Susan Merriam
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Susan Merriam
@semerriam.bsky.social
170 followers 260 following 40 posts
Data and Graphics Journalist, McClatchy
Signal: @semerriam.48 for tips
https://semerriam.github.io/
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semerriam.bsky.social
Even in FEMA's preliminary new maps for Miami-Dade, thousands of reports from the last decade are outside the new 100-year and 500-year flood zones.
November 12, 2025 at 12:12 PM
semerriam.bsky.social
Note: some South Florida municipalities provided lots of data, others none at all so the maps in this story provide only a partial picture and almost certainly underestimate the problem. However, what they do show is that there are hundreds of reports outside the current FEMA flood zones.
November 12, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Susan Merriam
jasonkoebler.bsky.social
A lot of what we write about is bleak but we think it's impactful, and it has changed policy in meaningful ways. That is a reason for optimism. The fact that an outlet like ours can exist—which only can happen because people read, share, subscribe—is reason for optimism
We revealed that ICE was tapping into Flock, a nationwide AI-enabled camera network, thanks to local cops. Since then, a police department shut off external access to its cameras after learning they were being searched for immigration related offenses and Austin banned Flock in its city and specifically cited our reporting. The company now says it has severed access to Illinois data for 47 agencies. In response to our story about a Texas cop who searched Flock cameras nationwide for a woman who had a self-administered abortion, the Illinois Secretary of State is investigating the respective suburban Chicago police department because this data sharing violates state law. Congress opened a formal investigation into Flock because of our reporting. Meta sued a nudify app that 404 Media reported bought thousands of ads on Instagram and Facebook. We broke the news that TeleMessage, a Signal-clone used by the Trump administration, was hacked. Lawmakers demanded answers from the DOJ, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which used TeleMessage, paused its use of the tool. TeleMessage itself suspended operations too. Civitai, a site 404 Media has repeatedly shown was used to generate nonconsensual adult content, banned all AI models designed to generate the likeness of real people. After we found Meta's AI Studio chatbots were posing as therapists with fake license numbers and credentials, four senators demanded answers from Meta and a digital rights organizations filed a complaint with the FTC. We uncovered that 100,000 people were using a Telegram bot that made non-consensual AI sex videos of anyone. After we covered it, Telegram shutdown the bot.
August 22, 2025 at 4:31 PM
semerriam.bsky.social
Excerpts from Brightline’s motion to dismiss Florida East Coast Railway, LLC v. Brightline Trains Florida, LLC filed July 29, 2025

Read more at: www.miamiherald.com/news/local/a...
quote from Brightline's motion to dismiss quote from Brightline's motion to dismiss quote from Brightline's motion to dismiss
August 1, 2025 at 8:57 PM
semerriam.bsky.social
Excerpt from Florida East Coast Railway, LLC v. Brightline Trains Florida, LLC filed July 11, 2025

Read more: www.miamiherald.com/news/local/a...
Quote from legal complaint
August 1, 2025 at 8:56 PM
semerriam.bsky.social
Excerpt from Florida East Coast Railway, LLC v. Brightline Trains Florida, LLC filed July 11, 2025

Read more www.miamiherald.com/news/local/a...
@miamiherald.com + @wlrnnews.bsky.social
quote from legal complaint: "The cooperation and transparency between FECR and Brightline that made Brightline's passenger service a reality has, unfortunately, long disappeared. When the COVID- 19 pandemic struck and Brightline was forced to suspend operations for months, it sunk into a financial malaise from which it has not recovered. Today, the company teeters on the brink of insolvency and financial collapse. Desperate to salvage some of its investors' funds, Brightline has covertly engaged in a years-long campaign to stave off its own financial problems by loading FECR's tracks with more passenger trains in contravention of the parties' meticulously bargained agreements, at the expense of FECR and to the risk of the public."
August 1, 2025 at 8:56 PM
semerriam.bsky.social
Excerpt from Florida East Coast Railway, LLC v. Brightline Trains Florida, LLC filed July 11, 2025

Read more at: www.miamiherald.com/news/local/a...
Quote from lawsuit: "But rather than gratitude for the use of the FEC Corridor, Brightline wants more—more trains and more profit. And to obtain it, Brightline colluded behind FECR's back to dispossess FECR of its own property and load the railway tracks with passenger trains at a volume that the tracks cannot safely handle without significant investment that Brightline cannot afford."
August 1, 2025 at 8:51 PM
semerriam.bsky.social
Latest from Killer Train:
FECR is suing Brightline for “clandestinely” negotiating with county governments to add more trains to its rails in violation of a contract agreement between the two companies.

Story by @joshceb.bsky.social + @aaronleibowitz.bsky.social
bsky.app/profile/miam...
August 1, 2025 at 8:48 PM
semerriam.bsky.social
“The death of almost 200 people by one train is unconscionable and is definitely unacceptable. Brightline needs more transparency and is on the brink of a cease-and-desist order from the citizens of Florida. Enough is enough.”
—U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson in a statement to the
@miamiherald.com
July 18, 2025 at 3:01 PM