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Venuri Siriwardane

@venuri.bsky.social

Journalist covering public health in PGH. Get your news from trustworthy BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, immigrant, working class or otherwise marginalized journalists.

43 Posts813 Follower760 Folgt
Venuri Siriwardane@venuri.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Some personal news: This was my last assignment for Public Source. I tried to report every story on behalf of our most vulnerable neighbors. It's been my honor to serve them and the people of PGH for the past three years. I'll be freelancing for the foreseeable future. My DMs are open for tips.

Venuri Siriwardane@venuri.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Got something to say about your experience as a patient at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital? Or any other UPMC facility? Union nurses want to hear your feedback through their community survey. Here's how this novel approach is informing their collective bargaining. www.publicsource.org/upmc-magee-w...

Venuri Siriwardane@venuri.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Got something to say about your experience as a patient at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital? Or any other UPMC facility? Union nurses want to hear your feedback through their community survey. Here's how this novel approach is informing their collective bargaining. www.publicsource.org/upmc-magee-w...

Magee-Womens nurses take to streets, surveys to bolster bargaining with UPMC

Unionized nurses at Magee-Womens are asking Pittsburgh patients to weigh in as they bargain their first contract with UPMC over staffing levels.

publicsource.org

megan.@twointheschink.bsky.social · 4mo ago

“This city looks quieter and calmer and less lively since this whole thing started,” the Afghan community leader said, referring to the administration’s crackdown on refugees and immigrants.” this is heartbreaking. this point of this second term is cruelty.

Venuri Siriwardane@venuri.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Years ago, city officials tried to make PGH a more inclusive place for refugees, who curbed population loss and boosted the economy. My reporting shows they now face hate speech and the possibility of detention. Some are leaving the U.S. for third countries. www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-r... 1/

Venuri Siriwardane@venuri.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Years ago, city officials tried to make PGH a more inclusive place for refugees, who curbed population loss and boosted the economy. My reporting shows they now face hate speech and the possibility of detention. Some are leaving the U.S. for third countries. www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-r... 1/

Trump administration rhetoric, policies raise fears in Pittsburgh's refugee communities

Federal efforts to detain and deport many refugees and characterizations of some as “criminals” have prompted some to hide — or leave.

publicsource.org

Rep. Summer Lee@repsummerlee.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Local journalism is essential to a healthy democracy. As Pittsburgh loses critical newsrooms, conversations about what our communities need matter more than ever. Join @publicsource.org for a community town hall in McKeesport this Friday. Learn more & RSVP: www.publicsource.org/you-have-the...

You Have the Floor: 7 town halls in 7 days

Public Source invites Pittsburgh-area residents to share what information communities need most and what local news can do for them.

publicsource.org

Charlie Wolfson@chwolfson.bsky.social · 6mo ago

New from @jamiewiggan.bsky.social and @stephstrasburg.bsky.social : Turn-signal stop prompts ICE detention for father of two in Springdale www.publicsource.org/ice-detains-...

Turn-signal stop prompts ICE detention for father of two in Springdale

The Peruvian national’s family said he was legally in the country and complying with asylum processes when local police pulled him over and turned him over to ICE. The borough has an agreement with th...

publicsource.org

Venuri Siriwardane@venuri.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Most newsroom leaders come from families who've been in this country for generations. Many aren't capable of empathizing with those who endure the most brutal aspects of the immigration system. Some don't even try. These are the people who are shaping coverage of what's happening right now.

Karen K. Ho@karenho.bsky.social · 6mo ago

My last manager genuinely had no idea I could be denied re-entry by a CBP officer every time I traveled back to the US, even with a valid work visa. I worried about what I posted on social media all the time. I also paid for my own TN visa renewal/reapplication two weeks before I was laid off.

Liz Szabo@lizszabo.bsky.social · 7mo ago

How sad is this? The CDC closed its FOIA office, so this story could only be published because a Danish journalist provided Rolling Stone with the documents, after obtaining them through a freedom of information request to the University of Southern Denmark www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

HHS Gave a $1.6 Million Grant to a Controversial Vaccine Study. These Emails Show How That Happened

Two Danish researchers faced accusations of “questionable research practices” as RFK Jr.’s top appointees made their study a “funding priority.”

rollingstone.com

Christopher Wiggins@cwnewser.bsky.social · 7mo ago

NEWS: In a heartbreaking video, after ICE shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, a woman who was in the same SUV cries out: “They killed my wife. I don’t know what to do." “We stopped to videotape, and they shot her in the head,” the distraught woman sobs. www.advocate.com/news/minneso...

