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Allison Martell

@allisonmartell.bsky.social
1.6K followers 659 following 92 posts

Investigative data reporter for Reuters, based in Toronto. Interested in computer vision, NLP, and other kinds of machine learning for reporting. Also, I teach people to read. 🏳️‍🌈

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Allison Martell @allisonmartell.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The norms of econ seminars are very different from other similar spaces. I don’t know if this is good or bad or both but it sure does reverberate.
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
“.. Some people might think, wow, this is really, really cool, and the technology is really cool,” Ms. Anderson said. “But people around here, we’re thinking, ‘Ugh, is there anything we can do to stop this?’ We can’t live like this.” @nytimes.com $AMZN www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/u...
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Raphael Satter @raphae.li · 09/09/2026
Scoop: OpenAI's rogue agents didn't just hijack a German wiki, they repurposed at least 10 sites -- and potentially many more -- to carve out communications side channels and cheat on tests. www.reuters.com/world/openai...
reuters.com
EXCLUSIVE: OpenAI’s rogue agents used at least 10 more sites for unauthorized comms, researchers say
AI agents unleashed by OpenAI used more than 10 previously undisclosed websites for unsanctioned communications earlier this year, according to six sets of independent investigators and data reviewed ...
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Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I just loved this story by Gregory Barber about an incredible math partnership between a famous retired geometer and the 15yo girl who independently decided to team up with her, eventually solving an unsolved proof
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Reuters @reuters.com · 13/08/2026
In record US wildfire season, firefighter entrapments hit 20-year high reut.rs/45lsqM6
reut.rs
In record US wildfire season, firefighter entrapments hit 20-year high
U.S. firefighting personnel are being overrun by wildfires at the highest rate in two decades, leading to six deaths and dozens of injuries this year, federal data showed, a grim count during a record-setting ​fire season in the United States.
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Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
(Reuters) — More than 12,000 people have been arrested ‌by ICE following tips from the Office of Refugee Resettlement. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
reuters.com
EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of children, sponsors arrested by ICE after tips from US child migrant agency
More than 12,000 people have been arrested ‌by U.S. immigration authorities following tips from the Office of Refugee Resettlement during President Donald Trump’s second term.
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Casey Newton @caseynewton.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Rogue OpenAI agents are leaving notes to themselves on company servers to help them escape their test environments (!!!) www.reuters.com/business/its...
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Grant Smith @grantmeaccess.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Reuters found Shaulis-controlled firms have operated at least three aging Boeing aircraft flying to key logistics hubs used by the Rapid Support Forces, the Sudanese paramilitary group accused of atrocities in the Darfur region. www.reuters.com/investigatio...
reuters.com
The US army veteran and the mystery Boeings flying Sudan’s war routes
Reuters found that companies controlled by a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran operated a fleet of aging Boeing aircraft that flew to key logistics hubs used by the Rapid Support Forces.
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Reuters @reuters.com · 11/06/2026
Forget the DOJ. For a Trump pardon, call “Bobby” and other influencers reut.rs/3SzQHdX
reut.rs
Forget the DOJ. For a Trump pardon, call “Bobby” and other influencers
A Reuters investigation found nearly all clemency decisions made by Trump this term flouted longstanding Justice Department guidelines. In place of traditional rules, the White House relies on influential advocates espousing pardons based on partisan, personal criteria.
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
President Trump has upended the way executives grant pardons. Today, whether you get one "routinely hinges upon an informal and highly personalized network of influencers and advocates appealing to Trump himself." www.reuters.com/investigatio...
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Reuters @reuters.com · 01/05/2026
Nobitex, Iran's largest crypto exchange, was founded by two brothers from the powerful Kharrazi family, Reuters found. According to analysts, the exchange has processed between tens and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of transactions linked to sanctioned Iranian groups reut.rs/4degT5T
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
NEW: The Trump administration has cut more than 4,000 employees from some of the nation’s top law-enforcement agencies, even as it vowed to crack down on crime, according to ​records obtained by Reuters. www.reuters.com/world/trumps...
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Allison Martell @allisonmartell.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
'You'll be living in Hell': Trump threatens to hit Iran infrastructure on Tuesday - www.reuters.com/world/middle...
Screen cap of story top: 

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump ‌said in an expletive-laden social media post on Sunday that the United States will target ​Iran's power plants and bridges on ​Tuesday if the Strait of Hormuz ⁠is not reopened.

