New Interview: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

NEW: beginning january 1, chicago will ban unhoused people on the sex offense registry from seeking shelter on public transit. it’s the latest in a concerted effort by mayor johnson’s admin to criminalize homelessness on cta trains + buses and in public parks during the coldest months of the year.

State regulators cited Roseland Community Hospital with an “immediate jeopardy” warning after a suicidal patient left the ER without supervision. His case is part of a troubling pattern tied to deaths and neglect. Investigation by @ndblumberg.bsky.social. news.wttw.com/2025/12/16/r...

For Those Interested in Sandhill Crane Migration at the Jasper-Pulaski Stopover Point in Indiana: the numbers are much lower compared to last year. Note the gap between Dec. 9 2025 from years prior.

When Illinois closed its prison in Dwight more than a decade ago, the transfer to Logan CC left incarcerated women traumatized. Now, as the state pitches to close Logan, the largest women’s prison in IL, advocates want to ensure that history is not repeated. news.wttw.com/2025/12/09/a...

2017: Officer shoots teen in the back of their shoulder June 2021: Shooting ruled unjustified Sept. 2021: Top cop disagrees Nov. 2021: Police Board president orders full hearing 2019-24: 4 lawsuits naming officer settled for $590K June 2025: Officer promoted to sergeant Nov. 2025: Charges dropped

Want to help us build a new cultural club in Chicago? Consider being a member here: mouseartsandletters.org/membership-1

A Mauritanian man will testify Monday about torture he says he endured at Guantánamo Bay—at the hands of former Chicago detective Richard Zuley. His story is one thread in a web connecting Zuley to the post-9/11 legacy through this city. 🔗 news.wttw.com/2025/11/20/m...

NEW: The exodus of corrections officers from federal prisons to ICE comes amid shortages of critical supplies, from food to personal hygiene items, for both staff and inmates. It threatens to make the already grim conditions in these prisons even worse.

BREAKING: Chicago police officers will be allowed to file felony gun charges without first getting approval from a prosecutor throughout the city, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke announced Friday. @wttw.bsky.social

Another banger for @wttw.bsky.social by @ndblumberg.bsky.social

In January, my partner, friends and I will be opening up a cultural club in an old bank in Bridgeport: the Mouse Arts and Letters Club. We'll host News Night, a citywide newsroom, screenings, translation + ecology events & more. We'd love you to join us. Sign up for updates: mouseartsandletters.org

a year of news night!

You probably saw videos of a nighttime raid in Chicago. Agents rappelling from a helicopter, bursting down doors, questioning brown-skinned immigrants. We investigated -- and found little evidence to support the government’s claims about Tren de Aragua. www.propublica.org/article/chic...

And Illinois State Police provides access to gang database info to DHS. In June, I found that DHS Enforcement and Removal Operations signed a data sharing agreement with ISP in *2024*. news.wttw.com/2025/06/02/i...

NEW: DHS secretly obtained Chicago police data on 900 residents accused of gang ties. It was quietly deleted after intelligence officers violated rules against domestic spying. The handoff came well after city inspectors formally announced CPD's gang data was deeply flawed and infected w/ bias.

Good morning from Judge Jeffrey Cumming's courtroom, where he's considering a motion to release 100s of "Midway Blitz" arrestees on EM who were subjected to "warrantless" arrest. ICE and CBP recently produced a list of 3,300 people arrested since June www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/24/c...

tomorrow!

Legal experts called DHS’ move to use driver’s license data for citizenship checks more evidence of federal overreach. “The administration wants to get as much data as it can, however it can, whenever it can.” With @texastribune.org

When Jose Jeronimo Guardian showed up at a Spanish language traffic court this week, he didn’t expect to be detained and face expulsion from a country he’d lived in for more than two decades. With @capitolnewsil.bsky.social: illinoisanswers.org/2025/10/31/i...

A partial list of what Bovino does not have to tell a federal judge happened today: *An agent pushed a City Council member in Albany Park *Agents deployed pepper spray in Albany Park & Evanston *Agents were involved in a car crash in Evanston *An agent pointed a gun at a woman in Evanston

New: a class action suit filed in Chicago's federal court this morning alleges overcrowding and inhumane conditions at the Broadview, IL ICE facility, as well detainees being denied legal counsel. The plaintiffs say this amounts to 1A and 5A violations.

a year of news nights! november 13!

