For daily news updates and analysis, be sure to follow us on Instagram.
Happy New Year!
We hope you had a lovely holiday season and welcomed 2026 in style. Team NNN is on much needed break (hope you are too) and getting ready for a big year ahead.
Every culture has its own tradition for welcoming the new year. Eating grapes (Spain), wearing colored underwear (Italy), running around the block with a suitcase (Latin America%20Running%20around%20the%20block,adventures%20for%20the%20upcoming%20year.)), watching sports and chilling (USA)… What did we miss? Let us know your favorite tradition in the comments.
Before we launch into 2026, we wanted to take a moment for some reflection. In this newsletter we are looking back at some of the big stories from 2025 and letting you know which topics you all engaged with the most. Which stories were most read, commented, shared? We share some of your comments and feedback — and the best news of the year too. It’s our own version of 2025 Wrapped.
Hope you enjoy!
Year in Review: According to both the News Not Noise community and news outlets across the country, the year’s top stories included the Supreme Court’s collectivecontroversial rulings, thenew pope, and theassassinations of politicians and political figures. The News Not Noise community, however, paid particular attention to Trump’s early actions in office; our most-viewed newsletters explored the rise of DOGE and Trump’s capricious tariffs. My interview with sustainable agriculture professor Toni Farmer on “How Tariffs Will Impact Our Food Supply” was the most-liked newsletter of the year, followed by our article highlighting federal employees standing up to DOGE’s purges and saying, “F— Musk, I’m Staying.” Rounding off our top three newsletters was myconversation with Pulitzer Prize winning historian and journalist Anne Applebaumon the historical parallels between Trump 2.0 and authoritarian regimes around the world.Giving Season, Year-Round: We are very glad to know that many of you gift paid subscriptions of the newsletter to friends, family, and, for therapists, to patients. Some of you were particularly generous, bestowing this gift on multiple people. We want to give a special recognition to our top gift-givers of 2025, which included Dina Lotta, Lem Jordan, and Keely Rodriguez. Thank you!What You Think: We’re endlessly grateful for your support, from reading to commenting to subscribing and everything in between. You make our work possible! We also appreciate your feedback. Here’s what some of you have to say:Sheryl: “I live in eastern Idaho, in a rural area that has no authentic local newspapers. You made me realize that to reach people about local gov’t issues, I must stop bemoaning the loss of local newspapers, stop relying on community Facebook pages, and pursue the model you pioneered.”Susan: “I support your work because you do in fact cut through the incessant noise and get to the heart of the matter. I’m tired of the blah blah blah. You show me what I need to know and what I need to pay attention to.”Kelly: “I choose to subscribe because of your balanced, no nonsense, fact-based summaries of the current news. It’s the only way I can sanely keep up with what is happening these days.”Anonymous: “I’ve supported your work for several years and will continue to do so because it really does deliver important info while helping to keep me calm. Plus I feel like you and your team are a trustworthy crew!”Rich: “Been lurking since the early days, quietly judging whether ‘News Not Noise’ lived up to its name. Verdict: Hell yes. Subscribed, paid, and now officially a fan with skin in the game. Keep slaying, Jessica. Thanks.”
