Back in 2017, when Trump was running amok on social media, he was sued by seven people he had blocked on his Twitter account, who claimed Trump was in violation of the First Amendment. A series of lower courts agreed with the plaintiffs. The case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which Trump’s lawyers argued “should have the final word on where to draw the line between the President’s personal decisions and official conduct.” But the plaintiffs’ attorneys countered with the argument that “the president’s personal Twitter account ‘functions as an official source of news and information about the government, and as a forum for speech by, to, and about the President,’” and thus the public had a right to access that account.

Sheng Thao is out there cheerleading downtown’s nightlife: all those cool bars and clubs and restaurants. In her opinion, downtown is back, after the gloom of the COVID years. This rosy viewpoint is shared even by some members of our CBO family, who point to all the new buildings lining Broadway and adjacent streets as proof that downtown’s best days are ahead.

National Public Radio is having a tough time financially. Advertising is down, and so the network has had to fire a lot of people. As recently as last Fall, NPR said it would be able to avoid layoffs, but on March 30, things had gotten so bad that CEO John Lansing announced, in a Zoom staff meeting, NPR would let go 84 employees.

A large sign is posted in the window of a shop on Telegraph Avenue. It reads:

ANTIOCH. Let’s talk about it. First, we condemn the texts sent by those idiot cops. Let justice take its course. Probably many of the cops ought to be fired, and they should not have the ability to become police officers elsewhere. I hope that the Justice Department does not put a special monitor over the Antioch Police Department, for we see how damaging, in every respect, that has been here in Oakland. But if they do, so be it. John Burris, the ambulance-chasing lawyer who has got rich off suing police departments, is working on this right now.