The latest on efforts to build a data center in the Sonoran Desert:

Pima County's jail healthcare provider has been in consistent violation of certain performance indicators over the past year, @jwashing.bsky.social reports azluminaria.org/2025/09/11/s...

While President Trump calls opposition to the Resolution Copper mine that would destroy a sacred site for Western Apache people “anti-American,” I have the actual details on what’s happening and why the mine is so controversial. insideclimatenews.org/news/1908202...

Immigration enforcement in America's second largest city: "The masked agents pull up quickly. They jump out of unmarked vans or trucks. They wear blue jeans or battle fatigues. They approach Latino men, at times yelling and carrying assault rifles." calmatters.org/investigatio...

AI-processing data centers require massive amounts of energy and water, and relatively low power prices, state tax incentives, and lax regulations are attracting them to the West, threatening water supplies and straining the grid.

Local reporting uncovered Amazon was behind the water-guzzling data center slated for the desert. Residents fought against the data center. Today, the city council unanimously voted against Project Blue. If you care about local journalism that drives impact, consider donating to @azluminaria.org!

Responding to vehement opposition and public service journalism, Tucson's mayor/council unanimously vote to reject a mega data center project from Amazon. Tucson ain't Eddington. Read @yanak.bsky.social‬'s latest from city hall. azluminaria.org/2025/08/06/t...

The Tucson city council unanimously rejected the Project Blue data center today. That comes after weeks of dogged organizing plus our little team @azluminaria.org going hard on helping Tucson understand who was behind this project and its impact on our community azluminaria.org/2025/08/06/t...

My latest on Project Blue: The mega data center has more site options and will be built “regardless of what the City of Tucson decides,” said one council member Tuesday azluminaria.org/2025/08/05/t...

The Trump administration is using federal jails and facilities as well as reopening shuttered facilities to detain a historic number of immigrants, the Marshall Project team reports www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/01/t...

The Trump administration’s deportation machine has made women invisible targets. If you’ve ever wondered, like me, what happens to all the women ICE detains:

NEW: I spoke with a woman named Andrea about her experience being detained by ICE after calling the cops for help during a domestic violence incident. She was recently postpartum, breastfeeding & put in an all-male facility. She was detained for 2.5 months.

More on Tucson's Project Blue, the Amazon data center project cloaked in secrecy for years. @yanak.bsky.social and I pieced together more of the timeline, finding that City of Tucson officials moved to annex the land BEFORE the first public hearing on the project. azluminaria.org/2025/07/28/c...

Averaged out, a journalist has been killed every 3 days since the conflict began.

Nearly 70% of mobile home parks running their own water systems violated safe drinking water rules in the past five years apnews.com/article/mobi...

So important to remember when writing about homelessness: In no state today can a minimum-wage worker afford a two-bedroom apartment. thebaffler.com/latest/invis...

For much of this summer, a public process to bring a massive data center to Tucson moved ahead w/o revealing the company behind the center Now, through public records, we can share that the company is Amazon Web Services by @jwashing.bsky.social and I azluminaria.org/2025/07/21/a...

🚨Scoop🚨 The mysterious giant data center planned for Tucson is named in a 2023 doc we obtained from Pima County: Amazon Web Services. The data center—H20 and electricity intensive—has sparked fierce public pushback Latest w/ @yanak.bsky.social for @azluminaria.org azluminaria.org/2025/07/21/a...

"“We have this list of people that the U.S. government has not formally acknowledged in any real way and we pretty much have no idea if they are in CECOT or someplace else" www.404media.co/flight-manif...

“I’m plainly convinced that my situation in this ICE jail is direct retaliation for my coverage,” Mario Guevara told @ajc.com in an exclusive interview from the Folkston, Georgia ICE detention center where he is currently detained, despite a judge's bail order. “I haven’t committed any crimes.”

Some highlights from my conversation with Tucson's housing director: - Much of the affordable housing is manufactured housing - The city stopped building affordable housing basically from 2013 to 2023 and just restarted - There are simply not enough houses azluminaria.org/2025/07/18/5...

Important reporting by @torigantz.bsky.social on the bills based on project 2025-esque model legislation and signed by AZ gov Hobbs www.lookoutnews.org/policies-fav...

As the Texas flood clean up continues, I'm thinking about how after the tragedy of a natural disaster, its often immigrant workers that come in to clean up and are left to fend for themselves amid loosely regulated worker safety rules by @mizamudio.bsky.social publicintegrity.org/environment/...

At Tucson Unified School District, $6 million in federal funding for everything from teacher training to after-school programs and English language instruction is on pause as a federal grant review is underway, @shannonconner.bsky.social reports azluminaria.org/2025/07/03/t...

Following the passage of the budget bill, more than 55% of Arizona hospitals could soon be operating in the red, and some could close their doors altogether, healthcare advocates warn www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report...

The U.S. had 675,000 people internally displaced by conflict and disasters in 2022, per the International Displacement Monitoring Center api.internal-displacement.org/sites/defaul...

