Internet Archive’s legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost; Ars Technica, November 3, 2025

  ASHLEY BELANGER , Ars Technica; Internet Archive’s legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost

"This month, the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine archived its trillionth webpage, and the nonprofit invited its more than 1,200 library partners and 800,000 daily users to join a celebration of the moment. To honor “three decades of safeguarding the world’s online heritage,” the city of San Francisco declared October 22 to be “Internet Archive Day.” The Archive was also recently designated a federal depository library by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), who proclaimed the organization a “perfect fit” to expand “access to federal government publications amid an increasingly digital landscape.”

The Internet Archive might sound like a thriving organization, but it only recently emerged from years of bruising copyright battles that threatened to bankrupt the beloved library project. In the end, the fight led to more than 500,000 books being removed from the Archive’s “Open Library.”

“We survived,” Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle told Ars. “But it wiped out the Library.”

An Internet Archive spokesperson confirmed to Ars that the archive currently faces no major lawsuits and no active threats to its collections. Kahle thinks “the world became stupider” when the Open Library was gutted—but he’s moving forward with new ideas."

In Grok we don’t trust: academics assess Elon Musk’s AI-powered encyclopedia; The Guardian, November 3, 2025

Robert Booth, The Guardian ; In Grok we don’t trust: academics assess Elon Musk’s AI-powered encyclopedia

"The eminent British historian Sir Richard Evans produced three expert witness reports for the libel trial involving the Holocaust denier David Irving, studied for a doctorate under the supervision of Theodore Zeldin, succeeded David Cannadine as Regius professor of history at Cambridge (a post endowed by Henry VIII) and supervised theses on Bismarck’s social policy.

That was some of what you could learn from Grokipedia, the AI-powered encyclopedia launched last week by the world’s richest person, Elon Musk. The problem was, as Prof Evans discovered when he logged on to check his own entry, all these facts were false.

It was part of a choppy start for humanity’s latest attempt to corral the sum of human knowledge or, as Musk put it, create a compendium of “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” – all revealed through the magic of his Grok artificial intelligence model."

Elon Musk launches encyclopedia ‘fact-checked’ by AI and aligning with rightwing views; The Guardian, October 28, 2025

Chris Michael, The Guardian ; Elon Musk launches encyclopedia ‘fact-checked’ by AI and aligning with rightwing views

"Elon Musk has launched an online encyclopedia named Grokipedia that he said relied on artificial intelligence and would align more with his rightwing views than Wikipedia, though many of its articles say they are based on Wikipedia itself.

Calling an AI encyclopedia “super important for civilization”, Musk had been planning the Wikipedia rival for at least a month. Grokipedia does not have human authors, unlike Wikipedia, which is written and edited by volunteers in a transparent process. Grokipedia said it is “fact-checked” by Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot.

Musk said the idea was suggested by the Trump administration’s AI and cryptocurrency czar, David Sacks.

Musk has frequently attacked Wikipedia for citing reporting by the New York Times and NPR, and regularly lambasts what he calls the “mainstream media” in an effort to encourage people to rely on X, formerly Twitter, the social media site he owns and which he has programmed to encourage the domination of conservative and far-right voices, including his own.

Grokipedia’s entries appear to hew closely to conservative talking points. For example, its entry for the January 6 insurrection on the Capitol cites “widespread claims of voting irregularities” – a lie pushed by Donald Trump and his allies to delegitimize Joe Biden’s victory in 2020 – and downplays Trump’s own role in inciting the riot."

He Stayed in Belarus for His Imprisoned Wife. Now He’s Locked Up, Too.; The New York Times, November 1, 2025

Valerie Hopkins , The New York Times; He Stayed in Belarus for His Imprisoned Wife. Now He’s Locked Up, Too.

[Kip Currier: 1st Amendment rights we currently have in the U.S. -- free press and freedom of expression -- are nonexistent in nations like Belarus, Russia, China, and many more autocratic states.

We must ensure those hard-won rights do not get disappeared here in America.

And we have a moral duty to speak out against oppression like the brave journalists in this story are suffering under in Belarus and other totalitarian places.]

[Excerpt]

"Belarus continues to lock up anyone who criticizes the government, even as the Trump administration rewards Mr. Lukashenko with improved relations."

