For a story: I'm looking to speak to people of all ages about how uncertainty around access to SNAP and high cost of food is impacting mental health and well-being, especially as new restrictions/work requirements have taken effect. [email protected], Signal rstauff.20

NEW: An uncomfortable but essential read. We heard about the trauma endured by children in detention at Dilley, including the mother whose child used a plastic knife to hurt herself and the haunting images she created to vent her fears. “We are all Liam,” one mom said. apnews.com/article/chil...

The paperback tour for THERE IS NO PLACE FOR US begins this month. Over the coming weeks, I'll be in conversation with organizers, scholars, and journalists about mounting precarity in America and what it would mean to treat housing as a basic right. I'd be grateful to see you if I'm in your city.

NEW: X Is *drowning* in disinformation following US and Israel’s attack on Iran. WIRED has reviewed hundreds of posts on X that promote misleading claims about the locations and scale of the attack. read @davidgilbert.bsky.social:

sometimes things don’t have to be about us when bad things happen in the world

nothing they do makes any sense unless you focus on the fact that they have nothing approaching a belief or policy or worldview except a wish for their revolving door of perceived ‘enemies’ to suffer + a total lack of regard for human life. and then everything they do makes sense.

BREAKING — 51 Iranian children are dead after a strike hits Minab girls elementary school in Iran.

I can't fucking believe we're doing this again.

New — I spoke to eight trans people in Kansas about the new state law that invalidated their driver’s licenses overnight, what’s it’s like to live there right now, plus details of two DMV emails exclusively obtained by The Handbasket that shed light on the law’s chaotic and cruel rollout:

yesterday Conde's biggest cover story of 2025 (I think it's safe to say) got nominated for an ASME: a cover story about a trans woman, produced by a team that i helped guide as a trans person. and in the 11 months since it came out, they got rid of almost all of us

Conde Nast just sold them.us to the parent company of Out, The Advocate, etc. so there goes like 95% of the trans staffers at the company (after they got rid of 2 of us in November <33)

Me and @sylviaruthg.lpm.org spent a couple weeks on this one, tracking down how illegal child marriages are still happening in Kentucky 👇 #kyga26

Despite claims, polls and economists say tariffs and structural pressures keep US households under strain

NEW: We obtained 911 audio from the Texas detention center housing hundreds of immigrant kids and their parents. Since mid-September, EMS crews have been dispatched to Dilley at least 11 times to treat children in medical distress. Burning fevers. Low oxygen. Seizures. A broken leg. My report:

1. The footage shows Homeland Security is lying when he got indoors and was wearing prison booties I doubt are good for the cold. 2. Nurul Amin Shah Alam apologized to police BEFORE he was tasered when he was originally arrested. wapo.st/3OCwNx8

@appalachia100.bsky.social partnered with journalist and Minnesotan @katiegnelson.bsky.social to document how Minneapolis residents used grassroots organizing to counter the influx of federal immigration agents, leading to the end of Operation Metro Surge www.100daysinappalachia.com/2026/02/minn...

The man who died in Louisville's jail today was subject to an ICE detainer. He also faced a $20,000 bond in an assault case. He was one of more than 20 people who’ve died in custody at the city jail since 2021. Here's what we learned at KyCIR from publicly available jail and court records:

Columbia student detained today is a day-in-the-life influencer with 100K followers. Her stories right now go from her studying for a Genetics exam in a nicely edited "ten hour study with me at Columbia" video, to a photo of her knees with the caption "dhs illegally arrested me please help"

Kansas just invalidated the drivers licenses of every trans person in the state. They’re being told to surrender their current licenses and get new ones listing their birth sex. No grace period. Get caught driving with your now-invalid license and you’re looking at jail and a fine.

“‘The persecution is the point,’ said Rep. Abi Boatman, a Wichita Democrat and the only transgender member of the Legislature, who received the [Kansas Dept of Revenue] notice on Wednesday.” To underscore that: a Kansas state legislator is among those whose driver’s license will be voided. (🎁 link:)

"Why don't people want to work anymore?" Oh I don't know! (Obviously that's a BS talking point for many reasons but also, who would want to endure this?)

For @time.com, I wrote a short essay about the first time, years ago, that I went to a ballet alone, where I entered the theater with a cheap, single ticket and emerged with a love of solo outings. I also chatted with people about activities they love to do alone, from hikes to movies to meals out:

To do this, anti-trans lawmakers in Kansas moved fast to change the law, overrode the governor’s veto, and pushed for the legal changes to go into effect nearly immediately. That kind of power—to void gender on official documents, to compel gender conformity—is terrifying and it will not stop here.

