NEW: College football is great for boosting a school's student body, right?

Wrong, says a comprehensive new study.

It looked at enrollment trends of 36 schools that added football since 2002. My latest for Sportico:

sportico.com/leagues/colleg…

When WAMU laid off 16 people and closed DCist, the reasoning given was “content strategy word salad,' per one staffer.

Andrew Beaujon cuts through the jargon and nonsense with a deeply reported, excellent look at what actually happened: washingtonian.com/2024/04/19/why…

public radio legend Diane Rehm tried to ask WAMU leadership about the shuttering of DCist and their confusing, inconsistent messaging around it. They muted her microphone during an all staff call and then, when asked about it, pretended not to know what the reporter was talking

newt gingrich pretty concisely describing his legacy

The Chinese Embassy reportedly lobbying congressional staff against legislation to force ByeDance to sell TikTok is especially interesting since China's embassy currently has no foreign agents registered under FARA... and the diplomatic exemption is limited to official functions.

The central bank in a tiny African country tried to block a suspicious banking venture. Then the king’s allies intervened. icij.org/investigations… via ICIJ

NEW: Truth Social Hosted Party At Trump’s Mar-A-Lago

While Trump Media & Technology Group’s share price tanks, the fledgling company celebrated itself.

me, for Forbes

forbes.com/sites/zachever…

Imagine going to jail for Trump not once, but TWICE.

Allen Weisselberg, the longtime CFO for the former president's company, was taken into custody after pleading guilty to perjury, admitting that he lied under oath during Trump’s civil fraud trial. motherjones.com/politics/2024/…

'Les Wexner’s Second Life: How The Epstein-Tarnished Billionaire Is Quietly Reshaping Ohio'

by Jemima McEvoy for Forbes

forbes.com/sites/jemimamc…

Trump has claimed that Justice Engoron plucked the +$450M civil fraud judgment number 'out of THIN AIR,” but that's not true.

Unpacking where it came from is key to understanding the faultlines of the appeal.

ICYMI, @Just_Security justsecurity.org/94229/trumps-g…

Trump’s Truth Social scam disintegrating, ‘spending much more than it is earning: it lost an estimated $58 million in 2023. A big portion of that loss—$40 million—came from interest expenses, but it also lost about $14 million in business expenses,’ russchoma says Mother Jones

Trump just got a rude awakening. Truth Social is spending much more than it is earning: It lost an estimated $58 million in 2023. motherjones.com/politics/2024/…

Evan was just doing his job as a reporter.
#JournalismIsNotACrime #IStandWithEvan

It's a crucial day for Trump lawsuits—and so far, it doesn't look like anyone's willing to post that $464 million bond for him. Could Letitia James start seizing his properties?

russchoma has the lowdown on Trump's various financial headaches: motherjones.com/politics/2024/…

BREAKING: The biggest institutional investor in the SPAC that’s merging with Truth Social is Susquehanna International Group LLP, which was co-founded by GOP megadonor Jeffrey Yass.

The deal is poised to give Donald Trump a massive financial lifeline.

NEW: Why Trump can’t pledge his Truth Social shares even after it goes public

(What good is $2.9 billion when you can’t use it to post bond?)

me, for Forbes

forbes.com/sites/zachever…

Truth Social going public is good for Trump, but might not help him with his immediate cash problems or even make him that rich - case in point: at open his stake was worth $3.5b, at close $2.9b.

Also worth reading because the SPAC is ending which means the deck on this story is Jeremy Schulman swan song of rhyming DWAC gag. And he’s going out with a bang… or crack?