N.C. GOP spokesman urges reporter to drop news story, citing Trump ties; The Washington Post, October 31, 2025

 Brianna Tucker, The Washington Post; N.C. GOP spokesman urges reporter to drop news story, citing Trump ties

[Kip Currier: Memo to Matt Mercer (North Carolina GOP spokesman) re Mob-like threats (“I would strongly suggest dropping this story,”) against ProPublica reporting on North Carolina Chief Justice Paul Newby:

Pssst...Read the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

American Civics 101: Freedom of the Press. 

Meaning: You don't get to dictate what free and independent presses can report on in America.]

[Excerpt]

"A spokesman for the North Carolina Republican Party appeared to threaten the news outlet ProPublica — citing “connections” to the Trump administration — over a story it reported and ultimately published on a prominent conservative state Supreme Court judge.

The story examined state Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby, his starkly conservative transformation of the court and power over the state’s politics. When Newby declined to be interviewed and the court’s communications and media team did not respond to questions, the reporter contacted his daughter, who also serves as the state GOP’s finance director.

Instead, the publication said it received a response from North Carolina GOP spokesman Matt Mercer, attempting to coerce ProPublica to kill the story.

“I’m sure you’re aware of our connections with the Trump Administration and I’m sure they would be interested in this matter,” Mercer said in an email that ProPublica published.

He added: “I would strongly suggest dropping this story,” underlining “strongly” and putting it in bold type.

After the story published, Mercer doubled down in a social media post, urging Trump to “feed ProPublica to the USAID wood chipper,” referring to the president’s termination of thousands in funding and grants from the foreign aid agency earlier this year.

While President Donald Trump and top administration officials have targeted media organizations for critical coverage of him or his policies,it is unusual for a state party official to explicitly leverage a relationship with the administration and express a willingness to retaliate toward news organizations.

It’s unclear if and how Trump would retaliate against ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that does not receive government funding and relies on private grants and donations."

Some of the earliest written notes in western musical history discovered in Pennsylvania; The Guardian, October 28, 2025

Richard Luscombe , The Guardian; Some of the earliest written notes in western musical history discovered in Pennsylvania

[Kip Currier: What an incredible discovery for not only musicologists but every human on the planet -- one of the earliest known examples of written notes in western musical history.

The article indicates that the document came to the attention of researchers through a private collector. This story underscores the importance of archivists, museum staffs, researchers, and others in cultivating professional, ethical relationships with private collectors and societies. 

It also highlights the importance of libraries, archives, and museums for preserving our collective historical artifacts. Hopefully, this musical notation artifact can one day be acquired by a cultural heritage institution, preserved, and made accessible for posterity.]

[Excerpt]

"Researchers in Pennsylvania have uncovered what they believe are some of the earliest written notes in western musical history – on a ninth-century manuscript they say remained “hidden in plain sight” for years in the hands of a private collector.

The notations – characters and dots similar to shorthand outlines – appear above the word “alleluia” on the document, a vellum manuscript leaf from a Latin sacramentary, a Catholic liturgical book used in western Europe during mass from the mid- to late 800s.

While earlier written forms of ancient musical notes exist, notably the Hymn to Nikkal, carved into clay tablets dated between 1400 and 1200BC, the sacramentary markings are among the first known depicting the birth of modern western music, according to the researchers.

They were discovered by historian and author Nathan Raab, president of the Raab Collection, during the evaluation of the document presented to him by the private owner. Raab believes the notations were previously overlooked or misunderstood, and he said he spent months researching their origin and significance.

“This is an incredibly early witness to our modern use of musical notations at its very dawn, and its discovery is a further reminder to us in the business of historical discovery that sometimes those discoveries are hiding in plain sight,” he said."

‘DeepSeek is humane. Doctors are more like machines’: my mother’s worrying reliance on AI for health advice; The Guardian, October 28, 2025

 Viola Zhou, The Guardian; ‘DeepSeek is humane. Doctors are more like machines’: my mother’s worrying reliance on AI for health advice

"Over the course of months, my mom became increasingly smitten with her new AI doctor. “DeepSeek is more humane,” my mother told me in May. “Doctors are more like machines.”"

