Tracy Rosenberg
@twrling.bsky.social
Executive director of Media Alliance (https://media-alliance.org) and advocate with Oakland Privacy (https://oaklandprivacy.org). Journalism, communication rights, privacy, surveillance, transparency. And caramel ...
💵The federal gov’t is offering $1.4 billion to CA in BEAD federal funding. But accepting the grant under the Trump administration’s terms & conditions could cost CA roughly 3X that amount in lost consumer benefits @governor.ca.gov @agrobbonta.oag.ca.gov challenge #Condition50 TODAY!
"But few border residents interviewed by The Times knew what the towers did or how powerful they were. Most thought they were cell towers or radar equipment" www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Trump’s ‘Smart Wall’ of A.I. Cameras Is Watching the Border, and More Than a Million People
The administration is planning a massive expansion of the surveillance program. Here’s how much it can see.
nytimes.com
Boston Dynamics used to say they didn't want their robot dogs used by police. Now employees say the company plans to sell them to ICE. www.wbur.org/news/2026/10...
ICE wants robot dogs. Boston Dynamics' workers urge company to 'cancel the sale'
Dozens of employees at Boston Dynamics have petitioned the company to stop the sale of its robot dogs to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
wbur.org
DHS seeks permission to shoot migrants with heat rays. www.cnn.com/2026/10/21/p...
Pentagon grants DHS permission to test heat ray weapon for potential use at border | CNN Politics
The Pentagon has given the Department of Homeland Security permission to test a military-grade heat ray and develop tactics to potentially use it in operations at the southern US border, according to ...
cnn.com
"After declaring that it would be an “injustice” to deny the public access to the sexual assault in ride-sharing information, the CPUC recently voted to delay release of the last six years of trip data in order to reconsider Lyft’s latest request to withhold it" www.sfpublicpress.org/san-francisc...
SF Officials Call on State Agency to Release Uber, Lyft Assault Data
A local transportation leader renewed calls for the state Public Utilities Commission to release information on collisions and assaults.
sfpublicpress.org
Sometimes a foreign-owned publication can be clearer about US politics than we are. A longform look at what happened in Shasta, California to the FDR coalition of 100 years ago. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
FDR made it a blue bastion – now it’s Trump’s stronghold in California. Is it forever lost?
Shasta has embraced the Maga movement with gusto – can Democrats ever win back the rural, working-class voters they once relied upon?
theguardian.com
404Media reports that the Orange County fusion center is putting out threat briefings on the risk of "emotional confrontations" at public meetings with anti-Flock activists. www.404media.co/cops-warned-...
Cops Warned to Look for ‘Suspicious Behavior’ From People Opposing Flock at City Council Meetings
A surveillance document tells cops to expect "emotional confrontations" at Flock city council meetings.
404media.co
This is a sad read, especially given McCarty's legislative record on police oversight which was pretty good in the Assembly. Disappointing. www.theobserver.media/local/how-sa...
How Sacramento Shifted Police Accountability Infrastructure
Sacramento’s police accountability system has lost staff and leaders as city officials disputed grand jury findings and rejected reforms to civilian oversight.
theobserver.media
"The video shows a plainclothes agent wearing a flannel shirt pursuing the man with a handgun, followed by two masked agents in tactical gear. I’m a U.S. citizen the man tells the agents . When asked why he was running, he responds, “Because I don’t know who you are.” www.sfgate.com/bayarea/arti...
ICE agent draws gun on man in SF as he insists he's a US citizen
"I'm a U.S. citizen," the man told ICE agents as they surrounded him.
sfgate.com
California elections should be won by voters, not bought by big donors. 💵 Prop 4 gives communities another tool to strengthen the voices of everyday voters and small donors and reduce candidates’ dependence on big money. Vote YES on Prop 4.
Out of state pressure undoes Alameda County judge sealing of Dublin murder case. www.eastbaytimes.com/2026/10/19/j...?
Judge unseals Dublin murder case after The New Yorker gets involved
Warrants detailing the police justification for searching the home of the defendants’ daughter will remain under seal.
eastbaytimes.com
Meta can use web scrapers to crawl and collect content from websites “associated with” business accounts on its platforms, according to its new commercial terms of use. www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/meta...
Meta’s new commercial terms will allow the scraping of news sites, legal experts say
Starting October 30, business accounts will consent to Meta scraping their websites if they continue using Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp.
niemanlab.org
The lawsuits allege the robots’ cameras and LiDAR — a technology that sends out laser pulses to measure distances and map the surrounding environment — captured measurements of customers’ faces and hands as they approached the machines to retrieve their orders blockclubchicago.org/2026/10/16/d...
Delivery Robots Accused Of Scanning Customers’ Faces, Sharing Biometric Data
Two customers filed separate lawsuits alleging Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics collected their biometric data without their consent as they retrieved food and groceries.
blockclubchicago.org
ICE ran over people in Texas in a car while in hot pursuit of an immigrant who died nine years ago. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
Immigrant ICE was seeking when its agent hit a man with its SUV has been dead since 2017, family says
An immigrant rights group is calling for ICE to “come clean” about its pursuit of Jose Parra Hernández and to release bodycam video.
nbcnews.com
Israeli settlers send Washington Post journalist to the hospital. www.cnn.com/2026/10/16/m...
