Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Aleszu @aleszu.bsky.social · Jul 29

Bloomberg used a ResNet-18 CNN model to classify waste sites in Gaza, and “every computer-generated result was manually validated to ensure the highest possible accuracy.”

Krishna Karra @krishnakarra.bsky.social · Jul 29

read our report which uses satellite imagery to map environmental catastrophe in gaza

with @denisedslu.bsky.social

🎁: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

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Reposted by Aleszu

Teresa Carr @teresacarr.bsky.social · Jul 16

My investigation on the cannabis industry for @undark.org — supported by @pulitzercenter.bsky.social — took me from farms in OR to MA testing labs to the OK capitol, uncovering corruption and highlighting change makers along the way.

It's quite the ride. Enjoy! undark.org/2025/07/16/c...

Weed Regulation is Foundering. For Answers, Look to the Labs

Lots of legal marijuana is sold with inflated THC levels or unsafe contaminants. Can the oversight system be reformed?

undark.org

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Reposted by Aleszu

Frank Bajak @fbajak.bsky.social · Jul 17

If you thought legalizing marijuana for medical and recreational use would make it safer and free of contaminants, think again. Labs cheat and cheating labs get more business, @undark.org reports. The answer is more state-run labs.
By @teresacarr.bsky.social
Data viz by @aleszu.bsky.social

Teresa Carr @teresacarr.bsky.social · Jul 16

My investigation on the cannabis industry for @undark.org — supported by @pulitzercenter.bsky.social — took me from farms in OR to MA testing labs to the OK capitol, uncovering corruption and highlighting change makers along the way.

It's quite the ride. Enjoy! undark.org/2025/07/16/c...

Weed Regulation is Foundering. For Answers, Look to the Labs

Lots of legal marijuana is sold with inflated THC levels or unsafe contaminants. Can the oversight system be reformed?

undark.org

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Reposted by Aleszu

RJI Innovation Team @innovationrji.bsky.social · Jul 8

We worked with the team at DFP to evaluate tools and establish a workflow for creating short-form vertical video. We wanted to find a way to edit and caption the most important parts of city council meeting videos, which are posted online, to publish on social media. rjionline.org/news/how-to-...

How to transform public meetings into engaging social media clips

Testing Descript, OpusClip and Veed.

rjionline.org

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Robert Simmon @rsimmon.bsky.social · Jul 10

Satellite imagery has unique qualities that make it suitable for investigative journalism. It allows observation of inaccessible places, views of wide areas, monitoring over time, and even “see” the invisible. Read more in my latest post:

medium.com/@robsimmon/n...

#dataviz #ddj #cartography

Three satellite images showing construction of the Fordo nuclear enrichment plant in Iran, attempts to hide the air vents, and the location of bomb strikes.

Satellite-derived map from National Geographic showing the Mustang Valley between Tibet and Nepal.

Animation showing the movement of smoke over the Upper Midwest from Canadian wildfires.

Chart showing water used to grow animal feed in the Imperial Valley.

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · Jun 23

The #SCIMaP team announces a major update: an analysis of the economic impacts of the White House's NIH FY26 budget.

Bottom-line, we estimate $46B in total economic loss, 202K lost jobs, and impacts in communities nationwide.

Interactive map and shareable report:
scienceimpacts.org/fy26

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Economic loss due to NIH budget cuts by congressional district, scienceimpacts.org/fy26

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Reposted by Aleszu

Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · May 27

The Wayback Machine is an indispensable tool for archiving web content. It's also a powerful search engine that can dig up deleted webpages and social media posts.

Here's the Indicator guide to getting the most out of the Wayback machine: indicator.media/p/ge...

Getting the most out of the Wayback Machine

Tips for the Wayback Machine browser extension, API, and more!

indicator.media

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Aleszu @aleszu.bsky.social · May 23

LolArchiver launches a new tool: YouTube Comment History. View all video comments from a specific user. So far they’ve archived 20 billion comments from 1.4 billion different accounts. youtube-tools.lolarchiver.com via @craigsilverman.bsky.social

Youtube-Tools | User Comments History

Search any YouTube user comment history with ease. Access over 20 billion comments from more than 1.4 billion users, recorded since 2005. Quickly find and explore user comment histories for research, ...

youtube-tools.lolarchiver.com

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Reposted by Aleszu

Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · May 22

One Pulitzer Prize winner (and three finalists) disclosed using AI to this year's judging committee.

I spoke to the reporters behind those stories about how they leaned on AI tools in their investigations. My latest for @niemanlab.org. www.niemanlab.org/2025/05/how-...

How this year’s Pulitzer awardees used AI in their reporting

For a second year, the Pulitzer Prizes required applicants to divulge AI usage — one winner and three finalists disclosed.

www.niemanlab.org

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Reposted by Aleszu

Stuart A. Thompson @stuartathompson.bsky.social · May 15

I tracked more than 1,000 accounts that Elon Musk follows on X to recreate what he sees www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Inside Elon Musk’s X Feed: Trumpism, Falsehoods and Lots of Love for Elon Musk

The New York Times tracked 1,109 accounts that Mr. Musk follows on X to recreate his news feed.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Aleszu

Observatory on Social Media @osome.iu.edu · May 13

Our team just launched three new tools to help you explore social media data:
🌉NewsBridge – Adds AI-powered context to Facebook posts
🔍 Barney’s Tavern – Search 34B social media posts
🌐 OSoMeNet – Visualize how info spreads across platforms
Learn more and try them out:
osome.iu.edu/research/blo...