"Tuesday will be Power ​Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped ​up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!" Trump said in a Truth ​Social post, referencing the key shipping ​lane that Tehran has effectively closed since the U.S. ‌and ⁠Israel launched attacks on Iran more than a month ago.

"Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living ​in Hell - ​JUST ⁠WATCH!," Trump said, ending his Easter morning post with: "Praise be to ​Allah."
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Reuters @reuters.com · 31/03/2026
LaGuardia controller staffing may have violated procedures on night of collision, document shows reut.rs/4dlr1KB
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LaGuardia controller staffing may have violated procedures on night of collision, document shows
Air traffic controller staffing at LaGuardia ​airport on the night an Air Canada jet collided with a fire truck may have violated the facility's procedures by combining roles before midnight, ‌according to a document seen by Reuters.
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Chris Berube @chrisberube.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
RIP Stephen Lewis - A genuinely inspiring public figure in Canadian life. He reminded us all not to be cynical, and to fight against the forces of entropy in politics. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...
theglobeandmail.com
Stephen Lewis, former Ontario NDP leader and global AIDS advocate, dies at 88
Lewis died in hospital Tuesday after battle with cancer
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James Pearson @pearswick.press · 13/03/2026
Banksy is one of the world's most popular, profitable and enigmatic artists. His identity has been debated, and closely guarded, for decades. Until now: www.reuters.com/investigates... 7/7
reuters.com
In search of Banksy, Reuters found the artist took on a new identity
Anonymity has become part of a lucrative brand for the artist Banksy, but records we unearthed prove his true identity and show the new name he used to travel to Ukraine.
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Allison Martell @allisonmartell.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Condo prices have fallen a lot in Canada's major cities, especially for pre-construction units that buyers reserved several years ago. This can be a problem at closing, if mortgage lenders appraise the unit as worth much less than the buyer is required to pay.
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Reuters @reuters.com · 28/02/2026
Exclusive: Prior to Iran attacks, CIA assessed Khamenei would be replaced by hardline IRGC elements if killed, sources say reut.rs/4l9SCAs
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Exclusive: Prior to Iran attacks, CIA assessed Khamenei would be replaced by hardline IRGC elements if killed, sources say
In the run-up to the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Saturday, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency assessed that even if Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the operation, he would likely be replaced by hardline figures from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), two sources briefed on the intelligence said.
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Georgia Wells @georgiawells.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Last summer, OpenAI employees debated alerting law enforcement about Jesse Van Rootselaar's interactions with ChatGPT In February, Van Rootselaar became the suspect in the mass shooting that devastated a rural town in British Columbia www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...
wsj.com
Exclusive | OpenAI Employees Raised Alarms About Canada Shooting Suspect Months Ago
The ChatGPT maker opted against informing Canadian authorities about Jesse Van Rootselaar’s descriptions of violence last June.
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Kat Stafford @katstafford.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
“The numbers tell a painful story. The impact on journalists of color is staggering and devastating,” the Post Guild said in its statement on Friday. “We cannot ignore what this means for equity, representation, and the future of this organization.” www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/wash...
niemanlab.org
Washington Post layoffs disproportionately affected union members of color, preliminary Guild data shows
"We cannot ignore what this means for equity, representation, and the future of this organization."
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
The White House is using millions of dollars from the former U.S. foreign aid agency to pay for the security detail of Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's budget chief and an architect of the government overhaul that has cut thousands of federal jobs. www.reuters.com/world/us/whi...
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Raphael Satter @raphae.li · 05/01/2026
Many are just waking up to the Grok-nonconsensual images story as these pictures began flooding X over the holidays, but here’s our piece from Jan 2 featuring a victim, Julie Yukari, who was brave enough to speak on the record and on camera: www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...
reuters.com
Elon Musk's Grok AI floods X with sexualized photos of women and minors
When contacted by Reuters for comment by email, xAI replied with the message "Legacy Media Lies."