Washington Post journalist hospitalized after Israeli settler attack on Palestinian olive harvest in West Bank | CNN Business
A Washington Post photojournalist was hospitalized after Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank attacked her and a group of Palestinians during the annual olive harvest.
cnn.com
Huge data breach at the Educational Testing Service, a nonprofit that issues tests for the CA Department of Education, www.malwarebytes.com/blog/data-br...
Millions of California students’ sensitive data stolen in breach
The California Department of Education notified students about a data breach at contractor Educational Testing Service.
malwarebytes.com
"A retired prison administrator who reviewed footage of the incident told KQED: “It looks like they’re lining ’em up for the firing squad.” calmatters.org/justice/2026...?
'Put them down with gas': Abuse and retaliation inside a California women's prison
Current and formerly incarcerated women spoke to KQED about a pattern of sexual abuse and retaliation that persists at California's largest women’s prison.
calmatters.org
"This proliferation of datacenters is now attracting modern-day prospectors seeking to cash in on one of the most lucrative industries on Earth. Set in their sights are areas like Imperial county: rural, underdeveloped and desperate for an economic boost" www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
Inside the long, bitter fight over one man’s quest to build the biggest AI datacenter in California
A modern-day prospector promised rural Imperial thousands of jobs and millions in tax revenue – but his plan has set off a firestorm of resistance
theguardian.com
Homeland Security plans to have an intelligence bureau of their own complete with spies and access to classified information. prospect.org/2026/10/14/i...
ICE Planning $100 Million ‘Nightmare’ Domestic Spy Program - The American Prospect
Under ERO ONE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to hire 142 intelligence contractors with top secret clearances and deploy them in cities across the country.
prospect.org
Trump administration floats weird idea of tying transportation infrastructure funding to the rates of marriage and childbirth among the serviced populations. www.sfpublicpress.org/culture-war-...
Culture War on Rails: Trump Conditions Transit Funds on Births, Marriages
A federal proposal would overhaul billions of dollars for infrastructure, drawing criticism from demographers and Bay Area transit leaders.
sfpublicpress.org
Federal DOJ sues California to suppress ballots that Homeland Security claims without tangible evidence are non-citizen voters. www.sfchronicle.com/politics/art...
DOJ sues to block California ballot-counting as state officials refuse late bid to alter voter rolls
The Department of Justice has sued California after state officials rejected demands to review a list of alleged noncitizen voters and prevent them from voting in the Nov. 3 election.
sfchronicle.com
The thing here is you take one look at Aisha Wahab and it is obvious she is a Taliban nightmare. So what on earth is Melissa Hernandez babbling about? www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/arti...
Her congressional bid was already faltering. Then she accused her Afghan opponent of ‘communications with the Taliban’
The California race for Eric Swalwell’s former East Bay seat took a strange turn at a recent debate.
sfchronicle.com
“It’s unacceptable that after running through a gauntlet of paperwork to file insurance claims, some wildfire survivors still have not gotten access to the funds they need to rebuild,” said Rohit Chopra, secretary of the Business and Consumer Services Agency" apnews.com/article/la-f...
California orders lenders to report on handling of insurance payouts to LA fire survivors
California officials are ordering mortgage lenders to report on how they've handled insurance payouts to survivors of the 2025 Los Angeles-area fires.
apnews.com
"The number of news desert counties, jumped to 238. Another nearly 1,500 counties have just one source of local news remaining, leaving 47 million Americans with limited to no access to local news" www.medill.northwestern.edu/news/2026/lo...
Local news deserts skyrocket as newspaper closures escalate, even as startups emerge, Medill study shows - Medill - Northwestern University
The number of local news desert counties in the U.S. shot up by 26 in the last year, the largest one-year rise in at least five years, according to the Medill State of Local News Report 2026.
medill.northwestern.edu
SCOTUS to decide if Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) records are covered by FOIA. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/13/u...?
Supreme Court Will Review Dispute Over Records From Elon Musk’s DOGE
A nonprofit watchdog group sued the Department of Government Efficiency, asserting that it should be subject to federal Freedom of Information Act discovery requests.
nytimes.com
San Joaquin Valley is new focus for ICE attacks on California. calmatters.org/justice/2026...?
Sudden surge in ICE arrests empties streets in California's San Joaquin Valley
The San Joaquin Valley is California's agricultural heartland. It's now the focus of an immigration enforcement campaign that has communities on edge.
calmatters.org
CA passed an Immigration Detainee bill of rights emphasizing the right to healthy food and clean living facilities. This caused the Geo Group to sue the state. www.latimes.com/california/s...
Private prison company sues California over civil rights law for immigrant detainees
GEO Group operates several detention centers for people being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It's challenging a new California law to give detainees privacy rights.
latimes.com
"Federal protections have been key to saving nearly 300 U.S. species — including the bald eagle, American alligator, and grizzly bear — from permanent extinction" grist.org/regulation/t...
Trump is gutting the Endangered Species Act. These 10 species show what’s at stake.
Hundreds of imperiled species could face greater threats from industry and development.
grist.org
