Sharon Lurye
@sharonlurye.bsky.social
Education data reporter for the Associated Press, occasional gardener, former math teacher, proud member of the AP News Guild. Send tips/comments/dog pics to slurye@ap.org.
Pinned
Sharon Lurye
@sharonlurye.bsky.social
· Aug 7
Schools are using AI surveillance to protect students. It also leads to false alarms — and arrests
Surveillance systems in American schools increasingly monitor everything students write on school accounts and devices.
apnews.com
NEW investigation reveals how AI keeps students under constant surveillance. It's creating a Big Brother-like atmosphere where even a private joke can lead to arrest.
I found one Florida school district that involuntarily hospitalized kids >70 times for mental evals because of surveillance alerts.
I found one Florida school district that involuntarily hospitalized kids >70 times for mental evals because of surveillance alerts.
Reposted by Sharon Lurye
"More than half of all multilingual students in South Portland, and nearly half in Portland, were absent on some of the most affected days. Between Jan. 20 and 28, Black and Hispanic students in Portland missed school at a rate 30 percentage points higher than their white peers."
Thousands of Maine kids missed school as ICE carried out heightened operations
Absence rates for multilingual students were near or over 50% in some school districts where immigration enforcement spiked, and educators describe empty classrooms and fearful students.
www.pressherald.com
February 8, 2026 at 4:29 PM
"More than half of all multilingual students in South Portland, and nearly half in Portland, were absent on some of the most affected days. Between Jan. 20 and 28, Black and Hispanic students in Portland missed school at a rate 30 percentage points higher than their white peers."
It is really worth your time to stop what you're doing and read this INCREDIBLY reporting from Minneapolis by my talented colleague Bianca.
In Minnesota, sending a child to school is an act of faith for immigrant families
For many immigrant families in Minnesota, sending a child to school each day requires faith that one of the thousands of federal immigration officers deployed around the state won’t detain them.
apnews.com
February 6, 2026 at 4:59 PM
It is really worth your time to stop what you're doing and read this INCREDIBLY reporting from Minneapolis by my talented colleague Bianca.
Reposted by Sharon Lurye
Look at this: @inquirer.com has digitally preserved the interpretative signage removed by NPS, and used annotations to explain what specifically was flagged before removal. This keeps the content publicly accessible (for now) while doing newsworthy reporting
www.inquirer.com/news/philade...
www.inquirer.com/news/philade...
Here are the signs the Trump administration removed from Independence Park
Following last year’s review, every sign has been removed from the President’s House site.
www.inquirer.com
January 23, 2026 at 2:51 AM
Look at this: @inquirer.com has digitally preserved the interpretative signage removed by NPS, and used annotations to explain what specifically was flagged before removal. This keeps the content publicly accessible (for now) while doing newsworthy reporting
www.inquirer.com/news/philade...
www.inquirer.com/news/philade...
Reposted by Sharon Lurye
I talked to the principal at my kids' middle school yesterday, and he said about 30% of kids have not been showing up. Hard to fathom the academic and mental health impact this is having on kids, parents and teachers.
As ICE targets Twin Cities schools & bus stops, even citizens keep kids home - MinnPost
Fear, anger and chaos as classrooms empty out, distance learning fails, student mental health suffers and teachers struggle.
www.minnpost.com
January 22, 2026 at 2:56 PM
I talked to the principal at my kids' middle school yesterday, and he said about 30% of kids have not been showing up. Hard to fathom the academic and mental health impact this is having on kids, parents and teachers.
Reposted by Sharon Lurye
This is such a cool illustration of how the Mercator map distorts the size of Greenland, which looks as big as the whole continent of Africa on that map but is actually the size of Mexico.
January 18, 2026 at 7:43 PM
This is such a cool illustration of how the Mercator map distorts the size of Greenland, which looks as big as the whole continent of Africa on that map but is actually the size of Mexico.
Reposted by Sharon Lurye
"A Minneapolis couple said that ICE agents deployed tear gas... around them and their six children — the youngest only 6 months old — as they tried to maneuver their car out of a tense protest on Wednesday night."
They were driving home from a son’s basketball game.
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
They were driving home from a son’s basketball game.
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
January 16, 2026 at 5:42 PM
"A Minneapolis couple said that ICE agents deployed tear gas... around them and their six children — the youngest only 6 months old — as they tried to maneuver their car out of a tense protest on Wednesday night."
They were driving home from a son’s basketball game.
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
They were driving home from a son’s basketball game.
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
Reposted by Sharon Lurye
Sure. AI companies have ALWAYS been training their models on Wikipedia content, which under the free and open access model is available to anyone — including AI companies. Agreements like these require AI companies to limit and offset the strain they place on Wikimedia infrastructure.