CNN follows NPR and Politico in finding that DOJ scrubbed the Epstein files of evidence related to a woman who accused Trump of sexually assaulting her when she was 13 years old.

I'm currently open for reporting and writing commissions! I have run out of assignments for the month, so I am looking for editors to assign me things they feel are a good fit. I cover pop culture, social justice, feminism, misinformation and disinformation, and solutions to climate change.

In a 5-minute phone call to dispatchers, a federal immigration officer requests police backup last October to help with a kid tailing him on a motorized bicycle. "I need someone here now, or else I'm going to have to shoot this kid," the officer said on a recording of the call obtained by OPB.

Somewhat related: months ago, a high schooler told me about getting her dad's "vintage music collection" and being so excited about that. It was CDs. Students I know talk constantly about stickers, and many want print magazines. It's honestly very cool to see.

The server complimented me on how prepared I was when ordering my food and coffee. It’s possible to win at ordering and this is a normal thing to want

my local park is full of hundreds of snow sculptures and someone has been adding museum labels

I love the work the @kentuckylantern.com does and this is a very cool job. Sharing for folks who might be interested:

there was a lotta chatter yesterday about the paid emergency snow shovelers recruited to clear out NYC as it was hit with the worst blizzard in a decade. but what's it actually like to crack the ice on behalf of the city? I spoke with an emergency shoveler to find out: slate.com/business/202...

NEW from @julialurie.bsky.social: Immigrants in Minnesota are being released from ICE detention without the work permits, Social Security cards, licenses, and other documents that prove their status

Ashley Fairbanks @ziibiing.com launched Stand With Minnesota standwithminnesota.com, a mutual aid repository supporting residents under ICE's siege, in early Jan. in the weeks since, it's facilitated covering people's rents and flown folks detained back home from Texas. she can help you do it, too.

For a story: I'm looking to speak to people of all ages about how uncertainty around access to SNAP and high cost of food is impacting mental health and well-being, especially as new restrictions/work requirements have taken effect. [email protected], Signal rstauff.20

Why do I have to pretend that I'm going to print something in order to save it as a PDF. Why do I have to engage in a little ruse.

Quick update from me on the TikTok lawsuit that I un-redacted in 2024 --> A Kentucky judge ruled Friday that the state attorney general’s lawsuit over TikTok’s practices may continue against the social media giant

Looking to speak with teachers in Texas and Tennessee about threats to access to public education for undocumented students from GOP threat to overturn Plyler v. Doe Email: [email protected]

Important read by @ashihipar.bsky.social: “This takes a real hit on the creativity and public service projects—there will be fewer people in the arts, fewer people in the sciences, and fewer people out there serving their communities."

The "summarize this email" thing is killing me, especially since an email it just offered to summarize read "sounds great, does Zoom work?"

I’ve discovered so many incredible pieces to read through The Sunday Long Read. Feels like a treat to get it in your inbox:

Many disabled and chronically ill people are demonized for not working full-time jobs, when the truth is they can be forced out due to inaccessible policies. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

Terrorized by ICE, unable to pay rent, Twin Cities tenants are undertaking a serious organizing effort to get ready for a rent strike if Gov. Walz doesn't instate an eviction moratorium. They have support from labor unions representing 25,000 workers. New piece by @rebeccaburns.bsky.social and me.

It's a mammoth of a story for a mammoth of a bill We get a lot of elections omnibus packages but this one has a lot of interesting components -- affecting partisanship in judicial races, federal citizenship databases, public uploaded ballot images. And it's worrying election officials. From me:

A skater coming off the ice and saying “THAT’S WHAT I’M FUCKIN’ TALKIN’ ABOUT!” makes me so happy, given how punishing the ladylike discourse of my youth was when it came to this sport.

from the family of Virginia Giuffre: “At last. Today, our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty.... He was never a prince. For survivors everywhere, Virginia did this for you.”

So delighted for Alysa Liu and thinking of this: "I skate now to show what I can make, and what I can do,” she says. “I really just want to show my art.” She pauses, then adds: “I refuse to not choose my own destiny.”

There's video of ICE doing a massive operation with Tennessee state troopers—and making horrible comments as they go along. I'm talking awful racial profiling and bad jokes like "The guacamole is never going to taste the same." So much to dig into here: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

As the Trump administration expands militarized immigration operations around the country, federal agents keep using tear gas near children. It’s worrying health experts. "Assume that children should have zero exposure to these chemicals.” My latest for @19thnews.org: 19thnews.org/2026/02/ice-...