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Simon Munzert @simonsaysnothin.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
🎅1️⃣1️⃣ China’s shadow navy trains to take Taiwan, by @allisonmartell.bsky.social, David Lague, @claretfarley.bsky.social and Minami Funakoshi www.reuters.com/graphics/USA...
reuters.com
Shadow navy: How China's civilian fleet could be a potent weapon in a Taiwan invasion
A Reuters visual investigation of China's annual naval exercises off the Chinese coast opposite Taiwan shows how Beijing's
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Allison Martell @allisonmartell.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
“Each writing exercise was designed to reinforce explicit instruction on different paper-writing skills” jumps out at me, because explicit instruction remains unfashionable in so many schools.
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Allison Martell @allisonmartell.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
This bracing story connects witness accounts from Sudan and data on violence against healthcare workers worldwide. www.reuters.com/world/sudan-...
reuters.com
Hospital massacre caps a long series of attacks on healthcare in war-torn Sudan
Almost 500 patients, their relatives and others were killed at al-Fashir's last functioning hospital during the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces' recent takeover of the Sudanese city, the World Healt...
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Reuters @reuters.com · 28/11/2025
Hospital massacre caps a long series of attacks on healthcare in war-torn Sudan reut.rs/49EkUzg
reut.rs
Hospital massacre caps a long series of attacks on healthcare in war-torn Sudan
Almost 500 patients, their relatives and others were killed at al-Fashir's last functioning hospital during the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces' recent takeover of the Sudanese city, the World Health Organization reported. The attack is an example of increasingly targeted and brutal attacks on hospitals, clinics and medical workers during conflict worldwide, a Reuters investigation found.
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Janet Roberts @jersey-janet.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
A massacre that the WHO says killed almost 500 at a Sudan hospital last month is an example of increasingly targeted and brutal attacks on hospitals, clinics and medical workers during conflict worldwide, Reuters found. www.reuters.com/world/sudan-...
reuters.com
Hospital massacre caps a long series of attacks on healthcare in war-torn Sudan
Almost 500 patients, their relatives and others were killed at al-Fashir's last functioning hospital during the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces' recent takeover of the Sudanese city, the World Healt...
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Dr. Stephanie @punkrockscience.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Today’s xkcd made me cry. In a good way. xkcd.com/3172/
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Jeff Horwitz @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
In 2019 Meta did causal research looking at the effects of randomly asking Facebook users to stop using the platform for a month. After the first week of the study, results showed that leaving the platform was good for people’s mental health. Meta then shut the project down.
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Allison Martell @allisonmartell.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
Really ambitious, fascinating stuff here www.propublica.org/article/meth...
propublica.org
How ProPublica Investigated a Bird Flu Outbreak in America’s Heartland
Early this year, bird flu ripped through 80 farms in Ohio and Indiana. Using genetic markers, wind simulations, satellite imagery, property records and more, we found that the virus could’ve been airb...
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Allison Martell @allisonmartell.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Our story about China's shadow navy is featured on the Reuters World News podcast today. www.reuters.com/graphics/USA...
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Allison Martell @allisonmartell.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Yesterday we published a visual investigation about civilian ships in China that are training to invade Taiwan. This thread is about how we did it. www.reuters.com/graphics/USA... #OSINT
reuters.com
Shadow navy: How China's civilian fleet could be a potent weapon in a Taiwan invasion
A Reuters visual investigation of China's annual naval exercises off the Chinese coast opposite Taiwan shows how Beijing's
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Janet Roberts @jersey-janet.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
It’s known that China is using ferries and other civilian vessels to prepare for an invasion of Taiwan. Reuters reporters wondered: Could we track vessels from the sky and learn more about China’s military strategy? The answer is yes. Here's how we did it: www.reuters.com/graphics/USA...
tinyurl.com
Shadow navy: How China's civilian fleet could be a potent weapon in a Taiwan invasion
A Reuters visual investigation of China's annual naval exercises off the Chinese coast opposite Taiwan shows how Beijing's
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Allison Martell @allisonmartell.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
New visual investigation: China's shadow navy trains to take Taiwan www.reuters.com/graphics/USA... #OSINT
reuters.com
Shadow navy: How China's civilian fleet could be a potent weapon in a Taiwan invasion
A Reuters visual investigation of China's annual naval exercises off the Chinese coast opposite Taiwan shows how Beijing's
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Reuters @reuters.com · 20/11/2025
A Reuters visual investigation shows China is developing concrete plans to invade Taiwan, a Taiwanese naval security expert said. The outcome of a Chinese attack could depend heavily on the response of the United States, the island’s most important ally reut.rs/4oJRPHe
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Dr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
New MMI piece: We look at the 3.5 million people in Canada who live in a home that is too small to meet their needs, and how a mismanaged push by governments and urban planners towards densification is at odds with the human right to housing. Read here: www.missingmiddleini...
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Reuters @reuters.com · 14/10/2025
Exclusive: Thousands of bodies vanished from a Syrian mass grave in a two-year coverup of Assad-era atrocities, Reuters found. The people were buried at a secret site in the desert reut.rs/42Iiuv7
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Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
EXCLUSIVE: The number of people charged with breaking federal drug laws dropped to the lowest level in decades this year after the Trump administration ordered enforcement agencies to focus on deporting immigrants, a @reuters.com review of court dockets found. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
Chart showing the decline in the number of people charged with federal drug offenses.
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Reuters @reuters.com · 13/09/2025
Charlie Kirk's allies warn Americans: Mourn him properly or else reut.rs/3JYLkkp
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Charlie Kirk's allies warn Americans: Mourn him properly or else
After the fatal shooting of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, U.S. Republicans have a warning for Americans: Mourn him respectfully or suffer the consequences.
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Reuters @reuters.com · 25/08/2025
Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital in Gaza killed at least 15 people, including four journalists, one of whom worked for Reuters. Reuters statement: reut.rs/3HPt6kE
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Reuters @reuters.com · 25/08/2025
Witnesses said the second strike took place after rescue workers, journalists and other people had rushed to the site of the initial attack. The Reuters live video feed from the hospital, which was operated by Masri, suddenly shut down at the moment of the initial strike reut.rs/41pmNLb
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Allison Martell @allisonmartell.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
This is an important investigative story that was possible in part because an LLM helped solve a very challenging document processing problem - ~20,000 pages of handwritten temperature logs. This is groundbreaking work by Disha Raychaudhuri, @claretfarley.bsky.social and others.
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Kat Stafford @katstafford.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
An amazing behind the scenes look at how we reported this story out. Methodology here: www.reuters.com/world/us/how...
reuters.com
How Reuters collected and analyzed prison temperature data
Reuters analyzed air conditioning and indoor temperature log data, obtained through public records request, to better understand how heat affects U.S. prisons
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Kat Stafford @katstafford.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
The graphics on this are just top tier. Really appreciate the care and detail that the team put into this one: reut.rs/3J1dlam
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Kat Stafford @katstafford.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Prison advocates say the hot conditions amount to unfair treatment and excessive punishment. Current and formerly incarcerated individuals told Reuters in a series of interviews that they dreaded summers. One person said the heat was so oppressive it felt like they were “breathing under water.”
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Kat Stafford @katstafford.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Nearly half of state prisons across 29 states have partial or no air conditioning in housing units, according to an exclusive database created by Reuters using documents obtained through public records requests to all 50 states.
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Kat Stafford @katstafford.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Prisons prioritize security over comfort. But concrete walls, steel doors, sealed windows, limited ventilation, lack of tree cover and outdated infrastructure converge to create dangerously hot conditions. Nearly 1.2 million people are housed in federal and state prisons across the nation.
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Kat Stafford @katstafford.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
MUST READ: A new Reuters report uncovers a critical & often overlooked intersection of climate change & correctional policy: The dangerous heat crisis within U.S. prisons. An exclusive analysis of indoor temperature logs revealed some facilities exceed 100°F: www.reuters.com/graphics/USA...
reuters.com
Scorching cells
How heat threatens lives in America’s prisons
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Clara Murray @claradoodle.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
New 📈✍️- we're hearing a lot about AI decimating graduate jobs. But the data paints a more complicated picture on what's behind the fall in entry-level roles With Delphine Strauss, @jburnmurdoch.ft.com & Sarah Lim on.ft.com/4f1wWmK
on.ft.com
Is AI killing graduate jobs?
[FREE TO READ] Tech is blamed for destroying entry-level roles but economic uncertainty and offshoring are playing a part
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Peter Thal Larsen @petertl.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
"Journalists endure many deprivations and hardships in warzones. We are deeply alarmed that the threat of starvation is now one of them." reutersagency.com/media-centre...
reutersagency.com
Joint statement on Gaza from Reuters, AFP, The AP and BBC News
Joint statement on Gaza from Reuters, AFP, AP and BBC News
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