Federica Cocco

"bets made among the staff over which detainee would be next to die by suicide." apnews.com/article/suic...

Bettors wagered $54 million on Khamenei’s death. Now they’re not getting paid. Kalshi, a prediction market site, has sparked outrage after freezing $54 million in bets on the death of Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, citing a rule against profiting from death.

New: I talked to the traders who bet Khamenei would die.

One, an Israeli ex-pat, would've won $63,000 before Kalshi froze the bet: “I was booking my trip to Courchevel.”

“American commercial immorality on steroids," @chrismurphyct.bsky.social told me

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Hello Bluesky! We're the Washington Post data team. We dig through government records, social media, campaign finance reports, weather maps, and any other data we can dig up, download, FOIA or create. Then, we share what we find with you.

We've worked on a lot in the past year. A few highlights 🧵

Happy birthday to Charles Darwin,
patron saint of tired scientists, grumpy fieldworkers, and hating your own manuscript.

Bluesky Map Interactive map of 3.4 million Bluesky users, visualised by their follower pattern.

I made a map of 3.4 million Bluesky users - see if you can find yourself!

bluesky-map.theo.io

I've seen some similar projects, but IMO this seems to better capture some of the fine-grained detail

Donate to Support for Washington Post international employees, organized by Michelle Lee Among the hundreds of journalists laid off by The Washington Post on … Michelle Lee needs your support for Support for Washington Post international employees

This one is for our international colleagues. It has received less publicity because we realised late that funds from the first GoFundMe would not be able to reach them. Any support is deeply appreciated. www.gofundme.com/f/support-fo...

These are also people with children on the way, people reporting from war zones, people who moved countries to do this job, often at great personal cost. We have set up a fundraiser to support them. [3/4]

Above all, people who followed a calling to speak truth to power, and who were trusted by others to tell sensitive stories, some of which may now never see the light of day. [2/4]

It was incredibly difficult to come into the office today and see so many empty desks. Indefatigable reporters, Pulitzer winners, and deeply creative journalists who loved experimenting and pushing their work further. [1/4]

Co-sign all of this; hire these amazing people! I'm happy to talk to a potential hiring manager about any of them

I think I'll have more to say tomorrow but for right now, just: @emilygiam.bsky.social *taught herself to code* so she could tackle all the cool stories she came up with on the sports beat. It's been amazing to have her as a teammate and a collaborator, and we're going to miss her a ton. 💜

She is at the forefront of the biggest stories in sports today. And beyond all that, she is a fantastic colleague with a cutting wit, a knack for baking, and an unfailing willingness to listen. I am jealous of whoever gets to work with her next.

Emily is hands down the best data reporter in sports. She always has the smartest ideas. I know nothing about sports, yet I always read her work, including her inventive look at parlays and their role in America’s booming gambling addiction. [1/2]

I'm not very active here, but given the news: I'm one of the hundreds of reporters laid off from the Post. I worked as a graphics reporter, mostly covering the U.S economy and politics.

My portfolio: www.lmelgar.me

Amid the hundreds of colleagues we’ve lost today, I wanted to highlight the BRILLIANT data/graphics folks who any newsroom should be fighting to hire right now—threading here:

Donate to Washington Post 2026 layoff fund, organized by Rachel Siegel On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, The Washington Post laid off hundreds of journalists. We ar… Rachel Siegel needs your support for Washington Post 2026 layoff fund

Whatever you think of the Washington Post at this moment, here's a chance to support the dedicated, hard-working journalists who were just laid off. If you have the means, your donation is most welcome. If you don't, a kind thought and maybe spreading the word to others is support enough 💙

Donate to Washington Post 2026 layoff fund, organized by Rachel Siegel On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, The Washington Post laid off hundreds of journalists. We ar… Rachel Siegel needs your support for Washington Post 2026 layoff fund

Here: www.gofundme.com/f/standing-t...

Mood

www.ft.com/content/d0b7...
No thank you.

I grew up with Alex Pretti The kind-hearted ICU nurse shot by ICE agents was my childhood best friend.

I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com

William Shirer’s Rise of the Third Reich also touches on this

We analyzed hundreds of earnings calls to see what executives really think of the economy Executives on earnings calls in late 2025 struck an increasingly optimistic tone about growth and strength even as U.S. households grew more pessimistic on the economy.

We analyzed about a thousand corporate earnings transcripts to get a sense of how corporate American views the economy, and how that changed over the course of a year like no other.
Our findings in full: www.washingtonpost.com/business/int...

The average American is not feeling great about the economy. But when business executives talk to shareholders, they tell a very different story about growth and strength. www.washingtonpost.com/business/int...

Oh, it gets worse (in a good way)

Honestly pretty shocking it was just 50% before the pandemic but falling by half in 5 years is horrifying

Screenshot of interactive look-up tool map where you can see the vaccination rates of individual schools as well as county and statewide rates

You can also use the map in the story to look up vaccination rates in your local schools! This was a HUGE data lift: we reviewed and mapped tens of thousands of individual schools’ data, assembling the most comprehensive public database. And we published this data here: github.com/washingtonpo...

U.S. vaccination rates are plunging. Look up where your school stands. Take a look to see what the kindergarten measles vaccination rates are in your area.

EXCLUSIVE: @laurenweberhp.bsky.social & I have spent the last year collecting school+county-level vaccination data from across the US and found that only about 28% of counties now have herd immunity for kindergartners from measles—that leaves about 5.2mn kids unprotected.

Gift link: wapo.st/49zDc43

“How about we add some AI?”