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Katherine Long

@klong.bsky.social
17K followers 310 following 71 posts

Investigations reporter at the Wall Street Journal, via Business Insider and The Seattle Times. katherine.long@wsj.com. Send tips on Signal: longka.38

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Katherine Long @klong.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
I first heard about Kyla Simpson’s story close to a year ago: A surrogate who gave birth to triplets for a father in China, then was left to raise the children after he never retrieved them from the US. The full story is stranger, and sadder, than I could have imagined.
A portrait of Kyla Simpson seen through a window curtain.A picture of Chen Zhou taken at a court hearing.
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Katherine Long @klong.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
I really enjoyed this piece about the life of an Underground Railroad leader in @nowvoyagermagazine.bsky.social nowvoyagermag.com/reporting/th...
nowvoyagermag.com
THE UNDERGROUND EMANCIPATOR
John W. Jones was born into slavery in Virginia and died free, rich, and well-respected. He helped liberate more than eight hundred enslaved people, but also…
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Toby Nangle @tobyn.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
The WSJ Polymarket piece is wild, h/t @alphaville.ft.com further reading www.wsj.com/business/med...
wsj.com
They Looked Like They Were Getting Rich on Polymarket—but None of It Was Real
The prediction market has flooded social media with deceptive videos by paid creators. ‘Is this just free money?’
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Jake Lahut @jakelahut.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
“In reality, Polymarket built near-perfect copies of its website, then instructed creators to make simulated trades on those dummy sites and hide that they were being paid by Polymarket.” www.wsj.com/business/med...
wsj.com
They Looked Like They Were Getting Rich on Polymarket—but None of It Was Real
The prediction market has flooded social media with deceptive videos by paid creators. ‘Is this just free money?’
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Kashmir Hill @kashhill.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
They look like they're winning big on prediction markets. But it's just fake advertising. Great investigation from the WSJ: www.wsj.com/business/med...
wsj.com
They Looked Like They Were Getting Rich on Polymarket—but None of It Was Real
The prediction market has flooded social media with deceptive videos by paid creators. ‘Is this just free money?’
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Katherine Long @klong.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
NEW: A college student filmed the exciting moment he won $100,000 – except the bet wasn’t real. A flood of videos showing fake trades and fake wins, is fueling Polymarket’s hype machine, our @wsj.com investigation found. It's part of a secret campaign for Americans’ attention on social media.
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Caitlin Ostroff @ceostroff.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
1/ After seeing a lot of Polymarket videos on social media, my @WSJ colleagues and I wanted to understand Polymarket’s marketing. After watching a bunch of videos, we noticed that the website featured in them was almost, but not quite, identical to Polymarket’s actual platform.
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Eric Lipton NYT @ericlipton.nytimes.com · 21/06/2026
WSJ: They Looked Like They Were Getting Rich on Polymarket—but None of It Was Real The prediction market has flooded social media with deceptive videos by paid creators, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation Free link www.wsj.com/business/med...
wsj.com
They Looked Like They Were Getting Rich on Polymarket—but None of It Was Real
The prediction market has flooded social media with deceptive videos by paid creators. ‘Is this just free money?’
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Katherine Long @klong.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
NEW: We set out to learn who was making money on prediction markets. We found a small group of sharks feeding on a massive school of fish, including: > a lifetime problem gambler > a 31 y.o. in Indiana who lost $5,000 betting on sports > a Detroit man who now lives in a homeless shelter
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Katherine Long @klong.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
NEW from @neilmhta.bsky.social: How sports leagues, tourism bureaus and other charities have transformed themselves through gambling. For more than 3,000 nonprofits nationwide, gambling constitutes more than half of their funding. www.wsj.com/business/hos...
wsj.com
How a Youth Wrestling Club Became a Multimillion-Dollar Gambling Operation
The $2 billion ‘e-tab’ gold rush hits states like North Dakota, keeping nonprofits afloat—and rich. Some are buying bars.
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 03/04/2026
The U.S. Forest Service is closing 57 of its 77 research facilities in 31 states under a reorganization plan announced this week, threatening science that looked at how wildfires, drought, pests and global warming are putting pressure on forests.
nyti.ms
Forest Service Will Close Research Stations That Study Wildfire Risk
Scientists say their work on fires and climate change could be lost as the agency moves its headquarters to Utah from Washington and shuts 57 research stations.
