You probably don’t know what the Massachusetts Governor’s Council is. I sure didn’t.

And that’s the point.It quietly decides who becomes a judge—shaping the justice system with almost no public scrutiny. Critics call it a rubber stamp.

Jordan Korgood, a marine biologist, trans-rights advocate and Gen-Z activist, is running to change that. In this episode, we get into political gatekeeping, Massachusetts’ incumbency problem, and what it actually looks like to push for accountability, equity, and even abolition—from inside the system.

No matter where you live, if you care about who holds power in the courts, this is where it starts.

FOLLOW NATALIEsubstack: https://substack.com/@factsoverfearnataliebinstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@nataliebencivenga/#tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nataliebencivengathreads: https://www.threads.com/@nataliebencivengapodcast via spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/47JYsn9LQchErS3cnHP2YFpodcast via apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/facts-over-fear/id1855901950FACTS OVER FEARLet's dismantle the fear that is used to divide us surrounding the issues impacting the people and talk facts.ABOUT NATALIENatalie Bencivenga is a socially-conscious journalist working towards building equity in our communities through storytelling. Her goal is to inspire, educate and activate people to become catalysts for positive change. Join her for transformative conversations that uplift and challenge the ways in which we perceive the world. Let's turn this moment into a movement – together.

Today I interviewed Terrill Haigler—better known as Ya Fav Trashman on Instagram—and this is one of those stories that sticks with you.A former Philadelphia sanitation worker turned national voice for community cleanup and worker advocacy, Terrill is flipping the narrative on what trash actually says about a neighborhood.His message is simple and real: it’s not about “bad communities”—it’s about neglected ones.We talked about how he found purpose on the job, what people weren’t seeing during the pandemic, and how he used social media to pull back the curtain on sanitation work in a way that forced people to pay attention.But what makes his work hit deeper is where it’s going. Terrill isn’t ‘just’ picking up trash, he’s building something out of it. He’s creating jobs for people coming home from incarceration. He’s investing in neighborhoods that have been written off while pushing for a version of public safety rooted in dignity, not policing.And he’s not shy about the bigger vision: rethinking how sanitation works in this country and who it’s really for. If you’ve ever looked at a block and made an assumption, this conversation will challenge it.So roll up your sleeves and listen in.Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other.FOLLOW NATALIEsubstack: https://substack.com/@factsoverfearnataliebinstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@nataliebencivenga/#tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nataliebencivengathreads: https://www.threads.com/@nataliebencivengapodcast via spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/47JYsn9LQchErS3cnHP2YFpodcast via apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/facts-over-fear/id1855901950FACTS OVER FEARLet's dismantle the fear that is used to divide us surrounding the issues impacting the people and talk facts.ABOUT NATALIENatalie Bencivenga is a socially-conscious journalist working towards building equity in our communities through storytelling. Her goal is to inspire, educate and activate people to become catalysts for positive change. Join her for transformative conversations that uplift and challenge the ways in which we perceive the world. Let's turn this moment into a movement – together.

Pittsburgh just came within weeks of losing its primary newspaper.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a paper that’s been around since 1786, was on the brink of shutting down entirely, with more than 170 workers facing layoffs after years of financial losses and a bitter labor dispute.

For a moment, it looked like Pittsburgh was about to become the largest city in the United States without a major daily newspaper.

Let that sink in because this isn’t just about one paper.

It’s about what happens when local journalism, the thing that tells communities what’s actually happening in their own backyard, starts to disappear.

At the last minute, a deal came together. The Block family agreed to sell the paper not to the highest bidder, but to a nonprofit: the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, the same group behind The Baltimore Banner.

Its primary backer, Stewart Bainum Jr., has pledged to invest $30 million over the next five years to help rebuild both outlets.

That decision may have saved the Post-Gazette from a much sadder outcome of possibly being absorbed by a hedge fund known for gutting local papers, stripping staff, and squeezing out whatever profit is left.

But there isn’t a fairy-tale ending here.

The newsroom is still fractured. The labor dispute that pushed the paper to the brink hasn’t magically disappeared. The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh has made it clear it wants a seat at the table in rebuilding, but whether that happens is still an open question.

And now, something new is emerging.

Journalists, labor leaders, and community members are organizing around an effort called the Pittsburgh Alliance for People-Empowered Reporting — or PAPER.