Three New Tools to Explore Social Media

The Observatory on Social Media (OSoMe, pronounced “awesome”) is excited to introduce three new tools that will make it easier to study and engage with...

osome.iu.edu

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Reposted by Aleszu

ProPublica @propublica.org · May 7

1/ For ProPublica’s “Life of the Mother” series, winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for public service, we reported on five pregnant women who died after not receiving timely medical care in states with strict abortion bans.

These are their stories 🧵

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Aleszu @aleszu.bsky.social · May 4

“The strongest media organizations I've encountered understand that people don't seek out journalism for journalism's sake - they want solutions to problems, ways to improve their lives, recognition, community.“ @pboehler.net www.pboehler.net/theory-of-se...

Stop pretending journalism matters on its own

Learning to measure journalism by its human value.

www.pboehler.net

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Alyson Hurt @alykat.bsky.social · May 2

Join my team at NPR! We're hiring for a senior graphics reporter. Remote-friendly (in the US). grnh.se/f78153425us

Senior Graphics Reporter

Remote

grnh.se

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Meghan Hoyer @meghanhoyer.bsky.social · May 2

🚨We're hiring! 🚨
The @wpdatateam.bsky.social is looking for a computational journalist -- someone who can help tell big national stories but also work across our team in developing best devops and big data practices. We value camaraderie, learning and collaboration. Feel free to reach out w/ Qs:

Computational Journalist, Data Reporting

Application Instructions Please list all professional experience and explain any gaps in employment history. All of your application materials, which may include PDF files of work samples and/or links...

washpost.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com

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Aleszu @aleszu.bsky.social · May 1

Bloomberg analyzed data, “which covers Jan. 1, 2012 through Feb. 17, 2025, obtained from the Deportation Data Project. The dataset includes records of more than 3.5 million ICE detainees and the dates when the detainees entered and left facilites.”

www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

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Aleszu @aleszu.bsky.social · Apr 30

The AP “ran the text of [push] alerts through a model called BAAI general embedding to vectorize it. We then ran a similarity search over the vectors, using a FAISS index, and boosted the specific terms ‘Trump’ and ‘U.S. government.’” apnews.com/projects/tru...

The push alerts of the first 100 days of the Trump administration

apnews.com

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Voilà: Francis Gagnon @chezvoila.com · Apr 26

So much to love in the scrollytelling — the ternary plot, the depth of the data, the findings — but my favourite part is the explanation and the text in general. 📊

Remember, a chart doesn't have to be understood in 3 seconds. It should reward the effort you put into understanding it.

This triangle helps explain a titanic shift in how Australia votes

This triangle is going to help us explain how Australian politics has fundamentally changed over the past five decades.

www.abc.net.au

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Reposted by Aleszu

Kevin Collier @kevincollier.bsky.social · Apr 23

I really appreciate news stories that take a phenomenon we all generally implicitly understand or assume but don't have any hard data or evidence for, then meticulously prove it. Well done @stuartathompson.bsky.social.

They Criticized Musk on X. Then Their Reach Collapsed.

Three users who disagreed with the site’s owner saw views for their posts plummet.

www.nytimes.com

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Aleszu @aleszu.bsky.social · Apr 22

“Data from the Nature Careers global science jobs platform show that US scientists submitted 32% more applications for jobs abroad between January and March 2025 than during the same period in 2024” www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Exclusive: a Nature analysis signals the beginnings of a US science brain drain

A trawl of job views and application data suggests jobseekers are looking abroad as the Trump administration’s cuts to science take hold.

www.nature.com

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Aleszu @aleszu.bsky.social · Apr 20

“I think it's hard to overstate what a significant departure this is and the reshaping of longstanding norms and expectations that people have about what the government does with their data,” says Elizabeth Laird at the Center for Democracy and Technology www.wired.com/story/doge-c...

DOGE Is Building a Master Database to Surveil and Track Immigrants

DOGE is knitting together data from the Department of Homeland Security, Social Security Administration, an IRS that could create a surveillance tool of unprecedented scope.

www.wired.com

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Heather Randell @heatherrandell.bsky.social · Apr 18

This is an EXCELLENT article. I teach statistics to public policy students & tell them that data are essential for making the world a better place. We need good data to assess the state of things, see how things have changed over time, & evaluate if policies work.

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Trump’s War on Measurement Means Losing Data on Drug Use, Maternal Mortality, Climate Change and More

By slashing teams that gather critical data, the administration has left the federal government with no way of understanding if policies are working — and created a black hole of information whose con...

www.propublica.org

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Reposted by Aleszu

ence morse @ence.bsky.social · Apr 14

The Post identified several instances of Trump or DOGE implementing policy ideas proposed to Musk by users on X. Some proposals went from Musk's X feed to the White House Briefing Room in just hours. with @erxclau.me @azipaybarah.bsky.social & Talia Trackim

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...

Elon Musk gets government policy ideas from X. Here’s how.

A look at which accounts — big and small — have Musk’s ear and how some appear to have sparked action from Musk and the Trump administration.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Aleszu

Adam Sawyer @adamjst.bsky.social · Apr 8

RE: SCOTUS

Access to legal counsel seems to be make or break for so many. I mean, who walks around with a habeas petition in their pocket?

In a recent article for tracreports.org, I compared how often individuals with different spoken language proficiencies are represented in immigration court.

A point graph entitled Changes in Legal Representation by Language in Completed Immigration Court Cases.
The x-axis is entitled Percent of Cases with Representation. The Y-axis has ten languages in order of relative representation. There are three text annotations.
1. Compared to the previous four years, Arabic-speakers are represented in a smaller share of cases in FY 25...
2. ...while Russian-speakers are represented in a greater share.
3. For both Creole- and Spanish-speakers, the rate of representation has fallen by more than 10 percentage points in FY 25.

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