednesday you are in luck, because today will be pretty much the same. We may see a few more clouds this afternoon, but high temperatures should still reach the mid-90s for most locations with plenty of humidity. Winds will be light, generally from the south. Low temperatures tonight will drop into the upper 70s.

Friday

As atmospheric moisture levels rise due to the influence of the tropical disturbance, we will see an increase in rain chances on Friday, but how much will depend on how far east you live. If you are east of Interstate 45 I would put the odds of rainfall at about 50 percent or higher, and to the west I’d say considerably less than 50 percent. Overall accumulations likely will be in the 0.5 inch for areas that receive rain, but with the tropical moisture there could be higher bullseyes. It’s notable that the Weather Prediction Center (see below) has lowered the likelihood that any part of the Houston metro area will see excessive rainfall. Highs will reach the upper 80s to lower 90s due to increased cloud cover.

Saturday

Skies will be partly sunny on Saturday, with highs generally in the lower 90s, as atmospheric moisture lingers in the region. Rain chances will be about 30 percent, higher again to the east of our region. Accumulations look slight. Overall if you have outdoor plans I would be cautiously optimistic.

Sunday and next week

High pressure begins to build in by Sunday, and this should set the stage for sunny and hot weather for awhile. Most of next week should bring high temperatures in the mid- to upper-90s, with perhaps a 10 percent chance of afternoon showers driven by the sea breeze. It’s late July. It’s Houston. You have been warned.

humanoidhistory:

Interiors of the Paul Rudolph-designed headquarters of Burroughs Wellcome in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, opened 1972.

(Library of Congress)

In brief: Invest 93L is almost out of time as it transitions into exclusively a flooding concern for parts of Louisiana. The tropics may pick up some activity toward later July. And there are growing signs that the end of July may end on a very hot note over much of the country.

Invest 93L

In terms of development, Invest 93L is approaching the end of the road. It seems unlikely that it will get a name, and it probably won’t become a depression either. There’s a lot of rain moving into far southern Louisiana this morning.

Given the current storm situation there, it would appear that several rounds of locally heavy rain are likely to push in through today and into tomorrow. The entire southern half of Louisiana is under a flash flood watch today, stretching from Lake Charles to New Orleans. The moderate risk for flash flooding (level 3/4) has moved into today and is focused primarily on the Atchafalaya.

While the expected rainfall totals today won’t be overwhelming (probably on the order of 2 to 4 inches or some higher amounts), the rate of rain may be enough to cause some locally significant flash flooding. Should 93L slow down a good bit further as well, that would serve to enhance localized rainfall risks. More rain and thunderstorms are likely tomorrow as well.

All told about 2 to 5 inches on average should be expected the next couple days. I would not be the least bit shocked if one or two spots did pick up as much as 6 to 9 inches of rain, but those would the exception rather than the rule I think. Overall, the flooding risks look a little less ominous than they did earlier this week, but they should not be discounted.

Rest of the Atlantic

While most of Atlantic hurricane season thus far has been quiet, there may be some changes brewing heading into late July and early August. I want to note this because I also think some of these changes may be somewhat overhyped in some circles. It’s not as if the Atlantic pattern will suddenly turn very favorable. It will, however, turn less hostile.

From the plot above, you can see that the background state of the atmosphere is expected to work into more favorable territory by the time we get to next week across the Atlantic basin. However, it’s still sort of lacking a lot of teeth. I’m just not convinced of this being the catalyst to bring us big activity yet. However, this is the first assault on the wall of unfavorability that has gripped the basin since early to mid-June.

The European weekly model is not having any of it, though, going with very low probabilities off the East Coast to close July.

Right now, I see a pathway to a more active Atlantic, but I don’t see concrete evidence that it’s definitely coming. So for now we’ll just keep monitoring things.

Heat wave on the way?

