![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
rest_of_world_rss_feed) wrote2025-07-03 10:00 am
propublica_feed) wrote2025-07-03 06:00 amProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.
This article is co-published with The Texas Newsroom and The Texas Tribune as part of an initiative to report on how power is wielded in Texas.
Elon Musk’s team of Texas lobbyists during the 2025 legislative session did not rival those of huge energy and telecommunications companies, which typically employ dozens of people to represent them. But Musk and his companies still hired more lobbyists this year than any other since 2021, according to data from the Texas Ethics Commission.
Musk, the billionaire businessman behind carmaker Tesla and aerospace company SpaceX, influenced several new Texas laws this year. How his lobbyists came about these wins, however, is more of a mystery.
His lobbyists, who represented Tesla, SpaceX and the social media giant X Corp., spent tens of thousands of dollars on things like gifts and meals for Texas elected officials and others during the session, according to an analysis of state ethics data. In most cases, Texas transparency laws do not require lobbyists to disclose which politicians they wined and dined or on behalf of which clients.
The Texas Newsroom reached out to all 12 of Musk’s lobbyists registered with the state this session. Only one, Carrie Simmons, a lobbyist who counts Tesla among her clients, responded, but she declined to be interviewed. She said only Musk’s companies could comment on their work this session.
Emails sent to Musk’s companies and to Musk himself were not returned.
The Texas Newsroom was able to find hints of some of their actions in records obtained from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and state Sen. Adam Hinojosa. Other documents detailing their deeper connections are hidden from disclosure by state laws.
Ethics experts said the responsibility to improve transparency lies with Texas lawmakers. State law provides a “base level of transparency” for the public on who lobbyists are and who they represent, said Andrew Cates, a former lobbyist who wrote a guide on state ethics rules.
“Beyond that, the Legislature simply has not prioritized enough transparency in how the dollars are actually being spent on legislators on a regular basis. But that’s not the lobby’s fault, it’s the Legislature’s,” Cates said.
Tom Forbes, president of the Professional Advocacy Association of Texas, a statewide lobbyist organization, said while lobbyists sometimes get a bad rap, they play a critical role for lawmakers trying to make decisions on complex policies. He told The Texas Newsroom that his group is “agnostic” about making reporting requirements more stringent but will follow any changes the state implements.
“Our association is going to comply with whatever law the Legislature passes,” Forbes said.
Who did Musk hire and who did they lobby?Eight of Musk’s lobbyists worked for SpaceX, according to filings with the Ethics Commission. Tesla had four, one of whom also worked for X.
Musk’s lobbyists include former advisers and staffers for Gov. Greg Abbott, among them Mike Toomey and Reed Clay. Another lobbyist, Will McAdams, once sat on the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which regulates the state’s electric, telecommunications, and water and sewer utilities.
All but one lobbyist had other clients for whom they were also working, making it more difficult to track exactly how much spending went to further Musk’s agenda. Benjamin Lancaster, a former legislative staffer, was only on SpaceX’s payroll.
Lobbyists are not required to report their exact salaries, only a pay range. According to Ethics Commission data, Musk pledged to pay somewhere between about $400,000 to nearly $1 million in total to his lobbyists for their work this year. Half of them could rake in more than $110,000 each working for Musk’s companies.
Each month, lobbyists report their total spending. But state rules don’t require them to disclose who was on the receiving end unless the lobbyist shelled out more than $132.60 on one person in a single day. This includes food and beverages, transportation, lodging or entertainment. Taxes and tips are not counted. The disclosure threshold for gifts is $110.
Lobbyists also don’t need to disclose exactly who attended events to which all legislators were invited, like catered lunches for the entire Texas House of Representatives or happy hours hosted off-site.
In practice, these rules mean a lobbyist could buy the same elected official a steak dinner every night. As long as the daily cost stays under that amount, they don’t need to say who got the free meal.