The goal isn’t just to save jobs. It’s to rethink who local journalism is actually for and who it answers to.

Because when a city nearly loses its primary newspaper, the consequences go far beyond headlines.

Local government operates with less scrutiny.

Corruption becomes easier to hide.

Communities lose a shared sense of reality.

So we must ask: Who holds power accountable when no one is watching?

In this episode, I’m joined by Steve Mellon, an award-winning, multimedia journalist at the Post-Gazette, to break down how a 200-year-old institution got this close to collapse and what happens next.

Is nonprofit ownership the future of local news or just a temporary lifeline? Can a fractured newsroom rebuild trust internally and with the public? And are we witnessing the slow death of local journalism…or the beginning of something new? Because what just happened in Pittsburgh isn’t unique. It’s a warning.

And as always, please take care of yourselves and each other.

FOLLOW NATALIE

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FACTS OVER FEAR

Let's dismantle the fear that is used to divide us surrounding the issues impacting the people and talk facts.

ABOUT NATALIE

Natalie Bencivenga is a socially-conscious journalist working towards building equity in our communities through storytelling. Her goal is to inspire, educate and activate people to become catalysts for positive change. Join her for transformative conversations that uplift and challenge the ways in which we perceive the world. Let's turn this moment into a movement – together.

A new investigation from CNN has exposed something that’s hard to process and even harder to ignore: a sprawling global network of online communities where men openly share tactics, videos, and advice on drugging and sexually assaulting women.

We’re not talking about the dark web. We’re talking about platforms millions of people use every day.

On one site alone, reporters found more than 20,000 user-uploaded “sleep” videos of men filming women while they’re unconscious or sedated. In some cases, there were even live streams where viewers paid to watch abuse happen in real time.

This isn’t fringe behavior. It’s organized and normalized.

So the question isn’t just how this exists. It’s what kind of culture allows it to.

Because at the same time this is happening, we’re seeing a very different, but deeply connected, shift in public life.

Across the country, Catholic dioceses are reporting a surge in young converts, with data from the Hallow app showing a 38% increase this year. In cities like Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, those numbers have more than doubled.

On platforms like TikTok and Instagram, Catholicism is being rebranded to be less as doctrine, more as aesthetic. Community. Structure. Certainty.

For some, it’s a search for meaning. For others, it raises a harder question: what happens when tradition—and the gender roles often baked into it—collide with a generation raised on autonomy and self-expression?

And then there’s the cultural backlash playing out in real time.

At Coachella, Madonna joined Sabrina Carpenter onstage to perform “Like a Prayer”—a song that has always challenged power, religion, and control over women’s bodies.

But this time, the reaction wasn’t about the performance. It was about her age.

“Dress your age.”

“Cringe.”

“Put grandma in a nursing home.”

The message was clear: there is a line women are not supposed to cross and an expiration date they’re not supposed to outlive.

If you embrace your sexuality, you’re trying too hard.

If you don’t, you’ve “let yourself go.”

It’s a no-win system. And it’s not accidental.

Because whether it’s the commodification of women’s bodies in violent online spaces, the resurgence of institutions that historically defined women’s roles, or the public policing of women who refuse to disappear quietly, these aren’t separate conversations. They’re the same conversation.

In this episode, Jess Britvich and I unpack how these seemingly disconnected stories reveal a deeper throughline—one rooted in power, entitlement, and the systems that continue to shape how women are seen, valued, and controlled.

Because if this is what we can see out in the open…what are we still missing?

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FACTS OVER FEAR

Let's dismantle the fear that is used to divide us surrounding the issues impacting the people and talk facts.

ABOUT NATALIE

Natalie Bencivenga is a socially-conscious journalist working towards building equity in our communities through storytelling. Her goal is to inspire, educate and activate people to become catalysts for positive change. Join her for transformative conversations that uplift and challenge the ways in which we perceive the world. Let's turn this moment into a movement – together.

This week, a series of headlines cut across healthcare, immigration, public health, and politics, and at first glance, they don’t seem connected. But they are! Here’s what we broke down in today’s show with Dr. Natalie Gentile.

Doctors in Texas detained by ICE while trying to follow the legal process to stay in the country.

Nearly 100 detainees in a Pennsylvania facility refusing to eat, saying conditions are so bad it’s the only way to be heard. Childhood vaccination rates quietly falling as enforcement stalls. And podcaster, Joe Rogan, has Trump on speed dial and is influencing federal movement on psychedelic drug policy.

