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.
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.”"
Reposted by Sharon Lurye
I now also have a (work in progress) list of #DataViz specific resources as well!
Link: nrennie.rbind.io/data-viz-res...
You can find links to tools, papers, books, blogs, and websites that are related to data visualisation. I'll be adding more resources soon 📊
#RStats #Python
Link: nrennie.rbind.io/data-viz-res...
You can find links to tools, papers, books, blogs, and websites that are related to data visualisation. I'll be adding more resources soon 📊
#RStats #Python
August 12, 2025 at 1:42 PM
I now also have a (work in progress) list of #DataViz specific resources as well!
Link: nrennie.rbind.io/data-viz-res...
You can find links to tools, papers, books, blogs, and websites that are related to data visualisation. I'll be adding more resources soon 📊
#RStats #Python
Link: nrennie.rbind.io/data-viz-res...
You can find links to tools, papers, books, blogs, and websites that are related to data visualisation. I'll be adding more resources soon 📊
#RStats #Python
"“We just didn’t think that this would affect us because we were never late, we never missed anything, everything was proper and legal in our case,” she said. “We just did not realize that people were being detained for nothing.”"
ICE detains asylum seekers outside NYC courtroom despite legal status
Kate Kirilenko and Alex Uzkii were building a new life in Brooklyn when agents with covered faces grabbed them outside a courtroom.
www.syracuse.com
August 12, 2025 at 2:50 PM
"“We just didn’t think that this would affect us because we were never late, we never missed anything, everything was proper and legal in our case,” she said. “We just did not realize that people were being detained for nothing.”"
Has anyone tested if GPT-5 knows how many states have an R in them? GPT-4 was confidently, comedically wrong.
August 8, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Has anyone tested if GPT-5 knows how many states have an R in them? GPT-4 was confidently, comedically wrong.
I absolutely love this anecdote from a column about humanities professors adapting their classes to AI:
August 7, 2025 at 2:07 PM
I absolutely love this anecdote from a column about humanities professors adapting their classes to AI:
“I want to be heard,” Ms. Osintseva said. “I am often told that we can’t change anything. But a human always has a choice between violence and peace.”
She Survived a 9-Story Fall After a Russian Missile Hit Her Building
www.nytimes.com
August 7, 2025 at 1:56 PM
“I want to be heard,” Ms. Osintseva said. “I am often told that we can’t change anything. But a human always has a choice between violence and peace.”
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.
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
August 7, 2025 at 12:29 PM
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.
“We wanted to test the guardrails. The visceral initial response is, ‘Oh my Lord, there are no guardrails.’ The rails are completely ineffective. They’re barely there — if anything, a fig leaf.”
Study says ChatGPT giving teens dangerous advice on drugs, alcohol and suicide
New research from a watchdog group reveals ChatGPT can provide harmful advice to teens. The Associated Press reviewed interactions where the chatbot gave detailed plans for drug use, eating disorders,...
apnews.com
August 6, 2025 at 1:49 PM
“We wanted to test the guardrails. The visceral initial response is, ‘Oh my Lord, there are no guardrails.’ The rails are completely ineffective. They’re barely there — if anything, a fig leaf.”
Negotiating a records request fee from $2,822 to $29 remains one of the achievements I'm most pleased with in journalism.
5 Tips for Slashing FOIA Costs (Including How One Reporter Lowered a Records Request Fee from $2,800 to Just $29)
With a little research and negotiation, reporters can slash the cost of obtaining records bundles and speed up the government’s response in the process.
gijn.org
August 5, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Negotiating a records request fee from $2,822 to $29 remains one of the achievements I'm most pleased with in journalism.
'Mohammed Qassas from Khan Younis in southern Gaza said his children are so hungry that he is forced to storm aid trucks.
“I have young children, how am I supposed to feed them? No one has mercy. This resembles the end of the world,” he said.'
“I have young children, how am I supposed to feed them? No one has mercy. This resembles the end of the world,” he said.'
Former Israeli security officials call to end the war in Gaza as Netanyahu hints at a new stage
Former Israeli army and intelligence chiefs are calling for an end to the war in Gaza as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hints at further military action and the government plots its next move.
apnews.com
August 5, 2025 at 11:51 AM
'Mohammed Qassas from Khan Younis in southern Gaza said his children are so hungry that he is forced to storm aid trucks.
“I have young children, how am I supposed to feed them? No one has mercy. This resembles the end of the world,” he said.'
“I have young children, how am I supposed to feed them? No one has mercy. This resembles the end of the world,” he said.'
Reposted by Sharon Lurye
Statement from the largest economics association about the BLS firing
As context: AEA approximately never makes such public statements
This is a big deal
As context: AEA approximately never makes such public statements
This is a big deal
August 2, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Statement from the largest economics association about the BLS firing
As context: AEA approximately never makes such public statements
This is a big deal
As context: AEA approximately never makes such public statements
This is a big deal
Reposted by Sharon Lurye
one of the single best deals in streaming. i've been paying for PBS Passport for years. it rules
August 2, 2025 at 8:20 PM
one of the single best deals in streaming. i've been paying for PBS Passport for years. it rules
'In Kodiak, Alaska, KMXT estimated the cuts would slice 22% from its budget. Public radio stations in the sprawling, heavily rural state often provide not just news but alerts about natural disasters like tsunamis, landslides and volcanic eruptions.'
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has long helped pay for PBS, NPR and 1,500 local radio and television stations and programs like “Sesame Street.
Not just Big Bird: Things to know about the Center for Public Broadcasting and its funding cuts
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has long helped pay for PBS, NPR and 1,500 local radio and television stations and programs like “Sesame Street.
bit.ly
August 2, 2025 at 11:56 PM
'In Kodiak, Alaska, KMXT estimated the cuts would slice 22% from its budget. Public radio stations in the sprawling, heavily rural state often provide not just news but alerts about natural disasters like tsunamis, landslides and volcanic eruptions.'
the comments on this post are one excellent bird pun after another
Can’t wait to introduce bird-based storage into my backup system
July 28, 2025 at 7:49 PM
the comments on this post are one excellent bird pun after another
"Holovaty doesn’t hate AI—Soundslice uses machine learning to do its magic—but is mixed on LLMs. He compared his experience with ChatGPT to dealing with an overzealous sales team selling a feature that doesn’t exist."
July 23, 2025 at 3:13 PM
"Holovaty doesn’t hate AI—Soundslice uses machine learning to do its magic—but is mixed on LLMs. He compared his experience with ChatGPT to dealing with an overzealous sales team selling a feature that doesn’t exist."
"We have lost journalists in conflicts, some have been injured, others taken prisoner. But none of us can ever remember seeing colleagues die of hunger....We refuse to watch them die."
AFP journalists warn their 'last reporters will die' working in current Gaza conditions
A group of journalists at Agence France-Presse is sounding the alarm about conditions faced by their colleagues working in Gaza, saying that without immediate intervention, the last reporters working ...
apnews.com
July 23, 2025 at 1:59 PM
"We have lost journalists in conflicts, some have been injured, others taken prisoner. But none of us can ever remember seeing colleagues die of hunger....We refuse to watch them die."