Laurie Hertzel
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lhertzel.bsky.social
Laurie Hertzel
@lhertzel.bsky.social
Book reader, book critic, author "News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist." Next memoir, "Ghosts of Fourth Street," pubs in 2026. I review for StarTribune, Washington Post, Boston Globe, LATimes and elsewhere. Teach in MFA program at UGA-Athens.
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
BREAKING: Twenty-four survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes have issued an emotional and urgent appeal to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, demanding that Congress vote to release the long-awaited Epstein files. meidasnews.com/news/survivo...
meidasnews.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:39 PM
I just stopped by to point out. That 15 is not barely legal. It is definitely not legal and not even close. #megynkelly
November 14, 2025 at 5:35 PM
I so love these gorgeous picture books. Yours definitely among them.
"Leaf Town Forever celebrates community in a most beautiful way."

hanks to @lhertzel.bsky.social for this lovely review of Leaf Town Forever by @bethrooney.bsky.social & me & illustrated by Betsy Bowen in the @startribune.com!

www.startribune.com/art-coulson-...
www.startribune.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:06 AM
I loved working with you and I know that Chris Hewitt did too. It is a really hard time for both reviewing. Wishing you the very best.
I’ve written monthly for the Star Trib since 2020, when then editor @lhertzel.bsky.social took a chance on me. The Strib has now stopped assigning freelance reviews so this piece on Joy Williams’ PELICAN CHILD is my final review for them. Here’s to the next gig, which hopefully exists.
www.startribune.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:05 AM
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November 12, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
“Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter.”

The sound you hear is women everywhere primal screaming.
Jeffrey Epstein advised Steve Bannon that the lawyers representing Brett Kavanaugh in his confirmation hearing should accuse Christine Blasey Ford of being on medications that cause false memories or memory loss.
November 12, 2025 at 11:42 PM
St. Paul got ‘em too
November 12, 2025 at 3:23 AM
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
A county in Kansas agreed to pay more than $3 million and apologize for a 2023 raid on local newspaper that raised press freedom concerns and turned the small town of Marion, Kansas, into a battleground over the First Amendment.
Kansas County Agrees to Pay $3 Million Over Police Raid of Newspaper
The search of The Marion County Record’s office in 2023 touched off a national conversation about press freedom.
nyti.ms
November 12, 2025 at 3:20 AM
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
Breaking: Marion County agrees to pay out $3M for newspaper raid, express regret kansasreflector.com/2025/11/11/m...
Marion County agrees to pay out $3M for newspaper raid, express regret • Kansas Reflector
A handful of county-level officials who were involved in a small-town Kansas newspaper raid in 2023 will pay a cumulative $3 million to three journalists and a city councilor.
kansasreflector.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:25 PM
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Federal agents in Chicago's Little Village blasted a 1-year-old girl with pepper spray, leaving her gasping for air in horrifying video footage. #PoliceBrutality
November 10, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Those of you who are furious and disappointed at the Democrats, tell me honestly how you think this would have ended had those 8 not caved?
November 10, 2025 at 6:39 PM
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NEW: A Fort Worth church is offering a $100 online academy that aims to train conservative Christians to run for office.

At the core of the program is the idea that there's no separation between what happens within the church and in the government.

w/ @fortworthreport.bsky.social @texastribune.org
“No Separation Between Church and State”: Inside a Texas Church’s Training Academy for Christians Running for Office
A Fort Worth church’s candidate training program is the “next stage” of a religion-driven political movement, which has more latitude now that the IRS has allowed religious leaders to endorse candidat...
www.propublica.org
November 10, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
Judge Mark L. Wolf, writing in The Atlantic, said he was stepping down to speak out against the “assault on the rule of law” by Trump, whom he accused of “targeting his adversaries.”
Federal Judge, Warning of ‘Existential Threat’ to Democracy, Resigns
www.nytimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
A baby girl was pepper-sprayed in the face by Department of Homeland Security agents as her parents drove her home from a weekend family shopping trip.
Baby Pepper-Sprayed by DHS Thugs During Family Grocery Trip
Parents say an agent fired an irritant from a moving car.
trib.al
November 10, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Hey! @coryoldweiler.bsky.social and me, together again, in the pages of @bostonglobe.com globe!
November 9, 2025 at 12:21 PM
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Greg Bovino is evil incarnate.
November 9, 2025 at 2:55 AM
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$40B of your money to this guy, so he can dance at CPAC at Mar-a-Lago while Americans wait for their paychecks, hoping the money actually comes.
November 9, 2025 at 1:11 AM
I interrupt this wonderful election news to announce a new novel by the great Stewart O'Nan. What a chameleon he is--he can write about anything, with empathy and understanding. Here's my review of "Evensong," for the @bostonglobe.com @groveatlantic.bsky.social www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/04/a...
Stewart O’Nan’s ‘Evensong’ is a little miracle of a novel - The Boston Globe
How does Stewart O’Nan understand so deeply what it feels like to be an elderly woman?
www.bostonglobe.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
BREAKING: Colorado voters approved a ballot measure that would raise state income taxes on higher-earning households to fund free meals for all public school students.

Follow AP for live updates.
Live updates: US voters head to the polls in first general election since Trump's return to power
One year after Donald Trump retook the presidency, 2025 Election Day includes closely watched races for New York City mayor, New Jersey governor and California's Proposition 50.
bit.ly
November 5, 2025 at 3:33 AM
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Normal People Don’t Want This Shit is running away with the vote tonight
November 5, 2025 at 2:09 AM
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The Speaker of the House is getting paid not to work while the NTSB team heading to the crash site in Kentucky is not.

Mike Johnson needs to call the House back in session or get his ass down there and shift some wreckage.

He needs to experience what dedicated federal employees do for a living.
November 5, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Let them eat cake.
November 1, 2025 at 3:57 PM
How many people in #MikeJohnson's district rely on government aid for food and heat? How many will be cut off of SNAP come Nov. 1?
October 30, 2025 at 3:36 PM
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I know someone else that used to live in Chanhassen that loved this time of year
October 21, 2025 at 2:18 PM
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This is wrong, immoral, unscientific, and an abuse of power, among other things. Lotta talk about what Democrats should run on. How about impeaching RFK Jr.?

Texas Sues Tylenol Makers, Claiming They Hid Autism Risks www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/h...
Texas Sues Tylenol Makers, Claiming They Hid Autism Risks
www.nytimes.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:43 PM