Different stories. Same underlying question: who actually has power—and who doesn’t?

Doctors Detained by ICE

These are professionals working in underserved communities, filling gaps in a healthcare system already stretched thin. Yet even as they try to comply with immigration requirements, they’re being detained—pulled out of the very communities that rely on them. It’s a contradiction that’s hard to ignore: the system needs them, but the system is also punishing them. (AP News)

Hunger strike at the Moshannon Valley facility in Pennsylvania.

When people stop eating to draw attention to unsafe conditions, that’s not protest as usual. That’s desperation. Reports of spoiled food, poor medical care, and neglect point to a system where oversight is either failing or absent. And when that happens behind closed doors, accountability becomes optional. (PennLive)

Vaccination rates among schoolchildren are dropping, and the state isn’t consistently enforcing its own rules.

This is how preventable diseases come back. Childhood vaccination rates are dropping across Pennsylvania, and reporting shows the state is failing to enforce its own school vaccine requirements, raising concerns about preventable disease outbreaks. (PBS)

Joe Rogan’s Influence on Psychedelic Policy

Podcaster Joe Rogan’s direct line to political power is drawing scrutiny after his advocacy for psychedelics appeared to influence federal movement on research and FDA approach, highlighting how non-experts can shape national policy. (The Hill)

He has Trump on speed dial and we don’t feel good about that.

Individually, each of these stories is concerning. Together, they showcase a scarier story of how power is being exercised unevenly, oversight is slipping, and the consequences of what happens when you make public health a mockery are showing up in real people’s lives.

FOLLOW NATALIE

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FACTS OVER FEAR

Let's dismantle the fear that is used to divide us surrounding the issues impacting the people and talk facts.

ABOUT NATALIE

Natalie Bencivenga is a socially-conscious journalist working towards building equity in our communities through storytelling. Her goal is to inspire, educate and activate people to become catalysts for positive change. Join her for transformative conversations that uplift and challenge the ways in which we perceive the world. Let's turn this moment into a movement – together.

What happened in East Palestine, Ohio wasn’t just a derailment.

It exposed a system most Americans never see. One where hazardous materials move through communities every day, often without warning.

In this episode, Jessica Conard, who lived through the fallout and was transformed by the experience, breaks down what the public still doesn’t get: derailments are not freak accidents. They’re frequent, often preventable, the result of aging infrastructure, weak oversight, and a lack of transparency.

And right now, most communities have no real visibility into what’s moving through their towns on train tracks. Hazardous materials pass through daily, and the people in their path are often the last to know.

Rail Watch is trying to change that by making rail data visible so communities can understand risks before something goes wrong.

But visibility alone isn’t enough.

East Palestine exposed deeper failures: gaps in regulation, communication breakdowns, and a rail system pushed beyond what it was designed to handle. And while the headlines faded, many of those underlying issues haven’t meaningfully changed.

Which leads to the real question: If nothing changes, what does the next East Palestine look like? And how close are we to it happening again?

“A House by 30." This Bold Democratic Idea That Could Redefine the American Dream.

What If Democrats Promised You a Future (Not Just Talked About One?) That’s the bold idea at the center of a recent opinion piece in The New York Times by Rotimi Adeoye, and it’s the question driving today’s Facts Over Fear.

Because right now, the reality for millions of Americans looks nothing like the promise.First-time homebuyers made up just 21% of purchases last year.

This is the lowest share ever recorded. And for a generation raised on the idea that hard work leads somewhere, that shift is more than economic. It’s a full-on existential crisis.Democrats don’t just have a messaging problem. They have a promise problem.

Adeoye’s proposal—“a house by 30”—is deliberately simple and forces a reframing: what would it look like if a political party actually committed to a measurable outcome in people’s lives?

That stands in sharp contrast to the current political rhetoric. Donald Trump has claimed his administration is “bringing back the American dream of homeownership,” but the underlying numbers don’t lie. Opportunity hasn’t expanded, it has shrunk to virtually nothing.

Meanwhile, proposals like the one from Kamala Harris and Tim Walz during the last election cycle aimed to build 3 million new homes and offer up to $25,000 in down-payment assistance. A serious attempt to address supply and affordability, but still framed as a set of policies, not a clear, lived outcome.