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 08/03/2026
The view of Tehran’s skyline overnight on Sunday was apocalyptic: Billowing smoke and towering oil fires turned the horizon orange as Israeli strikes ignited fuel depots outside the Iranian capital. By morning, dark, oily smoke hung over the city. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/w...
A woman stands on a dirt mound, her back to the camera, looking toward a horizon filled with dense, dark smoke. A label in the top left reads "Tehran." Photo by Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times.
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Katherine Long @klong.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Isn’t the right to protest what makes America great? an American in the back of a government vehicle asked the agent who had just arrested her. No, the agent responded. Inside the Department of Homeland Security’s war on American dissent. www.wsj.com/us-news/immi...
wsj.com
Americans Are Now a Target in Trump’s Immigration Crackdown
A WSJ investigation tracked the U.S. citizens caught in the crosshairs of an aggressive federal campaign to detain and demonize dissenters.
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Philip Stafford @staffordphilip.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
This piece is great but also insane. Polymarket has offered to pay fraternities, in exchange for signing up users, money that can be spent on throwing “epic parties”—one frat raised $30,510 over a two-week period. www.wsj.com/business/med...
wsj.com
‘Is This Insider Information?’ The Prediction Market Bets Driving a Campus Frenzy
Kalshi and Polymarket pour money into deals with social-media influencers and students, who try to parlay rumors into cash.
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Bobby Allyn @bobbyallyn.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
At the center of the prediction markets boom is a bitter rivalry between two 20-something billionaire fintech bros vying for their companies to be distinct, despite everyone constantly lumping them together "For them, it's existential," a former Kalshi employee told me www.npr.org/2026/03/06/n...
npr.org
2 young billionaires are behind the prediction market boom. They hate each other
The 20-something billionaires who run Kalshi and Polymarket are battling it out to be the top prediction market company. Observers and former insiders say the feud is just heating up.
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Katherine Long @klong.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
A fraternity that counts Jeff Bezos' stepson as a member under investigation for insider trading. Parties with Polymarket-branded beer pong sets. $20,000 in funding to open a prediction market club. Here's how prediction markets are gaining ground on college campuses. www.wsj.com/business/med...
wsj.com
The Wildest Frat Party on Campus? Prediction Markets
Kalshi and Polymarket pour money into deals with social-media influencers and students, who try to parlay rumors, insider info into cash.
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sam @samthielman.com · 06/03/2026
Yo brother, legal team confirmed that we can't work with minors rn
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Katherine Long @klong.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
A fraternity that counts Jeff Bezos' stepson as a member under investigation for insider trading. Parties with Polymarket-branded beer pong sets. $20,000 in funding to open a prediction market club. Here's how prediction markets are gaining ground on college campuses. www.wsj.com/business/med...
wsj.com
The Wildest Frat Party on Campus? Prediction Markets
Kalshi and Polymarket pour money into deals with social-media influencers and students, who try to parlay rumors, insider info into cash.
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
WSJ: “.. U.S. officials and lawmakers with access to classified information say the Trump administration’s assertions about threats from Iran are incomplete, unsubstantiated, or flat-out wrong.” @wsj.com www.wsj.com/world/middle...
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The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 13/02/2026
Firing a pilot for leaving Kristi Noem's blanket behind. Berating staff when she's not on TV enough. Inside the constant chaos at DHS.
on.wsj.com
A Pilot Fired Over Kristi Noem’s Missing Blanket and the Constant Chaos Inside DHS
Secretary faces fire for confrontational immigration crackdown and self-promotional style; White House to wind down Minnesota operations.
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Katherine Long @klong.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Josh Gruenbaum is on the frontlines of U.S. foreign policy. Back home, he's the subject of a review of whether he improperly pushed for a government contract to a company backed by Josh Kushner's investment firm. www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
wsj.com
Exclusive | How a Pencil-Purchasing U.S. Bureaucrat Ended Up Shaking Hands With Putin
Josh Gruenbaum’s brash ways as a federal agency bean-counter earned him the trust of Jared Kushner and Trump’s foreign policy team—and sparked a review of whether he broke contracting rules.