Musk’s lobbyists spent more than $46,000 on food and drink alone for elected officials and their staff, family and guests this year, according to state ethics records. None of them detailed which elected officials may have been on the receiving end, implying all of their spending remained beneath the daily threshold.
Jim Clancy, the former chair of the Ethics Commission, said it’s common for multiple lobbyists to divide a single bill in order to stay below the reporting threshold.
“They have 15 different credit cards in the deal to make sure that it’s all below the limit,” Clancy told The Texas Newsroom. “The Legislature has to change it. And if they did, they wouldn’t get to eat for free.”
A slate of ethics bills, including several to require transparency into who funds mass text messages for political campaigns, failed to become law this year, according to The Texas Tribune. Meanwhile, legislators approved a new law that will reduce the fine for former lawmakers who engage in illegal lobbying activity.
What do other records show?While lobbyists are not required to disclose which bills they discuss in private meetings with officials and their staff, they must note their position if they choose to testify on a piece of legislation. This is how The Texas Newsroom identified the 13 bills on which Musk’s lobbyists took a public stance.
The Texas Newsroom was able to glean some additional insight on lobbyist influence from records received through public information requests.
Calendars for Hinojosa, a newly elected South Texas Republican who authored multiple bills that would benefit SpaceX and other aerospace companies, showed he or his staff had meetings scheduled with lobbyists or representatives from Musk’s rocket company at least three times in two months. Emails showed Patrick penned a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration supporting SpaceX’s ability to increase the number of launches at its South Texas rocket site.
Patrick was also invited to take a tour of the Tesla Gigafactory outside Austin, these records showed, but it’s unclear if he went.
Neither Hinojosa nor Patrick responded to requests for an interview.
The Texas Senate declined to release other documents that could have shed light on how Musk’s companies interacted with elected officials. In denying their release, Senate Secretary Patsy Spaw said communications between state lawmakers and Texas residents are “confidential by law.”
The reason, she said, is “to ensure the right of citizens of the state to petition their state government without fear of harassment, retaliation or public ridicule.”
This could include emails with lobbyists.
Lauren McGaughy is a journalist with The Texas Newsroom, a collaboration among NPR and the public radio stations in Texas. She is based at KUT in Austin. Reach her at [email protected]. Sign up for KUT newsletters.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ndrosen) wrote2025-07-03 03:24 amburnhername) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
su_herald2025-07-03 12:36 am~~The Pack~~
apod_feed) wrote2025-07-03 05:41 am
Does the Milky Way always rise between these two rocks?
schoollibraryjournal_feed) wrote2025-07-03 04:00 am
If 2025 on this site is to be remembered for anything, it may be for the fact that I’ve had more interesting and new publisher previews here than ever before. A veritable plethora of them! I like it. I like giving the little guys some of the attention. After all, I was just at the American Library Association Conference where the big fellas take out whole enormous rooms for their cocktail parties and mixers. Shouldn’t a smaller company like the Creative Company get a bit of the spotlight as well? I should think so.
Today we’ll look at what they have coming out in the latter part of the year. It’s not a huge list, but by gum it’s an interesting one.
A Sense of Red by Kate Riggs, ill. Eleonora Pace
ISBN: 9781568464152
Publication Date: August 12, 2025
This illustrated board book was described as different enough from the other titles coming out of the “board book fire hose”. Why? Well, for one thing, this is a double concept book covering a single color as well as the five senses. It’s origins? Turns out, Pace is Italian. They called it, “lightly literary”, and the artist is a dog person (a fact that you may pick up on as you noticed how she managed to work more than a few into the book).
Nosy! by Seymour Chwast
ISBN: 9781568464091
Publication Date: August 12, 2025
“An ode to the node.” If you know anything about design then you know the name “Seymour Chwast”. Now in his 80s, the man is still doing original work. For example, until this moment he’d never published a book on a first run in a board book format. Inside the book itself, you’ll find that it’s all about all things nose, both human and animal. It’s also printed in an almost perversely appealing shape. I mean, you get to use the nose to turn the pages! How cool is that?