We discuss why that distinction matters.

Beneath the housing crisis is something deeper: this “system” has failed us. This social contract has been broken and for many Americans, homeownership now requires family wealth, extraordinary income or both.In this episode, Adeoye breaks down what “a house by 30” is really about and what it would take to make a promise like that credible. From zoning reform to federal guarantees, from political risk to generational urgency, this conversation gets at the heart of a bigger shift: Is this about housing?

Or is it about whether the “American Dream” is still something politics can deliver at all?

FOLLOW NATALIE

substack: https://substack.com/@factsoverfearnataliebinstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@nataliebencivenga/#tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nataliebencivengathreads: https://www.threads.com/@nataliebencivengapodcast via spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/47JYsn9LQchErS3cnHP2YFpodcast via apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/facts-over-fear/id1855901950FACTS OVER FEARLet's dismantle the fear that is used to divide us surrounding the issues impacting the people and talk facts.

ABOUT NATALIE

Natalie Bencivenga is a socially-conscious journalist working towards building equity in our communities through storytelling. Her goal is to inspire, educate and activate people to become catalysts for positive change. Join her for transformative conversations that uplift and challenge the ways in which we perceive the world. Let's turn this moment into a movement – together.

What does it take to make people pay attention to immigration enforcement in America right now? In Pennsylvania, the answer is a 100-mile walk.

That’s what Jaime Martinez, executive director of Pittsburgh-based Frontline Dignity, is doing in real time. His destination: the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, the largest immigrant detention facility in the Northeast.Most people don’t even know it exists. And that’s a problem.At the same time, arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement are rising across Western Pennsylvania, part of a broader national crackdown that’s been building for months.And now, we’re starting to see the fallout.Not just inside detention centers, but across entire communities:Workers skipping shifts.Families afraid to leave home.Businesses losing customers.Local economies quietly bleeding.Martinez’s 100-mile journey isn’t just symbolic. It’s diagnostic.It tells us something critical: the gap between what’s happening and what the public understands has grown so wide that it now takes an act this extreme just to get attention.Because the real story isn’t only what’s happening inside the walls of facilities like Moshannon Valley Processing Center. It’s what happens outside them.What happens when fear becomes policy and policy starts to reshape how people live, work, and participate in everyday life.In this episode, Martinez and I dig into the deeper implications:What does it say that it takes a 100-mile walk to make this visible?How significant is the recent surge in ICE arrests, and how does it compare historically?What are Americans missing about what happens inside detention centers?What are the ripple effects on workers, families, and local economies?Why is Pennsylvania seeing increased enforcement and what does that signal nationally?How do you frame this so that we leave space for hope and connection?This isn’t just about one detention center.It’s about an entire system operating largely out of sight and the growing economic and social costs that come with it.A 100-mile walk shouldn’t be necessary to make people pay attention. But right now, it is. And that tells you everything.Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other.In solidarity,NatalieFOLLOW NATALIEsubstack: https://substack.com/@factsoverfearnataliebinstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@nataliebencivenga/#tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nataliebencivengathreads: https://www.threads.com/@nataliebencivengapodcast via spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/47JYsn9LQchErS3cnHP2YFpodcast via apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/facts-over-fear/id1855901950FACTS OVER FEARLet's dismantle the fear that is used to divide us surrounding the issues impacting the people and talk facts.ABOUT NATALIENatalie Bencivenga is a socially-conscious journalist working towards building equity in our communities through storytelling. Her goal is to inspire, educate and activate people to become catalysts for positive change. Join her for transformative conversations that uplift and challenge the ways in which we perceive the world. Let's turn this moment into a movement – together.