Distraught woman says ICE killed her wife in video after deadly Minneapolis shooting

“They killed my wife,” the distraught woman says, adding, “They shot her in the head.”

advocate.com

anna@fritesflagey.bsky.social · 7mo ago

I still haven't totally wrapped my head around what losing the CP means, because it's hard to believe that all of that reporting and writing—especially on the arts, small businesses, and marginalized neighborhoods—just won't happen regularly anymore. Support its staff who made all that possible.

Colin Williams@colinbwilliams.com · 7mo ago

I set up a GoFundMe for former @pghcitypaper.com staff. This will be used to help us submit last year's stories for awards, defray loss of income and insurance, and support laid-off single moms with childcare. Chip in if you'd like:

Colin Williams@colinbwilliams.com · 7mo ago

Well folks, some news. Ownership is folding @pghcitypaper.com. I wish I could say this was more surprising. I'll be on the lookout for new roles while I continue to teach and hopefully find places to publish some stories I haven't finished. In the meantime, I'm all ears for opportunities.

Pittsburgh's Public Source@publicsource.org · 9mo ago

As we enter the fall and winter respiratory virus season, @venuri.bsky.social interviewed local public health experts to learn how Allegheny County is navigating the shifting landscape of federal vaccine policy.

Q&A: As vaccination rates dip, how are Allegheny County leaders responding?

As the Trump administration tries to upend vaccination practices, Allegheny County's top immunization official and a key advocacy group counter with research.

bit.ly

Sarah Kelly@sarahkelly.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Actually I think more media unions should work some kind of right to expression into their contracts. It’s ridiculous that every major newspaper chain plus NYT and WaPo restricts journalists from expressing any meaningful opinion for the entirety of their careers.

Pittsburgh's Public Source@publicsource.org · last yr.

Do you live in Allegheny County and have you or a loved one experienced involuntary mental health commitment? Public Source would like to learn from you for our ongoing series When Care is Compulsory. Please email venuri@publicsource.org if you are in a position to share.

Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪@altnih4science.bsky.social · last yr.

And experts are very clear: these people are fringe. Scientific consensus is that race and IQ studies are shoddy. But journalism has trouble saying that; it’s nearly impossible for them to figure out what whole fields believe. That’s why “Merchants of Doubt” work.

jamelle@jamellebouie.net · last yr.

political journalists obsess over the public’s lack of trust in our profession but strangely see that as downstream of things like “we didn’t talk enough about how biden was old” and not “many of us appear to be indifferent to a nihilistic attack on the constitution”

David_j_roth@davidjroth.bsky.social · last yr.

This kid is 15, and so has a moral clarity and uprightness that no adult elected official would or could ever have. There aren't really and never have been two sides of this issue, but if it has to be argued as a binary thing I don't see how anything less than this could seem like the side to be on.

Alex Kirshner@alexkirshner.com · last yr.

this is a letter to the editor from a high school track runner who came in second to a trans girl in a race. her state house rep in maine started talking about it. so she wrote this: www.pressherald.com/2025/05/14/r...

Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, recently used my second-place finish in the 1,600-meter run, and that of my teammate in the 800-meter run, to malign Soren Stark-Chessa, the trans-identified athlete who finished first. One of the reasons I chose to run cross-country and track is the community: Teammates cheering each other on, athletes from different schools coming together, and the fact that personal improvement is valued as much as, if not more than, the place we finish. Last Friday, I ran the fastest 1,600-meter race I have ever run in middle school or high school track and earned varsity status by my school’s standards. I am extremely proud of the effort I put into the race and the time that I achieved. The fact that someone else finished in front of me didn’t diminish the happiness I felt after finishing that race. I don’t feel like first place was taken from me. Instead, I feel like a happy day was turned ugly by a bully who is using children to make political points. We are all just kids trying to make our way through high school. Participating in sports is the highlight of high school for some kids. No one was harmed by Soren’s participation in the girls’ track meet, but we are all harmed by the hateful rhetoric of bullies, like Rep. Libby, who want to take sports away from some kids just because of who they are. Anelise Feldman Freshman, Yarmouth High School Yarmouth
Stephanie Strasburg@stephstrasburg.bsky.social · last yr.

Emerging journalists/photojournalists– come join our independent, nonprofit newsroom in Pittsburgh! Delight in the joys of holding power to account & Pittsburgh's fries on salad habit. @publicsource.org interns get to work across their interests from reporting to fact checking to engagement & more.

Rich Lord@richelord.bsky.social · last yr.

Journalism students and recent grads: Why not intern in Pittsburgh this fall? @publicsource.org is a nonprofit newsroom with a vigorous program of story production, fact-checking, training and mentorship. Apply here: www.publicsource.org/jobs/#editor...