Baby, Let’s Go to the Orchestra! by Janna Matthies, ill. Monique Felix
ISBN: 9781568463858
Publication Date: August 12, 2025
Where do people get the ideas for their books? Well, it probably doesn’t hurt that Janna Matthies actually works with a symphony orchestra in Ohio. Her passion is getting kids to hear live orchestral music. In this very simple book, the whole thing works as an introduction to what you would encounter as hear the orchestra. The book has a rhyming text and offers a little preview of the different instruments, invoking a sense of them. Consider this an invitation to hear and play this type of music and engage in something that can (let’s face it) feel a little intimidating.
Marie Curie in the Land of Science by Irene Cohen-Janca, ill. Claudia Palmarucci
ISBN: 9781568464008
Publication Date: August 12, 2025
An informational biography is a bit unique for Creative Editions. Still and all, this particular book was the Bologna Prize winner from a couple of years ago. Written for ages 9 and up, it’s the story of Marie Curie’s life in a mere 56 pages. It presents to you the story of how Marie grew up in Poland and came to Paris. Then we learn how she got into science, met her husband, and became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize and the first PERSON to win a second Nobel Prize. The book even shows her during WWI, performing triage on the injured. All told the book is a big, hefty presentation, but its price is low. Best of all? They added backmatter to the original edition! Good for them!
The Land of Faraway by Beth Kephart, ill. Olga Dugina
ISBN: 9781568464190
Publication Date: August 12, 2025
This is classic Creative Editions, complete with drop dead gorgeous illustrations. In fact, this book actually began with its illustrations. Olga, the illustrator, was a big fan of Italian fairy tales as a child. She grew up in a house with several volumes of them, and so it shouldn’t be surprising that she created this wildly romantic book inspired by that look and feel. In a slightly backwards way, Beth then wrote an English text for it. She turned it into a kind of dream-your-own-fairytale by asking a series of questions inspired by the art itself. How could you use this? Well, it could be ideal for a writing group because it’s so dreamy and lush. Still, I think of it more as a writing prompt picture book, much like The Mysteries of Harris Burdick! A full imagination at work.
Baby Pterosaur by Julie Abery, ill. Gavin Scott
ISBN: 9798889880356
Publication Date: August 12, 2025
Now we’re going to shift gears and look at some of the Amicus titles. I’ve actually covered a fair number of these cute little dinosaur board books. Why? Because they’re shockingly good. It has something to do with their good readaloud texts and whimsome little critters. The stories themselves are so simple but I appreciate how the characters always get into the mildest of jeopardy. They’re cozy, or, as I was told, they are, “The mac and cheese of the board book universe.” We’re just showing Baby Pterosaur here, but also keep an eye peeled for Baby Spinosaurus.
Winter Is the Worst! by Dan Tavis
ISBN: 9798889880165
Publication Date: October 7, 2025
Finally, we’re going to close up today with a little penguin that hates winter. Grumpy to his frozen little core, this penguin proceeds to tell us all about why he hates this season so much, including having to bundle up to the point of immobility, slipping on ice, snowballs, all that. He’s highly resistant… but he does very much like climbing up hills and going down on his sled. There’s a vertical panel of him doing this very thing.
And that’s it! Special thanks to Anna Erickson, Ali Bryniarski, and the whole team for letting me know about their books.
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-02 11:51 pmysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-07-02 10:48 pm
fuzzyred, you can now read the rest of "In the Heart of the Hidden Garden." Lawrence gives Stan a tour of two more buildings and two more gardens -- and then explains why.languagelog_feed) wrote2025-07-03 01:49 amWhen I was a wee lad and went to bible school each week, I had a hard time comprehending just whom were all of those epistles in the New Testament addressed to. Of course, there are many other books in the New Testament, a total of 27, but the ones that intrigued me most were the 9 Pauline letters to Christian churches that we refer to as "epistles". I was most captivated by these 9 books and I wanted to know what kind of people they were, what their communities were like, what their ethnicities were, and, above all, even way back then, what languages they spoke.
