Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Alex Harrison

Capitol Fax @capitolfax.bsky.social · 16h

Appellate court upholds lower court block of National Guard deployment, but allows federalized troops to remain on Illinois bases

* Background is here if you need it. Tribune… A federal appeals court in Chicago on Saturday denied the Trump administration’s request for an emergency stay of a district judge’s order barring the president from deploying National Guard troops in the city and state. The 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals did, however, grant a temporary stay [...]

dlvr.it

1 2 5

Alex Harrison @alexhairysun.bsky.social · 1d

It's a weird inversion, for sure. I was there for NIPAS deploying at NU in Oct. 2020, so I certainly know what you mean. To say the least, they seem to be a self-selecting group for their particular type of enforcement. Remains to be seen whether they go all-in on that, or remain show-of-force only.

1 4

Alex Harrison @alexhairysun.bsky.social · 1d

I don't disagree, and the fact they're sent as relief for "fatigued" cops is telling. But there's a real difference between the 2 agencies, and the more police brought under the UC umbrella, the more complexity is introduced. TL;DR: State cops aren't muni cops, and idrk how that'll play out yet

1 2

Alex Harrison @alexhairysun.bsky.social · 1d

No, that group was MABAS (Mutual Aid Box Alarm System), which fills a similar purpose for fire/EMS response at a statewide level.

1 1

Alex Harrison @alexhairysun.bsky.social · 1d

One final note: I'm working on some more FOIA stuff in the background re: NIPAS' ID numbers, but in the meantime, look out for whether those IDs are present and visible. They absolutely should be, but again, videos from Friday shows it's inconsistent. /thread

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 8d

Cops with NIPAS—Northern IL Police Alarm System—just arrived to switch out with state troopers.

This is our first time seeing them out here; they're cop "mutual aid," assorted officers from other suburban departments called up specifically to assist Broadview PD.

1 1 17

Alex Harrison @alexhairysun.bsky.social · 1d

A few takeaways:

— Every police agency was wary re: TRUST Act, and sought out ILAG assurance
— NIPAS is effectively a partner in the Unified Command, and is aware of the tension that could cause with members
— NIPAS could be held in reserve for when things are esp. hot, or as a shift change relief.

1 7 28

Alex Harrison @alexhairysun.bsky.social · 1d

There's much more in that NIPAS letter, but moving on: the other letter is the one ref'd by Kreis, sent to NIPAS' attorney by Christopher Wells of the ILAG office, where Wells confirms the actions of the Unified Command (and thus NIPAS) are "permissible under Illinois law, including the TRUST Act".

A letter dated October 3, 2025, with the letterhead of the Illinois Attorney General's Office addressed to Benjamin Schuster, an attorney at Elrod Friedman LLP and the legal counsel for NIPAS. The subject line is "Re: October 3 NIPAS Request for Assistance in Broadview, Illinois. The letter reads:

Dear Mr. Schuster:

I write at your request as a follow up to our conversation this morning and to my prior communications with member agencies and leadership of the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System (NIPAS).

I have enclosed an October 2, 2025 press release issued by the Illinois State Police ("ISP"), the Cook County Sheriff's Office, and the Broadview Police Department, among other agencies. As described in the attached, these agencies have established a unified command to coordinate public safety measures in Broadview in order to "protect the health and safety of all individuals, including nearby Broadview residents and businesses, and enable the peaceful expression of First Amendment rights." The unified command has established "designated areas" in Broadview "where people can safely exercise their rights, which will support the safety of the public, and ensure vehicular traffic can safely access the roads in the area.”

Please know that the Illinois Attorney General's Office has been in consultation with ISP regarding the establishment and purpose of the unified command. The type of law enforcement activities referenced in the attached are permissible under Illinois law, including the TRUST Act, and participation by NIPAS agencies in such activities would similarly comport with Illinois law.

Respectfully,

Christopher G. Wells
Chief, Public Interest Division
Office of the Illinois Attorney General

1 2 12

Alex Harrison @alexhairysun.bsky.social · 1d

Acouiple things to note:
— Per @capitolfax.bsky.social, Broadview's mayor first requested NIPAS help on Sept. 12: capitolfax.com/2025/09/23/b...
— ISP/CCSP were absolutely "in the vicinity of ICE Officers", there are many pics/vids showing this! Here are three by Ashlee Rezin in CST coverage alone:

ISP and Border Patrol agents standing side-by-side in Broadview on Oct. 3. Taken by Ashlee Rezin for the Chicago Sun-Times.

An ISP officer and federal agents push protesters back side-by-side in Broadview on Oct. 3. Taken by Ashlee Rezin for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Federal agents arrest protesters directly behind a line of ISP officers in Broadview on Oct. 3. Taken by Ashlee Rezin for the Chicago Sun-Times.

