EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS:
With sweeping federal changes underway, AP has launched a new series to help you stay ahead. Localize It workshops offer practical support to AP customers covering the evolving impact of national policy on local communities. The next session is Monday and will focus on national parks and other public lands.
Other topics will include federal buildings, tariffs, immigration and environmental regulations. Workshop content is tailored for our U.S. members.
Here’s what to expect from the series:
— Help interpreting and navigating data
— Ideas for local storylines
— Source recommendations
— Help tracking lawsuits over federal actions
— Guest experts (for some sessions) with on-the-record comment
— Q&A with AP reporters and editors
— Localize It tip sheets on federal developments
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COMING MONDAY
LOCALIZE IT: NATIONAL PARKS
The country’s public lands agencies, including its treasured National Parks, face the loss of thousands of workers through buyouts, early retirements and layoffs – driven by the Trump administration’s workforce reduction plan.
Advocates say the cuts – and nearly $1 billion in additional cuts proposed in President Donald Trump’s budget for the next fiscal year – could leave a park system that’s revered worldwide facing tough decisions about operating hours, public safety and resource protection. Similar workforce issues confront national monuments, national forests and other federal lands – sites also targeted for increased drilling, mining and logging.
This workshop will address the challenges facing parks and public lands heading into the summer tourist season. We’ll explore the impacts of workforce turmoil and share avenues to find locally relevant data. And we’ll offer story angles to illustrate the impacts changes under Trump could have on federal lands that get more than a half-billion visitors annually and are economically crucial to gateway communities.
DATE AND TIME
Monday, May 12, at 2 p.m. ET
Register for the workshop here.
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UPCOMING
LOCALIZE IT: FEDERAL WORKFORCE AND BUILDINGS
Tuesday, May 27, at 2 p.m. ET
Remaking the federal workforce is part of a larger Trump administration push to dramatically shrink the size of government and exert more control over it.
This workshop will address the impact of cuts enacted by Trump appointees and the Department of Government Efficiency and look at what’s ahead. We’ll offer local story angles and share avenues to find locally relevant data on federal employees and real estate holdings in your communities.
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We will be sending the invites for each upcoming session a week in advance.
You may share these invitations with anyone in your newsroom who would like to attend. If your schedule prevents you from attending, we still encourage you to register, as we will share a recording link with everyone who registers.
Questions can be directed to Katie Oyan, AP Deputy Director/Local News Success, at koyan@ap.org