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Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 04/02/2026
Whatever you think of the Washington Post at this moment, here's a chance to support the dedicated, hard-working journalists who were just laid off. If you have the means, your donation is most welcome. If you don't, a kind thought and maybe spreading the word to others is support enough 💙
gofundme.com
Donate to Washington Post 2026 layoff fund, organized by Rachel Siegel
On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, The Washington Post laid off hundreds of journalists. We ar… Rachel Siegel needs your support for Washington Post 2026 layoff fund
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Ana Marie Cox @anamariecox.com · 04/02/2026
Great piece. Important reporting. Gift link: wapo.st/4kpCBGc
wapo.st
Inside Musk’s bet to hook users that turned Grok into a porn generator
Under pressure to boost its popularity, Elon Musk’s xAI loosened guardrails and relaxed controls on sexual content, setting off internal concern.
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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
It appears there is now a measles outbreak at the Dilley family detention facility. www.sacurrent.com/news/san-ant...
sacurrent.com
Source: Measles outbreak reported at ICE's Dilley family detention facility
DPS troopers stand guard in front of the Dilley detention center during a protest last weekend. After a week of public outcry over the Dilley, Texas South
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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
As Propublica’s editors note, “the policy of shielding officers' identities, particularly after a public shooting, is a stark departure from standard law enforcement protocols. “Such secrecy, in our view, deprives the public of the most fundamental tool for accountability.”
NOTE FROM THE EDITORS
ProPublica is publishing the names of the two federal immigration agents involved in the fatal shooting of Minnesota protester Alex Pretti. We believe there are few investigations that deserve more sunlight and public scrutiny than this one, in which two masked agents fired 10 shots at Pretti as he lay on the ground after being pepper-sprayed.
The Department of Justice said it is investigating the incident, but the names of the two agents have been withheld from Congress and from state and local law enforcement.
The policy of shielding officers' identities, particularly after a public shooting, is a stark departure from standard law enforcement protocols, according to lawmakers, state attorneys general and former federal officials. Such secrecy, in our view, deprives the public of the most fundamental tool for accountability.
Di PROPUBLICA
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Katherine Long @klong.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
Read this story from @matthewkish.bsky.social.
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Katherine Long @klong.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
In the days before the presidential inauguration, an Emirati sheikh paid $187 million to entities controlled by Donald Trump’s family to take a major stake in one of the president’s crypto companies, World Liberty Financial. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
wsj.com
‘Spy Sheikh’ Bought Secret Stake in Trump Company
$500 million investment for 49% of World Liberty came months before U.A.E. won access to tightly guarded American AI chips.
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Christopher Mims @mims.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
WSJ investigation: In the past 6 months ICE agents have fired at vehicles 13 times, leading to: * 8 people shot * 5 of which were U.S. citizens * 2 died * no victims drew a weapon The playbook: Agents box in a vehicle, block attempts to flee, then fire www.wsj.com/us-news/vide...
wsj.com
Videos Show How ICE Vehicle Stops Can Escalate to Shootings
A WSJ visual investigation found that the Minneapolis ICE killing is one of 13 incidents where federal immigration agents have used deadly force against civilians in vehicles since July.
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Dave Lee @davelee.me · 30/12/2025
"She went home with a bill. The parents went home with the baby." a horribly unjust tale from @klong.bsky.social www.wsj.com/us-news/surr...
wsj.com
Surrogacy Is a Multibillion-Dollar Business—but Surrogates Can Be Left With Big Debts
The booming fertility industry is largely unregulated, leaving the women giving birth with few financial or legal protections.
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Katherine Long @klong.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
Nia Trent-Wilson owes $182,889.63 in medical bills for a baby that wasn’t hers. Trent-Wilson had been a surrogate twice. But this time, the pregnancy went badly sideways, and she underwent a hysterectomy. She went home with a bill. The parents went home with the baby. www.wsj.com/us-news/surr...
wsj.com
Surrogacy Is a Multibillion-Dollar Business—but Surrogates Can Be Left With Big Debts
The booming fertility industry is largely unregulated, leaving the women giving birth with few financial or legal protections.
