There are many things to complain about when it comes to American day care/preschool. Many bigger problems. But among the things that grind my personal gears most is children having to take naps with their shoes on. I don't even know if most parents are aware of this but it's standard practice.

The former Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers who went on strike for 3+ years, only to have the owners sell the paper and fire most of them, have started their own cooperative news org. Important reporting by @maximillianalvarez.bsky.social

Corporate profiteers destroyed journalism. Worker-owned media can save it.

Former Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers went on strike for over three years and won. Then, the owners sold the paper and most strikers lost their jobs. Now, they’ve launched “a cooperative news organiz...

therealnews.com

Squished in the middle of this story was this heartbreaking paragraph. Unconscionable.

Brian Lyman@brianlyman.bsky.social · last wk.

A lot of what-the-hell moments in this story, but building a data center in a floodplain in Louisiana is inviting the wrath of Poseidon.

A harrowing account of hourly humiliations. "As a 16-year-old boy, I still find the strip-search process truly dehumanizing. Going through it before and after visits is enough for me to feel truly violated." hammerandhope.org/article/typi...

My Typical Day as a Teenager in the Box on Rikers Island

A magazine of Black politics and culture

hammerandhope.org

70 FIRES in just 3 YEARS

Shannon Heffernan@shannonheffernan.bsky.social · 2w ago

Over the last three years there have been more than 70 fires at an Illinois prison, including 12 cases of self-immolation. One man needed a skin graft. Another lost a leg. Two have died. A new investigation below. www.themarshallproject.org/2026/07/24/p...

NEW INFO HAS REVEALED that the 28-year-old Mexican man killed while running from ICE last week was just visiting on short tourist visa—and already had a plane ticket to go home. newrepublic.com/post/213277/...

Man Who Died Running From ICE Was Tourist With a Ticket Home

The man has been identified as Juan Jairo Coronilla Duran, who was in the U.S. on a tourist visa and already had a plane ticket to go back to Mexico.

newrepublic.com

NEW: 375 days without stepping foot outside. Three men at Menard Correctional Center allege they were kept in solitary confinement for months on end, instead confined to filthy and unventilated cells so small they couldn’t fully extend their arms. They're suing IDOC. news.wttw.com/2026/07/14/3...

375 Days Without Stepping Foot Outside: Lawsuit Alleges No Yard Time for Some Incarcerated at Menard Prison

Three men filed a lawsuit Monday against administrators at the Illinois Department of Corrections and Menard Correctional Center, alleging that they inflicted cruel and unusual punishment on the plain...

news.wttw.com

NEW: A 28-year-old man died Tuesday morning following an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations agents in St. Augustine, marking the third death involving ICE in a week.

Man dies during immigration encounter in Florida, the third ICE-involved death in a week

Third ICE-involved death in a week confirmed after fatal St. Augustine crash during joint agency operation. National outrage grows over enforcement and deaths

miamiherald.com

9 Chicago wards have had 0 new homes permitted this year see that info and more ⬇️

Chicago building permit statistics

Track Chicago building permit volume, fee payment status, and permit processing times, including a rolling 30-day average for new construction and renovation permits.

chicagocityscape.com

@mdoukmas.bsky.social wrote an excellent article for the @chicagoreader.com on the history and politics of police unions. I highly recommend everyone read it. chicagoreader.com/news/from-so...

From soldier to worker - Chicago Reader

Police unions were born of resistance to discipline for brutality. Do they belong in the labor movement?

chicagoreader.com

Patrick "Inverted Vibe Curve" Blanchfield@patblanchfield.bsky.social · last mo.

How are police unions different from other unions? What are the politics of police institutions, internally, and in relation to one another? And why do cops have so much power? grateful to @stschrader1.bsky.social for joining us on @unhappinesspod.bsky.social www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnha...

This event is TOMORROW! There's still time to sign up and join us for what promises to be an excellent conversation about how bad forensic evidence makes it into our courtrooms and what can be done about it. Register here to get the zoom webinar link! airtable.com/appxuo0SNj05...

