Sarah Smith
@sarahesmith23.bsky.social
Houston Chronicle senior storyteller. Probably reading. sarah.smith@houstonchronicle.com
Reposted by Sarah Smith
Escape room where the thing you are trying to escape is reading about Olivia Nuzzi
November 18, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Escape room where the thing you are trying to escape is reading about Olivia Nuzzi
Reposted by Sarah Smith
I’m begging the media to bring ethics back
November 14, 2025 at 6:20 PM
I’m begging the media to bring ethics back
Reposted by Sarah Smith
An absolute powerhouse of a @propublica.org team has done what U.S. officials refuse to do: identify the men and women swept up in that midnight raid in Chicago. Life in the building was not perfect, but reporters found little evidence to back up government claims: www.propublica.org/article/chic...
“I Lost Everything”: Venezuelans Were Rounded Up in a Dramatic Midnight Raid but Never Charged With a Crime
Authorities said Tren de Aragua “terrorists” had taken over the building. A ProPublica investigation found little evidence to back up the government’s claims. For the first time, the Venezuelans arres...
www.propublica.org
November 13, 2025 at 4:23 PM
An absolute powerhouse of a @propublica.org team has done what U.S. officials refuse to do: identify the men and women swept up in that midnight raid in Chicago. Life in the building was not perfect, but reporters found little evidence to back up government claims: www.propublica.org/article/chic...
Reposted by Sarah Smith
I'm really proud of this story and my colleagues --
@jodiscohen.bsky.social @tchristianmiller.bsky.social
Sebastian Rotella and @mariamelba.bsky.social ... best collab ever. We got help from A LOT of people
@propublica.org and beyond, including Ronna Risquez, and Andrea Morales from @mlk50.com
@jodiscohen.bsky.social @tchristianmiller.bsky.social
Sebastian Rotella and @mariamelba.bsky.social ... best collab ever. We got help from A LOT of people
@propublica.org and beyond, including Ronna Risquez, and Andrea Morales from @mlk50.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:28 PM
I'm really proud of this story and my colleagues --
@jodiscohen.bsky.social @tchristianmiller.bsky.social
Sebastian Rotella and @mariamelba.bsky.social ... best collab ever. We got help from A LOT of people
@propublica.org and beyond, including Ronna Risquez, and Andrea Morales from @mlk50.com
@jodiscohen.bsky.social @tchristianmiller.bsky.social
Sebastian Rotella and @mariamelba.bsky.social ... best collab ever. We got help from A LOT of people
@propublica.org and beyond, including Ronna Risquez, and Andrea Morales from @mlk50.com
Reposted by Sarah Smith
You probably saw videos of a nighttime raid in Chicago. Agents rappelling from a helicopter, bursting down doors, questioning brown-skinned immigrants.
We investigated -- and found little evidence to support the government’s claims about Tren de Aragua.
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
We investigated -- and found little evidence to support the government’s claims about Tren de Aragua.
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
“I Lost Everything”: Venezuelans Were Rounded Up in a Dramatic Midnight Raid but Never Charged With a Crime
Authorities said Tren de Aragua “terrorists” had taken over the building. A ProPublica investigation found little evidence to back up the government’s claims. For the first time, the Venezuelans arres...
www.propublica.org
November 13, 2025 at 1:28 PM
You probably saw videos of a nighttime raid in Chicago. Agents rappelling from a helicopter, bursting down doors, questioning brown-skinned immigrants.
We investigated -- and found little evidence to support the government’s claims about Tren de Aragua.
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
We investigated -- and found little evidence to support the government’s claims about Tren de Aragua.
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
Reposted by Sarah Smith
The Chicago Headline Club Foundation has launched the Essential Equipment Fund to help independent and freelance journalists buy gear like respirators and helmets.
headlineclub.org/2025/10/11/e...
headlineclub.org/2025/10/11/e...
Essential Equipment Fund
CHCF’s Essential Equipment Fund helps Chicago-area journalists stay safe while reporting protests and public events. Apply and support today.
headlineclub.org
November 11, 2025 at 5:59 PM
The Chicago Headline Club Foundation has launched the Essential Equipment Fund to help independent and freelance journalists buy gear like respirators and helmets.
headlineclub.org/2025/10/11/e...
headlineclub.org/2025/10/11/e...
Reposted by Sarah Smith
“So, what would you like for me to say?” the woman asked.
“Honestly, my next question is, are you pro-life? Is your church pro-life?” Monroe asked. The church hung up.
thebarbedwire.com/2025/11/11/t...
