Reilly Stephens

1 week ago | ij.org | Tonya Riley |Jorja Siemons |Cassandre Coyer |Reilly Stephens

Chief Petty Officer Lee Schmidt was stuck in morning traffic en route from Norfolk, Va., to his job in Virginia Beach when he first noticed the “weird little camera” outside a CVS: an automated license plate reader. Schmidt began seeing the cameras everywhere after that first sighting in late 2023—outside banks, near schools, and “just to get on the interstate” heading to work. “You cannot dodge these,” said Schmidt, now retired from his Navy electronics technician job.

Dec 2, 2024 | americanhabits.org | Reilly Stephens |Ray Nothstine

Coming out of a presidential election season—and heading into a new presidential administration—it can be easy to think all politics is national politics, and that the solutions (or lack there of) to our problems will be found in the District of Columbia. But we may in fact be entering a new golden age of federalism, with the pace of change outrunning the federal Congress’ output, and executive actions bouncing back and forth between administrations generating no consistent policy.

Sep 18, 2024 | thedispatch.com | Alex Demas |Charlotte Lawson |Jay Cost |Reilly Stephens

Published September 18, 2024 Jerk alert! Social media users are spreading rumors that a sequel to the hit 1985 film The Goonies is under production. “Steven Spielberg will direct the sequel,” claim the posts, many of which have thousands of likes and shares. Most of the posts include a teaser poster for the film, titled Goonies Are Good Enough. “Sean Astin has already signed up with Ke Huy Quan, Josh Brolin and Martha Plimpton already rumoured to be attached,” the post goes on to claim.

Sep 16, 2024 | thedispatch.com | Alex Demas |Reilly Stephens |Michael Warren |David Drucker

Alex Demas is a fact checker at The Dispatch and is based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the company in 2023, he worked in England as a financial journalist and earned his MA in Political Economy at King's College London. When not heroically combating misinformation online, Alex can be found mixing cocktails, watching his beloved soccer team Aston Villa lose a match, or attempting to pet stray cats.

Sep 14, 2024 | thedispatch.com | Rachael Larimore |Reilly Stephens |Charles Hilu |Michael Warren

Hello and happy Saturday. We try to be very upfront with you here at The Dispatch. You’ve heard our spiel about factual reporting and informed commentary analysis, and as much as we hate to make mistakes, we’ll admit when we were wrong. I don’t have a factual error to correct, but I did make a mistake last week, and I want to address it. The subheading of my newsletter asked, “Could 2024 get any weirder?” I should not have tempted fate.