Charles Ornstein

When DOGE Unleashed ChatGPT on the Humanities

Oh my. When DOGE Unleashed ChatGPT on the Humanities, via @nytimes.com

ProPublica Wins Lawsuit Over Access to Court Records in U.S. Navy Cases A judge ruled that the Navy’s long-standing policy to withhold records from its criminal trials violated the First Amendment.

NEW: ProPublica Wins Lawsuit Over Access to Court Records in U.S. Navy Cases

What's angered Trump re Noem? Her testimony about a $200 million self-promotional ad campaign at DHS — about which @propublica.org broke the critical details last year:

www.propublica.org/article/kris...

Explore Financial Disclosures From President Trump and 1,500 of His Appointees - ProPublica Use this database to explore potential conflicts of interest for President Donald Trump and his team. The documents disclose positions officials have held outside government, their assets and their de...

Awesome database published by my @propublica.org colleagues where you can look up financial disclosures of over 1,500 of Trump's appointees. #NICAR26 data nerds will appreciate this one! projects.propublica.org/trump-team-f...

Documents Reveal a Web of Financial Ties Between Trump Officials and the Industries They Help Regulate ProPublica is releasing a trove of disclosure records that detail the finances of more than 1,500 Trump appointees, including former lobbyists, industry executives and at least a dozen officials who d...

"The documents reveal a web of financial ties between senior government officials and the industries they help regulate — relationships that have drawn scrutiny as Trump has dismantled ethics safeguards designed to prevent conflicts of interest." @coreygjohnson.bsky.social @shaw.al @bxroberts.org

This took a ton of work. Hope you'll check it out. @shaw.al @bxroberts.org

Documents Reveal a Web of Financial Ties Between Trump Officials and the Industries They Help Regulate ProPublica is releasing a trove of disclosure records that detail the finances of more than 1,500 Trump appointees, including former lobbyists, industry executives and at least a dozen officials who d...

NEW: Documents Reveal a Web of Financial Ties Between Trump Officials and the Industries They Help Regulate @coreygjohnson.bsky.social @bxroberts.org @shaw.al

ProPublica Sues Education Department for Withholding Records About Discrimination in Schools Under Secretary Linda McMahon, the work of the Office for Civil Rights, which aims to protect students from discrimination, is cloaked in secrecy.

We sent 4 records requests to the Education Department — the first more than a year ago — seeking the status of school investigations, findings of discrimination reversed under Trump and more.

The agency gave no response except to acknowledge it received them.

Anti-abortion video labeled ‘misinformation’ by doctors would be part of Utah sex ed in GOP bill A year after she pushed Planned Parenthood’s sex education programs out of Utah schools, a GOP lawmaker wants to require teachers to show a video by anti-abortion activists.

A Utah doctor spoke against the video, telling lawmakers it is “a sensationalized, and inaccurate, and misleading representation of fetal development.”
“Our children deserve medically accurate information from an unbiased source.”

Albuquerque’s Mayor Said Arrests Were “Not the Solution” to Homelessness. Yet Jail Bookings Have Skyrocketed. Under Tim Keller’s leadership, the city has increasingly criminalized conduct associated with homelessness, causing a growing number of people on the streets to be arrested and jailed.

If you care about homelessness after the big Supreme Court decision in Grants Pass, read this story. By @nicolesantacruz.bsky.social and Ruth Talbot

A line chart shows charges for trespassing, sidewalk obstruction and unlawful camping between 2017 and 2025. Three lines representing the number of each type of charge rise sharply in 2025.

NEW Albuquerque’s Mayor Said Arrests Were “Not the Solution” to Homelessness. Yet Jail Bookings Have Skyrocketed. www.propublica.org/article/albu... By @nicolesantacruz.bsky.social & Ruth Talbot

This is as good as it gets!!

Kristi Noem Misled Congress About Top Aide’s Role in DHS Contracts Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Noem denied that Corey Lewandowski had any role in approving contracts. But internal DHS records and interviews with current and former agency staffer...

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem denied that aide Corey Lewandowski had any role in approving contracts. But internal DHS records and interviews with current and former agency staffers contradict her testimony.

Kristi Noem was asked during Senate testimony yesterday whether Corey Lewandowski had any role in approving DHS contracts.

"No," Noem said.

That's.....BS. And my colleagues have the goods.

www.propublica.org/article/kris...

Kristi Noem Misled Congress About Top Aide’s Role in DHS Contracts Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Noem denied that Corey Lewandowski had any role in approving contracts. But internal DHS records and interviews with current and former agency staffer...