Year in Review: DOGE and tariffs might have been our most-viewed stories of 2025, but they were far from the whole story. To give you a taste of what we got through together, here are some of the major stories that defined this year:Here We Go: 2025 began with thehistoric fires in LA(it would be months before the culprit wasfound and charged) andTrump officially taking officefor the second time. The new administration wasted little time getting started on its mass deportation agenda, which was the subject of myfirst interview of the year, with Janet Napolitano, Obama’s Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.Bad Doggy: Then, of course, Elon Musklet the DOGE out. We covered that from itschaotic startto itsquiet, premature endandall the damage in between. Idiscussed DOGE’s legalitywith Scott Anderson, the general counsel of Lawfare, and we published anexclusive insider lookat the dismantling of the Department of Education.Money, Money, Money: Tariffs were undoubtedly one of themost important storiesof the year. I headed to Washington, DC, tointerview lawmakers, including those who walked out of Trump’s fire and brimstone address to Congress. The GOPbarely managed to pass a budget bill, with House Speaker Mike Johnson running back into the chamber after securing the final vote, yelling, “One more!” (Foreshadowing…) We explored the impact of tariffson the economyand you— includingone newsletter highlighting your experiences with tariffs.America Last: The year of “America First” certainly saw a lot of attention placed on other countries. Ukraine often made headlines, from theshocking mistreatment of Zelenskyyto Trump’smysterious conversations with Putin. El Salvador’s wannabe dictator waswelcomed in the White Houseandhundreds of migrants were sent to his notorious mega-prison, includingKilmar Abrego Garcia. After years of horrific fighting, aceasefire finally brought a shaky peaceto Gaza and thefinal hostages returned home.Guarding What: National Guard troops were deployed across the country this year, fromLAtoChicagotoWashington DCand beyond. In many cases, troops were sent over the objections of local and state officials, some of whom continue tofight the deployments in court.Big But Not So Beautiful: Who could forget the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill?” Wedug into the underreported policiesburied in this mega-bill, exploringhow they could harm tens of millions of people. If only the House Republicans whoadmitted to approving the bill without actually reading ithad tuned in for these editions! Ispoke to Sen. Elizabeth Warrenabout how the bill is the “biggest transfer of wealth … to the richest people in this country in one bill in American history.”
Changing the Map: Searches for “gerrymandering”skyrocketedthis year. We tracked the ongoing battle for control of the House, starting with theTexas GOP’s new maps. As you may remember,state Democratsfled en masse in an attempt to prevent the redistricting plan from succeeding; in my conversation withIllinois Gov. JB Pritzker about the standoff, he pledged to protect Texas lawmakers who’d sought safe harbor in Illinois against federal authorities and declared Americans must ask, “Who are you? And what do you stand for?” Over the following months, that question was repeated again and again. In California, votersoverwhelmingly backed Gov. Newsom’s counter-gerrymander, and Indiana Republicansrefused to enact a MAGA-backed gerrymanderdespite intense pressure from above. Meanwhile, the Supreme Courtdisagreed with a lower court’s conclusionthat the Texas gerrymander was likely (and unlawfully) based on race, andseemed open to gutting what is left of the Voting Rights Act, too.Turn Government Off and On Again: Who could forget thelongest government shutdown in history? We covered how the closure (and thecontroversial deal to end it) affected people around the country — including through thedevastating delays to SNAP payments, which theadministration was eventually forced to resume.Move Fast, Break Things: 2025 saw the sudden destruction of the White House’s historic East Wing. For a century, pioneering women used the East Wing toadvance the power and prestige of women in the US. We explored that history and investigated who, exactly, ispaying for the oversized ballroom slated to replace it— a ballroom that, as of now, exists only in Trump’s imagination and the odd printed visualization.Political Violence: Charlie Kirk’sshocking assassinationquickly became one of the biggest stories of the year — as did the behavior of his widow, Erika, who spent the months following the assassinationcozying up to JD Vance,holding a town hall with Bari Weiss, andsoaking up applause onstage at Turning Point USA’s annual conference. Charlie Kirk was far from the only victim of political violence this year; in June, two Minnesota lawmakers were shot, one of them fatally, by amasked gunman linked to a militant sectof Christianity.To Be Continued: Plenty of these stories will continue to influence our world in 2026. Many are actively unfolding. There’s theongoing fight overtheEpstein files, of course, which have alreadyshed new light on Trump’s alleged connectionswith the late sex predator and his gruesome activities. And the “president of peace,” as Trump likes to call himself,continues to blow up small boatssupposedly transporting drugs andseize ships carrying Venezuelan oil, actionsmany believeare the opening salvos of all-out conflict with Venezuela. There’s thepush for peace in Ukraineon terms that are strangely friendly to the Kremlin and Trump’s deal-making as foreign policy in the Middle East.
That’s far from everything, of course. RFK Jr launched his assault on vaccines, public health, and science in general. The Trump administration rolled backed protections for workers, consumers, the trans community, women seeking reproductive care, refugees, asylum seekers, and unhoused people, among others — as well as protections for the environment and public health. Mass protests swept the country multiple times, with millions turning out to demonstrate their discontent with much of the above.
Let us know what you think the most important story of the year was in the comments.
We’ll…
