Bethany Barnes

I couldn't string sentences together yesterday, Maybe that's a sign that I shouldn't have been spared when all my fantastic colleagues who unfairly lost their jobs pushed through their grief to write beautiful notes about their careers and the situation at The Washington Post. The health team lost 8 out of 13 reporters yesterday despite health listed as part of The Post's new pared down focus. Just six months after becoming an editor and having the honor to lead an all-star team covering federal health agencies and public health, I have to go back to reporting because there are barely any health reporters left to edit. I'll say more about the reporters we lost later today, but as a team, we did everything we were supposed to do under the vision for The Post to be a digital innovator that breaks news, offers hard-hitting accountability and directly address reader concerns. We landed exclusives on the CDC director's firing, plans to overhaul the childhood vaccine schedule, projections for steep ACA marketplace rate increases and more. We avoided dutiful iterative stories and covered storylines such as the expiration of enhanced ACA premiums with smart targeted angles that were widely read. We broke the mold of a traditional newspaper with clever formats including a pop-up newsletter and live chats to help readers navigate new restrictions on coronavirus vaccines, a quiz to understand new dietary guidelines and vertical videos to showcase reporter expertise. The Metro section where I started my career (and offers a clear reason for millions of potential subscribers to pay for us instead of or in addition to other national outlets!) is hollowed out. Reporters around the world wiped out after the owner set a vision for international relevance. A sports department home to journalistic legends shuttered. And so much more bleeding across the entire newsroom.

The Washington Post gutted the health team which I helped to lead despite our stories being among the most widely read, impactful and adept at reaching new audiences.

Minneapolis ICE observers keep showing up despite risk of arrest and violence Bystanders say they are determined to keep recording federal agents’ actions: ‘There will be absolutely no accountability unless people are documenting’

Minnesotans following and documenting ICE activity here have been detained, pulled out of their cars, hit with chemicals, had agents route them to their homes and take photos. Even after the killings of two observers, they aren't stopping. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Outrage over ICE has spilled into typically apolitical online spaces Fury over Alex Pretti’s killing has flooded the internet’s most apolitical venues, reflecting a growing outrage over the Trump administration’s crackdown.

New: Just how furious are Americans about ICE? Sewing influencers, bourbon vloggers and the mod of r/catbongos are all taking a political stand. "I refuse to wake up in five or 10 years and look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘You had a platform and did nothing,'" a golf YouTuber told me

‘You ask us for peace, we get shot in the face’: Minneapolis in turmoil after federal agents kill second US citizen Federal agents released chemicals into the air and arrested people after they had shot and killed a 37-year-old man

“What are you doing?” one woman yelled. “You just shot someone and now you’re terrorizing us. What more can we take?” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Statement from Michael and Susan Pretti Parents of Alex Jeffrey Pretti “We are heartbroken but also very angry. Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the ‘hero’ term lightly. However, his last thought and act was to protect a woman. The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He had his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down, all while being pepper sprayed. Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.

Kare 11 local news just read, in full, this statement from Michael and Susan Pretti, the parents of Alex Pretti.

"Please get the truth out about our son."

Brooklyn Park police chief Mark Bruley: "We're hearing people being stopped with no cause & being demanded to show paperwork to determine if they're here legally. We started hearing from our police officers the same complaints. Every one of these individuals is a person of color... it has to stop"

‘My hands were really shaky’: high-school journalist documents ICE raids Lila Dominguez was working on an article as agents came on to school grounds – their presence has jolted Minneapolis’s young people

When ICE came onto campus at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, high school journalist Lila Dominguez wrote about it. “Being a student in Minneapolis right now can be really scary,” she said. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Back in Oct, we tallied 20+ citizens who’ve been grabbed and held for more than a day *without being able to contact a lawyer or loved one.*

These are only the cases we happened to hear about. Before Minneapolis.

The admins has released no data or details.

www.propublica.org/article/immi...

‘Make no mistake, this is an occupation’: ICE’s deadly presence casts long shadow over Minneapolis Classrooms have emptied, shops have shut, and the mood is tense – but as the federal operation has ramped up, so has residents’ response

From before dawn to the middle of the night, here’s what it’s like on the ground in Minneapolis during this ICE surge - and how residents are fighting against it www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved by Limiting Air Pollution In a reversal, the agency plans to calculate only the cost to industry when setting pollution limits, and not the monetary value of saving human lives, documents show.

Breaking News: The EPA will stop considering lives saved when setting pollution limits and instead calculate only the cost to businesses.

‘This is not normal’: Minneapolis on edge and angry after ICE killing of woman amid federal surge City targeted by Trump has seen swarm of immigration agents on the streets – and residents say the tension is palpable

I live in the Twin Cities. I have been talking to observers for weeks, and a lot this week, about what they're seeing. I was on the scene after the shooting yesterday. Here's what it looks like to live here now www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Reupping this, #Minnesota - my DMs are also open. Interested in how people are providing aid to neighbors, leads on where you're seeing ICE activity, stuff on the ground that you think needs more attention

'Minneapolis on Edge' | The Brian Lehrer Show | WNYC Rachel Leingang, Midwest political correspondent for Guardian US, talks about how Minneapolis is "on edge" after the fatal shooting of a civilian by an ICE agent.

