Johnnie Flournoy, a 74-yr-old man incarcerated in IL, says he's nearly blind bc for years he has been denied a simple treatment for glaucoma. He's not at all alone. His story of medical neglect is a common one in IL prisons. @chicago.suntimes.com chicago.suntimes.com/health/2026/...

Johnnie Flournoy is 74 years old. He's been incarcerated since the early 1990s, and he's been going blind for much of that time. And Illinois prisons have just been letting it happen. chicago.suntimes.com/health/2026/...

Someone doused Renee Good’s Minneapolis memorial and a nearby pile of wood with gasoline and started a fire at about 9 p.m. Tuesday.

Took a break from architecture today to write a column about the Rev Jackson as a presence in pop culture, from Sesame Street to SNL. "The combination of politician and preacher just made him a magnetic force," Charles Whitaker, dean of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism said.

Today's print Chicago Sun-Times is wrapped with a 20-page special section on the death of the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Here's where to look for the paper. www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/v...

This is really, really dark. www.wsj.com/world/middle...

This is the second account - the first being in Chicago - of DHS agents mass detaining people and then *sorting them by race*.

CNN: "Another photograph - these are notes AG Bondi brought to the hearing today. This shows a list of Rep. Jayapal's search history. Lawmakers are allowed to go to a DOJ facility to search unredacted files. We learned from this photo that the searches are apparently being tracked & read by the DOJ"

Evidence shows feds lied about Marimar Martinez's shooting in Chicago, attorney says @chicago.suntimes.com story: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

A dresser inside a museum in New York City has been discovered as a secret stop on the Underground Railroad — the first of its kind discovered in Manhattan in over 100 years

Oh no...

JUST IN: Marimar Martinez, the Chicago woman shot by Border Patrol agent, expected to file lawsuit and release evidence Wednesday From @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

NEW: ICE has a plan to lease offices across the US as part of a secret, months-long expansion campaign. Today, @wired.com is publishing dozens of those locations. Many are near schools, medical offices, and places of worship. Vital work from @leahfeiger.bsky.social that I'm proud to publish.

"A modern-day concentration camp ... People have been killed by the staff here." Irish citizen Seamus Culleton has been in ICE detention since September, despite having a valid work permit and his own business in the US.

This doesn't bode well, does it?

Super Bowl viewers Sunday speculated that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos appeared in the halftime show. In fact, he has been in hiding with his family. “He can’t sleep well at night. He wakes up three or four times a night screaming, ‘Daddy, Daddy,’” Liam's father Adrian Conejo Arias, said.

I'll bite. Who's Jake Paul?

Bar Complaint Filed Over Search of Washington Post Reporter’s Home A press group says a prosecutor broke ethics rules by not flagging a law that limits searches for reporting materials. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/u...

I hope you spend some time with this story today. It's incredibly important and a small window into what's happening behind the federal government's detention center doors. www.propublica.org/article/life...

I say this regularly. People use performative as a substitute for 'inauthentic' and we could all just say the words we mean to say. Erving Goffman helps us to understand that we perform all of the time in real life. Life itself is often a performance of self.

Group chats all over the diaspora peeped this immediately. We exist, we remember, and this erasure only highlights the historical shame and complicity.

When I check on the British politics page for @the-independent.com, my politics reporter colleagues are all Epstein all the time (as they should be). But in the U.S., the closest thing to accountability is... Bill Clinton testifying before Congress. www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

The Washington Post just laid off its entire award-winning photo team. They were our eyes in places we'll never see. It's a horrifying loss at a time when lying governments, propaganda and AI slop are on the rise.

Haven't seen this angle mentioned, but it's an extraordinary national security risk to have an anonymous "staffer" impersonating the president of the United States, posting racist memes, from his personal accounts, at 10 PM.

There's so much going on that's dreadful and important, so I'll submit a small thing that doesn't matter except in the way that good art matters and is essential. I think A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms might be the best Game of Thrones property ever made.