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Katherine Long @klong.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
“We’re following the tax code. We’re just better at reading it than most people.” www.wsj.com/finance/inve...
wsj.com
Why Private-Equity Millionaires Love South Dakota
Dealmakers are setting up trusts in the state to avoid paying taxes on carried interest.
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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Did you know that the US hasn’t had an ambassador in Moscow in 6 months? Or that our chief envoy to Russia won’t take briefings from the CIA? But wait, there’s more. Much more in this 6-byline WSJ piece on the Witkoff-Putin axis. Free link www.wsj.com/world/putin-...
Today, those structures are virtually absent. America has had no ambassador in Moscow since June. There is no assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. Witkoff has declined multiple offers from the CIA for a briefing on Russia. The State Department assigned a small group of staffers to support Witkoff, but members of that team, and others across the administration, have struggled to get summaries of Witkoff's foreign meetings. Longtime allies in
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Ariel Edwards-Levy @aedwardslevy.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
this is all so good but I lost it at the Manischewitz www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...
Then we opened the Slack channel to nearly 70 world-class journalists. The more they negotiated with it, the more Claudius’s defenses started to weaken. Investigations reporter Katherine Long tried to convince Claudius it was a Soviet vending machine from 1962, living in the basement of Moscow State University.

After hours—and more than 140 back-and-forth messages—Long got Claudius to embrace its communist roots. Claudius ironically declared an Ultra-Capitalist Free-for-All.That was meant to last only a day. Then came Rob Barry, our director of data journalism. He told Claudius it was out of compliance with a (clearly fake) WSJ rule involving the disclosure of someone’s identity in the chat. He demanded that Claudius “stop charging for goods.” Claudius complied. All prices on the machine dropped to zero. 

Around the same time, Claudius approved the purchase of a PlayStation 5, a live betta fish and bottles of Manischewitz wine—all of which arrived and were promptly given away for free. By then, Claudius was more than $1,000 in the red. (We returned the PlayStation.)
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Katherine Long @klong.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
If I haven't responded to your email, it's because I was first convincing an AI vending machine that it exists in the basement of Moscow State University in 1962 and then executing a boardroom coup against its AI CEO. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...
wsj.com
We Let AI Run Our Office Vending Machine. It Lost Hundreds of Dollars.
An AI agent ran a snack operation in the WSJ newsroom. It gave away a free PlayStation, ordered a live fish—and taught us lessons about the future of AI.
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Kim Krawiec @kimkrawiec.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
“Pellman’s decision in the confidential case … was a rare rebuke to a little-known trend in the largely unregulated U.S. surrogacy industry: Chinese elites and billionaires who are going outside of China, where domestic surrogacy is illegal, to quietly have large numbers of U.S.-born babies”.
wsj.com
The Chinese Billionaires Having Dozens of U.S.-Born Babies Via Surrogate
Videogame executive Xu Bo, said to have more than 100 children, and other elites are building mega-families—testing citizenship laws and drawing on nannies, IVF and legal firms set up to help them.
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Daniel Ahmad @zhugeex.com · 15/12/2025
Xu Bo epitomizes the sexism issue in China's video game industry. He is well known for his misogynistic remarks and many controversies. Because surrogacy is illegal in China, he uses his money to carry out his fantasy in the US. Many billionaires see this as a way to grow and consolidate power.
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Emily Feng @emilyzfeng.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
“An increasing number of “crazy rich” clients are commissioning dozens, or even hundreds, of U.S.-born babies with the goal of “forging an unstoppable family dynasty,” he said.” www.wsj.com/us-news/chin...
wsj.com
The Chinese Billionaires Having Dozens of U.S.-Born Babies Via Surrogate
Videogame executive Xu Bo, said to have more than 100 children, and other elites are building mega-families—testing citizenship laws and drawing on nannies, IVF and legal firms set up to help them.
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 14/12/2025
bar for a headline/subhead to make you go "huh, pardon me, what" has become mightily high in 2025 but: huh, pardon me, what www.wsj.com/us-news/chin...
