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The neighborhood I live in is called Woodbridge, so naturally there has to be a wooden bridge that spans our little artificial lake. It’s a fine looking bridge during the day, but I’ve never taken a picture of it at night—until now. This shot makes it look a lot more ominous than it really is, but it’s what the camera captured. I didn’t do any color fiddling in Photoshop. I took this photo about an hour after sunset, and to the naked carbon-based eye, there was only the slightest tinge of orange in a dark sky. But with a 4-second exposure, the silicon eye makes it look like Costa Mesa was going up in flames a few miles away. No worries, though: Costa Mesa was fine.

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Owned by no one—except you.

We just keep seeing it happen: Newsrooms owned by billionaires and corporations are spinning their own narratives, overwriting the truth, following only stories that keep them in the pocket of those with even more power.

Not here. We’re not owned by anyone. We’re not part of any cult that demands our allegiance to a bottom line. We’ve spoken up and spoken out while other newsrooms changed their stories—or cut them altogether—to keep the C suite happy.

Our mission is to find the truth and amplify it. That’s why we’re independent, nonprofit, and, crucially, funded by readers. The investigations on our website will always be free to read, watch, and listen to, but our newsroom is powered by readers who pitch in what they can so we can keep asking the hard questions.

Can you chip in today?

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