Beth Fertig
bethfertig.bsky.social
Beth Fertig
@bethfertig.bsky.social
I spent most of my adult life as a reporter at WNYC and NPR. Now I’m working at @PressPassNYC to rebuild trust in media by helping the next generation. We give public schools the support & tools to launch student news sites.
Pinned
I got to record Stephen Sondheim giving a rare class for high school English and theater teachers in 2014, when I worked for WNYC. It was thrilling. He got choked up when he told them teaching is “a sacred profession.”
na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
NYC Drama Teachers Meet Their Idol | WNYC | New York Public Radio, Podcasts, Live Streaming Radio, News
Drama teachers from across New York City were thrilled to get a master class with Stephen Sondheim. But it was the Broadway legend who got emotional praising their work.
na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
We can commemorate this:

“Modeling studies have suggested that cuts by the United States and other countries could result in 10 million additional H.I.V. infections, including one million among children, and three million additional deaths over the next five years.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/h...
Trump Administration Will No Longer Commemorate World AIDS Day
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by Beth Fertig
From the MN Society for Professional Journalists: St. Paul police shot three photojournalists (MPR, Reuters, Sahan Journal) with "less lethal" munitions during an ICE operation yesterday. One had to go to the hospital. They say they were specifically targeted by St. Paul police.
November 26, 2025 at 5:47 PM
A wave of immigration buoyed dozens of NYC schools. Now, their enrollment is plummeting. @chalkbeat.org

www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025...
A wave of immigration boosted enrollment at dozens of NYC schools. Now, their numbers are falling.
At dozens of schools that took in the largest shares of migrant students in recent years, enrollment fell by 11% over the past year, wiping away years of gains.
www.chalkbeat.org
November 26, 2025 at 7:01 PM
NY AG James said the guidance asked states to go further than the law by kicking off those who were granted asylum or refugee status but are now permanent residents.

gothamist.com/news/ny-ag-j...
NY AG James sues Trump admin for trying to block green card holders from SNAP benefits
The lawsuit says the U.S. Department of Agriculture is unlawfully asking states to strip benefits from lawful permanent residents.
gothamist.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Reposted by Beth Fertig
"Most students rely on cash from their parents. It would be a great opportunity if younger generations knew how to manage their own money.”

Mayor Adams launches new financial literacy program

hs223eagleexpress.com/1800/news/ny...

#StudentJournalism
NYC Mayor Adams Launches Financial Literacy Program at HS223
On November 12, mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, came to HS223 to announce his new initiative, the Financial Literacy for Youth Program. The program gives students the opportunity to develop financ...
hs223eagleexpress.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Wonderful example of #studentjournalism — it’s very thoughtful about a sensitive topic
“We have never previously faced that level of scrutiny about how we teach an issue, even a contentious issue, like the Armenian genocide, or capitalism and socialism.”

Brooklyn Tech Teachers Hesitant to Teach, Discuss Israel-Palestine Conflict, despite interest.

surveybths.com/4031/news/te...
Teachers Hesitant to Teach, Discuss Israel-Palestine Conflict
In many History and English classes at Tech, teachers construct their lessons around current events.  “I taught…Persepolis which is [about] what was happening in Iran, so we looked at…current events t...
surveybths.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by Beth Fertig
A year after making a public pledge to do so, President Trump disclosed a list of donors who helped pay for his presidential transition. The 46-person list includes billionaires and people he went on to appoint to positions of power.
Donors to Trump’s Transition Revealed a Year Later
A 46-person list includes billionaires and people he went on to appoint to positions of power.
nyti.ms
November 26, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by Beth Fertig
While discussing his crime-fighting efforts in Washington, D.C., President Trump claimed that it’s been months since the city has seen a murder. But that's not true. There have been 62 homicides in Washington since May, including one last week.
FACT FOCUS: Trump gets it wrong claiming no murders in DC for the last six months
In addition to pardoning two North Carolina turkeys at the annual White House ceremony, President Donald Trump discussed his crime-fighting efforts in Washington, D.C., claiming that it’s been six months since the city has seen a murder.
bit.ly
November 26, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Shorter Days, Signs of Fatigue: Trump Faces Realities of Aging in Office

New Data from NYT: “The number of Mr. Trump’s total official appearances has decreased by 39 percent.” (Compared to his first term in 2017) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
Shorter Days, Signs of Fatigue: Trump Faces Realities of Aging in Office
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:10 PM
“The only thing you need to know about Olivia Nuzzi is that she used her position of power, as a journalist, to advise and elevate the world’s most prominent anti-vaccine activist to the most influential health position in the United States.”

newrepublic.com/article/2035... @newrepublic.com
Olivia Nuzzi’s Real Victims
More than her fiancé, or fellow female journalists, the public will pay the price for these misdeeds. RFK Jr. will see to that.
newrepublic.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Reposted by Beth Fertig
Olivia Nuzzi wrote an entire story based on unnamed sources about Biden's decline, reinvigorating calls for him to leave the race -- and the whole time, she was working on RFK Jr.'s behalf, according to her ex-fiance. newrepublic.com/article/2035...
Olivia Nuzzi’s Real Victims
More than her fiancé, or fellow female journalists, the public will pay the price for these misdeeds. RFK Jr. will see to that.
newrepublic.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Thanks, Senator Bill Cassidy. You allowed RFK Jr to serve. And we can blame all the others who did nothing to stop this disaster in public health.
November 25, 2025 at 6:56 PM
“She said officials told her that she would remain in ICE custody for six to nine months if she wanted to be deported with her son. She chose to leave without José Daniel, on July 11.”