“Honestly, my next question is, are you pro-life? Is your church pro-life?” Monroe asked. The church hung up.
thebarbedwire.com/2025/11/11/t...
A Woman Asked 43 Churches If They'd Feed a Starving Baby. The Texas Ones Failed Her Test.
Nikalie Monroe is going viral on TikTok for calling churches across the country to ask for baby formula for a fictional two-month-old.
thebarbedwire.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:10 PM
“So, what would you like for me to say?” the woman asked.
“Honestly, my next question is, are you pro-life? Is your church pro-life?” Monroe asked. The church hung up.
thebarbedwire.com/2025/11/11/t...
“Honestly, my next question is, are you pro-life? Is your church pro-life?” Monroe asked. The church hung up.
thebarbedwire.com/2025/11/11/t...
Reposted by Sarah Smith
"My father remained at the Texas detention center until October. During those six months, he went completely blind in one eye and lost most of the vision in the other, because he wasn’t receiving adequate medical care for his Type 2 diabetes."
From @vanessalop.bsky.social: He worked hard to give me a home. ICE took his: How I lost my father to deportation
chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2...
chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2...
He worked hard to give me a home. ICE took his: How I lost my father to deportation
Deportation has taken away the father I once knew and given me back a person I no longer recognize.
chicago.suntimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:06 PM
"My father remained at the Texas detention center until October. During those six months, he went completely blind in one eye and lost most of the vision in the other, because he wasn’t receiving adequate medical care for his Type 2 diabetes."
I try
November 6, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I try
Reposted by Sarah Smith
Nandy, a 22-year-old in Kentucky, has Type 1 Diabetes. Foods he's supposed to eat are more expensive, he said. He goes to Walmart and Kroger trying to find lowest prices. He's been eating one meal a day to stretch food out. It's impacting his health: “It’s like a death sentence for people like me”
More Young People Will Go Hungry Without SNAP
“We’re trying to make it, but it’s been hard.”
www.teenvogue.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Nandy, a 22-year-old in Kentucky, has Type 1 Diabetes. Foods he's supposed to eat are more expensive, he said. He goes to Walmart and Kroger trying to find lowest prices. He's been eating one meal a day to stretch food out. It's impacting his health: “It’s like a death sentence for people like me”
Reposted by Sarah Smith
More on this moment, as described by Rev. Black himself, here: religionnews.com/2025/10/07/i...
November 5, 2025 at 7:25 PM
More on this moment, as described by Rev. Black himself, here: religionnews.com/2025/10/07/i...
Reposted by Sarah Smith
It feels a bit weird to post right now in light of what has happened to @teenvogue.com and so much of the incredible team there. What sources shared here is important, & I’m grateful I got to work on this. I reported on how young people are being impacted by delays to SNAP: “It’s about survival.”
More Young People Will Go Hungry Without SNAP
“We’re trying to make it, but it’s been hard.”
www.teenvogue.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:12 PM
It feels a bit weird to post right now in light of what has happened to @teenvogue.com and so much of the incredible team there. What sources shared here is important, & I’m grateful I got to work on this. I reported on how young people are being impacted by delays to SNAP: “It’s about survival.”
Reposted by Sarah Smith
PSA from 404 Media: you can opt-out of a data broker selling your flight travel data to the government to be searched without a warrant. Here's how I did it. This is ARC, the data broker owned by major U.S. airlines like United, Delta, American, etc
www.404media.co/how-to-opt-o...
www.404media.co/how-to-opt-o...
How to Opt-Out of Airlines Selling Your Travel Data to the Government
The Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), owned by major U.S. airlines, collects billions of ticketing records and sells them to the government to be searched without a warrant. I managed to opt-out o...
www.404media.co
November 4, 2025 at 2:05 PM
PSA from 404 Media: you can opt-out of a data broker selling your flight travel data to the government to be searched without a warrant. Here's how I did it. This is ARC, the data broker owned by major U.S. airlines like United, Delta, American, etc
www.404media.co/how-to-opt-o...
www.404media.co/how-to-opt-o...
Reposted by Sarah Smith
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
November 3, 2025 at 7:52 PM
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
Reposted by Sarah Smith
NEWS: ICE arrests Chicago man whose teenage daughter is fighting cancer: “He belongs with her.” I spent yesterday afternoon with Ofelia Torres and her mother, Sandibell, talking about Ruben Torres. Here’s the story www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/21/i...
