K. Sophie Will

A photo of Emilia Ruzicka with short curly brown hair and a blue collared shirt in the top left corner. Text to the right of the photo reads, “Emilia Ruzicka, Freelance Journalist.” Text at the bottom of the image reads, “I’m speaking at NICAR26, Indianapolis, March 5-8, 2026.”

I am impossibly excited to be speaking at #NICAR26 in Indianapolis!

On Friday, I’ll be kicking things off with @stacykess.bsky.social and @patrickmgarvin.bsky.social for “Accessibility Basics.” We’ll give you a crash course in implementing more accessible practices in your own newsroom! (1/4)

2026 has been a challenging year for journalists, their safety and the communities counting on their coverage. It’s why @ire.org’s upcoming conference season is so crucial to ensure you have the best training to continue that important work. My latest President’s Message: bit.ly/4r2H0RH

Troublemaker is my middle name.

A hard post to start the new year: due to organisational changes at their funder, I've been laid off from my role as senior investigative reporter at @source-material.org. It’s been a privilege to work with such a talented and dedicated team on award-winning exposés across the climate beat

Influence Shrinks as House Limits Members’ Power to Change Bills Rank-and-file House lawmakers are losing their traditional power to shape the nation’s laws, contributing to recent moves by members to bypass leadership and force floor votes on their legislative pri...

NEW: Speaker Mike Johnson and House leadership have increasingly restricted Representatives' power to amend bills on the floor, causing frustration across the aisle, my new data analysis has found.

Get the data, see how we got here, and why: @bgov.com news.bgov.com/bloomberg-go...

Pregnancy Behind Bars Proves Deadly for Women and Their Babies A yearlong probe reveals dozens of pregnant women in jails face horrific conditions with limited medical care. Many are ignored when seeking help, miscarrying or giving birth on floors or in toilets. ...

A Bloomberg Law analysis of federal civil rights lawsuits from 2017 to 2024 found at least 54 pregnant women or their families have alleged severe mistreatment or medical neglect in jails. And it keeps happening.

news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

'Why won't you help me?' Pregnant women and their babies endure inhumane conditions in jails Dozens of pregnant women locked up in county jails described excruciating pain, saying their cries for help were ignored as they miscarried or gave birth into cell toilets or on filthy jail floors.

Pregnant women who are jailed, often for petty crimes, are miscarrying or giving birth in excruciating pain and into cell toilets or on filthy jail floors, according to an investigation from @bloomberglaw.com and NBC News.

Accountability matters.

I had an idea yesterday about making a word search that, when solved, would be a data visualization.

So, I coded it up... and it worked!

This shows abundance of three bird species in Brooklyn Bridge Park over a year.

It feels like there are some fun possibilities here.

📊🪶

IRE statement on Pentagon press freedom constraints - Investigative Reporters & Editors Investigative Reporters and Editors joins other journalism organizations in condemning the Pentagon's new press restrictions.

Investigative Reporters and Editors joins with numerous newsrooms and journalism organizations in condemning the Pentagon's new restrictions on reporters.

Read our full statement: www.ire.org/statement-on...

The idea that AI isn't being used right now in House offices is ... quaint.

Texas Private Schools Hire Relatives and Enrich Insiders. Soon They Can Do It With Taxpayer Money. An investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found more than 60 instances of nepotism, self-dealing and conflicts of interest among 27 private schools that likely would have violated state law...

NEW: An investigation by ProPublica and @texastribune.org found more than 60 instances of nepotism, self-dealing and conflicts of interest among 27 private schools that likely would have violated state laws had the schools been public.

By Lexi Churchill and @emsimani.bsky.social

I've updated my database of more than 530k political fundraising emails, now through Aug. 5. Check them out here:

political-emails.datasette.cloud/data/emails

The carnival industry needs workers, and the H-2B visa program is not enough. Read more here: www.bgov.com/news/T07FP9G...

NEW – a summer take on DHS approps:

A lobbying push is underway to ensure foreign guest workers can be hired to staff the rides and games that are a staple of summer carnivals and avoid potentially bankrupting the industry. Read: www.bgov.com/news/T07FP9G... @bgov.com

An Emboldened Justice Jackson Warns About State of US Democracy Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the state of democracy in the US keeps her up at night, building on her dissents lamenting the Trump administration’s attempts to expand presidential authority and the decisions by fellow colleagues so far backing that effort.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the state of democracy in the US keeps her up at night, building on her dissents lamenting the Trump administration’s attempts to expand presidential authority and the decisions by fellow colleagues so far backing that effort.

