Getting Better News

🚨 Crime Is Falling, But the Headlines Haven’t Quite Caught Up

Crime is one of those subjects where a single frightening story can feel more convincing than a mountain of statistics, so it helps to step back and…

Oct 10

113

🔎 Becoming a Better “Citizen-Journalist” Requires the Advice Our Moms Gave Us: Sleep On It

Or, rather - take a PAUSE...

Oct 3

93

1

September 2026

🌤️ Happiness Turns Out to Be a Skill, Not Just a Mood

Tom Bodett, the guy whose voice told a generation of road-trippers “we’ll keep the light on for you” at Motel 6, once said something that had nothing to…

Sep 26

147

1

🏛️ Two Centuries of Democratic Progress Are Colliding with a Decade of Doubt

Democracy has had a challenging decade by most scorecards.

Sep 19

141

🤖 AI is Changing What We Need to Teach Our Kids

AI is evolving from being the shiny new toy to something young people will have to navigate at school, at work, and all over the internet.

Sep 12

124

1

⚖️ How Nice People End Up on Opposite Sides of Arguments

Ever notice how the person you disagree with most on politics is often someone who volunteers at their kid’s school and tips generously?

Sep 5

85

August 2026

🕵️ School Is Back, but the Most Important Homework Isn’t in a Textbook

Media literacy is becoming one of the most practical back-to-school skills as AI meddles with political ads, viral “animal tricks,” and even kid-focused…

Aug 29

198

🧭 How a Handful of Local Newsrooms Found a Way to Stay Alive

Local news has been on a two-decade losing streak, but a few scrappy newsrooms just figured out how to stop the bleeding.

Aug 22

51

1

🧠 Curiosity is the New Critical Thinking

Turns out the antidote to doomscrolling isn’t more willpower, it’s a specific set of trainable habits that psychologists and journalists have been…

Aug 15

179

🕊️ Why the World's Faith Data Refuses to Cooperate with Predictions

Every generation seems to declare religion’s obituary, and every generation gets the timeline wrong.

Aug 8

246

🌉 The Surprising Case for Talking to People Who Disagree Politically

Doomscrolling has convinced a lot of us that discussing politics with someone of a different opinion is basically a contact sport now.

Aug 1

244

July 2026

🗽 Building Smarter Citizens and a Stronger Democracy for America 250

America’s 250th birthday, classroom history, and the way we consume news are tightly linked.

Jul 9

235