The Senate Republican bill would cut SNAP by $186 billion - 22% by the final year. This would be by far the largest SNAP cut in history and would rip food assistance away from millions of households, including families with kids and veterans.

NEW: A WIRED investigation of 911 calls placed from ICE detention sites across the US show a system inundated by life-threatening crises, delayed treatment, and overcrowding. By me & @dmehro.bsky.social. Free to read:

People living in South Tucson, a small town tucked inside the city limits of Tucson, have dealt with water contamination since the 1950s. @cacuella.bsky.social reports on ongoing efforts to address the issue azluminaria.org/2025/06/24/f...

'It's so terrifying to go to court because you have no idea if you've been selected today. It's like playing Russian roulette.' @bgirledukate.bsky.social on the people arrested when they attend their immigration court hearings beyondthebordernews.substack.com/p/heres-what...

The regular utility protections dont apply to residents in master-meter mobile home parks, which means a mistaken utility bill can lead to residents losing their homes My latest on the reality of living in one of Pima County's last types of affordable housing: azluminaria.org/2025/06/25/b...

On the men disappeared into CECOT: Peñaloza’s mother said her son is hard-working, principled, and respectful. He’s a trained refrigerator technician. He’s a good cook who can dress up humble meals like vegetarian arepas or rice with tomato sauce www.huffpost.com/entry/cecot-...

1. In the wake of Trump threats, multiple trans clinics in safe states have stopped providing care. Parents feel abandoned as governors apply no pressure. One therapist reported an uptick in suicidal ideation among those denied care. The latest from S. Baum. Subscribe to support our journalism.

A recovery court set to open with federal funds in an area hard hit by the opioid crisis has been stalled since a grant was cut. One look at the ways federal funding cuts are rolling back harm reduction work on the ground: www.themarshallproject.org/2025/06/17/n...

A look at the rules, enforcement tactics and ordinances that already shape where people without shelter can — and can’t — rest in Tucson as the city weighs increasing enforcement azluminaria.org/2025/06/13/t...

CityKey was originally designed to be safe by explicitly not collecting the exact information ICE is now going after. Chicago made a deliberate choice to start keeping those records in *December 2024* which is, notably, AFTER November 2024

ICE initiated 514 new 287(g) agreements with local law enforcement agencies across 40 states since January azluminaria.org/2025/06/09/l...

Instead of taking homeless people to be processed for a citation in Pima County jail, TPD is trying to do an initial appearance on the spot when it clears encampments. A look into the details of how TPD polices during sweeps from @jwashing.bsky.social azluminaria.org/2025/06/05/i...

Thinking about all the subtle and drastic ways that immigrant communities have changed their routines and participation in public life. It feels more acute this time. In Chicago and other cities, how have we noted this change?

Under DOGE cuts, the National Weather Service lost nearly 600 staff members - the same number of departures the agency saw across the past 15 years. It's leaving some overnight weather stations unmanned www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025...

Climate organizers at Tucson Unified School District want to cut the district's emissions in half by 2030 and for TUSD to offer a comprehensive climate curriculum in grades K-12 The recent board meeting moved closer to those goals, writes @shannonconner.bsky.social azluminaria.org/2025/05/14/t...

Seniors in Pima County are facing an ongoing crisis in paying rent, mortgages and utilities For now, that's being mitigated in part by emergency funds from the Pima Council on Aging, but that money is running out. My latest: azluminaria.org/2025/05/12/n...

Solidarity to my friends and former colleagues at @elfaro.net & @elfaroenglish.bsky.social who are doing some of the best journalism in the hemisphere, and yet who have had to flee El Salvador after being threatened by Bukele. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

How often does a stop by the Pima county sheriff's dep end in someone entering Border Patrol custody? We don't know, because the sheriff's department doesn't follow their own rules on tracking requests to immigration authorities reports @jwashing.bsky.social azluminaria.org/2025/05/15/p...

I also find this really upsetting. It took me a year to get my regular energy levels back after having Covid in 2022, and as noted below, vaccines are an important part of decreasing the risk of severe disease and severe lingering impacts

🚨 Our newsroom is in crisis. Without urgent donations, The Appeal may not be able to keep publishing.

"Women detained in Philadelphia say they banged on their cell doors for hours pleading for medical attention, but nobody responded." Please read @laurengill.bsky.social on the human rights crisis in Philly, & the ballot measure that locals hope will bring more visibility to the situation next week:

Israel has rapidly accelerated its destruction of Rafah in April and May. It's hard to understand the magnitude of this, even when spending time analyzing recent satellite imagery. From me, Samuel Granados, Aaron Boxerman, and @rileymellen.bsky.social Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Several Columbia Univ student journalists are suspended after covering protests (while wearing press ID) in the main library. Their access to campus is blocked, and they can't take final exams. Also: Columbia's acting president is a former ABC journalist www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2025/05...