Federal judge says Texas law requiring book ratings is unconstitutional; KUT News, October 22, 2025

 Bill Zeeble, KUT News; Federal judge says Texas law requiring book ratings is unconstitutional

"The 2023 Texas law requiring booksellers and publishers to rate their books based on sexual content and references has been declared unconstitutional in a Waco court.

A federal judge on Tuesday declared House Bill 900, also known as the READER Act, violates the Constitution. The ruling makes permanent a lower court's temporary injunction that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals later upheld.

The law firm Haynes Boone, which represented the coalition of plaintiffs that sued to block the law, said in a statement the ruling is a "major First Amendment victory."

"The READER Act would have imposed impossible obligations on booksellers and limited access to literature, including classic works, for students across Texas," attorney Laura Lee Prather said in the statement.

HB 900 sought to restrict which books are available in school libraries and required booksellers to rate their own books based on sexual content. The Texas Education Agency could have overridden the ratings to prevent school libraries from obtaining books."

‘Every kind of creative discipline is in danger’: Lincoln Lawyer author on the dangers of AI; The Guardian, October 20, 2025

Nadia Khomami  , The Guardian; ‘Every kind of creative discipline is in danger’: Lincoln Lawyer author on the dangers of AI

"The writer has his own battles with AI. He is part of a collective of authors, including Jonathan Franzen, Jodi Picoult and John Grisham, suing OpenAI for copyright infringement...

Connelly has pledged $1m (£746m) to combat the wave of book bans sweeping through his home state of Florida. He said he felt moved to do something after he learned that Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, which had been influential to him, was temporarily removed from classrooms in Palm Beach County.

“I had to read that book to be what I am today. I would have never written a Lincoln Lawyer without it,” he said. He was also struck when Stephen Chbosky’s coming of age novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, “which meant a lot to my daughter”, received a ban.

He and his wife, Linda McCaleb, help fund PEN America’s Miami office countering book bans. “It’s run by a lawyer who then tries to step in, usually by filing injunctions against school boards,” he said. “I don’t believe anyone has any right to tell some other kid they can’t read something, to usurp another parent’s oversight of their children.”"

How to Secure Your Phone for the No Kings Protest; Your Time Starts Now (Substack), October 15, 2025

LORI CORBET MANN, Your Time Starts Now (Substack); How to Secure Your Phone for the No Kings Protest

"This post is about using technology safely at a protest — how to protect yourself, and the people you organise with, from unnecessary risk.

It’s a longer read than I would have liked — I’ve learned that when I just post the steps, I’m flooded with questions asking why, so I’ve explained the reasoning too. But if you prefer to skip straight to the practical advice, you’ll find a downloadable checklist at the end.

Technology is everywhere: phones, tablets, headphones, smartwatches, fitness trackers. In everyday life that’s fine, but at a protest it can expose you and others to tracking and surveillance.

This guide explains how those devices broadcast information, how that data can be used to identify or locate you, and what you can do to reduce those risks. The aim isn’t to frighten you — it’s to help you make calm, informed choices about what you carry and how you use it."

Major media outlets, including Hegseth’s former employer Fox News, decline to sign new Pentagon reporting rules; Politico, October 14, 2025

CHEYANNE M. DANIELS , Politico; Major media outlets, including Hegseth’s former employer Fox News, decline to sign new Pentagon reporting rules

"Fox News, which previously employed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, joined most major news organizations on Tuesday in refusing to agree to new rules around reporting at the Pentagon.

The company signed a joint statement with ABC News, CBS News, CNN and NBC News saying the new requirements “would restrict journalists’ ability to keep the nation and the world informed of important national security issues.”

Two sides of book bans: PEN America and Moms for Liberty debate; USA TODAY, October 9, 2025

Anna Kaufman , USA TODAY; Two sides of book bans: PEN America and Moms for Liberty debate

"To hear PEN America and Moms For Liberty speak about the dangers of a society curtailing free speech, you may need to squint to see the differences.

Both organizations profess an unwavering commitment to liberty, but stand firmly on either side of a growing debate about book banning in America.

