Annie Waldman
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anniewaldman.bsky.social
Annie Waldman
@anniewaldman.bsky.social
Covering health care @ProPublica. Signal: 347-549-0332. Email: [email protected]. (Also #COYS)
Reposted by Annie Waldman
NEW: We’ve uncovered the first known example of taxpayer money flowing from DHS to businesses controlled by Kristi Noem’s allies and friends.

It’s part of a money trail that’s been shrouded in secrecy—and involves $220 million, a mysterious Delaware LLC & a horse named Gill.
November 14, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Reposted by Annie Waldman
You probably saw videos of a nighttime raid in Chicago. Agents rappelling from a helicopter, bursting down doors, questioning brown-skinned immigrants.

We investigated -- and found little evidence to support the government’s claims about Tren de Aragua.

www.propublica.org/article/chic...
“I Lost Everything”: Venezuelans Were Rounded Up in a Dramatic Midnight Raid but Never Charged With a Crime
Authorities said Tren de Aragua “terrorists” had taken over the building. A ProPublica investigation found little evidence to back up the government’s claims. For the first time, the Venezuelans arres...
www.propublica.org
November 13, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Reposted by Annie Waldman
NEW: 2020 footage said to be in 2025. A neighbor who keeps reappearing in the same clip, said to be on different days & months. A broadcast from elsewhere suggested as Portland.

How Fox News misled its viewership -- which may have included the president.

www.propublica.org/article/port...
“Riots Raging”: The Misleading Story Fox News Told About Portland Before Trump Sent Troops
After reviewing coverage from the network and hours of social media videos that preceded Trump’s decision, ProPublica found that Fox’s portrayal of “Portland rioters” routinely instigating violence wa...
www.propublica.org
November 12, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Annie Waldman
JOB ALERT! We are hiring a business editor.

You have an unerring instinct for the jugular of the wealthy & powerful? Build a team with me and we’ll get after it!

job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/j...

You can email me or on Signal at 718-496-5233
Senior Editor, Business
New York City, United States
job-boards.greenhouse.io
November 12, 2025 at 2:43 PM
NEW: Billions of pounds of food are imported to the U.S. each year.

The FDA inspects foreign producers to ensure what we're eating is safe from pathogens and dangerous manufacturing practices.

But now, after Trump's drastic staff cuts, these inspections have plummeted to a historic low.
🧵/
Foreign Food Safety Inspections Hit Historic Low After Trump Cuts
The dramatic shift in oversight comes at a time when the U.S. has never been more reliant on foreign food, which accounts for the vast majority of the nation’s seafood and more than half its fresh fru...
www.propublica.org
November 6, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by Annie Waldman
NEW: We reviewed 700+ videos, hours of footage from ICE protesters and counterprotesters in Portland.

In 2 months before Trump said he was sending the National Guard, federal officers fire on, grab, pepper-spray or tear gas people 20 times -- without charging anyone. "Gratuitous," one expert said.
What Really Happened in Portland Before Trump Deployed the National Guard
In the two months before Trump’s decision, criminal charges were announced against only three people. On nights when physical conflict did erupt, it often came from police firing on, shoving, pepper-s...
www.propublica.org
November 5, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Since childhood, @zysaidso.bsky.social has advocated for racial equity in Charlottesville schools.

Yesterday, she was elected to the city's school board.

From seven years ago, our profile of her and the gaping achievement gap in the city's education system:
www.propublica.org/article/char...
November 5, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Annie Waldman
NEW: Amid concerns over the Biden administration's regulation of the crypto industry, billionaire tech investor Marc Andreessen, a longtime Democrat, donated more than $5 million to groups supporting Trump ahead of the 2024 election.

Since then, he's gotten what he called for: a hollowed-out CFPB.
Tech Billionaire Marc Andreessen Bet Big on Trump. It’s Paying Off for Silicon Valley.
The Trump administration’s gutting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been good for venture capitalists like Andreessen, who previously accused the agency of “terrorizing” fintech startups and crypto companies.
www.propublica.org
November 5, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by Annie Waldman
72-year-old cancer patient Phillip Lewis said he was woken up and marched outside his home in his robe and underwear before federal officers even checked his ID.

Surprise surprise (not surprised), it turns out, he wasn't the guy they were looking for.

If only his story were unique.
“I Don’t Feel Safe”: Black Memphis Residents Report Harassment by Trump’s Police Task Force
A pastor was pulled over for looking lost. A 72-year-old was marched out in his bathrobe due to mistaken identity. Memphis’ mayor welcomed the federal law enforcement surge, but some residents say the...
www.propublica.org
November 3, 2025 at 3:10 PM
For years, some big polluters were allowed to estimate their own emissions.

Now, the intrepid @lisalsong.bsky.social has found emissions at facilities were far higher than their estimates.

Terrifying reporting w/ incredible pics from @annie-flanagan.bsky.social that make me feel like I'm choking:
Air Pollution From Industrial Facilities Is Far Worse Than Estimated
The Trump administration has put a stop to EPA rules that would have required more than 130 industrial facilities to install air monitors to measure pollution. Millions of people living near these pla...
www.propublica.org
October 31, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Until now, Social Security disability benefits have been easier to qualify for as a person reaches 50+.

Trump's new rules would end that. Under the new plan, millions, many in red states, could find it more difficult to qualify.

Important story from Eli Hager:

www.propublica.org/article/soci...
October 31, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Annie Waldman
"At one steel industry plant near Pittsburgh, a potent carcinogen was found at levels more than 30 times higher than estimated."

