Cortney Lollar

A Coast Guard Commander Miscarried. She Nearly Died After Being Denied Care. U.S. service members have long faced strict limits on abortions, even when used to resolve miscarriages. Under federal law, the military will only pay for abortions in cases of rape, incest or to save...

The morning that Cmdr. Elizabeth Nakagawa was scheduled to have a D&C to remove fetal tissue after losing a very wanted pregnancy, she learned the surgery had been canceled because the military’s health insurance plan refused to pay for it.

(Published Dec. 2024)

Immigration Agents Are Using Air Passenger Data for Deportation Effort

WOW. @haleaziz.bsky.social with a new scoop: ICE now gets a running list of every person who is going to be taking a domestic flight inside the United States from the TSA and runs it through their database looking for targets. This explains the Babson College student's arrest.

BREAKING: A federal court in D.C. has blocked ICE’s unlawful policy of automatically detaining unaccompanied immigrant teens once they turn 18 – and from re-detaining those teens for no reason.

This ruling means youth can stay in safe, supportive settings – not adult jails.

White House Refuses to Rule Out Summary Executions of People on Its Secret Domestic Terrorist List The Trump administration ignored questions about whether it would order the killings of those on its NSPM-7 list — even while answering our other queries.

White House Refuses to Rule Out Summary Executions of People on Its Secret Domestic Terrorist List

The Trump administration ignored questions about whether it would order the killings of those on its NSPM-7 list — even while answering our other queries.

theintercept.com/2025/12/12/t...

Trump Justice Department sues Fulton County to obtain 2020 ballots The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit Friday seeking copies of Fulton County’s ballots from the 2020 election.

Trump litigating the 2030 election in Georgia
www.ajc.com/politics/202...

FDA intends to put most serious warning on COVID vaccines, CNN reports — Reuters The U.S. Food and Drug Administration intends to put a 'black box' warning on COVID-19 vaccines, CNN reported on Friday, citing two people familiar with the agency's plans.

The FDA may put a 'black box' warning on COVID-19 vaccines, CNN reported Friday, citing 2 people familiar with the plans.

A 'black box' is the most serious type of warning and highlights major risks such as serious side effects and restrictions. Opioids, eg, often have one due to risk of addiction

Court watching is an underrated form of activism, often creates valuable, otherwise unforeseen political opportunities, and is more important than ever in this historical moment.

Seventh Circuit Keeps Castañon Nava Consent Decree in Place but Says Individual Assessments Needed Before People Detained Without Warrants Can Be Released - National Immigrant Justice Center A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit partially denied the Trump administration’s request to stay a set of decisions by Judge Jeffrey Cummings of the Northe...

UPDATE: Appeals court keeps Castañon Nava consent decree prohibiting ICE warrantless arrests. People remain detained until individual assessments confirm they were arrested unlawfully.
Court also rejected Trump admin's unlawful expansion of mandatory detention.

WOW; a DEEPLY corrupt move by the immigration courts; clear collaboration with Trump admin officials to produce a specific result with zero notice to the party and ALSO in a situation where the judge facially lacks jurisdiction; the judge had denied a motion to reopen and the case is on appeal.

This is absolutely wild. “hey remember six years ago when there was no final order of removal? Sorry about that there is one now”

Kentuckians could save billions if utilities moved beyond fossil fuels, study finds • Kentucky Lantern A new study argues Kentucky ratepayers could see billions of dollars in savings through 2050 if utilities moved beyond fossil fuels.

kentuckylantern.com/2025/12/11/k...

Ready to become citizens, some immigrants in Louisville turned away at the door Immigrants who had received letters inviting them a citizenship ceremony in downtown Louisville were turned away at the door Thursday. All are from countries deemed “high-risk” by President Donald Trump.

Immigrants who had received letters inviting them a citizenship ceremony in downtown Louisville were turned away at the door Thursday. All are from countries deemed “high-risk” by President Donald Trump. www.lpm.org/news/2025-12...

Congress quietly strips right-to-repair provisions from 2026 NDAA despite wide support "I don't know how to interpret this, other than to say that industry prevailed in their influence over Congress," Greg Williams said.

😔 federalnewsnetwork.com/congress/202...

Proposed Model Bill Would Change College Tenure, Teaching, & Research Three conservative groups have proposed model legislation that would dramatically change faculty tenure paths, teaching loads, research activities and hiring authority

"model" legislation accepting JD Vance's premise that professors are "the enemy"
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

For The People Newsletter Vol. XXXIV For everyone working to strengthen and expand public libraries

@librariesftp.bsky.social is inviting folks to send a photo + 100 words about what your local library means to you and your community. We'll feature them every month in our newsletter. Submit: tinyurl.com/b44bfx23

I wrote about @slcpl.bsky.social for this month's newsletter! tinyurl.com/2rac688x

The LA jails have just posted their 45th in-custody death for the year, a 22 year old man who died in the hospital.

It's LASD's 3rd in-custody death in two days.

Proposed Model Bill Would Change College Tenure, Teaching, & Research Three conservative groups have proposed model legislation that would dramatically change faculty tenure paths, teaching loads, research activities and hiring authority

Conservative groups propose sweeping new model legislation for public universities. #HigherEd #AcademicSky www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

EVs beat petrol cars on lifetime emissions — even on “dirty” grids.
Battery production is carbon-intensive, but EVs quickly repay that debt and end up 21–71% cleaner over 250,000 km.

