📣 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

Reps. Nydia Velázquez & Delia Ramirez led House progressives today in introducing the New Good Neighbor Act, urging Congress to formally bury the Monroe Doctrine & replace it with a policy rooted in sovereignty & regional partnership. The resolution rebukes the Trump admin.'s illegal military op...

Russia to fly its tourists out of Cuba and then suspend airline operations due to fuel crisis reut.rs/4cn6mVS

🇨🇺 Cuba has warned internat'l airlines that it will run out of jet fuel w/in 24 hours, citing intensified US energy pressure, according to an official aviation notice seen by EFE. The shortage affects all of Cuba’s internat'l airports from Feb. 10 to March 11, w/ Jet A1 fuel unavailable nationwide...

Our next judicial election guide is coming soon, and we need your help to make sure it gets to voters in Cook County. Are you interested in distributing print guides? Do you want to canvass with us — and spread the word about why judicial elections matter? Volunteer here: buff.ly/gRQiNkg

Newsletter subscribers will get early access to our Cook County judicial election guide for the March 2026 primary. Sign up (it’s free!) here: buff.ly/0Upa6K8

Donald Trump on Thursday signed an Executive Order threatening to impose additional tariffs on countries that send oil to Cuba. Stay tuned for Belly of the Beast’s coverage on the ground in Cuba. 🧵(1/4)

And make no mistake, an oil blockade is going to kill people. I don't just mean that it will likely cause rioting which leads to people dying. I mean that a breakdown of basic infrastructure, including the transport of water much of which is still done by truck, will lead to civilian deaths

NEW — Two Black journalists — Don Lemon and Georgia Fort — were arrested by federal agents days after both filmed an anti-ICE protest inside of the Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, where an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director serves as a pastor. thetriibe.com/2026/01/jour...

They’re not ending anytime soon. They will fail in court. They’re cool with that. Because it’s not about winning a conviction. This is about intimidating us with the high potential pain for doing journalism

In late 2025, Cuba's main two sources of oil were Venezuela and Mexico, who combined still supplied far less than the island needed, leading to 20+ hour a day blackouts on most of the island In less than a month Cuba has lost both. Unclear what reserves remain www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

People are right to be incensed, but there are more names to uplift. ICE killed an immigrant man named Silverio Villegas González in Chicagoland. He had children. Victor Manuel Diaz was kidnapped in Minneapolis and died in ICE custody on January 14. Their names deserve to be repeated, too.

Hard to say how many showed up for Alex Pretti’s vigil, but easily hundreds if not thousands. After community activists and leaders spoke at the park where they gathered, everyone marched to the site of Pretti’s killing. Streets just filled with people demanding ICE out.

This is going to kill people, if implemented. Civilians, the poorest of the poor. The people who don't have the hard currency to bribe others or impose themselves on skyrocketing black market prices. Hospitals may have lights on, if they have solar panels, but how do you get staff there without bus?

WSJ scoop confirms what many surmised: Cuba is next after Venezuela, with regime change strategies already under way www.wsj.com/world/americ...

Exclusive: Mexico weighs stopping oil shipments to Cuba amid concerns of Trump retaliation, sources say reut.rs/3LRkbRM

nine years old

Injustice Watch journalism resident Melissa Dai joined us just a few weeks ago and already has her first byline 🏆

Back in the cheerless latitudes where people don’t clap when the plane lands

Ford Heights seized homes from residents who fell behind on property taxes. Then, the former mayor gave those homes away for free to his friends and political supporters. Read the latest in our “Taken by Taxes” series with @raceandequityproject.org.

Many journalists said they saw the FBI raid of a Washington Post reporter’s home as a jarring new step aimed at limiting news organizations’ ability to gather information that the government does not want to be made public.

In the aftermath of Good’s killing by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, it’s clear some news organizations were better equipped than others to analyze the visual evidence provided from bystander videos. www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/when...

Larger context on the ICE shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minnesota: Fed. officers have fatally shot at least 3 other people in the last 5 months & wounded or threatened others. We describe a few of the recent incidents and patterns we've noticed here. www.themarshallproject.org/2026/01/07/i...

You can read the full account here. It’s heartbreaking. Abolish ICE. Dismantle DHS. Justice for Renee Good. www.advocate.com/news/minneso...

An ICE officer fatally shooting a woman in Minneapolis is not the first time federal agents involved in immigration have shot a person this year. Here are two shootings, including another fatal one, during the recent Chicago blitz.

The New York Times has hired eight new journalists for its video department. Another 14 video-related roles remain open. www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/the-...

in case any fellow chicago transit dweebs were not already aware of the best free calendar you can steal color printing from an office job to put on your wall, it is here once again www.transitchicago.com/historicalca...

BREAKING: An American military operation in Venezuela killed 32 Cuban officers over the weekend, the Cuban government said in the first official acknowledgement of the deaths.

finally, we're living through precedented times

Here’s a gift link to the New York Times’ story, which is refreshingly frank.

And there ya have it… Officials from top Wall Street firms will be traveling to Venezuela to investigate “investment prospects” of the country. “The trip will feature about 20 officials from the finance, energy and defense sectors.”

Marco Rubio is reportedly saying Maduro will stand trial in US courts. Which means it’s now the US administration’s position that US courts can hold foreign presidents, but not the US president, accountable for crimes.

rubio pretty much believes in a reverse domino theory for latin america and since he is effectively running foreign policy in the region i would expect him to see cuba as his next target

BREAKING: U.S. President Donald Trump says Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro has been captured after US conducted a "large scale strike" on the country.

I love everything about this project

📣 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

One of the most important pieces I've read this year. A lot of journalists tried to capture what it was like on the ground, as Chicagoans resisted an onslaught of federal agents attacking our neighbors, and @melissagiragrant.com pulled it off.

I will never forgot the all-staff meeting after layoffs were announced where someone asked Moog whether he considered taking a pay cut himself (no, of course) — and why reporters and producers had to pay for CPM’s financial woes, instead of the people (ahem, him) who caused them. This is so gross.

I like that this “most-read” list includes stories with the most engaged time on page, rather than those with the most page views. Nice to see among all the EOY “most-read” roundups

🧦 Donate $50 or more before midnight tomorrow, and we’ll send you a pair of Injustice Watch socks as a thank you gift. buff.ly/tEnMhe0

Extremely cool that these listening clubs are established voluntarily by Radio Ambulante listeners but supported by the show with guidance for facilitation and an interactive map to help more people plug in current.org/2024/11/how-...

For CJR's Journalism 2050 Issue, Yona TR Golding writes about audience capture, “the phenomenon whereby content creators are motivated to tailor content to their subscribers’ tastes”—which can infringe upon independence.

Revisit some of our team’s outstanding reporting from this past year, including our investigations into tax foreclosures, a rogue forensics lab, juvenile detention, wrongful convictions, and more. buff.ly/0HeVrdE

I’m reading this piece about @mlk50.com’s creator residency and really appreciate the detailed account of the logistics, challenges, and successes of the program so far. news.influencerjournalism.com/mlk50-creato...

Injustice Watch’s weekly newsletter is an easy way to stay up to date on issues of equity and justice in the Cook County court system. Subscribe ➡️ buff.ly/pYvnM5X

1. Social media is now 5% following friends and 95% watching videos made by strangers. 2. Every podcast is turning into a YouTube show. 3. AI companies can't stop building TikTok clones. Everything is becoming television. I wrote about why that matters. www.derekthompson.org/p/why-everyt...

NEW from us and @crainschicago.bsky.social: Hundreds of Cook County workers have waited years to recover stolen wages — even after the Illinois Department of Labor ruled they were owed money. buff.ly/WJHXcax

Thinking about the future of explainers: unconventional formats, hyperlocal interpretations, specific cases used to illustrate processes, breaking down how things actually work (rather that official processes), crowdsourced explainers, solutions-focused framings www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/sorr...

‘Rebranded plantations’: how empire shaped luxury Caribbean tourism