Hoping that @molly.wiki can help explain.
Wikimedia Foundation announces new AI partnerships with Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Perplexity and others
January 15, 2026 at 6:47 PM
Sure. AI companies have ALWAYS been training their models on Wikipedia content, which under the free and open access model is available to anyone — including AI companies. Agreements like these require AI companies to limit and offset the strain they place on Wikimedia infrastructure.
"The emu was returned to its owners unharmed. No charges were filed."
Florida deputy captures runaway emu and returns the large, flightless bird home unharmed
A Florida deputy has captured a runaway and safely returned the large bird to its home. Officials say a St.
apnews.com
January 15, 2026 at 2:16 PM
"The emu was returned to its owners unharmed. No charges were filed."
Reposted by Sharon Lurye
Happening Now: Students have walked out of school and are protesting against ICE in Saint Paul, Minnesota
January 14, 2026 at 8:02 PM
Happening Now: Students have walked out of school and are protesting against ICE in Saint Paul, Minnesota
I'm back into journalism after four months of maternity leave! What did I miss?
January 12, 2026 at 2:04 PM
I'm back into journalism after four months of maternity leave! What did I miss?
A very sobering and important post. Even though sometimes AI can be very helpful for translating complex medical information into plain English, seeing my own family members rely on the AI summary from Google for health information makes me worried.
The last year was very hard as my father was dying. It became that much harder when I discovered that AI played a role in amplifying his physical pain, and perhaps hastening the end of his life. It wasn’t easy to write about what happened, but I’ve tried.
open.substack.com/pub/buildcog...
open.substack.com/pub/buildcog...
The role of AI in the death of my father
A sad strange story
open.substack.com
January 5, 2026 at 2:44 PM
A very sobering and important post. Even though sometimes AI can be very helpful for translating complex medical information into plain English, seeing my own family members rely on the AI summary from Google for health information makes me worried.
Reposted by Sharon Lurye
Personalized software *prevents* you from resonating with community; it blinds you to the many interpretations of media; it lets you stew in bad ideas and never encounter challenges. Community commuting requires you to encounter & parse & build with others, and sometimes compromise. That's good!
January 5, 2026 at 1:37 PM
Personalized software *prevents* you from resonating with community; it blinds you to the many interpretations of media; it lets you stew in bad ideas and never encounter challenges. Community commuting requires you to encounter & parse & build with others, and sometimes compromise. That's good!
Reposted by Sharon Lurye
Other than the clear top-of-alphabet favoritism in this list (9 out of 20 have names that start between A and C? Typical biased media) this is a great list. Subscribe to The Onion, too, obviously, but this is a very good way to spend your money on good people.
NEW — I put together a list of independent journalism subscriptions that would make great holiday gifts. From music to politics, astronomy to alcohol, tech to social justice, there’s something for [almost] everyone. Support indie media *and* surprise and delight your loved ones!
My guide:
My guide:
Giving the gift of independent journalism: a guide
The Handbasket has subscription suggestions for almost everyone on your list.
www.thehandbasket.co
December 6, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Other than the clear top-of-alphabet favoritism in this list (9 out of 20 have names that start between A and C? Typical biased media) this is a great list. Subscribe to The Onion, too, obviously, but this is a very good way to spend your money on good people.
Reposted by Sharon Lurye
A 6-year-old boy is missing after ICE arrested him and his dad in NYC last week and shipped them off to separate facilities. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/02/i... @thecity.nyc @gwynnefitz.bsky.social
ICE Arrested and Separated Chinese Father From 6-Year-Old Son, Advocates Say
The father and son were detained at an ICE check-in on Nov. 26, advocates say. The son’s location is currently unknown, while the father is being held at an upstate ICE facility.
www.thecity.nyc
December 2, 2025 at 5:42 PM
A 6-year-old boy is missing after ICE arrested him and his dad in NYC last week and shipped them off to separate facilities. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/02/i... @thecity.nyc @gwynnefitz.bsky.social
not sure if this means that LLMs prove that "evil is real", so much that it proves that LLMs can understand what bad behavior is in the cultural context in which they were trained, even without being explicitly told
i'm going to sound sarcastic here but genuinely one of the most interesting aspects of LLMs is that they are proving that evil is real, by which i mean if you train them to do one bad thing they start doing other bad things that you have not trained them to do
At least once a month, Anthropic puts out an alignment paper d AI behavior where, if you saw it in a science fiction film, you‘d be screaming at the idiot scientists onscreen to stop development
www.anthropic.com/research/eme...
www.anthropic.com/research/eme...