PEN America, a nonprofit aimed at bolstering the freedom to write and read, has emerged as an outspoken critic of removing reading materials from schools and libraries that have been deemed inappropriate, most often by advocacy groups, but also by individual parents. PEN has been tracking book bans since 2021 and filed lawsuits alongside families and publishers that challenge book restrictions in schools.

Moms For Liberty, a conservative collective, is among the leaders in the parental rights movement. Local chapters of the organization tackle issues across the educational landscape, guiding parents who want to raise concerns at their schools, and flexing their political might through endorsements, stamping President Donald Trump with their approval in 2024.

"Our mission at Moms for Liberty is to unify, educate and empower parents to defend their parental rights," Tina Descovich, one of the organization's founders, tells USA TODAY. "Parents have the fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their children, whether it be education or medical care …So they also have the right to monitor what their children are watching and reading."

They don't ban books, she says, that would require the government to bar a person from writing or selling the book. "I think many Americans have chosen to use that word to advance a political agenda instead of using the word correctly," she says.

PEN begs to differ. Kasey Meehan, director of the organization's Freedom to Read program, says, "Our guiding light has always been access." If a group of a few has the power to remove a book from a public space open to all, then that amounts to a ban, she argues.

Banned Books Week "is not about acknowledging bygone censorship, it's really about bringing awareness of censorship that’s happening today," she says. "We have seen pretty well coordinated campaigns that are put on school districts or that are driven by state legislatures or state governors to see certain types of books removed."

To put both sides of the debate in clear view, USA TODAY sent the same questions to both organizations. Here are their responses, unedited and in full."

Published Letter to the Editor: "Libraries support all of us; we should support them". October 9, 2025

I am sharing a copy of my library-themed 10/9/25 Letter to the Editor that was published in the print versions and the digital versions of the Oil City (PA) paper The Derrick and the Franklin (PA) Times-Union newspapers in Venango County, Pennsylvania. The two newspapers share the same Monday-Saturday content under their own banners for each city. I wrote my letter in response to a 9/26/25 Letter to the Editor written by a Cranberry (Township) resident (not to be confused with the Cranberry in Butler County); I've copied the writer's letter below, after mine. Note: The typo at the start of the newspapers' copy of my letter was the fault of the paper and was not in the letter I emailed to them.

 

I was pleased that the newspapers did not make any changes to the prose. However, they did alter my web links: rather than including the precise websites within, say, Pew Research or ALA, they only provided the homepage; this may be part of their editorial policy. I provided links to evidence/authoritative data to support my points and research and rebut the assertions of the letter writer.

They also omitted my PhD and JD degrees I'd included after my name in the version I sent to them.

Letters to the Editor at these newspapers are limited to no more than 350 words. My submission was 346 words.

The newspapers unfortunately have a digital paywall that precludes free access to even one newspaper item, but this is the digital link to my letter: https://www.thederrick.com/opinion/letter-libraries-support-all-of-us-we-should-support-them/article_8fe1adc8-1dd5-48bf-9ac7-711dfe14d7fe.html 

LETTER: Libraries support all of us; we should support them

October 9, 2025

 

Editor,

This is in response to the Sept. 26 letter to the editor titled “Tax proposal needs to ‘die’ with the library” by Betty M. Hepler.

The author could not be more wrong or misinformed about the state of American libraries and the value they contribute to our lives and communities: libraries are vital necessities and community anchors in towns and cities throughout this nation. See www.pewresearch.org.

1. Libraries provide information and resources that help to educate citizens at all levels of our communities — from blue collar to white collar workplaces and everything in between. See www.ala.org.

2. Research studies demonstrate that libraries economically benefit businesses that are located nearby. See www.imls.gov.

3. Research data also show that libraries are a good “return on investment” (ROI): for every dollar of support to a library, library users are able to save hundreds of dollars by checking out thousands of books, movies, video games, and more, at no charge. See https://slol.libguides.com.

4. Today’s libraries offer all kinds of life-enhancing activities and services — story time for kids, book discussion groups for teens and seniors, access to free WiFi and computers, and classes and webinars on topics like “where to find jobs,” “starting your own business” and “how to use AI chatbots.” See https://action.everylibrary.org.

