Former congressional candidate and state Rep. Daniel Hernandez leaned on his LGBTQ+ identity, institutional funding in this summer's special primary election. His leading opponents stood for progressive policies. The latter won over voters in Southern Arizona. www.lookoutnews.org/the-disconne...

We are honored to receive the @rooseveltinstitute.org's 2025 Four Freedoms Award for Freedom of Speech and Expression, and to be among a stellar class of laureates including @wck.org, @cvt.org, and more. Details: tnvge.co/ZMIUg7v

Please read about the terrible impact(s) of tear gas which is a weapon of WAR: issuu.com/projectnia/d...

US Vetoes Gaza Ceasefire for Sixth Time, as Death Toll Tops 65,000 The US said that the resolution “fails to condemn Hamas or recognize Israel’s right to defend itself.” truthout.org/articles/us-...

NEWS: The Congressional Progressive Caucus — which represents nearly 100 members in Congress — has just voted to endorse the Block the Bombs Act, to block weapon sales to Israel. First time any major congressional caucus has backed legislation to end US aid for Israel’s destruction of Gaza.

Wrote about The Heritage Foundation's plan to weaponize the FBI against transgender people's existence, which includes banning me from saying that's what they're doing

NEW: Air Force jets are doing ICE flights to Africa with transponders turned off, making them nearly un-trackable. This includes the third-country removal to Ghana and another secret flight. We figured out where it landed. From me for @rollingstone.com: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

NEW @teenvogue.com: a Texas bill passed this summer mandating schools deadname trans students, leaving enforcement to districts. @kitoconnell.com speaks to trans students in TX: “I’ve never felt more at threat here. I can’t stop thinking that everything would be so different if I detransitioned.”

New: 404 Media is suing ICE. We have filed a lawsuit demanding ICE release its $2 million contract with Paragon, a company that makes powerful spyware to break into phones and read encrypted messages. This is expensive for a small outlet but this info is important www.404media.co/were-suing-i...

Texas to become the 20th state with a law restricting what bathrooms transgender people can use For @nbcnews.com: www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-...

I wrote this a few months ago using data from @mapresearch.bsky.social. The piece also evaluated why there's been less pushback to bathroom bans in the decade since North Carolina's HB 2. www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-...

"This phenomenon is only possible because of the outsized power that state agents—ICE, police officers, prison staff—have always had to abuse and control women and victims' bodies. Civilians are impersonating state agents to assault [victims] because state agents have always been able to do this."

1. In a groundbreaking legal filing, transgender patients, represented by Women's Law Project, have filed a legal complaint against UPMC for capitulating to Trump and dropping trans care. Federal funding threats do not override state law. Subscribe to support our journalism.

I looked into the group and the guy pushing the FBI to create a new designation of “transgender ideology–inspired violence and extremism”—itself a political project, meant to conflate the fact of trans people’s existence with extremism.

If you would like to have the honor of being among the first people in the whole world to have Autonomy News merch, today is the final day to order before our first batch prints www.bonfire.com/store/autono...

NEW: Six people detained in California’s newest + largest ICE facility speak out, saying they are confined in filthy cells, struggling to access basic medications, going hungry due to insufficient food, drinking dirty water, and faced with “military-like” staff. “This place is built to break us”

Happening now: at the Broadview ICE facility outside Chicago, Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino and other CBP/ICE agents emerge to patrol Beach Street and escort a vehicle out. They ordered people out of the street, walked to the end of it and then back to the fence.

Last year, the FBI recorded Border Czar Tom Homan accepting $50,000, allegedly in exchange for awarding potential future government contracts. The Trump administration recently closed the investigation. We requested a copy of the video of the transaction.

Former congressional candidate and state Rep. Daniel Hernandez leaned on his LGBTQ+ identity, institutional funding in this summer's special primary election. His leading opponents stood for progressive policies. The latter won over voters in Southern Arizona. www.lookoutnews.org/the-disconne...

NEW: Angelo State University in San Angelo, TX has told faculty that they can't discuss trans people in curriculum. When I asked the justification for the policy, they referenced Texas state law - but Texas law doesn't forbid discussions of trans people in higher ed. www.chron.com/culture/arti...

Great @leilaniclark.bsky.social read in @coyotemedia.org this morning about a kind of neighborhood watch I can get behind: Looking out for the safety of day laborers.

Prison Journalism Project is possible because of readers like you. If you'd like to support our work, please consider making a one-time donation or becoming a monthly donor. We can't do this work without you.

Here's our story:

As attacks on transgender rights continue at both the federal and state levels, we’ve filed over 260 public records requests for the Trans Journalists Association and MuckRock’s partnership to document the impact of anti-trans federal activities. www.muckrock.com/news/archive...