SCOOP: Kristi Noem Misled Congress About Top Aide’s Role in DHS Contracts, by @josh-kaplan.bsky.social @justinelliott.bsky.social

Albuquerque’s Mayor Said Arrests Were “Not the Solution” to Homelessness. Yet Jail Bookings Have Skyrocketed. Under Tim Keller’s leadership, the city has increasingly criminalized conduct associated with homelessness, causing a growing number of people on the streets to be arrested and jailed.

Important story: Albuquerque has increasingly criminalized conduct associated with homelessness, causing a growing number of people on the streets to be arrested and jailed.

Crisis Pregnancy Centers Series | News From The States Billion Dollar Baby Bump: A States Newsroom 50-state investigation examining the tax records of more than 1,600 crisis pregnancy center organizations nationwide and state and federal budgets found the...

NEW SERIES: The magnitude of state & federal funding to anti-abortion pregnancy centers is growing while oversight is not, by @kelciemmorris.bsky.social @acvollers.bsky.social @nhassanein.bsky.social @chatlanis.bsky.social @amandavhernan.bsky.social and me www.newsfromthestates.com/tags/crisis-...

Albuquerque’s Mayor Said Arrests Were “Not the Solution” to Homelessness. Yet Jail Bookings Have Skyrocketed. Under Tim Keller’s leadership, the city has increasingly criminalized conduct associated with homelessness, causing a growing number of people on the streets to be arrested and jailed.

NEW: Albuquerque’s Mayor Said Arrests Were “Not the Solution” to Homelessness. Yet Jail Bookings Have Skyrocketed. By @nicolesantacruz.bsky.social and Ruth Talbot

Nike Is Moving Jobs to Low-Wage Regions of Indonesia After moving manufacturing to the developing world to save on labor, Nike and other apparel brands are shifting employment in their Indonesian supply chain away from high-wage parts of the country and...

Good story and data viz: Nike says it wants factory workers to earn a decent living. In Indonesia, it has moved into areas where workers don’t. w/ @oregonian.com

ProPublica Sues Education Department for Withholding Records About Discrimination in Schools Under Secretary Linda McMahon, the work of the Office for Civil Rights, which aims to protect students from discrimination, is cloaked in secrecy.

So glad to work in a newsroom that's willing to fight against disappearing data. ProPublica Sues Education Department for Withholding Records About Discrimination in Schools, by @jsmithrichards.bsky.social @jodiscohen.bsky.social

What Emergency Managers Say They Need More Than Ever We heard from more than 40 current and former emergency managers in 11 states about what they need to prepare for the next disaster — and what they aren’t getting.

“This crisis-management system in the United States is itself in crisis." What Emergency Managers Say They Need More Than Ever, by @cgaribay.bsky.social

Elite Doctors Served Jeffrey Epstein While Treating His ‘Girls’

So so awful. Elite Doctors Served Jeffrey Epstein While Treating His ‘Girls’

Trump Officials Attended a Summit of Election Deniers Who Want the President to Take Over the Midterms The meeting’s participants included Kurt Olsen, a White House lawyer charged with reinvestigating the 2020 election, and Heather Honey, the Department of Homeland Security official in charge of electi...

Don’t look away: High-ranking federal election officials attended a summit last week at which prominent figures who worked to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election pressed the president to declare a national emergency to take over this year’s midterms. @dougbockclark.bsky.social

A Secret Survey From Inside a Women’s Prison Tells Stories of Domestic Abuse Untold in Court From inside a women’s prison in Oklahoma, a domestic violence survivor began collecting other prisoners’ stories of abuse. Their accounts helped shape a new Oklahoma law intended to reduce their sente...

Story behind the story: A Secret Survey From Inside a Women’s Prison Tells Stories of Domestic Abuse Untold in Court, by @pamelacolloff.bsky.social

Trump Officials Attended a Summit of Election Deniers Who Want the President to Take Over the Midterms The meeting’s participants included Kurt Olsen, a White House lawyer charged with reinvestigating the 2020 election, and Heather Honey, the Department of Homeland Security official in charge of electi...

NEW: More evidence that those who tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election are working with Trump administration officials to set the rules for the 2026 midterms. @dougbockclark.bsky.social

Elon Musk’s Secret Web of Companies in Texas

NEW: Elon Musk said he was “selling almost all physical possessions” when he moved to Texas. Nope. Instead, he has secretly amassed land and penthouses and planes and mansions. We just had to spend months digging through private company records to find it all. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/t...

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Important 🧵

5 Investigations Sparking Change This Month A push for more transparency on drug labels. Clearer guidance for doctors in Texas on how to legally provide abortions. Here’s a look at some recent impact from our newsroom.

5 Investigations Sparking Change This Month

National Magazine Award, Finalists

Hooray! The American Society of Magazine Editors named ProPublica as a finalist for five 2026 National Magazine Awards. 🎉