November 24, 2025 at 5:18 PM
not sure if this means that LLMs prove that "evil is real", so much that it proves that LLMs can understand what bad behavior is in the cultural context in which they were trained, even without being explicitly told
Logging into Bluesky after Shabbat, what did I miss folks?
a man in a suit is carrying a stack of pizza boxes into a doorway .
Alt: Scene from the TV show Community where a smiling man enters an apartment holding a stack of pizza boxes, only for his expression to turn to horror as he sees multiple fires, injured people and general chaos.
media.tenor.com
November 22, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Logging into Bluesky after Shabbat, what did I miss folks?
Reposted by Sharon Lurye
The opposite of the Moms for Liberty wave should get more attention
In culture war backlash, Democrats sweep school boards
In culture war backlash, Democrats sweep school boards
The party recruited and invested in school board races to oust Republicans. It worked.
dlvr.it
November 21, 2025 at 2:37 PM
The opposite of the Moms for Liberty wave should get more attention
Reposted by Sharon Lurye
this is what scientific progress is all about www.404media.co/breathing-th...
Breathing Through Our Butts Declared Safe After First Human Trial
The first application of enteral ventilation—aka breathing through the bum—to humans proved the technique is safe.
www.404media.co
October 23, 2025 at 3:51 PM
this is what scientific progress is all about www.404media.co/breathing-th...
Reposted by Sharon Lurye
Louisiana residents are having problems getting the COVID-19 vaccination, particularly for children. Some of the big chain pharmacies won't vaccinate children in Louisiana, even with a prescription. From @wwno.org #lalege www.wwno.org/public-healt...
Louisiana pharmacies make their own rules amid confusing COVID guidance: ‘It’s clear as mud’
Unclear rules and inconsistent interpretations of federal and state COVID-19 vaccination rules leave families confused and vulnerable patients unprotected.
www.wwno.org
September 30, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Louisiana residents are having problems getting the COVID-19 vaccination, particularly for children. Some of the big chain pharmacies won't vaccinate children in Louisiana, even with a prescription. From @wwno.org #lalege www.wwno.org/public-healt...
Schools in Western NC saw a massive spike in homelessness after Hurricane Helene -- but because of the vagaries of the federal funding cycle, only a handful of counties had McKinney-Vento money available to help those kids. Read this amazing collab between AP and local outlets:
Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina a year ago. Some students never returned to school
Thousands of students across western North Carolina lost their homes a year ago when Helene hit with some of the most vicious floods, landslides and wind ever seen in the mountainous region.
apnews.com
September 24, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Schools in Western NC saw a massive spike in homelessness after Hurricane Helene -- but because of the vagaries of the federal funding cycle, only a handful of counties had McKinney-Vento money available to help those kids. Read this amazing collab between AP and local outlets:
Published this and got a reader email asking me when women will be serial killers at the same rates as men. Not quite sure what that has to do with sixth grade girls learning STEM, but certainly a question to ponder.
The gender gap in math widened in the pandemic. Schools are trying to make up lost ground
Efforts to close the gender gap in STEM education are gaining momentum after setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
apnews.com
September 8, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Published this and got a reader email asking me when women will be serial killers at the same rates as men. Not quite sure what that has to do with sixth grade girls learning STEM, but certainly a question to ponder.
With the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina arriving tomorrow, I was privileged to be able to tell the stories of young students and educators who lived through that time -- in their own words.
How Hurricane Katrina shaped these New Orleans educators
Hurricane Katrina changed New Orleans' education system forever, creating the first all-charter school district in the U.S.
apnews.com
August 28, 2025 at 5:33 PM
With the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina arriving tomorrow, I was privileged to be able to tell the stories of young students and educators who lived through that time -- in their own words.
“Dear Law maker, I really be trying to do my work so I won’t be getting in trouble but I don’t be understanding the work,” wrote one student to a legislator. “They don’t really hands on help me.”
For these incarcerated students, online school has been a disaster
Florida shifted to virtual learning for youth in juvenile detention — and parents and students say it's been a disaster.
apnews.com
August 14, 2025 at 3:42 PM
“Dear Law maker, I really be trying to do my work so I won’t be getting in trouble but I don’t be understanding the work,” wrote one student to a legislator. “They don’t really hands on help me.”
"AI-generated text output by Politico Pro’s Report Builder details fictional lobbying efforts of “the Basket Weavers Guild” and “the League of Left-Handed Plumbers.”"
Politico’s recent AI experiments shouldn’t be subject to newsroom editorial standards, its editors testify
In a July arbitration hearing, Politico faced allegations that two generative AI tools violated its union contract.
www.niemanlab.org
August 12, 2025 at 3:17 PM
"AI-generated text output by Politico Pro’s Report Builder details fictional lobbying efforts of “the Basket Weavers Guild” and “the League of Left-Handed Plumbers.”"