in january 2023, i had a simple ultrasound done at SimonMed. they sent me 4 bills totaling $5137 for it.

after a year of emails and phone calls, they finally admitted today that i only owed $140.53 and are mailing me a refund check!

here's how i did it 🧵

Screw all these cool shots, I only want to see your terrible photos of the eclipse. Give me all the fails

April will mark one year since the City of Oakland evicted the Wood Street encampment from this lot. One of the arguments to evict them was that the encampment was holding up the construction of affordable housing... But the lot still sits empty today.

Hey, everyone reading that NPR story! Want to check out a Richmond news source that is not the Standard? The Pulse is a nonprofit that trains and pays young people to report on the community.
You can start with our weekly newsletter. Find out more about the stories below:

Evan’s been detained for 1-year today. Enough is enough, bring him home.

one thing I wish more people knew about journalism is how much time and care goes into getting things right.

it's not unusual to spend 10 mins on the phone with an editor going back and forth on how one word changes the meaning of a sentence! and i kind of love that

Now taking pitches for the personal essay you wish The Cut would publish but it’s too ridiculous even for them.

Me, as a reporter (waiting for edits): Hmm, I wonder what editors do all day.

Me, as an editor (in between trying to do five things at once): Oh God.

(It's been pretty fun but also hectic week!)

I can't emphasize it enough: Healthcare prices are fake. Never, ever pay the first bill in full. Make a good-faith effort and call the provider to get on the record a request for a reduced bill. This was for an urgent care visit while I was uninsured: from $420 to $102.

Apparently the term for migraine-sufferer is 'migraneur.' Nice getting recognition as a kind of artisan of suffering

This whole series was sooooooo good, but this article was my favorite!!! Read them all!!

👏👏👏👏

What finding work is like lately:

• Find a LinkedIn post looking for freelance writers
• Read more about it and get excited
• Check that it was only posted 4 hours ago
• See 249 comments and 87 reposts
• Put your head down and weep😭

It's rough out there, folks.

For NPR, I spent months trying to figure out why Salesforce CEO Benioff bought 100s of acres of land in Hawaii. He used anon LLCs to buy it, but in a small town locals still noticed. To get thru reporting, I read many great articles about Benioff and Hawaii, so I'm sharing some:

bleak

Someone is going to build a great media company out of the ashes of the last two months. The amount of talent on the market right now is unreal.

A book to watch 👀

Yesterday, we published a yearlong investigation into fatal police chases around the country.

We also made our data public. If you're a local reporter hoping to dig into fatal chases in your community, please - use our data!

github.com/sfchronicle/po…

So I was asked by someone on general advice on how to write a good journalism cover letter.

First, here's a good summary from the NPR: training.npr.org/2021/03/05/how…

But my key points (Thread to follow):

re the question of 'is journalism school ethical' i think lots of people are going to start reporting by themselves or w a few other colleagues, without big media infrastructural support, and more people now than ever need to know the basics of journalism as relates to the law