ICE arrests Chicago man whose teenage daughter is fighting cancer: ‘He belongs with her’
Ofelia Torres has spent almost every day of the past month at Lurie Children’s Hospital, where the 16-year-old Lake View High School student is fighting cancer.
www.chicagotribune.com
October 21, 2025 at 7:02 PM
NEWS: ICE arrests Chicago man whose teenage daughter is fighting cancer: “He belongs with her.” I spent yesterday afternoon with Ofelia Torres and her mother, Sandibell, talking about Ruben Torres. Here’s the story www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/21/i...
Reposted by Sarah Smith
BREAKING: A unanimous appeals court panel rules that reporter Catherine Herridge must testify about her source for a story that has become the subject of a leak investigation. media.cadc.uscourts.gov/opinions/doc...
September 30, 2025 at 2:25 PM
BREAKING: A unanimous appeals court panel rules that reporter Catherine Herridge must testify about her source for a story that has become the subject of a leak investigation. media.cadc.uscourts.gov/opinions/doc...
Every culture’s death rituals are different, but they're all meant to allow us to live our lives even as we carry our dead. This is what happens when those rituals go awry.
Belatedly, my latest story (& first @esquiremag.bsky.social / @houstonchronicle.com collab!)
www.esquire.com/news-politic...
Belatedly, my latest story (& first @esquiremag.bsky.social / @houstonchronicle.com collab!)
www.esquire.com/news-politic...
Cheating the Dead: The Undertaker and the Families Who Say He Scammed Them in Their Hour of Grief
A man stands accused of desecrating bodies at a funeral home. A bereaved mother will stop at nothing to get justice for her son. And the police trail on the case has gone cold. A requiem for the livin...
www.esquire.com
September 30, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Every culture’s death rituals are different, but they're all meant to allow us to live our lives even as we carry our dead. This is what happens when those rituals go awry.
Belatedly, my latest story (& first @esquiremag.bsky.social / @houstonchronicle.com collab!)
www.esquire.com/news-politic...
Belatedly, my latest story (& first @esquiremag.bsky.social / @houstonchronicle.com collab!)
www.esquire.com/news-politic...
Reposted by Sarah Smith
Reposted by Sarah Smith
NEW: The law is supposed to protect unaccompanied migrant children from being summarily whisked out of the country by ICE in the dead of night.
But that didn't seem to matter on Labor Day weekend, when the Trump administration tried to do just that.
My latest: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...
But that didn't seem to matter on Labor Day weekend, when the Trump administration tried to do just that.
My latest: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...
September 9, 2025 at 10:04 PM
NEW: The law is supposed to protect unaccompanied migrant children from being summarily whisked out of the country by ICE in the dead of night.
But that didn't seem to matter on Labor Day weekend, when the Trump administration tried to do just that.
My latest: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...
But that didn't seem to matter on Labor Day weekend, when the Trump administration tried to do just that.
My latest: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...
Reposted by Sarah Smith
I wrote about what I think is a genuinely revealing document of elite depravity and impunity. It is shocking and sickening. But it's also a crucial moment. We're about to see what happens when conspiracy theorists actually get what they asked for but it turns out not to be what they want.
You Really Need to See Epstein’s Birthday Book for Yourself
This time, the conspiracy theorists were right.
www.theatlantic.com
September 10, 2025 at 3:07 AM
I wrote about what I think is a genuinely revealing document of elite depravity and impunity. It is shocking and sickening. But it's also a crucial moment. We're about to see what happens when conspiracy theorists actually get what they asked for but it turns out not to be what they want.
it was the stupidest of times; it was the worst of times
September 10, 2025 at 1:36 PM
it was the stupidest of times; it was the worst of times
And wildly misaligned with my salary but thanks, I guess
September 10, 2025 at 1:31 PM
And wildly misaligned with my salary but thanks, I guess
current writing stage
September 9, 2025 at 1:55 PM
current writing stage
Reposted by Sarah Smith
RFK Jr just buried a big report on the link between alcohol and cancer. Luckily, @smencimer.bsky.social had written this a few years back:
The research linking alcohol to breast cancer is deadly solid: Alcohol, regardless of whether it’s in Everclear or a vintage Bordeaux, is carcinogenic.
Drinking may have given me cancer. The alcohol industry has worked hard to downplay it.
The science is clear that alcohol raises the risk of breast cancer, but boozemakers have downplayed the link.
www.motherjones.com
September 5, 2025 at 4:23 PM
RFK Jr just buried a big report on the link between alcohol and cancer. Luckily, @smencimer.bsky.social had written this a few years back: