This story, from @natezuke.bsky.social, is absolutely wild. A trans woman who never changed her gender marker was issued a letter invalidating her license. At the DMV they cut up her license, which had an "M" marker. www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

New post! Many Americans hold contradictory opinions on the same policies. Question wording effects can swing opinions by 20+ points on immigration, the budget, and transgender rights. That's a problem for people who interpret polls for a living. www.gelliottmorris.com/p/many-ameri...

Our Immigration team posted 37 new timeline entries this week. See our briefing for a capsule update: unbreaking.org/blog/briefing/

My Dad ( @philhaslanger.bsky.social ) wrote about the four times he met Rev. Jesse Jackson, between 1968 and 1988, and how that helped shape him. In the picture, he's the one on the left with glasses. pastorphilsplace.blogspot.com/2026/02/jess...

NEW FROM ME: The deportation plane stuck in the blizzard took off this morning after 31 hours, but not before exposing a much bigger problem with exceedingly long delays on ICE flights. With exclusive interviews and photos taken by local ICE flight watchers. gillianbrockell.ghost.io/ice-deportat...

Highly recommend the snow forecast maps in the @inquirer.com live blog: www.inquirer.com/weather/live... Built by @sstirling.bsky.social

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...

📣 Our judicial election guide for the March 2026 primary is here! We spent months researching each candidate’s background, legal experience, political connections, conduct, and more — all so you can make informed decisions about who should be a Cook County judge. buff.ly/O4cRnL6

New: District Judge Robert Gettleman issued an order yesterday mandating clergy be allowed inside the Broadview, IL ICE facility on Feb. 18 to offer those inside ashes and communion for Ash Wednesday. Gettleman found the govt has "substantially burdened plaintiffs’ exercise of religion."

unraveled is *two* people, doing work that much bigger newsrooms aren't

The two children who returned to MN today say they saw one of their Valley View schoolmates at a detention center in TX. This is a child whose family was last in contact with the school on January 9. No one has known where they were until now.

New — I spoke to eight people who were present at the ICE protest on Saturday in Portland, Oregon when federal agents deployed tear gas and rubber bullets into a crowd of families, children, elderly and disabled people, and their pets. These are their stories:

He was just standing there observing/filming. ICE agent initiates physical contact, pushing him toward side walk. (reposted to clarify description)

Hm Gmail filters seem suddenly completely busted

Tomorrow's front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 24, 2026

Anti-ICE protesters fill the streets of downtown Minneapolis during an "ICE Out" rally on Jan. 23. 📷️ Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune Continuing coverage: bit.ly/3ZsrBxQ

Reminiscent of how they removed mention of trans people at the Stonewall National Monument

Look at this: @inquirer.com has digitally preserved the interpretative signage removed by NPS, and used annotations to explain what specifically was flagged before removal. This keeps the content publicly accessible (for now) while doing newsworthy reporting www.inquirer.com/news/philade...

The sun rises over Chicago as temperatures plummet, with wind chills around -30 degrees, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. | Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

If you’re worried your polling place might be disrupted, one constructive step you can take is volunteering as a poll worker. It’s a hands-on way to help ensure the election runs smoothly—and it gives you direct access to the people who can explain what security measures are in place.

Please don't brag about how your community would *theoretically* handle ICE/CBP better than Minneapolis. I know that you think it is funny, boasting about how your part of the world is so tough that you'd send ICE/CBP packing. Just wait to see how you will be judged.

At this point, it’s definitely the pope.

Temperatures will be cold for today's #Bears game in Chicago, but the game will end before the Arctic cold front passes later tonight. Even colder air arrives behind the front along with gusty winds.

In just the past three hours — just in my neighborhood — there's been a legal observer pepper sprayed in the face and another observer stopped by an ICE agent who then printed out a map of their home address & threatened arrest. So yeah that federal judge's order isn't doing shit to slow them down.

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, in her November 20 opinion in a case over the federal government’s treatment of protesters and press in Illinois, warned us — warned America — that Wednesday was coming. My overnight report at Law Dork:

For those keeping score, Bellingcat, The New York Times Visual Investigation Team, & Washington Post's Visual Forensic team have all published analysis showing the ICE shooter wasn't in the path of Renee Nicole Good’s vehicle when he shot her, contradicting statements by the President & his cronies

This part has really stuck with me: www.thehandbasket.co/p/kavanaugh-...

I spoke to the owner of a Trump Store in the Philly suburbs who is closing up shop due to declining sales. www.inquirer.com/business/tru...

as a teacher who did this with HS Seniors in Dallas, I learned 2 things: 1, this needs to be a unit every single year, K-12, across disciiplines, because it's that difficult to teach well and, 2, kids actually like spotting fakes and really get into this if you give them the skills to do so

I moved around a lot in my 20s, and have traveled to a lot of professional conferences. tenpages.github.io/us-level/us....

The flu surge in the last week of the year was really something else (see the line chart in the story). "About 5,000 people have died of the flu so far this season, including 9 children, as the Trump administration pulls back on advice to get kids vaccinated." www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

three bylines, six months late, almost zero new information we hadn't reported months ago. lowercased our name and mentioned deep in the story. no link to us. said they couldnt find the govt privacy document (we did). good job wall street journal

Enough is enough. I just saw this clanker run a train crossing and narrowly avoid a collision with a Metra train. Who knows what would’ve happened.

ICYMI over holidays: 3,800 children, including infants, were held in immigrant detention in 2025. Families report children are so distressed they are hitting themselves in the face and soiling themselves, despite being potty-trained. www.themarshallproject.org/2025/12/17/c...

Sorry for limited skeets; frozen fingers! Large Chicago crowd has hit the streets in protest of the U.S. bombing of Venezuela and kidnapping of President Maduro.

The protest continues to grow, now spilling further back into Federal Plaza and across the street in front of the city's federal courthouse. Police hanging out nearby but the atmosphere is calm so far.

"The breathtaking use of military force against a sovereign state has no legal justification." Editorial from @inquirer.com: www.inquirer.com/opinion/comm...

I wrote about Grok's CSAM problem and how journalists keep fumbling the story www.readtpa.com/p/grok-cant-...

Strong Towns Chicago deployed my location crash report dashboard 🤝 @strongtownschicago.bsky.social Use this to generate crash reports for intersections, corridors, or your own ward. Best experienced on desktop 🗺️ www.strongtownschicago.org/chicago-cras...

2026's First Light. This morning's sunrise in Chicago to start off the new year.

📣 We’re hiring an editor in chief to lead our award-winning editorial team. Check out the full job posting and apply here: buff.ly/jKsWWgE

10 years since I graduated with my masters from CUNY with this crew!

EXCLUSIVE: @laurenweberhp.bsky.social & I have spent the last year collecting school+county-level vaccination data from across the US and found that only about 28% of counties now have herd immunity for kindergartners from measles—that leaves about 5.2mn kids unprotected. Gift link: wapo.st/49zDc43

OPINION: "When a gunman attacked my classmates, school active shooter drills proved useful to me. It's a skill I wish I never had to learn." — CJ Lair

Our favorite visual stories from the past twelve months

The Black Zine Fair needs funds to happen. We pay workshop facilitators, it costs us thousands to rent tables and chairs, we feed exhibitors & volunteers & more. Please help us to raise the funds needed: gogetfunding.com/black-zine-f...

“Ramírez didn’t fully understand her legal options, and she says she wanted to escape the difficult conditions inside Broadview. She signed the self-deportation form.” “Ramírez says she wanted to get out; there was little food and water, and she was unable to shower.”

That was a fun Green Bay drive to watch, at least. #Packers

✶✶ How closely did you follow Chicago local news in 2025? ✶✶ Take the quiz to find out! 📰 🏙️ 🤓 lauriemerrell.com/chicago-news...

Chicago Christmas map by the Illinois Office of Tourism, 1982