When it comes to forecasting different weather variables, some end up better to forecast than others at longer lead times. Hurricane tracks at 10 to 15 days out? Probably poor! Total precipitation 10 to 15 days out? Probably a bad forecast. Will it be wetter or drier than normal? That’s a slightly higher confidence forecast depending on each weather pattern. How about heat waves? Well, let’s discuss that today.

There have been some signals in the models over the last couple days for an expanding ridge of high pressure across the middle of the country in the 10 to 15 day forecast period. Yesterday afternoon, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center added the risk of “extreme heat” to their forecast for July 24th through the 30th across a broad expanse of the country from the central Plains into the Southeast.

When we look at the broad weather pattern that is forecast from the European ensemble mean, an average of 51 ensemble members to produce a forecast for the 11 to 15 day period, you can see that there is a very strong signal for above average heights in the upper atmosphere, a signal for hot weather.

In fact, if you look at the potential for annual record 500 mb heights, or how many of the ensemble members are predicting that the intensity of the ridge will break all-time records, somewhere in the range of 20 to 30 percent of the European ensemble members are calling for just that. That’s a very impressive signal at this lead time.

Now, the Euro has been wrong before at this lead time. In fact, even a couple times this year it’s overestimated the heat somewhat. However, this is a slightly different scale and setup, and it has additional support from the 51 member European AI model ensemble as well. Record or not, it appears that there will be a significant bout of summer heat coming again in the day 10 to 15 timeframe as we head toward August. More to come on this.

Flooding notes: Is Waco, Texas prone to destructive flooding?

Just want to close today with a shoutout to the Waco Bridge, a new independent news site covering Waco, TX. They put together a nice piece yesterday that discusses the flood risk specific to the city of Waco. While there have been historic floods there in the past, a number of engineering projects over the last 50 to 75 years have dramatically lowered the risk of a catastrophic flood there. Not to say serious, if not destructive flooding cannot happen; it can happen virtually anywhere in this country. But there has been risk reduction. I know we have a number of Texas readers, so this may be a good story to share with any friends or family in the Waco area. There are also a number of good links in there for some real-time and forecast flooding data from across Texas.

Periodically, I will effort to point out stories from local news sources from around the country that touch on localized flooding risk or risk of other weather-related vulnerabilities.

The Senate is in the middle of a vote-a-rama on legislation that would rescind $9 billion in funding that Congress previously approved for foreign assistance programs and public media. 

Under congressional rules, the Senate only needs a simple majority to approve the Rescissions Act of 2025 (H.R. 4) instead of the usual 60-vote threshold. But those rules for budget bills also enable members to offer unlimited amendments that are voted on in succession. A similar process played out when Republicans passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1). 

The GOP has until the end of Friday to clear the rescissions measure due to budget rules, but because senators are planning to adopt agreed-upon changes to the bill, the House will have to vote on it again. That chamber previously passed the legislation in a close 214-212 vote. 

A substitute amendment put forward by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., would make several modifications to the measure: 

• Nix a $400 million cut to the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), an initiative which helps countries address the disease that has saved 25 million lives and prevented millions of HIV infections. 
• Shield programs that prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as well as support nutrition or maternal and child health. 
• Protect funding for the countries Jordan and Egypt, plus a fund to counter Chinese influence internationally.
• Exempt from recission programs like Food for Peace and McGovern-Dole International Food for Education that pay U.S. farmers for food that is distributed to poor countries. 

Additionally, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said that he would support the bill after the Trump administration committed to reallocating “Green New Deal money” in order to continue grants to tribal broadcast stations. The recissions legislation would effectively eliminate federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides support to such stations. 

Foreign assistance programs have been particularly targeted by the Department of Government Efficiency, and Trump in May issued an executive order to cease funding to NPR and PBS, which are also supported by CPB, arguing that they don’t report the news in a fair, accurate or unbiased manner. 

The Senate on Tuesday took two procedural votes with respect to the measure that required Vice President JD Vance to break ties. Senate Democrats and Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — all of whom sit on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which allocates agency funding — voted against advancing the legislation. 

