'DHS has sent hundreds of subpoenas to social-media companies, according to people familiar with the matter. Its agents have tracked down Americans at work and on the road, asking them to sign letters acknowledging their online speech about ICE “may” be a crime.' www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

How ICE Is Weaponizing Social Media Against Its Critics

The agency says its surveillance program searches for threats to agents, but critics see free-speech infringements.

wsj.com

CoreCivic expects Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees to start arriving at the 1,800 bed Appleton, Minn., facility as early as this fall. with a ramp up to full capacity by mid-2027. The contract kicks in next week. (1) www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

Appleton detention facility could start holding ICE detainees this fall

CoreCivic, which owns the 1,600 bed Prairie Correctional Facility has been awarded a contract to hold detainees.

mprnews.org

The NYTimes asks a bunch of familiar Minnesotans (including one of my favorite local journalists, Marshall Helmberger, publisher of the Timberjay newspaper from Tower, Minn.) what they think of the DFL Senate candidates. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Opinion | A Voters’ Guide to the Minnesota Democratic Senate Primary (Gift Article)

Times Opinion convened a panel of experts to help voters make sense of the race.

nytimes.com

Good morning! For the @nytimes.com, I interviewed these two, plus Kid Congo Powers and more, for a story on the Cramps. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/a...

In recent months, ICE has deployed a round-the-clock digital dragnet to scour the public internet—from Facebook to Instagram to X—for speech that could endanger the agency’s mission. The government has paid millions to private contractors to surface everything from potential threats to agents to

How ICE Is Weaponizing Social Media Against Its Critics

The agency says its surveillance program searches for threats to agents, but critics see free-speech infringements.

wsj.com

In Minneapolis, Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette has agreed to stay in his post until the end of the year as the city searches for his permanent replacement. Barnette's reappointment was twice voted down by the City Council, who were upset by police budget overruns & slow pace of reform.

'Trust in news organizations generally is lowest among U.S. adults who are the least engaged in public life.'

Pew Research Center@pewresearch.org · 2d ago

Americans’ trust in local news organizations is higher overall than trust in national news. Trust in news organizations generally is lowest among U.S. adults who are the least engaged in public life. #PewKnightInitiative

When ICE arrested two Iranian sisters, an L.A. pastor sheltered the siblings at his church for months after an interfaith organization bonded them out of detention. My latest for @capitalandmain.bsky.social capitalandmain.com/when-ice-det...

When ICE Detained Two Iranian Sisters, an L.A. Pastor Answered the Call

Refugees fleeing persecution only to be swept up by ICE win support of congregation, including some who voted for Trump.

capitalandmain.com

'[T]hen-Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo directing U.S. attorneys in select districts to charge those protesters, as well as people who interfered with law enforcement, "with the highest provable offense available under the law."' www.npr.org/2026/08/03/n...

She protested ICE raids. Then agents showed up at her door

The Justice Department is using federal conspiracy charges to sweep up ICE protesters. Some legal experts worry the agency is casting too wide a net to prosecute political activists.

npr.org

My latest story has some intrigue. FCC finally released Chairman Brendan Carr’s financial report for 2025 late Friday. The report states Paramount gave him tickets to the gala worth $12,390. But he and his wife sat in skybox seats that sold for $125,000 a piece. www.propublica.org/article/fcc-...

FCC Commissioners Face Ethics Complaints for Taking Luxury Gifts From Paramount

Citing a ProPublica report on Paramount providing luxury Kennedy Center gala tickets to FCC officials, the complaints note that commissioners accepted the gifts while the FCC was reviewing or about to...

propublica.org

There are 7 PR people for every journalist in the US. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

On Jan. 11, Gregory Bovino watched as his Border Patrol agents dragged a man out of his car at a St. Paul Speedway, knelt on his back until he lost consciousness, and dragged his limp body into the back of a van. The man's name is Orbin Mauricio Henriquez Serrano and this is his story.

Orbin Mauricio Henriquez Serrano survived a violent arrest in St. Paul. It still haunts him. • Minnesota Reformer

The morning of Jan. 11 began for Orbin Mauricio Henriquez Serrano with an ominous warning: The gas light on his Jeep Cherokee was glowing yellow on the dashboard. He didn’t want to go to work at the r...

minnesotareformer.com

more than 8 percent of all American newspaper journalists work in Manhattan, up from 2 percent in 2005 www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

New: We found 50 cops who misused Flock cameras and other license-plate readers for personal purposes, often to spy on their girlfriends or ex-wives. He "watched every single move I made. ... Who do you turn the chief of police in to?" wapo.st/3S6rTuo

She left her ex. He secretly tracked her through a network of policing cameras.

Flock’s array of license-plate cameras was built to fight crime. But at least 50 law enforcement officers were charged with or accused of misusing it and other systems.

wapo.st

Defendants in the Cities Church protest case have received plea offers to reduce conspiracy charges from felony to misdemeanor. But feds have struggled to prosecute anti-ICE protesters, including dropping many charges for impeding a federal agent. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

Federal prosecutors have offered plea agreements to most Cities Church defendants

At the moment, it doesn’t appear that any of the 29 defendants offered plea agreements have accepted them. If accepted, defendants’ conspiracy charges would be reduced from felonies to misdemeanors.

mprnews.org

'He had spent 13 months in three U.S. detention centers before being denied asylum in America. And he had been deported in chains by the Trump administration back to Russia.' www.nytimes.com/2026/08/01/w...

The U.S. Deported Him to Jail in Russia. Then He Escaped.

Facing a long prison sentence or a forced trip to the front line of a war he opposes, Artyom Vovchenko believed it was worth taking a risk.

nytimes.com

"You know who's behind it? Minnesota, because they're grossly incompetent,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question about whether Iran could be ruled out as a source of the attack. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

Walz blasts unfounded Trump claim on cyberattacks

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Friday responded sharply to unfounded allegations from President Donald Trump that Minnesota was behind recent cyberattacks on municipal water systems.

mprnews.org

'Ms. Pirro blamed both the government’s vendor and the administration’s timetable, saying the pool’s poor state “was the result of a flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, and the rush to complete the project..."' www.nytimes.com/2026/07/31/u...

Charges Dropped Against Ex-Olympian David Hearn Accused of Damaging Reflecting Pool

A former Olympian will not face trial after federal prosecutors acknowledged that the Trump administration’s claims of vandalism were false.

nytimes.com

Federal prosecutors offered plea agreements to most defendants charged after an anti-ICE protest at Cities Church. The deals would reduce felony conspiracy charges to misdemeanors.

Federal prosecutors have offered plea agreements to most Cities Church defendants

At the moment, it doesn’t appear that any of the 29 defendants offered plea agreements have accepted them. If accepted, defendants’ conspiracy charges would be reduced from felonies to misdemeanors.

mprnews.org

Q: Can you rule out that Iran is behind the water attacks? TRUMP: I don't think so. I think that Minnesota is behind it. You know who is behind it? Minnesota. Because they're grossly incompetent. I don't think there was an Iranian cyberattack. I think Minnesota ought to get its act together.

'“They just changed the name,” one agent said in a deposition, when questioned about “Operation At Large,” the high-profile nationwide operation last year. “We’re doing the same thing just with a different name.”' newrepublic.com/article/2137...

ICE’s Secret Weapon Is in Your Community

While attempting to maintain a relatively lower profile, ICE is managing to arrest record numbers of people. Here’s how it’s doing that.

newrepublic.com

9th Cir., 2-1, joins the 2d, 6th, 10th, and 11th Cirs. in holding that DHS cannot detain unadmitted noncitizens found living inside the United States without the possibility of bond while their removal proceedings are pending. Circuits split with 5th and 8th. cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/op...

"Last year, more than 1 in 3 working-age adults used creditcards to buy groceries — and many of them had trouble paying them off." www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Column | More Americans are buying groceries on credit. Here’s why that’s a problem.

Families are paying for groceries with revolving debt, which then traps them into accumulating years of interest payments for food they’ve long since consumed.

washingtonpost.com

BREAKING: James Comey has now also filed a motion seeking "disclosure of the transcript and audio recordings of the grand jury proceedings in this case." Motion: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... Memo: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Breaking News: Ross Douthat, The New York Times opinion columnist, is joining CBS News’s “60 Minutes” in one of the first major hires since Bari Weiss’s takeover.

Ross Douthat Joins ‘60 Minutes’ as a Correspondent

Mr. Douthat, an opinion columnist at The New York Times, will join the CBS News program, along with several other journalists.

nyti.ms

Immigration agents used racial slurs referring to Latinos in text messages, video obtained by ACLU

Immigration agents used racial slurs referring to Latinos in text messages, video obtained by ACLU

Body camera footage and forensically recovered texts, which provide a window into the mindset of agents who conducted raids throughout the L.A. area, were detailed in a 37-page motion for a preliminary injunction filed on Monday.

latimes.com

Opinion on Salon: "Getting the FBI out of the business of investigating ICE killings will only make it harder to get at the truth about ICE shootings. It is yet another step toward government by collusion, concealment and cover-up." www.salon.com/2026/07/23/t...

The FBI's refusal to investigate ICE makes it a co-conspirator

The bureau's refusal to investigate cases involving federal immigration officers makes it a partner in cover-up

salon.com

The man, who was deported after his ICE arrest, and his wife, who self deported from the U.S. to join him in Guatemala, were found bound and shot to death in a sugarcane field. "Their 14-month-old daughter, Giovanni, was found crying beside her mother’s body..." www.stlpr.org/law-order/20...

Overland couple shot dead in Guatemala after local ICE stop led to deportations

The couple’s 14-month-old daughter was found crying beside her mother’s body in a sugarcane field last week, according to Guatemalan authorities and media.

stlpr.org

"A pyrocumulonimbus, or “fire cloud" is "created by intense heat from large fires or volcanic eruptions, which in turn can spark more fires. In other words, it is a fire-fueled thunderstorm that does not bring rain." www.nytimes.com/2026/07/27/w...

Heat From France’s Wildfires Creates a ‘Fire Cloud,’ or Pyrocumulonimbus

A pyrocumulonimbus — a thundercloud created by intense heat — is a phenomenon that can spark new blazes and is “unprecedented in France,” officials said.

nytimes.com

Spending my summer as always chasing butterflies and bumblebees around the gardens with my camera.