Thread by @Taniel

So many amazing stories, reporting, & explainers, in recent weeks by the amazing (& now-unionized!) staff of @TheAppeal.

I'm in awe of the amazing work so many of them do on, so here's a thread to just some of their recent content. (Follow along!)

1️⃣ @jerryiannelli wrote this dive into Lori Lightfoot's long record when it comes to policing in the wake of the police killing of 13-year old Adam Toledo. An essential piece for context on what's up in Chicago: theappeal.org/lori-lightfoot…

2️⃣ I also love this story from @jerryiannelli on the mayoral race in Anchorage, & the GOP candidate running a campaign against homeless people.

The runoff was just 2 days ago. Where else will you learn about these huge stakes of this mayoral election?!

theappeal.org/anchorages-ant…

3️⃣ @elizabethweill just delved into the proposal to limit policing at traffic stops in Brooklyn City, MN, after the police killing of Daunte Wright. Edited by @taramfrancis.

Doubles at an essential illustratino at just how hard it is to change policing: theappeal.org/brooklyn-cente…

4️⃣ This other @elizabethweill story (also edited by @taramfrancis) is SO IMPORTANT: here are Dem DAs who want to be known as reformers who are calling on Biden to halt the death penalty... but are pursuing it themselves at home!!

Essential accountability: theappeal.org/progressive-pr…

5️⃣ This @megoconnor13 story (edited @annafsimonton) was a HUGE contribution to the St Louis mayoral race: both progressives were talking of "focused deterrence", but twas crucial to lay out HUGE Qs around this national rhetoric. So happy to have run this: theappeal.org/politicalrepor…

6️⃣ @megoconnor13 has also broken stories REPEATEDLY in recent months about police violence in Rochester, NY!

(While she also covers efforts to shrink policing: theappeal.org/florida-bill-t…, I believe @bcgoyette edited.)

Also it's her birthday!

theappeal.org/rochester-poli…

7️⃣ @Sentinel_Vaughn has owned all Pennsylvania reporting for yeaaaaars.

But just over past few weeks, this pair of essential stories (edited @rachelcbrody) on how important the Pittsburgh mayor's race is for

housing: theappeal.org/how-demands-fo…
& policing: theappeal.org/how-policing-i…

Pausing for a second: behind all these links and stories is the invisible and just exceptional and unbelievable (I mean, literally: I can’t believe the stuff that they find!!) fact-checking and copy-editing of @MaleciaWalker, @EthanSCorey, @chrisgelardi, and/or @sdschuyler

8️⃣ @Sentinel_Vaughn also just wrote on Pittsburgh's socialist judge curbing incarceration & evictions theappeal.org/politicalrepor…

(Part of Pittsburgh's progressive "Slate of Eight": theappeal.org/politicalrepor…)

Both stories edited by @annafsimonton. We need national 👀 on local judges.

9️⃣ SPEAKING OF JUDGES, what do they do? who are they? why care? -- all fair questions with answers that can seem impenetrable, a big problem.

So Prof. Maria Hawilo just published this Lab explainer (edited by Molly Greene) a week before the PA primaries: theappeal.org/the-lab/explai…

1️⃣0️⃣ If you live in Manhattan, PLEASE PLEASE check these out before voting.

We're running a series of issue-specific articles on the Manhattan DA election, and @NataliePryor's graphics are making them come alive.

e.g. theappeal.org/politicalrepor…
& theappeal.org/politicalrepor…

OK, the work of the Appeal Live team producing dozens of video shows a month is gobsmacking. I feel impression @alanasivin @nickpwing @GalvinAlmanza @erikshute (& others I don't see on twitter, feel free to link) never stop working. How to choose which specific episode to select?

So many 🔥 stories from freelancers, e.g. this by @PiperSFrench is the best profile of the new CA AG's new politics (edited @bcgoyette):
theappeal.org/california-att…

Also love her rich account of LA prosecutors' backlash against Gascon (edited @bcgoyette & I): theappeal.org/george-gascon-…

.@kellylynndavis's 76-part series on COVID in prisons was an UNPARALLELED resource: theappeal.org/coronavirus-in…

I learned so much from Manjeet Kaur's story on how police $ in Seattle is being reallocated via participatory budgeting (edited @annafsimonton): theappeal.org/politicalrepor…

The policy-explaining team at "The Lab" is making issues you may... not feel like learning about feel essential. For instance, this Fiona Doherty piece on probation (edited by @mollybern1).

(A big election topic too! theappeal.org/politicalrepor…)

theappeal.org/the-lab/report…

Or else this @STOmarova explainer on big tech monopolies (edited by @Bilalbay): theappeal.org/the-lab/report…

I admit I'm not sure who on our staff worked on this @asubramanian explainer but an essential reference piece for policing & mayors: theappeal.org/the-lab/explai…

(Oh my, looking at our roster of recent stories & at the many staff members I didn't get to mention yet, I see that have a long way to go still, but I'm at the end of my rope for the day and I'm going to pause here. Excited to work with all of them in the morning!)