Airtable | Everyone's app platform

Airtable is a low-code platform for building collaborative apps. Customize your workflow, collaborate, and achieve ambitious outcomes. Get started for free.

airtable.com

Maya Dukmasova@mdoukmas.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Our webinar is one week away! Don't forget to register to receive a link to the event. 100+ folks planning to.join us so far. Can't wait for this exciting conversation about a glaring problem in Illinois courts!

Congrats to @mdoukmas.bsky.social, who won a Best Investigative Journalism Award from the Institute for Nonprofit News for "Forensic Failures" 🎉 www.injusticewatch.org/project/fore...

Fake science, faulty methods, misleading testimony

How a rogue forensics lab in Chicago got people wrongfully convicted for driving high.

injusticewatch.org

Institute for Nonprofit News@inn.org · 2mo ago

Congratulations to the winners of the 2026 Nonprofit News Awards who illustrate what it means to serve the public through journalism. Best Investigative Journalism: @jaxtoday.org, @voicesofmonterybay.bsky.social, @injusticewatch.org, @occrp.org.

Reminder that we're collecting tips about judges up for retention this fall in Cook County! @injusticewatch.org wants to hear from lawyers, litigants, family members, court workers, and anyone else with experience seeing these judges work! Tips are confidential www.injusticewatch.org/judges/judic...

What can you tell us about these Cook County judges running for retention?

We’re researching the Cook County judges running for another term in November for our judicial election guide. Have something to share? Let us know.

injusticewatch.org

Our webinar is one week away! Don't forget to register to receive a link to the event. 100+ folks planning to.join us so far. Can't wait for this exciting conversation about a glaring problem in Illinois courts!

Injustice Watch@injusticewatch.org · 2mo ago

Join us for a conversation about crime lab oversight. Panelists include: 🔹 Kate Judson, Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences 🔹 Sarah Chu, Cardozo School of Law 🔹 Peter Stout, Houston Forensic Science Center 🔹 Amy Watroba, Illinois Forensic Science Commission buff.ly/UvZLEHr

There are 60 judges up for retention in Cook County this fall and we want to know abut YOUR experiences with them! Whether you're a litigant, a lawyer, a relative of someone who's had a case before them, a court worker - you can submit tips confidentially here: www.injusticewatch.org/judges/judic...

What can you tell us about these Cook County judges running for retention?

We’re researching the Cook County judges running for another term in November for our judicial election guide. Have something to share? Let us know.

injusticewatch.org

Registration for this event is off the charts so far!! So glad to see this is a topic of such interest to folks in Illinois and beyond. Sign up and join us for this free event on 6/23!

Injustice Watch@injusticewatch.org · 2mo ago

Join us for a conversation about crime lab oversight. Panelists include: 🔹 Kate Judson, Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences 🔹 Sarah Chu, Cardozo School of Law 🔹 Peter Stout, Houston Forensic Science Center 🔹 Amy Watroba, Illinois Forensic Science Commission buff.ly/UvZLEHr

This event is a month away and we've seen a ton of interest in it already. Whether you're a forensic science professional, a legal professional, or just someone who's interested in these issues, join us for a webinar moderated by @mdoukmas.bsky.social. RSVP here: airtable.com/appxuo0SNj05...

Injustice Watch@injusticewatch.org · 2mo ago

Join us for a conversation about crime lab oversight. Panelists include: 🔹 Kate Judson, Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences 🔹 Sarah Chu, Cardozo School of Law 🔹 Peter Stout, Houston Forensic Science Center 🔹 Amy Watroba, Illinois Forensic Science Commission buff.ly/UvZLEHr

Excited to host this conversation! Ever since I began reporting on the scandal at the UIC forensic toxicology lab my mind has been repeatedly blown by how little oversight exists over these kinds of labs. Whether you work in the courts or are interested in how the courts work this event is for you!

