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Laurel Wamsley

@laurelwams.bsky.social
8.1K followers 625 following 508 posts

I’m a writer and editor living in Berkeley. Recently an NPR correspondent in DC.

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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Someone should build a website where a person can input their skills, and it gives them ideas for how to best use their skills for good/humanity
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
No idea where I’ll be living in two years, but I just bought tickets to the LA Olympics!
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
I’m reading a Berkeley anthology from the late 90’s and the introduction is a perfect time capsule that makes clear exactly how much more happening Berkeley was then than it is now.
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Is it too much to want a perfect little German bakery/cafe that I can walk to, for afternoon coffee and cake
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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Seems relevant: Canada is creating jobs at a rate that is roughly 4x that in the United States.
Line chart titled "The pace of job growth in Canada has outpaced job growth in the United States" showing cumulative percent change in employment since December 2024 for Canada and the United States. Canada's employment has grown 1.34% while US employment has increased just 0.34%, meaning Canadian job growth has outpaced the United States by nearly four to one. Canada's employment growth accelerated sharply from 0.98% in June 2026 to 1.34% in July 2026, the highest rate in the period shown, while US employment growth has remained relatively stable between 0.3% and 0.36% from April through July 2026.
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
I just read “A Marriage at Sea” and now we get a modern-day man adrift in the Pacific in a similar fashion www.sfchronicle.com/california/a...
sfchronicle.com
California sailor says he survived month adrift after mast snapped on voyage to Hawaii
A container ship rescued California sailor Kai Sato about 900 miles from Hawaii after he spent weeks aboard a demasted sailboat.
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
sad to see "Content Innovation" at Sunset Magazine means overseeing slop generation. what a time to be alive
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Makes no sense that the Bay Area is the global center of work that involves sitting inside and typing when the weather and landscape here are so spectacularly beautiful
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Emily Atkin @emorwee.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
We are given only a limited number of truly perfect summer days in our time on Earth. One of the more insidious cruelties of fossil fuel greed is how it slowly strips those days from us, more and more throughout our lifetimes, perhaps without us even realizing what we have lost.
heated.world
Another stolen summer day
What are we still waiting to learn?
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Been in San Luis Obispo one hour and I’m ready to retire and move here
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
I was supposed to be taking Amtrak from Sacramento back to Berkeley right now. But we were told the train was cancelled and others evacuated due to a wildfire by the bridge in Benicia. Taking a car back now and saw a train headed to Sac.
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
I live in Berkeley and haven’t seen “Mar-a-Lago face” once. Got a bite this afternoon in the town of Danville and saw three!
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
we’ve been doing our part to build the future of US soccer by showing our son a zillion hours of world cup
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
While they’re doing whatever they like, I feel like FIFA should decide that Mexico and England both get to go through
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Trieu @trieut.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
listening to wimbledon matches is delightful www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/intera...
wimbledon.com
The Wimbledon Radio
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Are there other corpse flowers blooming right now in the Bay Area, beside the one at Golden Gate Park?
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Turkiye or Turkiy-nay?
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Turns out the real perk of hosting the World Cup is that the games are on at the right time to actually watch them. 🇲🇽🇿🇦⚽️
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
I ran into this same lame gatekeeping when I tried to play volleyball at DC’s Raymond rec center last year. One group had taken over the entire open gym, and was essentially closed to new members. www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/p...
sfchronicle.com
‘Their own personal country club’: Battle over S.F. park’s tennis courts reaches boiling point
When San Francisco residents arrived to play on public tennis courts, they said that members of a private club refused to move, insisting that outsiders had to join or wait hours to play.
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Seems easy to write a book on a topic if you just use AI to make up a bunch of relevant quotes to cite. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/b...
nytimes.com
Book on Truth in the Age of A.I. Contains Quotes Made Up by A.I.
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Happy Oakland Ballers opening day to all who celebrate! ⚾️☀️
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
A typical DC day: sitting at Tatte watching the National Guard stroll by
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
I’m back in DC this week. It feels like coming home.
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
When I’m trying to figure out how to bike to downtown Oakland and the route suggested is terrifying, I don’t know whether to blame Google Maps or the bike infrastructure. I guess I’ll do both!
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Hard to work inside on a beautiful day. Hard to work outside without wanting to nap in a hammock.
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
This is genuinely wild: there is only one member of Congress who says he doesn’t believe in God. www.sfchronicle.com/politics/art...
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Julia Angwin @juliaangwin.com · 11/03/2026
I'm suing Grammarly over its paid AI feature that presented editing suggestions as if they came from me - and many other writers and journalists - without consent. State law requires consent before someone's name can be used for commercial purposes. www.wired.com/story/gramma...
wired.com
Grammarly Is Facing a Class Action Lawsuit Over Its AI ‘Expert Review’ Feature
The feature, which Grammarly shut down Wednesday, presented editing suggestions as if they came from established authors and academics—without their consent.
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
the East Bay has emerged from Winter back into Sunhat
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Spicing up the commute
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Just sent my 3yo back to preschool after three days of my partner and I juggling childcare and our jobs at the same time. (What a relief to just have one job again!) The idea that parents did this for like a year+ during covid is unreal.