4 5 24

Alex Harrison @alexhairysun.bsky.social · 1d

First is a letter from NIPAS Pres. Patrick Kreis (also Chief of Vernon Hills PD) to member chiefs. He calls TRUST Act compliance (i.e. no assistance to fed immigration actions) a "pertinent issue" in responding to the "unprecedented public safety challenge" (the protests). (Repeated for alt text)

A letter dated October 3, 2025, with the letterhead of the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System, or NIPAS for short. Included along the left side is a shield emblem for the NIPAS Emergency Services Team, which to my knowledge has not actually deployed to Broadview, as well as the current NIPAS leadership and command staff. The letter is written by Patrick Kreis, the current NIPAS president and Chief of the Vernon Hills Police Department. The letter reads:

Dear NIPAS Chiefs,

Over recent weeks, I have been in consultation with the Broadview Police Department as they struggle with an unprecedented public safety challenge in their community. The NIPAS Board has also discussed this issue at length. Until this morning there had not been any formal request for a NIPAS Mobile Field Force deployment to Broadview, although a MFF Team Commander previously responded to consult on at least one occasion. A pertinent issue on Broadview PD's response to the public safety challenge (and by extension NIPAS') is compliance with the Illinois Trust Act, which was adopted to ensure that local police departments take no steps to assist in Federal Immigration enforcement.

This morning, in anticipation of further protests in the vicinity of the ICE Detention Facility in Broadview, the Illinois State Police and Cook County Sheriff's Police deployed personnel to assist the Broadview Police Department. The ISP/CCSP deployment only happened after those agencies received guidance from the Illinois Attorney General's Office that certain assistance to Broadview PD to assist in crowd control measures would not be in violation of the Illinois Trust Act.

ALT TEXT CONTINUES IN NEXT PIC

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PIC

Protest activity escalated early and quickly this morning and NIPAS Vice President Matt Buckley and MFF Team Commander Dave Clark responded to the Broadview Unified Command Post. They kept me appraised of the developments and communicated closely with Broadview PD, ISP and CCSP. NIPAS leadership also engaged in direct conversation with the Illinois Attorney General's office regarding concerns on limits of assistance due to the Illinois Trust Act. NIPAS was requested (by Broadview) to stage MFF in order to assist ISP and CCSP MFF Officers should those officers become overwhelmed or in need of back-up. I authorized the staging of NIPAS MFF as a result of the formal request.

On scene NIPAS leaders continued their communication with local officials and assessed that the ISP and CCSP were deployed to protect Broadview residents, businesses and to keep 25th Avenue open to the public. ISP and CCSP were not in the vicinity of ICE Officers or ICE property and were not engaged in activities to assist ICE operations. However, protesters in the area did see ISP and CCSP MFF personnel as an attractive target and some unlawfully engaged those personnel, leading to crimes directed against the police. Several arrests were made by ISP and CCSP as a result.

Continued conversations with the Attorney General's office resulted in a written notice by that Office to NIPAS (that NIPAS MFF assistance in the same role as ISP and CCSP would not violate the Illinois Trust Act. Once written notice was received, deployment of NIPAS MFF personnel was authorized and some members took positions to relieve ISP and CCSP personnel that were fatigued after hours of deployment.

ALT TEXT CONTINUES IN NEXT PIC

1 4 19

Alex Harrison @alexhairysun.bsky.social · 1d

🧵Just got some records back today on the NIPAS deployment to Broadview last Friday, including two interesting letters dated that very same day which shed some light on the decision-making behind the "Unified Command" deployment vis-à-vis the IL TRUST Act. See below ⬇️

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 8d

Cops with NIPAS—Northern IL Police Alarm System—just arrived to switch out with state troopers.

This is our first time seeing them out here; they're cop "mutual aid," assorted officers from other suburban departments called up specifically to assist Broadview PD.

3 16 37

Reposted by Alex Harrison

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 2d

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says

It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.

heatmap.news

130 1.1K 2.1K

Reposted by Alex Harrison

Capitol Fax @capitolfax.bsky.social · 3d

The Illinois Press Association board of directors has made a huge mistake. What a mess localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/posts/2025/1...

Illinois Press Association CEO Resigns After Dispute Over ICE Lawsuit

The CEO of the Illinois Press Association, who had joined a lawsuit against the Trump administration for actions toward journalists outside a Chicago-area ICE facility, resigned this week following a ...

localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu

1 20 50

Reposted by Alex Harrison

Bill Savage @rogersparkman.bsky.social · 3d

Rogers Park moon.

Just after Full Moon, over Lake Michigan, with mångata on the water. Clouds on horizon, leafy fall foliage in foreground.

