Sophie Culpepper
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speppered.bsky.social
Sophie Culpepper
@speppered.bsky.social
960 followers 220 following 9 posts
Staff writer @niemanlab.org, [email protected]. Local news enthusiast, midnights become my afternoons
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Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
laurahazardowen.bsky.social
this Q&A by @neeldhanesha.com about what federal agents are using in MN, is alarming, but also really interesting.

The pepper spray in use today is hotter & clingier than it used to be.

"Less than lethal" rounds are larger & faster, and standard eye protection doesn't protect against them.
What a safety expert thinks journalists should know about “less than lethal” rounds and chemical irritants used by ICE
"The consideration that we make with all of our recommendations is, 'What is the safest thing you can use while still getting your assignment done?’"
www.niemanlab.org
January 29, 2026 at 7:55 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
kristenradtke.bsky.social
I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com
I grew up with Alex Pretti
The kind-hearted ICU nurse shot by ICE agents was my childhood best friend.
www.theverge.com
January 27, 2026 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
sarahscire.com
everyone in local news says collaboration is key. they also say it can be a pain.

enter Plucky Wire, a scrappy startup incubated @granitestatenc.bsky.social.

www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/a-sc...
A scrappy story-sharing tool with local newsroom DNA gains traction
Plucky Wire was incubated in an unlikely place for a journalism technology: the tiny Granite State News Collaborative. Now, it's being used by hundreds of outlets countrywide.
www.niemanlab.org
January 26, 2026 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
mprnews.org
“He was a good human being and was just trying to help someone,” said Heather Zielinski, a longtime friend of Alex Pretti. “He was really involved in his work and in nature. He was a great dog dad. An honest, funny and kind person. The things that he did, he did it with his whole heart.”
At vigil in Minneapolis, a longtime friend remembers Alex Pretti
Heather Zielinski had already planned to pay respects to a man killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent on Saturday in Minneapolis, after seeing the video on social media. She later learned with shock tha...
www.mprnews.org
January 25, 2026 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
bgrueskin.bsky.social
If you see federal agents pulling into your driveway, reporters, power down your electronic devices ASAP.

That's the advice from @runasand.bsky.social, via @columjournreview.bsky.social

www.cjr.org/news/hannah-...
The full extent of what the FBI will be able to gather from Natanson’s devices will rest on her, and the Post’s, digital security hygiene. “It really depends on, were the devices up to date?” Sandvik told me. “What type of authentication was used? Was encryption enabled on the drive? Was lockdown mode enabled on the phone? Were disappearing messages used on Signal?” If Natanson uses Macs, for instance, even if they are fully encrypted, “that encryption only kicks in when the device is fully powered off,” she said. “When you power the device on and you log in that first time, that is when you unlock or decrypt the drive.” The same would apply to a phone. “So if she knew this and she saw the FBI outside her door,” Sandvik noted, “the smartest thing to do would have been to go and power off all her devices.”
January 15, 2026 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
newsguild.org
On Friday, January 9, ICE arrested a member of our union, the Minnesota Newspaper and Communications Guild, as part of Operation Metro Surge.

He has been transferred to a detention facility in Texas, where he is awaiting action on his petition for habeas corpus.

newsguild.org/guild-member...
Guild member detained by ICE in Minnesota | The NewsGuild - TNG-CWA
On Friday, January 9, ICE arrested a member of our union, the Minnesota Newspaper and Communications Guild, as part of Operation Metro Surge.
newsguild.org
January 16, 2026 at 4:44 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
Project 2025 laid the groundwork for Wednesday’s raid on a Washington Post reporter’s home www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/proj...
Project 2025 laid the groundwork for Wednesday’s raid on a Washington Post reporter’s home
On Wednesday morning, the FBI executed a search warrant on a Washington Post reporter's home as part of a probe into a government worker accused of illegally retaining classified information. The…
www.niemanlab.org
January 14, 2026 at 8:17 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
“It’s sort of the anti-Nextdoor and Citizen…rather than using crime and fear as a way to get people engaged, what if you used humor?”