We can’t wait for perfect grids: electrify transport and clean the grid now.

Immigrants Approved for Citizenship ‘Plucked Out’ of Line Moments Before Pledging Allegiance: Report Immigrants lined up to become U.S. citizens in Boston on Dec. 4 were pulled from line by USCIS officials moments before the ceremony. The incident comes after USCIS told employees to halt all immigrat...

They are now targeting people who did everything by the book and were literally at the ceremony where they were going to become citizens...

"Immigrants lined up to become U.S. citizens in Boston on Dec. 4 were pulled from line by USCIS officials moments before the oath ceremony"

Vaccinating newborns against hepatitis B saves lives. Why might a CDC panel stop recommending it?

Children vaccinated against hepatitis B at birth are 22% less likely to die from any cause, according to to study of medical records from 1999-2018.

Why wouldn't a parent want that vaccine for their baby? Why is a CDC vaccine panel considering taking it away?

www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va...

DACA recipients are being arrested despite deportation protection An organization is tracking the growing number of arrests among people with temporary deportation protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

"DACA recipients are being arrested despite deportation protection," writes Valerie Gonzalez for the @ap.

apnews.com/article/daca...

Nearly 1,900 immigrants were detained during the first half of Operation Midway Blitz. Most had no criminal record. Newly released federal data shows that immigration agents booked in roughly 1,900 immigrants in the first half of Operation Midway Blitz – two-thirds of whom had no known criminal convictions or pe…

Nearly 1,900 immigrants were detained during the first half of Operation Midway Blitz. Most had no criminal record, newly released federal data shows. @joemahr.bsky.social and @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social report
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/01/o...

New Analysis Shows Delaying the Hepatitis B Birth Dose May Lead to Thousands of Preventable Infections and Hundreds of Millions in Avoidable Healthcare Costs - HepVu

Ahead of the ACIP meeting tomorrow where they’ll be considering removing the Hep B birth dose recommendation, here’s a good breakdown of why that’s a bad thing:

"Captain Gains" on Capitol Hill Shang-Jin Wei & Yifan Zhou WORKING PAPER 34524 DOI 10.3386/w34524 ISSUE DATE November 2025 Using transaction-level data on US congressional stock trades, we find that lawmakers who later ascend to leadership positions perform similarly to matched peers beforehand but outperform them by 47 percentage points annually after ascension. Leaders' superior performance arises through two mechanisms. The political influence channel is reflected in higher returns when their party controls the chamber, sales of stocks preceding regulatory actions, and purchase of stocks whose firms receiving more government contracts and favorable party support on bills. The corporate access channel is reflected in stock trades that predict subsequent corporate news and greater returns on donor-owned or home-state firms.

令 1 1 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 Year Figure 2: Estimated dynamic quasi-difference-in-differences coefficient, di, of equation(3), with vertical dashed lines representing 90 percent confidence intervals. The point estimate of the year in which the lawmaker became a congressional leader (Year 0) is normalized to zero. BHAR over the 250 days following each trade is the dependent variable and calculated using the Fama-French five-factor plus momentum as the benchmark model.

After becoming a congressional leader, a politician’s stock portfolio beats out those of peers by 47 (!!!) percentage points a year through trades timed around bills and firms that later get government contracts

www.nber.org/papers/w34524

via @florianederer.bsky.social

Border Patrol Raided Arizona Medical Aid Site With No Warrant, Showing Growing “Impunity” The raid on humanitarian aid providers on the U.S.-Mexico divide was the first where Border Patrol entered structures without a warrant.

The raid on humanitarian aid providers on the U.S.–Mexico divide late last month was the first where Border Patrol entered structures without a warrant.

ICE Arrested and Separated Chinese Father From 6-Year-Old Son, Advocates Say The father and son were detained at an ICE check-in on Nov. 26, advocates say. The son’s location is currently unknown, while the father is being held at an upstate ICE facility.

A 6-year-old boy is missing after ICE arrested him and his dad in NYC last week and shipped them off to separate facilities. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/02/i... @thecity.nyc @gwynnefitz.bsky.social

“We’ll Smash the Fucking Window Out and Drag Him Out” We’ve documented nearly 50 incidents of immigration officers shattering car windows to make arrests — a tactic experts say was rarely used before Trump took office. ICE claims its officers use a “mini...

Earlier this year, we documented nearly 50 incidents of immigration officers shattering car windows to make arrests — a tactic experts say was rarely used before Trump took office.

ICE claims its officers use a “minimum amount of force.”

You can judge for yourself.

Your Data Will Be Used Against You: Policing in the Age of Self-Surveillance Policing in the Age of Self-Surveillance

Preorder “Your Data Will Be Used Against You” today. … support bookshop.org and local bookstores. #books.

bookshop.org/p/books/your...

Brian Goldstone appears on a PBS News Weekend, speaking from a room lined with bookshelves. A lower-third caption reads: “BRIAN GOLDSTONE — Journalist and Author, ‘There Is No Place for Us.’”

"Homelessness today isn't just the person sleeping outside a Walmart. It's often the cashier or worker stocking the shelves inside."

I joined @pbsnews.org to talk about There Is No Place for Us and the staggering rise of the "working homeless":
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

ICE Sent 600 Immigrant Kids to Detention in Federal Shelters This Year. It’s a New Record. Under a zero tolerance policy, the first Trump administration separated immigrant children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. New data suggests separations are happening all over the count...

www.propublica.org/article/ice-...