3 17 110

Alex Harrison @alexhairysun.bsky.social · 3d

Grainy image of Freddy Fazbear looking cooked and giving a thousand yard stare to a couple of beer bottles

1

Reposted by Alex Harrison

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 4d

Thank you to everyone who's donated/subscribed to us in recent weeks. We are so behind on emails, newsletter, thank yous, DMs etc but it's all appreciated. We just bought three full face respirators* so we can assure you it goes to good use

*Things are very normal

8 40 380

Reposted by Alex Harrison

Robby Kalland @rkalland.bsky.social · 4d

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

3 25 150

Alex Harrison @alexhairysun.bsky.social · 4d

There are a lot of wild details within that are worth reading, but this one sticks out, about the woman's abusive partner doing fucking w h a t ?

The woman “aborted/miscarried while he was outside and he came in and found blood in the bathroom with what he believed was the non-viable fetus,” it says. They “got into a verbal argument and she left and had not been back to [the house] since that day. [He] collected what he thought was the fetus and put it in the freezer. When [he] was asked why he waited so long to report the incident, his answer was he had to process the event and call his family attorney.”

“Detective [Calvin] Miller [a detective on the scene] was provided FedEx packaging the pill was sent in, photographs of what [the man] believed to be a fetus and the instructions on how to take the medication,” it adds.

2

Alex Harrison @alexhairysun.bsky.social · 4d

Absolute barnburner of a story that torches the narrative Flock and the Johnson County SO have been trying to spin since 404 first broke this back in May. Funny how they didn't have anything to say for this story, ain't it?

Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 4d

Cops misled journalists about using a powerful surveillance tool to track a woman across state lines because she had an abortion, then tried to cover it up when we found out the truth. Huge story from @jasonkoebler.bsky.social and @josephcox.bsky.social this morning: www.404media.co/police-said-...

Police Said They Surveilled Woman Who Had an Abortion for Her 'Safety.' Court Records Show They Considered Charging Her With a Crime

Court records show that the narrative Flock and a Texas Sheriff's Office has told the public isn't the whole story, and that police were conducting a 'death investigation' into the abortion.

www.404media.co

1 1 10

Alex Harrison @alexhairysun.bsky.social · 5d

Friendly reminder that a KY county prosecutor pressed charges against Cincinnati journalists for this kind of thing, and they apparently got a misdemeanor charge against a college intern to fucking stick: www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2...

CityBeat intern, UC student convicted of single misdemeanor, acquitted of other charges

Lucas Griffith, a student journalist who was working as CityBeat's intern, went on trial on Oct. 2 and was convicted of a single misdemeanor.

www.cincinnati.com

2

Alex Harrison @alexhairysun.bsky.social · 5d

Chat is it a bad sign when the federal government wants the right to treat all journalists covering a protest as participants in said protest for the purposes of dispersal and arrest

Dave Byrnes @djbyrnes1.bsky.social · 5d

Govt. attorney wants language added to the TRO giving feds the ability to disperse an entire crowd, incl. journalists.

He cites people possibly "impersonating" journalists to cause chaos.

Plaintiff attys claim this could threaten journalistic purpose, i.e., to act as "the eyes" of a community.

3 37 100

Reposted by Alex Harrison

Dave Byrnes @djbyrnes1.bsky.social · 5d

New: federal judge April Perry in Chicago *will not* issue a temporary restraining order barring members of the Texas Natl. Guard from coming to IL.

Perry will give the fed. govt. until Wednesday at midnight to respond to IL's lawsuit. Oral arguments scheduled for Thursday.

39 160 390

Reposted by Alex Harrison

Toscha @poemless.bsky.social · 5d

This Evanston Roundtable article is phenomenal. The pictures are wild, but also it reports the chaotoc attack on protesters, in which IL State troopers participated, was directly ordered by Noem herself and led by Bovino who called the "Free Speech Zone" for protesters a "Free Arrest Zone." Do read.

Ray Pride @raypride.bsky.social · 5d

Photo: Richard Cahan evanstonroundtable.com/2025/10/04/b...

3 43 93

Reposted by Alex Harrison

Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 5d

JUST IN: Chicago journalistsa re suing DHS and ICE over force used against reporters:

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

340 5.3K 19K

Alex Harrison @alexhairysun.bsky.social · 6d

I can personally attest to witnessing a group of federal agents and plainclothes people (unknown affiliation) enter this building on Friday morning. Seemed sketchy then, and this would appear to explain what they were up to.

H Kapp-Klote @hkappklote.bsky.social · 6d

Hearing that the owners of the building, SG360, are saying that they aren’t affiliated with ICE — they’ve also taken their Broadview location off of their website… keep calling

2

Alex Harrison @alexhairysun.bsky.social · 8d

NIPAS using masks/not having ID numbers isn't even new, they did the exact same thing when they came to Evanston 5 yrs ago to contain NU police abolition protests. I have old FOIAs showing NIPAS was *very* concerned abt being ID'd, despite being, yknow, cops. That's who's in Broadview now.

8 58