ICYMI, @rachelleingang.bsky.social talks about the fatal shooting of a civilian by an ICE agent in Minneapolis and the Trump administration's focus on Minnesota:
www.wnyc.org/story/minnea...

The whistleblower, for his part, worked to amp up the pressure. He told me he had shared the document with other reporters, putting me into a competitive crunch. He asked when I thought I would publish. I asked him if he could point me to any current or former coworkers of his who could help me understand the document better. “Not really,” he said. By this point, alarm bells were starting to ring. I wondered if the employee badge the whistleblower had shared with me might have been AI-generated. While AI systems are notoriously unreliable at identifying their own outputs, Google Gemini can detect SynthID watermarks embedded in images that it produces. I uploaded the badge to Gemini and asked if Gemini had made it. “Most or all of this image was edited or generated with Google AI,” it said.

The author of a viral Reddit thread alleging fraud at a food delivery company tried to back up his claim by sending me AI-generated documents. Today I'm publishing those documents in the hopes that it helps other reporter see what we're up against in the age of AI www.platformer.news/fake-uber-ea...

Maria has been accused over the years of fabricating her story that she had gone to the FBI. After finding the document in the trove, I called her. She broke down in tears.

“I’ve waited 30 years. I can’t believe it. They can’t call me a liar anymore.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...

Epstein Files Include 1996 Child Porn Complaint That F.B.I. Ignored

HUGE NEWS from the new Epstein files:

Records show that Maria Farmer, who worked for Epstein, filed a "child pornography" report to the FBI in 1996.

The FBI has never before acknowledged that complaint. The case went nowhere, and mass abuse followed.

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...

California insurers slash wildfire claims with hidden rules California insurers use these hidden rules to slash wildfire payouts. Lawmakers are largely unaware.

NEW INVESTIGATION: Insurance companies use hidden rules to slash disaster survivors' payouts.

The @sfchronicle.com obtained hundreds of internal records showing how insurers including State Farm cut claims payments to LA fire victims.

Read more (gift link): tinyurl.com/y4fpza2p

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This year’s #PulitzerStaffPicks feature 18 reporting projects supported through our Climate and Environment focus area.

The stories feature global issues on forests, mountains, and marine ecosystems, but also hyper-local stories.

Learn more! 👉 bit.ly/YIStories25

Private Equity Finds a New Source of Profit: Volunteer Fire Departments

Private equity has found a new source of profit: volunteer fire departments.

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/u...

DeSantis admin diverted child welfare and medical funds for consultants, ads During the fight to defeat amendments 3 and 4 last year, Gov. DeSantis’ administration spent at least $36.2 million in taxpayer funds.

During the fight to defeat amendments 3 (marijuana) and 4 (abortion) last year, Gov. DeSantis’ administration spent at least $36.2 million in taxpayer funds:

www.tampabay.com/news/florida...

Florida inmates were denied eye surgery for years. Some were left blind Florida Department of Corrections and Centurion of Florida sued for failing to provide basic eye surgeries.

In the outside world, cataract surgeries are considered minor and typically take 15 minutes. In Florida prisons, inmates can spend years waiting and go blind before they ever get surgery.

tampabay.com/news/health/...

The nation's airlines, joining forces with the tobacco industry, urged the Civil Aeronautics Board today not to ban smoking on flights of less than two hours. The ban has been strongly pushed by opponents of smoking, prompting the board to renew its consideration of the issue after it rejected a similar proposal in 1981. Beginning two days of testimony from opponents and supporters of the ban, the industry's Air Transport Association told the board the airlines were providing ''reasonable accommodations'' to both smoking and nonsmoking passengers. ''Smoking is a fact of life,'' said Kathleen Argiropoulis, representing the association and most of the major airlines. ''It is something we must accomodate.''

But John F. Banzhaf, a spokesman for an antismoking group, Action on Smoking and Health, said that despite the practice of separating smokers and nonsmokers on aircraft, cigarette smoke ''creates a serious, documented problem for many passengers.'' The tobacco industry argued that most airline passengers opposed a ban on smoking and were satisfied with a separate, nonsmoking section. ''There is no credible scientific evidence that smoking aboard modern aircraft endangers the health of nonsmoking passengers,'' Richard Kingham, counsel to the Tobacco Institute, told the board.

Reading about smoking ban proposals before the tobacco master settlement in 1998 is always a trip: www.nytimes.com/1984/02/15/u...

Public smoking bans just got in under the wire, too. Younger folks might not realize how rare they used to be and how hard they were to enact.

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An FBI agent killed a man after the Boston Marathon bombing. Oakland PD had helped hide his past A trove of internal police files provides a more complete accounting of the early episode that could have jeopardized Aaron McFarlane’s career before a high-profile shooting.

In 2000, rookie Oakland cop Aaron McFarland wrote report saying he arrested man w drugs.

His probable cause for stop: the man had crossed a solid red light.

The problem: At that time of night the lights blink red.

Katey & I obtained new records:

www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

Rebecca Woolington Named Deputy Editor of the Long-term Investigations Team

So thrilled to be joining The Post’s incredible investigations team as a deputy editor!

www.washingtonpost.com/pr/2025/08/1...