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COPY DESK WATCH….I’d like to nominate this for misleading headline of the year:

Prop. 2 probably won’t hike egg prices

Proposition 2 is the initiative that requires hens to be kept in cages that allow them to move around a bit. I voted for it, and it passed yesterday 63%-37%. But here’s the story behind the headline:

Egg prices probably will not increase for Californians, according to a study by the UC Davis Agricultural Issues Center. That’s because out-of-state farmers, who already supply Californians a third of their eggs — and could provide more — are not affected by the new law, so they won’t have to change their housing.

….”The most likely outcome, therefore, is the elimination of almost all of the California egg industry over a few years,” says the report.

So egg prices won’t go up, but only because the California egg industry will be utterly destroyed. By this logic, the headline after Black Tuesday should have been, “Apple industry opens new distribution channel on Wall Street.” Sheesh.

UPDATE: Actually, this is even weirder than it looks. The print version of this story bears practically no resemblance to the online version, and doesn’t even include the quote about the elimination of the egg industry. Very strange.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

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