Announcing Public

You probably just received an unexpected email from the journalist Michael Shellenberger, with a big new story by the two of us on Biden’s imminent decision on whether to legalize supervised drug consumption sites.

Michael and I have been collaborating closely for some time now, both in our reporting and on his run for California Governor.

We’re a great team — much stronger together than the sum of our parts. So we decided to make that team permanent, with the launch of a new publication, called Public.

If you’re a paid subscriber to Social Studies, you’re now a paid subscriber to Public. If you’re a free sign-up for Social Studies, you’re now the same for Public.

We couldn’t be more excited to launch this new outlet. It’s our reporting together that contributed greatly to the closing of the illegal and disastrous supervised consumption site in San Francisco, as well as Governor Gavin Newsom’s veto of a bill to begin to legalize those sites statewide in California. We’re going to continue to report on drugs, crime and homelessness at Public, as well as energy policy and other topics we have expertise or deep interest in.

I hope you’ll enjoy and appreciate Public even more than you have Social Studies. Of course, Social Studies will remain online so anyone can read my past writing here. But my future publishing will be over at Public.

Thanks for following my work, and happy New Year!