Ruby Dowling
@rubydowling.bsky.social
Northwestern University Medill School ‘28. I write for The Daily Northwestern, edit for the San Francisco Classical Voice and formerly interned for The Los Altos Town Crier. On twitter as @rubywright0. All my work at bit.ly/rubyd
An interesting statistic: according to the city, only 44% of shoppers at the eight Evanston-based grocery stories are city residents. So with a municipal 1% grocery tax, a little more than half of the tax revenue (again, $2.5
million) is coming from non-residents
million) is coming from non-residents
September 30, 2025 at 5:52 PM
An interesting statistic: according to the city, only 44% of shoppers at the eight Evanston-based grocery stories are city residents. So with a municipal 1% grocery tax, a little more than half of the tax revenue (again, $2.5
million) is coming from non-residents
million) is coming from non-residents
While some critics call the grocery tax regressive — it disproportionately affects low-income residents — councilmembers call it a favorable option compared to the alternate proposal: raising property taxes in Evanston.
September 30, 2025 at 5:52 PM
While some critics call the grocery tax regressive — it disproportionately affects low-income residents — councilmembers call it a favorable option compared to the alternate proposal: raising property taxes in Evanston.
3. One of the less obvious ethical questions here is whether the Sun-Times should have made it clearer that this was third-party content. Especially when subscribers are paying, do they have a right to know when content is a product of partnership? This one we left on an uncertain note.
4/4
4/4
May 21, 2025 at 10:57 PM
3. One of the less obvious ethical questions here is whether the Sun-Times should have made it clearer that this was third-party content. Especially when subscribers are paying, do they have a right to know when content is a product of partnership? This one we left on an uncertain note.
4/4
4/4
2. Robust editing procedures should never take a backseat. It's possible that King Features and Sun-Times could have published decent-quality AI-generated book recommendations if someone had at some point taken a closer look at what ChatGPT wrote. This should have been the standard.
3/4
3/4
May 21, 2025 at 10:57 PM
2. Robust editing procedures should never take a backseat. It's possible that King Features and Sun-Times could have published decent-quality AI-generated book recommendations if someone had at some point taken a closer look at what ChatGPT wrote. This should have been the standard.
3/4
3/4
1. Publishing low-quality content for *paying* subscribers damages trust, regardless of any use of AI. The Sun-Times knows this; that's why the first item in their list of steps they're taking is that they won't be charging for the edition. Readership is more than content consumption.
2/4
2/4
May 21, 2025 at 10:57 PM
1. Publishing low-quality content for *paying* subscribers damages trust, regardless of any use of AI. The Sun-Times knows this; that's why the first item in their list of steps they're taking is that they won't be charging for the edition. Readership is more than content consumption.
2/4
2/4
AI “slop” is the new “spam.” But instead of just littering our inboxes, in cases like this we see it has the potential to threaten our democracy. Preserve the integrity of the press! (or just, yk, maintain a better editing process)
May 20, 2025 at 11:19 PM
AI “slop” is the new “spam.” But instead of just littering our inboxes, in cases like this we see it has the potential to threaten our democracy. Preserve the integrity of the press! (or just, yk, maintain a better editing process)