Nat Lash
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natlash.bsky.social
Nat Lash
@natlash.bsky.social
News Apps at ProPublica, based in D.C.
Remote sensing, FOIA, other nonsense. Hit me with your climate/ag/H2O/H5N1-related thoughts & tips.
Reposted by Nat Lash
New @propublica.org & @startribune.com investigation from @jlussenhop.bsky.social & Andy Mannix out today looking into allegations of widespread child sexual abuse within the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church in Minnesota, with photography by @leilanavidi.bsky.social. www.propublica.org/article/sexu...
November 20, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Reposted by Nat Lash
In AIR-BORNE, I wrote about the reluctance many scientists had to acknowledge Covid can float to new hosts. Now it looks like something similar may be happening with bird flu, which may be blowing from farm to farm. Story in @propublica.org www.propublica.org/article/bird...
What the U.S. Government Is Dismissing That Could Seed a Bird Flu Pandemic
Egg producers suspect bird flu is traveling through the air. After a disastrous Midwestern outbreak early this year, we tested that theory and found that where the wind blew, the virus followed. Vacci...
www.propublica.org
November 19, 2025 at 1:00 AM
1/ Today, ProPublica is running a piece I've been working on for a bit. It's about what happened with a devastating wave of bird flu earlier this year, as egg prices hit record highs.

And it's a story that illuminates the ways the U.S. is failing to control what could become the next pandemic. 🧵
November 18, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Reposted by Nat Lash
NEW: Egg producers suspect bird flu is traveling through the air. The USDA didn’t test the theory after a disastrous Midwestern outbreak.

Here’s how we did.

By @natlash.bsky.social
How ProPublica Investigated a Bird Flu Outbreak in America’s Heartland
Early this year, bird flu ripped through 80 farms in Ohio and Indiana. Using genetic markers, wind simulations, satellite imagery, property records and more, we found that the virus could’ve been airb...
www.propublica.org
November 18, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Nat Lash
Tracking the spread of bird flu using genetic markers, satellite imagery, property records, and more reminds me of John Snow’s Cholera investigation/map. Howe’s Hens is the modern day Broad Street Pump. Amazing work from @natlash.bsky.social & @chrisalcantara.com. www.propublica.org/article/meth...
November 18, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Nat Lash
Great to see a new FluView post from #CDC today after weeks without updates.
It's not yet flu season in the US, but activity is starting to pick up. www.cdc.gov/fluview/surv...
Weekly US Influenza Surveillance Report: Key Updates for Week 45, ending November 8, 2025
Seasonal influenza activity is low.
www.cdc.gov
November 14, 2025 at 9:14 PM
ATCSCC Advisory
FAA - Advisories Database
www.fly.faa.gov
October 30, 2025 at 5:43 PM
“No one will speak to your reporter!”
Reuters tracked one of the tankers in a "dark fleet" smuggling diesel into Mexico, following a paper trail that led through U.S. businesses and one of the world's deadliest drug cartels.

This is a heck of a story.

www.reuters.com/investigatio...
October 23, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Nat Lash
And this isn't meant to be an ad. I think there's sometimes a tendency, at least among journalists working with satellite imagery, to immediately go for the highest resolution possible. But there's an awful lot of stories inside those daily 3.5m multispectral collects.
October 22, 2025 at 12:21 PM
New #H5N1 genotypes reported!

Minnesota's recent turkey cases were reported as a mix of D-type reassortants, including the D1.1 strain that was prevalent in wild birds last year, along with two newly named strains, D1.5 and D1.6.
#H5N1
October 8, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Reposted by Nat Lash
VA officials say most veterans’ disability claims are legitimate. Yet The Post found that millions of the claims are for minor or treatable afflictions that rarely hinder employment, such as hair loss and toenail fungus.

Read the full investigation here:
How some veterans exploit $193 billion VA program, due to lax controls
The Department of Veterans Affairs spends billions on dubious and even fraudulent disabilities benefits. Meanwhile, some deserving cases wait.
wapo.st
October 6, 2025 at 3:15 PM
** taps the sign **
August 22, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Nat Lash
On the left: Nate Cavanagh, a 28-year-old DOGE staffer and college dropout.

On the right: Mohammad Halimi, a 53-year-old exiled Afghan scholar.

This is the story of how DOGE targeted Halimi on social media.

Then the Taliban took his family. 🧵
August 22, 2025 at 11:41 AM
August 19, 2025 at 3:16 PM
please just read Laura Reiley's words here:
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/o...
Opinion | What My Daughter Told ChatGPT Before She Took Her Life
www.nytimes.com
August 18, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Reposted by Nat Lash
Life news: Thrilled to be joining @propublica.org as deputy news applications editor! www.propublica.org/atpropublica...
ProPublica Hires Ryan Little and Kevin Uhrmacher as Deputy Editors
ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.
www.propublica.org
August 15, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Nat Lash
We took our lunch outside today to demand:

✅ Just Cause that covers everyone
✅ A fair, transparent discipline process
✅ No loopholes for @propublica.org management

We’re united for a contract that protects us all.
August 12, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Reposted by Nat Lash
AI video is almost there: no amount of post-hoc squinting can tell fake from real.

Losing our last bastion of verification is no joke. Trusted news can help with high-profile events, but what about everyday life? Recipe for chaos.

Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/11/o...
August 11, 2025 at 1:37 PM
I mean, these are exactly the winemakers I'd be buying if I had money to throw around in Sonoma County, so,
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/d...
Facing Difficulties, 6 Small California Wine Businesses Band Together
www.nytimes.com
August 1, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Nat Lash
Working on a project and made this image of the Hunga Tonga volcanic eruption.

Never seen it from this perspective and it sort of blew my mind.
July 28, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by Nat Lash
We did ask NYT if they knew about the hacker's X account, or that their bylined freelancer followed the hacker. We did not get a response aside from getting linked to Healy's old thread about the sourcing of the article.
This ‘violently racist’ hacker claims to be the source of The New York Times’ Mamdani scoop
They say Columbia is just one of five universities they’ve penetrated.
www.theverge.com
July 21, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Nat Lash
After discovering a "very sophisticated" Iranian hack of his office's website, Arizona's secretary of state notified federal and state authorities — but not CISA, in which he said he's lost faith. archive.is/B47dV (h/t @derekbjohnson.bsky.social)
July 21, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Unreasonably psyched about ARS posting this sample. 🪰 🐄 🥛
#h5n1

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/PV92...
Influenza A virus (A/House fly/Fresno County/Dairy_A/2024(H5N1)) segme - Nucleotide - NCBI
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
July 18, 2025 at 7:36 PM