GOP Tax Bill Would Eliminate Grad School Loans for Half Million Nearly half a million graduate students nationwide would each lose access to tens of thousands of dollars in school loans annually if the massive tax-and-spending bill before Congress becomes law.

TODAY: ~Half a million grad students would lose access to thousands of dollars in student loans if the reconciliation bill before Congress becomes law.

See how much these future doctors and lawyers would lose on average by your school or state here: @bgov.com news.bloomberglaw.com/social-justi...

The GAO report on which this is based was published in 2021. The (at least) 70 citizens were deported between 2015 and 2020.

We don't know how many citizens have been deported this year, but the key point in that GAO report is that neither does ICE.

My audio debut (embedded in this article) is worth a listen. Cheryl Thompson wasn't aware the state Senate had passed a law in part inspired by her horrible experience at a hospital after a man sexually assaulted her last year.

A federal program to protect US cities against extreme heat has just evaporated NOAA's Center for Heat Resilient Communities would have helped local officials keep residents safe.

A federal program to protect US cities against extreme heat has just evaporated

The inverted hotline for the Reporter’s Committee for the freedom of the press, an organization that provides pro bono legal services for journalists. This is designed to be applied as a temporary tattoo and the number is: 1-800-336-4243.

Instructions for how to apply a temporary tattoo from the Reporter’s Committee for the freedom of the press, an organization that provides pro bono legal services for journalists.

A dark but incredibly useful giveaway at the #CollaborativeJournalism Conference is a temporary tattoo with the @rcfp.org hotline number to wear at protests

Fresh Start, Old Questions: New York City Resumes Tax Lien Sale The looming May 20 sale brings back into focus the needs and criticism for New York and other cash-strapped cities and states that sell off such tax debts to private collectors. Despite promises to reform and limit the impact on poor and nonwhite neighborhoods, this year’s delinquency rate and debtor details mirror New York’s last lien sale in 2021.

The looming May 20 sale brings back into focus the needs and criticism for New York and other cash-strapped cities and states that sell off such tax debts to private collectors.

Controversial NYC Tax Lien Sale Extends Deadline by Two Weeks New York City’s controversial sale of outstanding property tax and water debts owed by thousands of homeowners was delayed by two weeks, just days before it was scheduled to occur.

UPDATE: A day after our story showing the NYC tax lien sale is still affecting largely non-white communities and removal rates match the last sale, the sale has been postponed for two weeks. @bloombergtax.com news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-tax-re...

making a spreadsheet with no actual values in it, just colors that mean something to me that i'm not gonna write down

Fresh Start, Old Questions: New York City Resumes Tax Lien Sale The looming May 20 sale brings back into focus the needs and criticism for New York and other cash-strapped cities and states that sell off such tax debts to private collectors. Despite promises to re...

NEW: When NYC agreed to restart its property tax and water debt sale, officials pledged to enact reforms to limit the disproportionate impact on poor and non-white New Yorkers. But days before the sale, are the reforms working? Maybe not... @bloombergtax.com news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-tax-re...

Exciting news! We were just named a 2025 Pulitzer Prize finalist in Explanatory Reporting alongside The Center for Public Integrity and @revealnews.org for our “40 Acres and a Lie” investigation into how formerly enslaved people were given land—only to have it taken back: 40acresandalie.com

40 Acres and a Lie

We are so proud to have been named a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting today alongside our partners at the Center for Public Integrity and @motherjones.com.

Read the whole project and listen to our three-part podcast series, 40 Acres and a Lie: 40acresandalie.com

We’re Pulitzer finalists, it’s true!

Michael Miner, columnist and editor once called "rock" of the Chicago Reader, dies at 81 In a 2011 column, fellow Chicago Reader​ writer Steve Bogira characterized Miner as "the conscience of Chicago journalism."

Mike Miner was a giant of Chicago journalism, the heart and soul of the Reader, the conscience of the city's vibrant media scene. His work was incisive, rigorous, and funny. He was a kind and gracious mentor to those of us lucky enough to know him. He will be missed

www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...