Writer

Todd Ruffner-Schoenfeld

Editor in chief. A knack for the fine print.

Todd Ruffner-Schoenfeld has spent his working life being handed things he did not yet understand. He started at the bottom, a developer in a bullpen, and worked his way up to running IT. The places were a strange assortment: consulting firms, accounting firms, a biotech startup, a tech startup in Silicon Valley and, of all places, Chiquita. Four small businesses of his own along the way. The work never really changed. Get into something unfamiliar, find out what is actually going on, and help someone make a hard decision with it. HeadLines Decoded is that job, pointed at the news.

Selected work

The Ohio Statehouse building in Columbus under a blue sky

Politics Most people who lose Medicaid to the new work requirement are already working One side points to a person who cannot work and still needs the card. The other points to someone clocking… 13 Sep 2026

Close-up of red yarn on circular knitting needles, a project in progress on a wooden table

Lifestyle The Sit ‘n’ Stitch is the club you don’t have to join It is not a class and there is nothing to join. You bring whatever is already in the bag, sit… 13 Sep 2026

The west front of the United States Capitol under a clear sky.

Series Parts The two arguments over every data center Two speeches about the AI buildout, side by side and measured against one spreadsheet: national champion, or a machine for… 11 Sep 2026

A hand-lettered sign reading NO NO NO DATA CENTER in the rear window of a white pickup truck parked on a residential street

Series Parts Who can still say no to a data center The veto that actually stops a data center today sits in a county building. Washington is trying to move it.… 10 Sep 2026

A hard-hatted worker balanced on the exposed steel framing of a large building under construction against an overcast sky.

Series Parts The data center jobs that stay after the ribbon cutting A large campus puts 800 to 1,200 workers on site during construction and about 100 to 200 stay when it… 9 Sep 2026

A pile of red, white and blue I Voted stickers.

Politics How to Vote in Person Early in the 2026 Midterms Vote early and in person this year. It leaves time to fix a registration or ID problem before November 3.… 8 Sep 2026

A digital alarm clock glowing 4:39, 4:40 and 4:44 in a dark room, minutes ticking past.

Health Five a.m. is not a strategy I do not know a person who has never lost a night. I have lost a lifetime of them. My… 8 Sep 2026

An electrical substation with steel towers and power lines in front of Google's data center buildings at The Dalles, Oregon, under a clear sky

Series Parts The data center water fight the neighbors already lost A very large data center is a land deal first. What it drinks, where the used water goes, and why… 8 Sep 2026

An 1812 political cartoon showing a Massachusetts voting district drawn into the shape of a winged salamander.

Politics They draw the map. You live in the leftover. I think both parties do this, and the word that matters is power. Pull up a chair. I want to… 7 Sep 2026

Rows of servers with blue and green status lights recede down a data center aisle.

Series Parts Your electric bill is now an AI bill The referee that polices PJM's wholesale power market says data centers drove nearly half of recent capacity charges. Here is… 7 Sep 2026