These communities were called:
Romans
Corinthians — Paul wrote two epistles to them
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
Thessalonians — Paul also wrote two epistles to them
I knew who the Romans were, and what language they spoke, so no problem there. Moreover, I was aware from a sense of architectural history that a Corinthian capital column was a Greek creation. Several of the others had a Greek ring to them as well. But the one that attracted my attention above all the others was the letter to the Galatians, who were located in a region of Anatolia known as Galatia. Somehow Galatians didn't seem to fit the Mediterranean paradigm that I suspected for the other communities.
Only much later did I learn that the Galatians were a type of Gauls, i.e., Celts, who had migrated from what is now France to what is now Türkiye. What, pray tell, would have driven them there so far from the north to the south, when most population movements during the Holocene Epoch (last ten thousand years) generally were from south to north?
The Gauls and their confrères were outstanding miners. They mined a variety of minerals, including gold, iron, and tin. The latter was important in its own right, but also for alloying with copper to produce bronze, the metallurgy of which the Celts were renowned for. Above all, however, the Celts / Gauls were masters of saltmining, which is reflected in these toponyms: Hallstatt, Hallein, Halle, G(h)alich.
Even today, though, when I think of Celts, a bucolic picture of shepherds with their flocks comes to mind, and it's not difficult to imagine that, just as the Celts went wandering in search of metal sources, so they were ever in quest of better pastures for their sheep.
It is no wonder that, being the skillful shepherds that they were, the Celts would become the premier wool weavers we know them to be. It just so happens that one of the textile types they perfected was diagonal twill. If you add some colored thread into the warp and the weft in a repeated pattern, you get plaid, beloved of the Gaelic Scots still to this day. It is not an accident that the earliest and best preserved plaids in the world are found in the salt mines of the Celtic areas of Europe, as well as in the bogs of northern Europe, whose tannin preserves organic materials, including plaids and other woolen textiles (not to mention human bodies!). The only other place on earth I know of for the early conservation of woolen textiles, including very early plaids from the same period as those in the northern European bogs and Celtic salt mines of north central Europe, is the Tarim Basin, especially Qizilchoqa (near Qumul [Hami]) and Zaghunluq (near Chärchän [Qiemo]). both of which have highly saline soils and exquisite Bronze Age woolen textiles, including plaids. I have tasted the deposits exposed in a tunnel 400 meters down at Hallstatt and from the tableland where Ur-David (Chärchän Man) was discovered. You can use them as table salt to flavor your food.
The Celts / Gauls certainly had a wanderlust, and that would explain what brought them to Anatolia — and other far-flung places.
Selected readings
[Thanks to Elizabeth J. W. Barber, J. P. Mallory, and Douglas Q. Adams]
chase_acow) wrote2025-07-02 08:07 pm
malymin) wrote2025-07-02 08:43 pm
So, when you do a search for walkthroughs or information about... anything in the Sims 4, the results are often useless. They simply restate obvious information that the game already tells you itself, without providing any deeper insight or knowledge. Even many sims fansites are little better than clickbait farms in 2023. Carl, the most trustworthy source of in-depth sims resources, hasn't updated his website since Cottage Living came out. Having grown up in the era of ridiculously precise GameFAQ guides, I'm frustrated.
So, here's information laid out for the grafting "recipes" in the sims 4's base game.
Keep in mind the following information for all "recipes":
Grafted plants produce harvestables at the rate of the base plant, not the plant that came from a cutting. They will also start at the quality of the base plant and grow in the season of the base plant.