Cruelty continues

Deported and Desperate to Be Reunited With Their Children www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/n...
Deported and Desperate to Be Reunited With Their Children
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Isn’t there a name for when the government controls the means of production?

$10 Billion and Counting: Trump Administration Snaps Up Stakes in Private Firms www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
$10 Billion and Counting: Trump Administration Snaps Up Stakes in Private Firms
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:10 PM
The US is paying countries to accept deported immigrants with no ties to these countries. The details, which allegedly include straight jackets and violence, are sickening.

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Disappeared to a Foreign Prison
The Trump Administration is deporting people to countries they have no ties to, where many are being detained indefinitely or forcibly returned to the places they fled. Sarah Stillman reports.
www.newyorker.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Reposted by Beth Fertig
As a historian, I have been torturing myself by watching some of the series that the White House in cooperation with Hillsdale College produced about American Independence (tellingly, they avoid the word "revolution").

There are so many errors that it is hard to know where to begin. But I'll try
November 22, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Reposted by Beth Fertig
absolutely incredible -- CNN host introduces a segment about Trump's "new healthcare proposal," but less than two minutes later breaks into her script to announce "breaking news" that Trump's healthcare proposal is being postponed
November 24, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by Beth Fertig
AND the indictment against NY AG Letitia James has also been dismissed for the invalid and illegal appointment of Trump law-lackey Lindsey Halligan as the US Attorney for the EDVA:

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Order on Motion to Dismiss – #140 in United States v. James (E.D. Va., 2:25-cr-00122) – CourtListener.com
ORDER AND ADJUDGED as follows: (1) The appointment of Ms. Halligan as Interim U.S. Attorney violated 28 U.S.C. § 546 and the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. (2) All actions flowing from ...
storage.courtlistener.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Reposted by Beth Fertig
My 6yo has started pretend electronic locking her bedroom door at night so Trump can't get in. She seemed to think that he himself is going into homes and causing harm. There are children in her school whose families have been impacted by ICE so we assume this is where the concern came from.
A Wash Post review found instances of parents arrested near campuses in at least 10 states so far this year. Actions near campuses—which include shooting a man, releasing tear gas and engaging in a car chase—have prompted lockdowns. @justinemcdaniel.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...
In cities targeted by ICE, empty desks and school disruptions follow
One in 5 students in Charlotte missed school after a recent ICE crackdown began. It’s the latest city where schools felt the impact of Trump’s deportation effort.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Reposted by Beth Fertig
With cell phones banned, NYC teens are discovering how to play games, talk to each other and READ gothamist.com/news/ny-smar... @jessicagould.bsky.social
New York school phone ban has made lunch loud again
Two months into the school year, students say they are adjusting to life without their smart devices. Teachers report more focused pupils.
gothamist.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Reposted by Beth Fertig
Orville Etoria, a Jamaican national who’d lived in New York for nearly 50 years, was shackled and put on an ICE flight to Eswatini. “It helped me imagine how the slaves might have felt, going to another land in shackles and chains,” he said. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/dLJ4SQ
Disappeared to a Foreign Prison
The Trump Administration is deporting people to countries they have no ties to, where many are being detained indefinitely or forcibly returned to the places they fled. Sarah Stillman reports.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 24, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Beth Fertig
Fifteen years after Andrew Wakefield lost his medical license for his bogus study on autism and vaccines, the ascent of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has given the discredited former doctor a new level of popularity.
www.ms.now/news/the-ret...
The doctor who falsely tied vaccines to autism is enjoying a comeback
Andrew Wakefield, who was once cast out for his retracted study tying autism to the MMR vaccine, is making a comeback in the second term of President Donald Trump as an ally of Health and Human Servic...
www.ms.now
November 24, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Beth Fertig
It was so much fun watching teacher Anita Pinto at Urban Assembly School Gateway School for Technology give out press passes to her journalism club after a bootcamp last week with professional journalists. Congrats! We look forward to the next edition of the Gateway Times. #StudentJournalism
November 24, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Beth Fertig
"One person familiar with Nuzzi noted that her current contract may only run through the end of this year, meaning the magazine could let it quietly expire over the holidays."

The odds that she doesn't actually write for Vanity Fair is pretty high.
Scoop: As questions swirl around Olivia Nuzzi, I’ve learned she’s been relatively absent in the day-to-day at Vanity Fair, as the magazine continues to weather the storm the controversial hire brought through 1 World Trade Center

www.status.news/p/olivia-nuz...
Condé’s Nuzzi Conundrum
Inside Condé Nast's media drama: Gabriel Nuzzi's revelations spark controversy, exposing internal tensions and unfolding newsroom dynamics with dramatic flair.
www.status.news
November 24, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Reposted by Beth Fertig
Kavanaugh stop. Smashed the kid’s car windows and arrested him. He told them he was a U.S. citizen. The officer replied “I don’t care.”

www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
High school senior, a U.S. citizen, detained by ICE in Oregon
The 17-year-old was held more than five hours Friday in an ICE facility, his brother said.
www.oregonlive.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:34 AM