For months, Donald Trump and his allies sold aggressive immigration crackdowns as a political win.Now the bill is coming due.In Minnesota, after a sustained surge in operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the real impact is finally surfacing, and it’s not just humanitarian. It’s economic.Businesses are reporting steep losses. Workers are vanishing from payrolls. Entire communities are pulling back from daily life. Meanwhile, cities are losing revenue—and taxpayers are forced to absorb the cost.This is the part no one campaigns on: the lag effect and who will get blamed when it all implodes.And here’s the bigger question: if this is happening in one state, what happens when it spreads? Especially at a moment when Americans are already squeezed by rising costs, tariffs, and global instability.That’s where Julie Blaha comes in. As Minnesota’s State Auditor, she’s tracking the numbers in real time. And what she’s seeing should fundamentally reshape how we think about immigration policy, because this isn’t just “politics,” anymore.It’s the economy.In our conversation, we discussed what the data is actually showing, and why the worst may still be ahead:- How bad is the economic damage right now—in real numbers?- Why are we only now seeing the full impact months after increased ICE activity?- Is this a delayed economic shock that continues to worsen over time—even if enforcement slows?- Which sectors are getting hit first, and what does that signal about what comes next?- Is Minnesota a preview of what other states should expect?- What happens when this disruption collides with already rising costs—housing, food, energy?- Where exactly are taxpayers footing the bill—and how significant is it?What’s next? What’s happening in Minnesota doesn’t exist in a vacuum.Enforcement-driven economic disruption is colliding with broader instability: rising global tensions, shifting trade dynamics, and signs that governments and markets are becoming more risk-aware.There are early indicators, from capital movement to policy shifts, that suggest institutions may already be bracing for a more volatile economic environment.The question is whether we are.Because when you layer local economic shocks on top of national and global strain, the impact isn’t additive. It compounds. Minnesota may just be the early warning. And if that’s the case, what we’re seeing now isn’t the peak.It’s the beginning.FOLLOW NATALIEsubstack: https://substack.com/@factsoverfearnataliebinstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@nataliebencivenga/#tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nataliebencivengathreads: https://www.threads.com/@nataliebencivengapodcast via spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/47JYsn9LQchErS3cnHP2YFpodcast via apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/facts-over-fear/id1855901950FACTS OVER FEARLet's dismantle the fear that is used to divide us surrounding the issues impacting the people and talk facts.ABOUT NATALIENatalie Bencivenga is a socially-conscious journalist working towards building equity in our communities through storytelling. Her goal is to inspire, educate and activate people to become catalysts for positive change. Join her for transformative conversations that uplift and challenge the ways in which we perceive the world. Let's turn this moment into a movement – together.

Are the Guardrails Holding? Power, Politics, and the Rule of LawRight now, the United States is watching a stress test of its own institutions unfold.In the past 24 hours, Donald Trump has threatened sweeping military action against Iran, including strikes on civilian infrastructure—rhetoric that legal experts warn could violate international law and even constitute war crimes. (washingtonpost.com)At the same time, back at home, a federal judge recently blocked the Justice Department from enforcing subpoenas tied to its investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, calling them “pretextual” and unsupported by evidence of a crime. (CBS News) And while no one may be paying attention, these cases matter.Individually, these headlines tell very different stories. Together, they highlight a pattern: the boundaries of law, ethics, and accountability are being tested.From military authority abroad to prosecutorial power at home, the question becomes urgent: who stops power when it blatantly tramples on the rules?To unpack this, we’re joined by Melanie Sloan. She’s a former federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia and nationally recognized expert on government ethics. From 2003 to 2014, she served as the founding Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a government watchdog organization. Prior to that, she was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., prosecuting sexual assault and other violent crimes.Sloan has long warned about government misconduct, describing the Trump administration as having a “culture of corruption,” and she brings a clear, expert lens to questions of power, accountability, and the law in moments like this.In this episode, we dive into:Why is Trump getting away with abuse of power so easily?Why the judge’s ruling matters for prosecutorial limits and institutional independenceLet’s talk about how the Epstein files plays into all of this.What warning signs to watch as American institutions face pressure from aboveHow the DOJ’s actions may fit into broader patterns of political influenceHow can Trump be stopped?FOLLOW NATALIEsubstack: https://substack.com/@factsoverfearnataliebinstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@nataliebencivenga/#tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nataliebencivengathreads: https://www.threads.com/@nataliebencivengapodcast via spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/47JYsn9LQchErS3cnHP2YFpodcast via apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/facts-over-fear/id1855901950FACTS OVER FEARLet's dismantle the fear that is used to divide us surrounding the issues impacting the people and talk facts.ABOUT NATALIENatalie Bencivenga is a socially-conscious journalist working towards building equity in our communities through storytelling. Her goal is to inspire, educate and activate people to become catalysts for positive change. Join her for transformative conversations that uplift and challenge the ways in which we perceive the world. Let's turn this moment into a movement – together.