5. Libraries have been a foundational part of human life and history for thousands of years. They are essential tools and places that can benefit our lives; enable us to think, learn, and grow from our yesterdays; and fuel our hopes and dreams for better todays and tomorrows.

Libraries continue to change and evolve to better suit and meet our needs, just as humans and societies must change, adapt and evolve in order to survive and thrive.

Each of us knows that we need to take good care of ourselves to live the best lives we can. Let’s take good care of the libraries that support and serve us too. See https://www.ala.org.

Long live the library!

— Kip Currier,

Emlenton

 

 

LETTER: Tax proposal needs to 'die' with the library

• Sep 26, 2025

 

Editor,

I am amazed that we are trying to keep alive a mostly dead memory — the library. We have been propping them up for decades.

The Encyclopedia salesman has lost his job; books are not being sold at the same rate as before, being available on tape or kindle now; libraries and bookstores have fallen to the side of the road.

Wake up! Most things have a time to shine but lose out to progress. Now we are trying to keep alive something that needs to admit its death.

The overburdened taxpayers of this country are having the blame and responsibility thrown on their shoulders.

On the front side, one may think it is a charge of $12.50. But my understanding is the cost is $12.50 per every $50,000 in assessment. All properties, for the most part, have seen a dramatic rise in their assessment; so this is a lot of money for something that is dead.

Let it die!

Turn it into a museum. No more taxes.

— Betty M. Hepler,

Cranberry

Star Columnist Fired by Bezos Says Billionaire Is Helping Trump Destroy Democracy; The Daily Beast, October 7, 2025

Tom Latchem , The Daily Beast ; Star Columnist Fired by Bezos Says Billionaire Is Helping Trump Destroy Democracy

"Karen Attiah, 39, told the Daily Beast that America under Trump is on an “authoritarian” slide, enabled by tech billionaires like her former boss Bezos, who are consolidating power over platforms and newsrooms...

“We’re regressing—back to a wealthy class shaping reality to fit what they want,” she said. “Instead, a handful of people [and] companies control what we see. That’s fundamentally anti-democratic. 

“It’s hard to separate Bezos from Musk, from CBS/TikTok. Globally, look at Jared Kushner’s firm with the Saudis buying into Electronic Arts. It’s using money and power to shape how people see the world—and they’re more naked about it.”

Noting that U.S. press-freedom rankings have fallen, and that journalists have been targeted and shot at during protests, she warned Americans to ignore the signs of a move towards fascism at their peril."

Bari Weiss is a weird and worrisome choice as top editor for CBS News; The Guardian, October 8, 2025

Margaret Sullivan , The Guardian; Bari Weiss is a weird and worrisome choice as top editor for CBS News

"“Like Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, the deal can be understood as part of a broader elite project to smudge the lenses through which many people see the world,” wrote the Defector’s Patrick Redford. “By installing Weiss, the richest people in the world have taken another step toward ushering in the toothless, acquiescent future of mainstream media they’ve always wanted...

Others were much harsher than Tofel in their criticism, noting that Paramount paid an astonishing $150m for Weiss’s site, Free Press. Paramount is led these days by David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people, and Weiss is very much his pick to led CBS News; the corporate press release said she will, among other things, “reshape editorial priorities”. She will report directly to Ellison, rather than to the CBS News president, a more traditional arrangement.

“CBS should brace for a heavy dose of bothsiderism,” wrote Oliver Darcy in his Status newsletter, observing that the Free Press has, as its central thesis, “that Trump and his supporters are largely right about the cultural rot of the woke-elite” and liberal overreach (wokeness) is a bigger problem than Trump’s existential threats to American democracy.

As independent media gains influence, it may not matter very much any more who leads a major TV network. Certainly, it matters far less now than in the years when CBS ruled the airwaves.

But it is telling that Weiss – such a polarizing provocateur herself – has been chosen to reinvent the most mainstream of legacy networks at this fraught and dangerous time in the US."

How foreign powers are gaslighting Americans; The Washington Post, October 6, 2025

  L. Gordon Crovitz, The Washington Post; How foreign powers are gaslighting Americans

"L. Gordon Crovitz, a former publisher of The Wall Street Journal, is co-CEO of NewsGuard, which assesses the reliability of news sources and claims spreading online.