www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/high...
Highlighting the funniest moments, this startup aims to bring public meetings into the TikTok era
Hamlet, founded by Sunil Rajaraman in 2022, also extracts data from public meetings for private clients, including real estate developers.
www.niemanlab.org
January 14, 2026 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
letsgomathias.bsky.social
"we had whistles, they had guns" will stay with me forever www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Renee Macklin Good’s wife says she nurtured kindness
On Wednesday, Renee Macklin Good was fatally shot by a federal ICE agent. Becca Good, her wife, shared the following statement with MPR News.
www.mprnews.org
January 9, 2026 at 8:29 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
jcollins.bsky.social
I've interviewed three witnesses who said they saw an ICE agent shoot and kill motorist in Minneapolis who was observing. We also have video. All witnesses vociferously deny that the woman shot and killed presented a threat to agents. They say she was trying to leave. Homeland Security tweet below:
January 7, 2026 at 8:28 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
jwherrman.bsky.social
I don't love making broad predictions but I feel this one in my bones
It's interesting - I'II stop short of saying fun - to think about how far all this might go, and what that comprehensively "financialized" information environment would be like to live in. I dont think that you need to move very far in that direction before widespread participation in prediction markets starts to meaningfully influence how people engage with the democratic process. To make that more specific, in the spirit of this package: If enough people see their responsibility during an election as guessing who'll win, it seems reasonable to expect that they II start to vote differently, as will a public increasingly convinced of and/or confused about the value of aggregated prediction. And to put a human face on it: Have you spent much time talking politics with young traders? Or consuming their favorite sources of news? Or even just eavesdropping on their bubble on X? Living and working in service and fear of prediction does some specific and fascinating things to your view of the world! (And that's not even getting into the insider-ish trading-ish possibilities, which | suppose a prediction market true believer would tell you are an information-revealing feature, not a bug.) Prediction markets pitch themselves as a corrective for the media and a replacement for punditry, toward which their proponents usefully and I think honestly perform contempt - hating the media is good marketing, making fun of the media is good politics, and trying to replace it is good business. (Kalshi and Polymarket are both getting into media in their own ways, beyond just partnerships.) But I'm not sure anyone, including blackpilled MAGA-curious founders, has less respect for the profession than political media executives and our most sociopathic pundits, who'll be happier than anyone to have an additional layer of game-like abstraction between their brains and the processes that determine, for example, who lives and dies in America.
December 11, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
brooklinenews.bsky.social
Nuno Loureiro, the Brookline resident and father of three who was killed in a shooting Monday, was funny, smart, personable and an "extraordinary" scientist, according to colleagues and others who knew him.

Neighbors gathered at a vigil last night holding candles.

brookline.news/as-homicide-...
As homicide investigation continues, neighbors, colleagues gather to remember 'extraordinary' Brookline scientist - Brookline.News
Nuno Loureiro was shot and killed at his Gibbs Street home on Monday night.
brookline.news
December 17, 2025 at 3:48 PM
speppered.bsky.social
projects.browndailyherald.com/2025/12/16/t... proud of and heartsick for the students doing this work while grieving. This would have been my worst nightmare as a student AND student journalist.

This shooting happened barely one week after The Herald's new editorial board assumed leadership.
‘Unimaginably tragic’: Tracing the 50 hours after the shooting at Brown
Brown Daily Herald article constructing a timeline of events that followed Saturday’s shooting at Brown University.
projects.browndailyherald.com
December 16, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
bostonglobe.com
Ella Cook was a leader in the college Republicans club. MukhammadAziz Umurzokov dreamed of becoming a doctor. Both saw their lives cut short on Saturday when a gunman opened fire inside a classroom at Brown University.
He dreamed of being a doctor. She was a leader in the college Republicans club. What we know about Brown shooting victims. - The Boston Globe
Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov were attending a review session for a popular economics class when a gunman came into the classroom and opened fire.
trib.al
December 16, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
Stumped on what to get the journalist in your life this year? Start here.

www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/the-...
The 2025 gift guide for journalists
Coffee (faster!), #tradwife murder mysteries, heated mattress pads, Prohibition-era video games, and much more.
www.niemanlab.org
December 11, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
The @sltrib.com has budgeted nearly zero subscription income in 2026 because of its plans to drop its paywall and adopt a membership model.
How The Salt Lake Tribune spent 2025 preparing for a 2026 without subscription revenue
Personally, my favorite form of journalistic impact is when the reporting becomes a central plot point on a Real Housewives franchise. In the Season 6 premiere of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake…
www.niemanlab.org
November 24, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
laurahazardowen.bsky.social
"A lot of people have been hurt over this strike financially [and] emotionally. I want to make sure that has its due. But we’re going to have to work through that very quickly and get back to work."