Injustice Watch@injusticewatch.org · 3mo ago

Junk science in the courtroom is a bigger problem than you may realize. In Illinois, flawed scientific practices at accredited crime labs have contributed to wrongful convictions. Join us for a conversation about how we got here and what comes next featuring a panel of experts. buff.ly/UvZLEHr

Has everyone known about packing cubes all along????

I wrote about the campaign to criminalize “organized retail theft” in this piece. It’s the only time I’ve written something where I felt like I was going crazy. Theft is already a crime! But retailers lied about the stats, the law, and the causes—they claim that MS-13 and Hezbollah are behind it.

Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 3mo ago

In a response to the long-debunked "retail theft epidemic," the House voted 348 to 60 for a bill that would exacerbate mass incarceration by sweeping more low-level crime into the federal system and exacerbate the criminalization of poverty. TY to the 59 Democrats who voted NO (see below).

personally I think it's a very big deal that the Canada bureau chief for the @nytimes.com — certainly one of the highest-paid journalists in the country — asked an unspecified "AI tool" what Poilievre said & published its AI-hallucinated quotes in her reporting.

Congrats to @mdoukmas.bsky.social and @danhinkel.bsky.social on taking home 1st and 2nd place in the Driehaus Awards for Investigative Reporting last night! I'm proud of the work our team @injusticewatch.org does to shed light on systemic failures in the court system.

Join us Wednesday, June 3, at Walls Turned Sideways for an informal conversation about certificates of innocence: what they are, why they matter, and how Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke is trying to make them harder to get. airtable.com/appxuo0SNj05...

I still cant get over this. How you steal somebody's life... (he was 28 years incarcerated for a crime he DID NOT commit) He gets out, gets a law degree. Runs for office.... WINS... and then they steal the job

Keith Boykin@keithboykin.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Louisiana Republicans have eliminated a city clerk position in New Orleans days before a Black man was set to take office. “It’s a sad thing to see the state government repeating what happened to Black public officials during Reconstruction,” said Calvin Duncan, who was set to take office Monday.

20 years ago, Flor lost a job after trying to support immigrant workers in the 2006 march. This year, she brought her family to May Day. For her, the march has become something passed down and a way of refusing to disappear. chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

For May Day, Chicago mom takes her family to a protest: ‘I have never heard of any right being won from home’

Twenty years ago, Flor Ramirez lost her job for trying to stand with immigrant workers on May Day. Now, she brings her family to the march, hoping her children learn not to stay silent.

chicago.suntimes.com

New from my colleague @danhinkel.bsky.social - a close look at the campaign Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke is waging against exonerated people trying to escape the trauma and stigma and destitution brought on by wrongful conviction www.injusticewatch.org/project/deny...

Cook County prosecutor fights to block exonerated people from clearing their names

Certificates of innocence can help exonerated people get jobs and housing. State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke is making them harder to get.

injusticewatch.org

Tonight in the ai reading group i was reminded of something that happened in 2006 after I dropped out of college, when I was living in a run-down old house next to jb alberto's in rogers park with a bunch of dudes. it was, as you can imagine, not clean.

anyway support your local indie press to learn about cool shit 15 months before it goes viral / becomes a hidden gem or whatever

This happens *a lot* to journalists at small regional papers—they’ve got boots on the ground, report on stuff first, and are routinely ignored when a big story breaks nationally. I lack the resources and network of the AP, so it’s confounding when something like this happens

Pretty frustrating that the New York Times is crediting AP with uncovering the existence of Aadam’s archive when I reported on it 15 months prior. chicagoreader.com/music/gossip...

A private collection of 10,000 Chicago show tapes finds a public home - Chicago Reader

The Internet Archive begins posting the Aadam Jacobs Collection. Plus: Four locals heat up the dead of winter with new music.

chicagoreader.com

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 4mo ago

From the mid-1980s until just a few years ago, Aadam Jacobs recorded thousands of club shows, including an early Nirvana performance. Volunteers are adding them to an online archive, presenting an extraordinary snapshot of how the Chicago music scene has evolved over four decades.