If you read to the end you'll find an asthmatic cat photo 😭

My latest, 📸 by Annie Flanagan. Shocking pics that look like pre-EPA days

www.propublica.org/article/epa-...
Air Pollution From Industrial Facilities Is Far Worse Than Estimated
The Trump administration has put a stop to EPA rules that would have required more than 130 industrial facilities to install air monitors to measure pollution. Millions of people living near these pla...
www.propublica.org
October 30, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by Annie Waldman
Charlottesville finally took down its Confederate monuments in 2021.

The statue of Robert E. Lee was melted down.

The statue of Stonewall Jackson was given to artist Kara Walker.

This is what she did with it:

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Breathtaking, unsettling, healing: a new exhibit by Black US artists transforms Confederate monuments
The sweeping exhibition Monuments opens in Los Angeles on 23 October and is on view through May
www.theguardian.com
October 18, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Reposted by Annie Waldman
NEW: We obtained a trove of emails detailing Jeffrey Epstein’s relationship with the Wall Street billionaire Leon Black. The messages show Epstein demanding tens of millions of dollars from Black, insulting his children and advising on a settlement with a woman. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/b...
Money, Women and Taxes: Jeffrey Epstein’s Fiery Friendship with a Wall Street Titan
www.nytimes.com
October 18, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Reposted by Annie Waldman
Hi, I'm the ProPublica reporter who's been tracking an unusual stat: U.S. citizens grabbed by immigration agents.

I did it because the government isn’t.

This is what I found.
October 18, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Behind Russell Vought's plan to dismantle the government:

"We have to be able to defund agencies that are the cause of the time we are in...and that is why we are focusing so much on **woke and weaponized**."

What an insightful profile of the "shadow president" from @andykroll.bsky.social:
Russell Vought, Trump’s Shadow President
From the wholesale gutting of federal agencies to the ongoing government shutdown, Russell Vought has drawn the road map for Trump’s second term. Vought has consolidated power to an extent that inside...
www.propublica.org
October 17, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Justice Brett Kavanaugh: “If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U.S. citizen...they promptly let the individual go."

The reality: Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents.

A must read from the very talented @nicolefoy.bsky.social:
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...
www.propublica.org
October 16, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Reposted by Annie Waldman
24,576 pounds of cheddar cheese to Food Bank for the Heartland in Nebraska;

270,000 eggs to Harvest Hope Food Bank in South Carolina;

4,640 pounds of chicken legs to Maui Food Bank in Hawaii

--> just some of the food aid canceled by Trump

projects.propublica.org/trump-food-c...
Trump Canceled 94 Million Pounds of Food Aid. Here’s What Never Arrived.
ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the millions of pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the administration’s cut...
projects.propublica.org
October 3, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Reposted by Annie Waldman
In April, the Trump admin deported “Rosario” & her two US citizen children, one of whom is being treated for stage 4 kidney cancer.

The case drew national and international attention. Rosario shares her story for the first time with @theguardian.com - another chapter in our Ice Air investigation:
‘They never told me where I was going’: a family falls into Louisiana’s ‘black hole’ of deportation
Exclusive: A mother and her two US citizen children – including one with stage 4 cancer – disappeared and were deported to Honduras
www.theguardian.com
October 3, 2025 at 2:16 PM
"They detained our father about a week ago...we'll be here as many days as we have to be to get information about our dad."

Such crucial on-the-ground reporting at the ICE Broadview facility from @oliverlaughland.bsky.social + @tomsilverstone.bsky.social:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=t31x...
How Chicago is resisting Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown | Anywhere but Washington
YouTube video by The Guardian
www.youtube.com
October 2, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Reposted by Annie Waldman
NEW: Elon Musk’s SpaceX has taken money directly from Chinese investors, according to newly unsealed testimony. It's the first time direct Chinese investment in the defense contractor has been disclosed. www.propublica.org/article/elon...
Elon Musk’s SpaceX Took Money Directly From Chinese Investors, Company Insider Testifies
The newly unsealed testimony marks the first time direct Chinese investment in the company has been disclosed, raising new questions about foreign ownership interests in one of America’s most importan...
www.propublica.org
October 2, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Annie Waldman
Our latest Anywhere But Washington is in Chicago, examining how the city is responding to a wave of ICE raids & a crackdown on free speech following the murder of Charlie Kirk.

We spent time with @katmabu.bsky.social, neighborhood watch organizers & right wing groups outside the city:
How Chicago is resisting Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown | Anywhere but Washington
YouTube video by The Guardian
youtu.be
October 2, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Reposted by Annie Waldman
Exciting news! The second @propublica.org metro ad on @wmata.com has been spotted in the wild on a metro car!

There are thousands of federal staffers with stories to tell. Share yours.

propublica.org/tips
September 30, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Annie Waldman
New:

Kristi Noem fast-tracked millions in disaster aid to Naples, Florida tourist attraction after campaign donor intervened

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

w/ @josh-kaplan.bsky.social @amierjeski.bsky.social
Kristi Noem Fast-Tracked Millions in Disaster Aid to Florida Tourist Attraction After Campaign Donor Intervened
The DHS chief has been widely criticized for slowing down FEMA’s response after natural disasters. Texts and emails obtained by ProPublica point to an effective way to get help faster: have one of Noe...
www.propublica.org
September 26, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Reposted by Annie Waldman
GOOD NEWS.

Clinical teams across the country are forming a five-year, $37 million consortium to research stillbirth, a neglected public health concern.

“There’s no question that the ProPublica reporting was intimately tied to this,” one expert said.

Specifically, @deldeib.bsky.social's reporting.
NIH Launches New Multimillion-Dollar Initiative to Reduce U.S. Stillbirth Rate
Clinical teams across the country are forming a five-year, $37 million consortium to research stillbirth, a long-neglected public health concern. “There’s no question that the ProPublica reporting was...
www.propublica.org
September 25, 2025 at 2:41 PM