NEW: ICE is planning to build a shadow deportation network in Texas. A proposal outlines a 24/7 transport operation run by armed contractors—turning Texas into the logistical backbone of an industrialized deportation machine. My latest @wired.com: www.wired.com/story/ice-is...

i am looking for Exciting blogs about chicago or illinois happenings (politics, ecology, art, w/e) for news night. anyone have any recommendations?

NEW: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed budget for 2026 sets aside just $82.5M to cover the cost of resolving police misconduct lawsuits, even though the city has already agreed to spend $90M next year to resolve 176 lawsuits tied to former Sgt. Ronald Watts and his team. @wttw.bsky.social

NEW: An Illinois lawmaker put out a call to corrections staff to contact her about incarcerated undocumented people. Months later, she gets a list purporting to be that, and hands it to Kristi Noem. But it appears to be information that DHS already had access to. news.wttw.com/2025/10/24/i...

This brilliant little article gets at what I’ve seen but haven’t yet read: Chicago locals, regardless of status, are apprehensive about venturing out to restaurants and food stalls targeted by ICE. The result is a whole sector in economic and social crisis. www.chicagomag.com/news/we-wont...

NEW: I found 17 sheriffs in Illinois that have contracts to detain people for ICE through U.S. Marshals Service contracts. IL law explicitly prohibits these types of intergovernmental service agreements. news.wttw.com/2025/10/22/d...

In 1861, abolitionists in Chicago claimed no “fugitive slave” had been arrested in Chicago in 8 years. But after Lincoln was inaugurated, the new U.S. Marshal for the territory started making arrests. The more progressive papers howled and a vigilance committee was formed: (1/)

TONIGHT!

For the last five years, people being released from Cook County Jail have gotten out later and later at night. In 2021, ~14% of people got out between 11 pm and 3 am. In 2024, ~40% of all releases took place in those wee hours. My latest, for @chicagoreader.com chicagoreader.com/news/cook-co...

NEWS NIGHT on October 16

NEW: In the weeks leading up to a massive ICE raid at a South Shore apartment building, neighbors saw drones surveilling the area, and teachers at a nearby school regularly saw agents in the neighborhood. ✍️ Jose Abonce for the Weekly and Maira Khwaja for @invisible.institute

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed. trib.al/9Sxu9IN

Tune in ... now to see @brandisfriedman.bsky.social interview @mayorofchicago.bsky.social 🌟LIVE🌟 on @wttw.bsky.social

There’s no medical staff or services at Broadview. No food preparation. No beds. That’s all by design because the facility was created for holds less than 12 hours. @bylaurenfitz.bsky.social @adrianacardmag.bsky.social chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

This comes after CBP/ICE, assisted by large number of FBI and other feds, orchestrated a large raid on an apartment building late Monday night/early Tuesday morning. Immigrant rights orgs estimate at least *forty people*, including children and infants, were taken from their beds in South Shore:

NEW from @injusticewatch.org and @boltsmag.org: Cook County has more documented wrongful convictions than any county in the nation. In the last 10 months, State’s Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke has weakened her office’s main system for freeing innocent people. buff.ly/ysPtaYG

“Noemi Chavez and her two children are now confined to a room at O’Hare International Airport, awaiting transfer to a detention facility in Texas before deportation to Guatemala,“ reports the @chicagotribune.com

AG Raoul says "We are in touch with Sheriff Grootens and we’re going to be having a conversation" capitolfax.com/2025/09/29/w...

NEW: The Illinois Department of Corrections will now permanently scan most physical mail sent to incarcerated people and distribute it electronically. news.wttw.com/2025/09/29/i...

see ya soon!

NEWS NIGHT is tomorrow!

Meet Officer Joseph Treacy, who has been named in 4 lawsuits in the past 6 years that cost taxpayers $524K, according to the analysis. $225K went to the family of a Black man shot and killed by Treacy & another officer in 2016 during a brawl that exacerbated racial tensions on the South Side.

Chicago taxpayers paid $295M to settle lawsuits tied to 272 police officers with repeated misconduct claims from 2019–2024, my latest w/ @heathercherone.bsky.social shows. New report, only at @wttw.bsky.social 👇

Seven current and formerly incarcerated women filed federal lawsuits over the last week alleging sexual assault, harassment and institutional retaliation at Illinois’ primary women’s prison, Logan Correctional Center. news.wttw.com/2025/09/17/i...

NEW: Amid an ongoing debate over whether physical mail is a major entryway for illicit substances in Illinois prisons, DOC issued an emergency rule to instead scan mail. But a key legislative committee on Tuesday determined it doesn’t warrant an emergency. news.wttw.com/2025/09/16/k...