Liz Koslov

section of text from South Side Weekly's coverage, which says: "The building was purchased by Wisconsin-based investor Trinity Flood in January 2020, according to Cook County records. On October 1, the day after the raid, a judge reviewed an emergency motion from Wells Fargo seeking to appoint Matthew Tarshis of Frontline Real Estate Partners as the property’s receiver. Flood purchased three multifamily properties in South Shore in 2020. The neighborhood, which had the highest number of eviction filings in Chicago from 2015-2019 according to the Law Center for Better Housing, has seen a rise in outside real estate investors since the 2017 announcement of the Obama Presidential Center’s construction in the neighboring Jackson Park. Wells Fargo Bank foreclosed on the building in mid-2024, bringing a $27 million lawsuit against Flood for missed loan payments. In late 2024, the City began closing its largest migrant shelters and, through state funding assistance distributed via Catholic Charities and moving support from New Life Church, relocated many families to buildings such as this one."

We know more about the massive military-style raid on a Chicago housing complex thanks to the reporting of @southsideweekly.bsky.social, @blockclubchi.bsky.social, and neighborhood resident Eboni Watson who chronicled the event. Among the emerging questions: what's real estate's role in this?

I was so honored to join many scholars I deeply admire for this perspective piece cautioning against writing off places and communities in the face of climate change
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

Loving “I, Rock”! Got it for my kiddo as a back-to-school gift and he’s a huge fan.

Cover of Homesick by Nicholas Shapiro. A small white mobile home is at the center of cover image, with a single window and a pipe protruding from its base. The scene is quiet and minimal, with gravel and asphalt in the foreground and large trees framing the background. The title “Homesick” appears in large, minimalistic serif text across the bottom, with the author’s name in smaller capital letters beneath it.

In "Homesick," Nicholas Shapiro examines the US government's distribution of over 120,000 toxic trailers following Hurricane Katrina, their devastating health effects, and the need to create new forms of accountability and change. Read the intro for free now: buff.ly/MiN6Otd

On July 5, as floodwaters were starting to recede, FEMA received 3,027 calls from disaster survivors and answered 3,018, or roughly 99.7 percent, the documents show. Contractors with four call center companies answered the vast majority of the calls. That evening, however, Ms. Noem did not renew the contracts with the four companies and hundreds of contractors were fired, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter. The next day, July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or roughly 35.8 percent, according to the documents. And on Monday, July 7, the agency fielded 16,419 calls and answered 2,613, or around 15.9 percent, the documents sho

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/c...

The second is that the NWS historically has done a very good job at that forecast contextualization (outreach to local governments, emergency managers, outdoor recreation facilities, etc.). But that's one of the first things to go away when offices are critically understaffed.

Predicting such storms is at the cutting edge of science right now, and the stakes are rising in a warming world in which they are intensifying. Yet this is precisely the kind of research that NOAA/NSF have funded in the U.S. over decades that is at imminent risk of disappearing.

Yellow Teamsters-branded thermometer showing a temperature around 125F

I spent the week talking to UPS Teamsters from around the country about what it’s like to deliver hundreds of packages in a heatwave, in trucks that still aren’t air conditioned, in a country without federal workplace protections for heat newrepublic.com/article/1972...

IF YOU'RE IN LINE TO POST YOUR CUOMO LOSS HOT TAKE, STAY IN LINE

Video captured the moment a road buckled and sent a car flying as a heatwave impacted Missouri on Sunday.

Wild how the Fed chair saying that *entire regions of the United States* won’t be able to get a mortgage in the next decade barely registered as a news event

This is a great explanation, going straight onto my syllabi

Commentary: ICE arrested a California union leader. Does Trump understand what that means? Unions in California are different from many in the U.S. because they are predominately people of color and immigrants. The arrest of a union president in L.A. will likely activate these unions to bec...

The arrest of union leader David Huerta is galvanizing a new element—solidarity:

“Right now, just in the last 14 hours, labor unions are joining together from far and wide, communities are reaching out in ways I’ve never seen,” Orr told me. “Something is different.”
www.latimes.com/california/s...