It is important to note that rares and uncommons now have a small chance of spawning when you've done the correct grafting combo. This is currently an intended design and not a bug. For any given harvestable you have a 500 weight for common, 100 for uncommon, and 1 for rare. This means 1 out of every 600 harvestables will be a rare.
| Species | Rarity | Growth Rate | Seasonality | Vertical Garden Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sage | Common | 24h | All Seasons | Yes |
| Basil | Common | 24h | Summer, Fall | Yes |
| Parsley | Common | 24h | Spring, Summer | Yes |
| Species | Rarity | Growth Rate | Seasonality | Vertical Garden Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lemon | Common | 60h | All Seasons | No |
| Pear | Uncommon | 60h | Fall, Winter | No |
| Plantain | Common | 72h | Summer | No |
| Species | Rarity | Growth Rate | Seasonality | Vertical Garden Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chrysanthemum | Common | 36h | Summer, Fall | Yes |
| Tulip | Uncommon | 36h | Spring | No |
| Bird of Paradise | Rare | 24h | Spring, Summer | Yes |
Notes: Bird of Paradise plants have a better growth rate attribute than either "parent" plant.
| Species | Rarity | Growth Rate | Seasonality | Vertical Garden Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daisy | Uncommon | 24h | Spring | Yes |
| Strawberry | Uncommon | 24h | Spring | Yes |
| Bonsai Buds | Rare | 24h | All Seasons | No |
| Species | Rarity | Growth Rate | Seasonality | Vertical Garden Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluebells | Common | 36h | Spring, Summer | Yes |
| Strawberry | Uncommon | 24h | Spring | Yes |
| Grapes | Common | 48h | Fall | Yes |
Tip: Plant one of the grapes produced by your spliced plant, as you need a Grape bush for a subsequent splice.
| Species | Rarity | Growth Rate | Seasonality | Vertical Garden Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rose | Uncommon | 48h | Spring, Fall | Yes |
| Grapes | Common | 48h | Fall | Yes |
| Bonsai Buds | Rare | 24h | All Seasons | No |
| Species | Rarity | Growth Rate | Seasonality | Vertical Garden Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snapdragon | Common | 36h | Spring, Fall | No |
| Strawberry | Uncommon | 24h | Spring | Yes |
| Dragonfruit | Rare | 96h | Fall | No |
| Species | Rarity | Growth Rate | Seasonality | Vertical Garden Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snapdragon | Common | 36h | Spring, Fall | No |
| Dragonfruit | Rare | 96h | Fall | No |
| Cow Berry | Rare | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Species | Rarity | Growth Rate | Seasonality | Vertical Garden Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snapdragon | Common | 36h | Spring, Fall | No |
| Lily | Uncommon | 36h | Summer | No |
| Orchid | Rare | 36h | Winter, Spring | No |
Tip: Plant the first orchid produced by your spliced flowers, as you need an Orchid plant for a subsequent splice.
| Species | Rarity | Growth Rate | Seasonality | Vertical Garden Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | Common | 36h | Fall | No |
| Cherry | Uncommon | 60h | Summer | No |
| Pomegranate | Rare | 72h | Winter | No |
Tip: Plant the first pomegranate produced by your spliced tree, as you need a Pomegranate tree for a subsequent splice.
| Species | Rarity | Growth Rate | Seasonality | Vertical Garden Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orchid | Rare | 36h | Winter, Spring | No |
| Pomegranate | Rare | 72h | Winter | No |
| Death Flower | Rare | 48h | Winter | No |
sovay) wrote2025-07-02 04:55 pmrushthatspeaks for the former. I must say that I am missing my extinct music blogs much less now that I spend so much time in the car with college radio on.mrissa) wrote2025-07-02 04:41 pmMy friend J.R. Dawson is launching their second book, The Lighthouse at the End of the World, and I get to be part of the festivities! We'll be at Moon Palace Books at 6:00 p.m. on July 29, having a lovely conversation about this book and the previous book and other stories and life in general, and you can come join in the fun!