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
oh man, ice dancing — the costumes, the tears, the brutal heartbreak
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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 06/02/2026
The Washington Post just laid off its entire award-winning photo team. They were our eyes in places we'll never see. It's a horrifying loss at a time when lying governments, propaganda and AI slop are on the rise.
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Caitlin Gibson @caitjgibson.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
The team behind Post Reports is utterly brilliant, truly just magnificent. I've absolutely loved working with them, and I am so stunned and heartbroken to see this important, illuminating work go dark. Please listen to their farewell. Please hire them. www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/pos...
washingtonpost.com
Goodbye from "Post Reports" - The Washington Post
A heartfelt thanks to our listeners from "Post Reports" host Martine Powers, and the rest of the team who made this show happen.
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Clint Smith @clintsmithiii.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Was driving my kids to school and the first thing on the radio was reporting about Trump's video depicting the Obamas as apes and I think many people still don't fully appreciate what it means to have to raise Black children in a country where the president is so brazenly and consistently racist
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
I love the Olympics
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
The hard thing about moving across the country is now several friends back in DC are having babies and I’m not there to squeeze them :(
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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 04/02/2026
I expected the cuts would be bad but I'm honestly stunned and sickened seeing how many great journalists the Washington Post just lost. People who nailed huge investigations, documented war zones, exposed horrific crimes, dropped all at once for failures they did not cause.
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
So sad and mad about what’s happened to the Washington Post. As a friend of several Posties, a longtime reader of the paper, and as an American who needs to know what the hell is going on — this is bad, bad news. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/b...
nytimes.com
Washington Post Lays Off More Than 300 Journalists
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...
nytimes.com
Trump, in an Escalation, Calls for Republicans to ‘Nationalize’ Elections
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Julia Simon @juliaradio.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Please listen to this story from my @npr.org colleague Adrian Florido about a fruit seller named Jesus
npr.org
He sold me fresh fruit for years. I was there when immigration agents took him
NPR's Adrian Florido has been buying fruit from the same fruit cart vendor in his LA neighborhood for years. On Tuesday, Adrian was there when federal immigration agents swooped in and arrested him.
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Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Legal asylum seeker, no criminal record, working two jobs, dragged out of smashed car and kidnapped by ICE as his US citizen newborn cries in a car seat in the freezing cold in Maine and his wife who barely speaks English pleads for help. WTAF
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Vermont Public @vermontpublic.org · 29/01/2026
In a news release, Collins says Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told her that the surge of ICE agents that began recently is over and that the agency will continue "normal operations that have been ongoing for many years."
vermontpublic.org
Susan Collins says ICE surge in Maine has ended
The Republican made the announcement in a news release, saying she had spoken to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Collins had previously asked Noem to pause the surge in Maine an...
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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Jeff Bezos should be a hero and donate the Washington Post to a charity. Bezos would get a big charitable deduction; the rest of us would get a newspaper dedicated to the public interest. This post from Steven Waldman is from a year ago but it's still a great idea. www.cjr.org/opinion/wald...
cjr.org
Jeff Bezos Should Donate the Washington Post to a Charity
His conflicts of interests are insurmountable. He can take a heroic path to strengthen journalism.
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Bruce Springsteen @brucespringsteen.net · 28/01/2026
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free
youtu.be
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
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PBS News @pbsnews.org · 28/01/2026
French lawmakers approved a bill banning social media for children under 15, paving the way for the measure to enter into force at the start of the next school year in September, as the idea of setting a minimum age for use of the platforms gains momentum across Europe. to.pbs.org/4rknpfD
pbs.org
French lawmakers approve ban on social media for kids under 15
President Emmanuel Macron has requested that the legislation be fast-tracked and it will now be discussed by the Senate in the coming weeks.
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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
"Every day, I wake up and see the news and I'm horrified. I think it is crazy that some people make it sound like it's acceptable, like the murder of civilians is acceptable." - Victor Wembanyama says about the killings in Minnesota Via DonHarris4/X
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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Wow: San Jose had zero market-rate multifamily starts in 2024. And this is a generally pretty pro-housing administration. Cities like San Jose urgently need the state to fix condominium presale and defect law to get more projects pencilling. www.mercurynews.com/2026/01/26/s...
mercurynews.com
San Jose could add financial perks to help speed up housing development
San Jose is exploring the expansion of its multi-family incentive program and tax and fee reductions for some commercial-to-residential conversions downtown
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
I'm having a bad day and I tried to put it in perspective with everything else going on. Now I am just a wreck.
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Kristen Radtke @kristenradtke.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com
theverge.com
I grew up with Alex Pretti
The kind-hearted ICU nurse shot by ICE agents was my childhood best friend.
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Laurel Wamsley @laurelwams.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Oh my god I would use this ferry so much. Let’s do it, @berkeleyca.gov ! I would bike to the marina, take the ferry, then bike to work. www.berkeleyside.org/2026/01/26/b...
berkeleyside.org
Berkeley-to-San Francisco ferry plan takes key step forward
San Francisco Bay Ferry could offer service from the Berkeley Marina in three years, if they can find more than $100 million to pay for it.
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