Collins, who is the panel’s chair, said the Trump administration has not been forthcoming about what specific programs would be cut. 

“The sparse text that was sent to Congress [by the Office of Management and Budget] included very little detail and does not give an accounting of the specific program cuts that would total $9.4 billion,” she said in a statement. “For example, there are $2.5 billion in cuts to the Development Assistance account, which covers everything from basic education, to water and sanitation, to food security — but we don’t know how those programs will be affected.” 

In floor remarks on July 10, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the vice chair of the Appropriations Committee, said that Republicans, by voting for the recissions bill, would be reneging on spending they previously agreed to in government funding negotiations and make future such agreements harder to achieve. 

“Pushing this through won’t just cut bipartisan investments, it will cut out the heart of the basic principles that make bipartisan deals possible,” Murray said. “How are we supposed to negotiate a bipartisan deal if Republicans will turn around and put it through the shredder in a partisan vote?”

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A key operative from DOGE initiated plans to potentially kill Direct File, the free tax filing tool developed by the IRS, after offering assurances it would be spared from cuts.

The bill now returns to the House of Representatives for approval ahead of a Friday deadline.

DHARAMSHALA, INDIA—Calling the trend an alarming indicator of the global economy’s fragile state, a report released Thursday by the Tibetan Institute for Economics revealed that the rising cost of living was forcing more Buddhists to continue working years into reincarnation. “Unfortunately, increased housing, food, and healthcare expenses require many Buddhists to hold down a job long after their rebirth,” said Chhime Rigzing, a Dalai Lama spokesperson and Tibetan official who co-authored the report, adding that while older followers of the Buddha’s wisdom had been able to extinguish all suffering much earlier, younger souls were toiling longer in the form of field mice, hungry ghosts, or other sentient beings. “These days, if you’ve been recently reborn as, say, a hummingbird, there’s virtually no chance you’re going to emancipate yourself from attachment anytime soon. Your best bet is to clock as many hours as possible pollinating flowers to keep yourself from winding up in [Buddhist realm of punishment] naraka. Unfortunately, for too many, the dream of building up enough good karma to attain enlightenment and escape the cycle of samsara is no longer within reach.” Rigzing added that the majority of Buddhists now reported being forced to work three or more existences just to make ends meet. 

The post Rising Cost Of Living Forcing More Buddhists To Continue Working Years Into Reincarnation appeared first on The Onion.

LEAWOOD, KS—Suffering from a severe delusion that he shared an intimate connection with the pop superstar, local parasocial fan Travis Kelce reportedly continued to insist Wednesday that he was in a real relationship with Taylor Swift. “For the past two years, Travis has followed her across the globe, calling himself her boyfriend and deluding himself into thinking there’s a world in which someone like her would ever know someone like him exists,” said Kelce’s visibly worried mother, Donna Kelce, who noted that the psychological break with reality had begun at one of Swift’s concerts when the then-33-year-old single man tried to hand the singer a friendship bracelet he had made and her security intervened. “Ever since that day, he’s been convinced this interaction led to some fairytale relationship full of public appearances, nights out on the town, and exotic vacations on a private jet, but really it’s all a one-sided fantasy. He won’t listen to any of us who try to reason with him—he just keeps saying he’s going to propose to her at the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, Travis is too far gone to understand how crazy that sounds. It’s very sad.” At press time, sources confirmed Donna Kelce had called the authorities on her son after he began spouting gibberish about how Rob Gronkowski had told him it was time to have a baby with Swift.

The post Parasocial Fan Believes He In Real Relationship With Taylor Swift appeared first on The Onion.

The post Bony Soldier Diving On Top Of Grenade Only Makes It Deadlier appeared first on The Onion.

Well, well, well, looks like little Molly Jenkins finally had enough of the big city and came crawling back to the small-town boy she thought she was too good for, Greg Phipps, in a ceremony at St. Matthew’s Church on Sunday.

The post Molly Jenkins and Greg Phipps appeared first on The Onion.