I taught close-reading for the first time in awhile recently and I enjoyed seeing how revelatory it felt for some students: a secret language, right under the surface! As Dan writes, "Learning to see what lies hidden before our eyes is part of the magic of close reading."

As wildfires & floods threaten LA, is managed retreat necessary for resilience? #UCLA LCI’s panel ft. @koslov.bsky.social & other experts debate this climate adaptation strategy & equitable alternatives. Watch the recording: innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/2025/04/29/u... #UCLALuskin

UCLA Is Now Nearly Unrecognizable as a University A police attack on a documentary film screening is just one of the assaults on student freedoms that have turned UCLA into more of a fortress than a place of higher learning.

"Beyond the absurdity of sending a battalion of riot police to seize a screen consisting of a sheet & 2 poles, the constant & extreme police..presence on campus since last April has made [it] nearly unrecognizable as a university."
www.thenation.com/article/soci...

giant balloon of scabby the rat on a manhattan street

good morning divaaaa!!

Story of my life.

Look at this video: a *huge* crowd of Vermonters swaying alongside Mohsen right after he was freed, singing "We Shall Overcome"

Signs reading "Hands off our students" & "free speech" are peppered in between large Palestine flags

I'm working on a paper and I was hit with the realization that there will just be HUGE gaps in the literature (coming out of the US) in a few years. All of this defunding - just no citations from the folks who used to the work. No new work. Lines of inquiry just stopped.

😂 this is amazing parenting. Reminds me of when we suggested to our 4-year-old that he try subbing “urgently” for “NOW,” leading to things like, “Daddy I need more blueberries URGENTLY!!!”

NASA Cancels Columbia University Lease for Climate Science Unit NASA is canceling the lease of its New York City climate science unit that has occupied the same Columbia University-owned building since the 1960s.

NASA is canceling the lease of its New York City climate science unit that has occupied the same Columbia University-owned building since the 1960s.

Make Your Manuscript Work: A Guide to Developmental Editing for Scholarly Writers|Paperback From the bestselling author of The Book Proposal Book, a practical, step-by-step approach to mastering the four pillars of scholarly writing for authors, editors, and publishing professionalsDevelopme...

If you’re a Barnes & Noble rewards member, you can preorder MAKE YOUR MANUSCRIPT WORK today for 25% off!

www.barnesandnoble.com/w/make-your-...

Love to live under a government that asks "are you Jewish?" on forms.

Eliminating due process in order to imprison and deport people based on ethnic background and political views: famously good for Jews

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal immigration authorities denied Mahmoud Khalil’s request for a temporary release from detention to attend the birth of his first child, who was born Monday in New York, according to emails shared with The Associated Press. Khalil, a Columbia University activist who has been held in a detention center in Jena, Louisiana for six weeks, requested a two-week furlough on Sunday morning, noting that his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, had gone into labor eight days earlier than expected. His lawyers said he would be “open to any combination of conditions” to allow the release, including wearing an ankle monitor and attending regularly scheduled check-ins with immigration authorities. Around 30 minutes later, Mellissa B. Harper, the New Orleans Field Office Director for U.S. Immigrations and Customs, wrote back: “After consideration of the submitted information and a review of your client’s case, your request for furlough is denied.”

Mahmoud Khalil asked for permission to attend the birth of his child under any conditions.

His request was denied within 30 minutes.

apnews.com/article/mahm...

Mahmoud Khalil’s Son Arrives After ICE Refuses to Let Him Attend Birth (Gift Article) Mr. Khalil, a permanent resident detained in Louisiana, had requested a monitored furlough for the birth. His request was denied in less than an hour.

NEW: Mahmoud Khalil's wife gave birth to their child without him after ICE denied their request to let him be present.

“This was a purposeful decision by ICE to make me, Mahmoud, and our son suffer,” Dr. Abdalla said. “My son and I should not be navigating his first days on earth without Mahmoud."

My PhD student's NSF grant was terminated today. Her dissertation investigates why air pollution monitoring, metrics, and regulations don't properly capture the harms experienced by marginalized communities--esp in the most polluted Detroit neighborhoods. She and I are happy to talk with press etc.