"I hope my story gets heard." "[C]ollege student William McNeil Jr. sued the Florida sheriff's deputies who attacked him during a traffic stop earlier this year, along with the sheriff and the city of Jacksonville, after prosecutors declined to file criminal charges." #Florida #USA #Policing

Hobbs issues order to have AZ Health Dept issue blanket prescriptions for COVID vaccines for those who want it but no longer qualify after feds, under RFK Jr., change the standards. Still, it won't force AZ insurers to pick up the tab. tucson.com/news/local/a...

NEW — The TRiiBE is part of a collaboration with other Chicago newsrooms encouraging people to share videos of any misconduct by ICE or other federal agents. thetriibe.com/2025/09/how-...

Do you have a passport? Community organizations have been working to help queer and trans people secure the ability to travel out of an increasingly authoritarian America. Here's the story of one passport clinic in Atlanta, Georgia. www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA targets college campuses, including running a professor watchlist that resulted in at least 1 professor being assaulted. as of today, its website still says its goal is to help right-wing students “take up arms in the culture war” against "the Left" @teenvogue.com

Residents are finding all sorts of ways to fight ICE: They're recording and reporting. They're wheatpasting and sharing know-your-rights materials. And they're stepping up to care for each other, from delivering groceries to walking kids to school. 51st.news/dc-residents...

Texas is the biggest state in the country to have a bathroom ban on the books, and aside from local news and a few national nonprofits, the coverage of it is pretty small. There are over 160,000 trans adults in the state of Texas

I have been learning and unlearning from and with @prisonculture.bsky.social for over a decade; I'm so grateful to have her endorsement of my latest endeavor, an in-depth inquiry into what creates the conditions for people to let go of deeply held beliefs and ideologies. Pre-order now!

We're heartbroken to share the news that reporter Ahmed Abdel Aziz, pictured below on the right & a crucial source for this story, was one of the many reporters killed by Israel in the bombing of Nasser Hospital on August 25. prismreports.org/2025/07/30/g...

some of our favorite photos from this weekend's protests in Washington DC against the Trump admin's federal takeover of the city organized by @freedcproject.bsky.social @aclu.org and others @teenvogue.com click through for more + photos from Chicago's protests www.teenvogue.com/story/trump-...

Sister of U.S. Citizen Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi Demands Justice 1 Year After Israel Killed Her in West Bank https://www.democracynow.org/2025/9/8/aysenur_ezgi_eygi_shooting_anniversary

enormous development in the Cop City RICO case today: the Judge indicated he would be dismissing *at least* the RICO and Arson counts of the indictment, which would eliminate 56 out of 61 people from the indictment. Official answer tomorrow, and it will certainly be appealed.

The 400 richest people in the U.S. are now worth a record $6.6 trillion after getting $1.2 trillion richer over the past year.

We got burned by an AI freelancer and a few missteps of our own. Here's the full disclosure on that. All I can add from my vantage here is that my work has always been subject to rigorous fact checking. It's sometimes a days long, maddening process, but 100% of the time I am grateful in the end.

find yours here go.bsky.app/2Fq4P6e

In its alleged fight against antisemitism, the Trump administration has relied on two groups with murky funders—one of which is in Israel. Here's my deep dive @thebaffler.com into Canary Mission and Betar, two extreme Zionist groups at the heart of Trump's crackdown. thebaffler.com/latest/for-b...

Aug 29 marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina. @siric.bsky.social profiles 4 young climate advocates whose lives it changed—2 of whom fled New Orleans during Katrina as kids @teenvogue.com: "For them, combatting climate change, environmental racism, and structural inequality has become a calling."

NEW: Last week, oil literally rained down on a Black town in rural Louisiana where 60% of folks live in poverty. The company isn’t taking responsibility & the federal + state governments are saying residents have to clean it up themselves. capitalbnews.org/louisiana-oi...

please help us spread the word about this mentorship opportunity for writers of color & share it with anyone you think might be interested!

Between last fall and today, there have been over 3 million out-patient visits, over 300,000 hospitalizations and over 30,000 deaths from COVID. This data comes from a presentation at the the June ACIP meeting extrapolated forward. Now there will likely be more as RFK Jr. consolidates his power. 4/

OpenAI is addressing a dangerous situation by adding another layer of potentially deadly peril for users.

I put together a 4-page doc for those wary of the rush to integrate in K-12 schools (though much applies beyond). Four of the main arguments for teachers using AI tools & introducing kids to AI as early as kindergarten are addressed with rebuttals linked to sources.

Note the nonbinary pronouns describing one of the organizers here. Our young people are LEADERS, not just victims in political stories today.

SEPTA cuts hit Philadelphia schools hard the first week of school. Fewer buses and trolleys meant fewer students coming to class — and more students late, district records show.

Hello everyone! I am working on a story for The Guardian about how Chicagoans are preparing for the possible arrival of federal troops, following President Trump's statements on the matter. Right now, I'm looking for residents, community organizers, business owners, and other folks to talk to!

1. Denver Public Schools is doing what some prestigious universities and hospitals refuse to do: Standing up for trans students and refusing to capitulate to Trump's anti-trans demands. "We will fight," says the superintendent, despite funding threats. Subscribe to support our journalism.