I wanted to share the short audio documentary I created for Flightless Bird about the execution of a quite possibly innocent man, Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams. I travelled to Jefferson City, Missouri, as both the victim’s family and the original prosecutor in the case urged lawmakers to halt the execution — saying terrible mistakes had been made in the case. This was all based on the reporting I did for Webworm back in September last year. Some of you are Flightless Bird listeners and will have heard this already, but I figure plenty of you aren’t. I felt proud of how this turned out and wanted to share it with you. It’s just the audio documentary — no yapping from any podcast hosts. This reporting wouldn’t have been possible without you. So thank you.

Finally, I wanted to note that January 20, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to implement a fed­er­al death penal­ty. Looking back on my time in Jefferson City, this fills me with fucking horror.

In this Webworm podcast, a story I've been working on for some time. Just over a year ago — in March of 2024 — I got an email from Jake. He had a story he wanted to tell, and he wanted to find a way to tell it that could help others. A warning, of sorts. And so over the last year, as a court case played out — I’ve been working on this story. It takes place in and around CityLife church in Melbourne. And while this story is a warning, I also think it’s a story about the truth, justice, and pushing back against institutions that allow abuse to happen. This piece discusses emotional and physical abuse that may be distressing for some readers, so please take care when reading. For more see https://www.webworm.co

Something is killing the birds in a sleepy Auckland suburb. The locals are on a witch hunt. Alexandria Edwards was playing Pokemon Go in her car when she saw the sparrows. Dozens of them were strewn in various states of stupor on the grass nearby. Some had passed out. Others were struggling and failing to fly. Magpies were swooping at the ones who couldn’t get away. She got out to shoo the bigger birds. Help arrived promptly. A call had gone out on the local Facebook community page. Come down, it said. The birds have been poisoned again.

TAKE PART IN THE DISCUSSION: https://www.webworm.co/p/brownsbaybirdpoisoner

Today's guest essay is from Kath: It’s a tough time for librarians at the moment. Here in Aotearoa we’ve just recently seen an Auckland library hosting a science performance (about the weather of all things) by a drag king stormed by black shirted thugs instructed by their leader to “shut it down”. The United States is currently facing the highest rate of attempted book bans it has ever faced, even to the attempt to criminalise librarians who loan these books. Libraries around the world are fielding an increasing number of threats, book challenges and ugly behaviour. So it’s understandable librarians are feeling it right now. For context, I have had an almost 30 year career in public libraries in Australia and New Zealand, and a lifetime lurking in them like the massive library nerd that I am. Libraries have always been a sanctuary for me. From when I was a little girl growing up in a violent household, as a teen who was mercilessly bullied at high school, and a young adult when I was feeling lost. It was inevitable that I would end up working in libraries and to become a career librarian. In the last five years, librarians have been facing challenges that were simply not an issue for the first 15-20 years of my career. Librarians have always faced challenges, and I have endless stories I could dine out on.

Today on Webworm I wanted you to share a conversation between two New Zealanders raised by parents who embraced Focus on the Family. Because Focus on the Family travelled far beyond America. It went global — and during the 80s and 90s in particular, millions of kids were raised in the ways of Dr James Dobson. Michael Frost and Shane Meyer-Holt are my friends, and run a podcast called In The Shift, in which they discuss coming to terms with exiting a very certain breed of Christianity. They are still Christians, just not the breed you find at the churches I tend to write about. Hearing them discuss Focus on the Family was fascinating to me, and I hope it’s fascinating to you, too. Something Michael said towards the end really hit me like a tonne of bricks. He talked about what it meant to grow a generation of compliant kids. At what that means when a country like America comes under the leadership of Donald Trump — a man who professes to be a Christian.

An essay from Hayden Donnell arguing that according to the Bible, Donald Trump is definitely the antichrist. Hayden urges us to engage in some heavy duty Hail Marys, because if recent events have taught us anything, it’s that being an irredeemable moron with a repellant personality and the countenance of a salamander wearing human skin is, if anything, an asset when it comes to inflicting misery on a global scale.

See you in the comments at https://www.webworm.co

I was still working for TV3 news and living in New Zealand, but had found myself in LA, working on the final stages of Tickled. I knew Cornell had an upcoming solo show back in New Zealand, so I’d reached out to the music label to see if could get an interview. He said yes. And on a Sunday morning in 2015, on a day off, Chris Cornell drove across town to my hotel and sat down for a 30 minute interview. There was no junket hotel, no label people — just a musician driving out of their way to meet some idiot from a TV station in tiny New Zealand. He had no need to — his upcoming show had already sold out. I’m not quite sure why he did it. But I’m glad he did. I played a few minutes of that clip in Seattle, but I wanted to make the whole thing available for Webworm readers today. I’d found it last year — the unaired long edit — on a digibeta tape I’d saved in a box in New Zealand.

Webworm can report that a man has been charged with “sexual assault by compelling sexual touching” and “public nuisance” in Melbourne, Australia. The charges were laid on Monday. Webworm has been in touch with the latest victim, who outlined an M.O. that sounded all too familiar: A man fell down in front of him, appeared to be having spasms, then asked to be sat on and restrained him. The man has been released on bail and will appear in Court on April 24.