by @sarahscire.com
What newsroom organizers learned from the years-long strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The importance of coordination, how digital news consumption patterns limit the effectiveness of public shame, and more.
www.niemanlab.org
November 24, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
At five, City Cast makes some changes — and reconsiders its markets www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/at-f...
At five, City Cast makes some changes — and reconsiders its markets
"We no longer begin with the idea that we're a local podcast network, even though that is the most familiar thing to most people.”
www.niemanlab.org
November 20, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
andrewdeck.bsky.social
Last week, Suncoast Searchlight's four reporters wrote a letter to their board. Their editor-in-chief had secretly been using ChatGPT and inserting hallucinated quotes into their drafts.

The next day, one of those reporters was fired. My latest for @niemanlab.org. www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/flor...
Florida nonprofit news reporters ask board to investigate their editor’s AI use
Suncoast Searchlight’s four reporters told the board their editor-in-chief was using AI editing tools and inserting hallucinations into drafts. The next day, one of the reporters was fired.
www.niemanlab.org
November 19, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
A rapidly multiplying number of new media upstarts are entering the fray in Los Angeles — from driven local journalists to national commercial and philanthropic institutions that sense opportunity. www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/more...
“More of everything”: In Los Angeles, an “explosion” of new efforts aim to up the city’s local news game
A well-funded coalition building out neighborhood news, a new newsletter from an expanding for-profit site, and a nonprofit breaking through on social media are just a few examples of the latest bids…
www.niemanlab.org
November 18, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
brizzyc.bsky.social
Finally some good journalism news out of LA, where lots of new news orgs are popping up www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/more... by @speppered.bsky.social
“More of everything”: In Los Angeles, an “explosion” of new efforts aim to up the city’s local news game
A well-funded coalition building out neighborhood news, a new newsletter from an expanding for-profit site, and a nonprofit breaking through on social media are just a few examples of the latest bids ...
www.niemanlab.org
November 19, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
A “win-win” partnership brings a surge of reporting firepower to hyperlocal news outlets around Boston www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/a-wi...
A “win-win” partnership brings a surge of reporting firepower to hyperlocal news outlets around Boston
The Boston University Newsroom has published nearly 400 news articles in hyperlocal outlets in and around the city.
www.niemanlab.org
November 13, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
sarahscire.com
the listener-member model that public radio has turned to after decades of government underfunding conflicts with its goal to reflect and serve all Americans. spoke with @lauragarbes.bsky.social about her book LISTENERS LIKE WHO? www.niemanlab.org/2025/11/fund...
Funding cuts may make public radio more reliant on old, rich, white donors
After years of interviews, research, and writing, Laura Garbes submitted the final draft of her book on public radio in December 2024. By the time Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and Resistance in the P...
www.niemanlab.org
November 10, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
The Southern Utah Tribune is not intended to be [an offshoot] of Salt Lake City’s newsroom...this is a local news product for Washington County; its form and content are rooted in what residents told the Tribune they wanted, and it has two full-time reporters living in the county. buff.ly/4v5EaSu
The Salt Lake Tribune, preparing to drop its paywall, launches a free, monthly print newspaper for Southern Utah
“We believe that the first thing we have to do is build something that people want.”
www.niemanlab.org
October 29, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Sophie Culpepper
niemanlab.org
"Digital news sites don’t come close to replacing the number of newspapers and journalism jobs being lost. And the digital news providers are almost entirely concentrated in metro areas, leaving vast swaths of the country with little to no access to local news.” www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/in-m...
In Medill’s latest State of Local News report, a “festering, 20-year-old problem” looms larger than ever
“Digital news sites don’t come close to replacing the number of newspapers and journalism jobs being lost. And the digital news providers are almost entirely concentrated in metro areas, leaving vast…
www.niemanlab.org
October 22, 2025 at 7:41 PM