Mariya Dmytriv-Kapeniak, president of the UCCA’s Illinois chapter, said she was outraged when she learned of the request for a new mural. She said no one contacted Iryna Zarutska’s family before using her photo for the mural. chicago.suntimes.com/2026/02/05/l...

DEVELOPING: Federal judge will let Marimar Martinez release text messages sent by Border Patrol agent who shot her From @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/2026/02/06/f...

President Trump posted a blatantly racist video clip of Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as apes, the latest in a long pattern by Trump of promoting offensive stereotypes about Black Americans and others. The White House press secretary dismissed criticism as “fake outrage.”

Thread

My story on Elon Musk cutting safeguards at xAI is on the front page of today's @washingtonpost.com. I’m also among 100’s of reporters laid off. I absolutely loved my job my brilliant coworkers & the thrill of reporting @ the center of forces upending the world: AI & Silicon Valley’s political power

In a wide-ranging interview this week with the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ, Marimar Martinez discussed her shooting, the federal government’s failed attempt to prosecute her and the role she now sees for herself in a fight for accountability.

The tuna melt doesn't even crack the top five. Bacon, egg and cheese. Chopped cheese. Reuben. Lox bagel. Fucking pastrami on rye! Are you dumb?

A retiree wrote this email to a DHS attorney. Within five hours, DHS demanded Google turn over records for his account. A Kafkaesque form of domestic surveillance, intimidating Americans for lawful speech. New from us at the Post: www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio... @johnwoodrowcox.bsky.social

Marimar Martinez, the Chicago woman who survived being shot five times by a Border Patrol agent, spoke with the Sun-Times and WBEZ about her shooting, the federal government’s failed attempt to prosecute her and the role she now sees for herself in a fight for accountability.

University of Illinois college republicans advocate for executing protesters as “traitors” with art that takes a disturbing killing and makes it even more extreme. dailyillini.com/news-stories...

Rat bastard

PHOTOS: Hundreds rallied, then marched in The Loop, demanding the abolition of Immigrations Custom Enforcement and a general strike, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026 | Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

The arrests of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort are a test for every MSM member with a platform. If you are not voicing your outrage at this blatant violation of the First Amendment, you are utterly discredited as a journalist.

"Theater," as in theater of war? In an American city? That's certainly clarifying if Homan meant it that way.

Good to see @johncusack.bsky.social in our pages chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/...

Our initial analysis is up. The video footage appears to show that the gun was taken away from the man before he was shot. He was UNARMED before any of the shots were fired.

Last night was Chicago's PIT count, a census of houselessness on a single day. But it isn't always accurate — which can impact funding. "While it shows the trend, the numbers are not 100% accurate... It’s tough when you have to utilize those to determine what money is coming into your community."

This must be weird news to see if you’re one of the literally hundreds or even thousands of university administrators who preemptively censored faculty, scrubbed websites, changed the names of centers, etc.

Good morning, Chicago. I've got a new @chicago.suntimes.com news roundup for you on this extremely cold Friday morning. 🥶 Today's lead: Bison herd leads charge to restore Prairie State Plus: Another Midway Blitz loss in court, arctic chill arrives and more. chicago.suntimes.com/2026/01/23/k...

Good morning. It's me, your friendly neighborhood editor. It's cold out. If people need help staying warm, help them.

Tomorrow’s front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 23, 2026

The exhibits about slavery at the President’s House in Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park have been removed amid pressure from the Trump admin www.inquirer.com/politics/nat...

We set out to determine how many images of women and girls Grok created during its nudifying spree. What we found was “industrial-scale abuse,” experts said. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/t...

Ryan Coogler’s blues-steeped vampire epic “Sinners” led all films with 16 nominations to the 98th Academy Awards on Thursday, setting a record for the most in Oscar history.

DHS blames Minnesota family driving home from kids’ athletic event for their family (including 6-month old baby) being tear-gassed, then deletes tweet. www.cnn.com/politics/liv...