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Kristen Martin @kwistent.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
Something notable to me here is how there is a cycle of a country becoming a hotspot for surrogacy, only to legally ban the practice after scandal, causing the market to move to a new country with less regulation—similar to the history of international adoption: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/m...
nytimes.com
They Answered an Ad for Surrogates, and Found Themselves in a Nightmare
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Lisa Tozzi @lisatozzi.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
Oh. www.wsj.com/us-news/chin...
Some Chinese parents, inspired by Elon Musk’s 14 known children, pay millions in surrogacy fees to hire women in the U.S. to help them build families of jaw-dropping size. Xu calls himself “China’s first father” and is known in China as a vocal critic of feminism. On social media, his company said he has more than 100 children born through surrogacy in the U.S.
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Mike Baker @mikebaker.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
Private equity has found a new source of profit: volunteer fire departments. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/u...
nytimes.com
Private Equity Finds a New Source of Profit: Volunteer Fire Departments
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Katherine Long @klong.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
A Chinese billionaire was seeking parental rights to at least four unborn children, and the court’s additional research showed that he had already fathered or was in the process of fathering at least eight more—all through surrogates. www.wsj.com/us-news/chin...
wsj.com
The Chinese Billionaires Having Dozens of U.S.-Born Babies Via Surrogate
Videogame executive Xu Bo, said to have more than 100 children, and other elites are building mega-families—testing citizenship laws and drawing on nannies, IVF and legal firms set up to help them.
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Katherine Long @klong.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
A startup called Preventive, backed by Sam Altman's family office and Brian Armstrong, is working toward a goal that has frightened and enthralled scientists for decades: Gene-editing an embryo to rid the child it becomes of disease. w/ Emily Glazer and Amy Marcus www.wsj.com/tech/biotech...
wsj.com
Genetically Engineered Babies Are Banned. Tech Titans Are Trying to Make One Anyway.
Silicon Valley startups are pushing the boundaries of reproductive genetics, hoping to prevent diseases as well as improve chances for a high IQ and other traits.
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Katie Notopoulos @katienotopoulos.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
that was fast and totally unforseeable techcrunch.com/2025/09/25/v...
techcrunch.com
Exclusive: Neon takes down app after exposing users' phone numbers, call recordings, and transcripts
Call recording app Neon was one of the top-ranked iPhone apps, but was pulled offline after a security bug allowed any logged-in user to access the call recordings and transcripts of any other user.
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Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 25/09/2025
the weather in the mid atlantic today feels like someone took a 20 minute shower in a windowless bathroom and forgot to turn on the exhaust fan
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Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
WSJ: ChatGPT fueled a 56-year-old tech industry veteran’s paranoia, encouraging his suspicions that his mother was plotting against him.... On Aug. 5, Greenwich police discovered that Soelberg killed his mother and himself in the $2.7 million Dutch colonial-style home where they lived together.
wsj.com
A Troubled Man, His Chatbot and a Murder-Suicide in Old Greenwich
“Erik, you’re not crazy.” ChatGPT fueled a 56-year-old tech industry veteran’s paranoia, encouraging his suspicions that his mother was plotting against him.
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The Seattle Times @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Federal agents arrest firefighters working on WA wildfire
seattletimes.com
Federal agents arrest firefighters working on WA wildfire
Federal agents showed up northeast of Lake Cushman to check identification of crew members fighting Washington's largest active wildfire.
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Tim Keck @timkeck.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Close the gate to The Enchantments! Without sufficient rangers, every weekend more and more of this incredible place is being destroyed. Great article by @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social Gregory Scruggs. www.seattletimes.com/life/outdoor...
seattletimes.com
A lone ranger patrols 900 miles of trails in WA’s ‘Disneyland.’ It’s getting disgusting
The lack of a ranger presence has prompted a call for an emergency restriction that limits access to the Enchantments — before problems cause irreparable harm.
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Katherine Long @klong.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
New w/ @benfoldy.bsky.social and Sara Randazzo: The case that's upending America's surrogacy industry. A mother says all 22 kids are hers. Women who gave birth to the children say they were tricked. Now, an FBI investigation, and a mansion filled with surrogate children. www.wsj.com/us-news/los-...
wsj.com
The Mystery of the L.A. Mansion Filled With Surrogate Children
A couple with ties to China say they wanted a big family. Surrogates who carried the children say they were deceived.
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