The United States has unilaterally disarmed in the information wars. The Trump administration has ended key efforts to defend against Russian, Chinese and Iranian targeting of Americans with false claims.

This disarmament includes largely dismantling the Foreign Malign Influence Center, which was the leading U.S. intelligence operation charged with “mitigating threats to democracy and U.S. national interests,” including efforts by adversaries to influence popular opinion. The U.S. also recently canceled a cooperation agreement with European allies to identify and expose disinformation operations targeting Americans and their allies. The Trump administration defends its abdication by claiming it is countering censorship, but warning of false claims by hostile governments provides Americans with more information, not less."

The Normalization of Book Banning; PEN America, October 1, 2025

 Sabrina Baêta, Tasslyn Magnusson, Madison Markham, Kasey Meehan, Yuliana Tamayo Latorre, PEN America; The Normalization of Book Banning"

"Introduction

In 2025, book censorship in the United States is rampant and common. Never before in the life of any living American have so many books been systematically removed from school libraries across the country. Never before have so many states passed laws or regulations to facilitate the banning of books, including bans on specific titles statewide. Never before have so many politicians sought to bully school leaders into censoring according to their ideological preferences, even threatening public funding to exact compliance. Never before has access to so many stories been stolen from so many children.

The book bans that have accumulated in the past four years are unprecedented and undeniable. This report looks back at the 2024-2025 school year – the fourth school year in the contemporary campaign to ban books – and illustrates the continued attacks on books, stories, identities, and histories.  

This report offers a window into the complex and extensive climate of censorship between July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025. Our reporting on book bans remains a bellwether of a larger campaign to restrict and control education and public narratives, wreaking havoc on our public schools and democracy."

Pentagon plans widespread random polygraphs, NDAs to stanch leaks; The Washington Post, October 1, 2025

 

Alex Horton

, 

Tara Copp

 and 

Ellen Nakashima

, The Washington Post; Pentagon plans widespread random polygraphs, NDAs to stanch leaks

"The Pentagon plans to impose strict nondisclosure agreements andrandom polygraph testing for scores of people in its headquarters, including many top officials, according to two people familiar with the proposal and documents obtained by The Washington Post, escalating Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s war on leakers and internal dissent.

All military service members, civilian employees and contract workers within the office of the defense secretary and the Joint Staff, estimated to be more than 5,000 personnel, would be required to sign a nondisclosure agreement that “prohibits the release of non-public information without approval or through a defined process,” according to a draft memo from Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg...

More recently, the Pentagon has issued a requirement that reporters covering the military sign an agreement not to solicit or gather any information — even unclassified — that hasn’t been expressly authorized for release, the penalty for which could be press credential revocation. Reporters have until later this month to agree to those terms."

‘Heartbroken’: staff laid off as California TV station abruptly closes newsroom; The Guardian, September 25, 2025

Dani Anguiano, The Guardian; ‘Heartbroken’: staff laid off as California TV station abruptly closes newsroom

[Kip Currier: This is another stark indicator of the dangers that media consolidation represents. Media consolidation impedes the ability of citizens to access information, particularly local information. Informed citizenries are vital for functioning democracies.]

[Excerpt] 

"This week KION-TV, a broadcast news outlet on California’s central coast that’s been on the air for more than 50 years, announced it was entering a “new chapter” with a San Francisco CBS affiliate to bring expanded coverage to its viewers...

“Our partnership with KPIX ensures that viewers across the Monterey, Salinas and Santa Cruz region continue to receive the high-quality local journalism they deserve,” Rall Bradley, an executive at the News-Press & Gazette, said...

Meanwhile, workers report that Telemundo 23, which was housed at KION, is also shutting down, leaving an area with a majority-Latino population without a Spanish-language news show.

Local news has collapsed across the US in recent decades, with a 75% drop in local journalists since 2002, according to a report from Muck Rack and Rebuild Local News, which describes the decline as “alarming and widespread”. One in three US counties do not have the equivalent of one full-time local journalist, and an average of 2.5 newspapers shut down each week.

Monterey County Now described the development as a “devastating blow” to local journalism. Jeanette Bent, the station’s managing editor, told the outlet: “It’s a disservice to this community and we’re all heartbroken.”"