Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Mollie McQuillan

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 3d

An HHS source says admin also RIFed entire Office of Population Affairs last night.
“Not a single staff person to run our nation's family planning program or the evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention program. The Office of Adolescent Health which nested within OPA functionally ceases to exist”

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Nicole Foy @nicolefoy.bsky.social · 10d

This tactic is in the news again because ICE agents in Colorado were filmed breaking the window of a car with a baby in the backseat coloradosun.com/2025/10/01/i...

ProPublica @propublica.org · 11d

In July, 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.

“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...

projects.propublica.org

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Waldo Jaquith, but Spooky @waldo.net · 10d

The Trump administration has cancelled 4,304 deliveries to food banks so far this year, refusing to deliver 94 million pounds of contracted-for food. Food banks simply can’t feed people enough anymore. Millions of Americans are going hungry as a result.

Trump Canceled 94 Million Pounds of Food Aid. Here’s What Never Arrived.

ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the millions of pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the administration’s cut...

projects.propublica.org

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Mollie McQuillan @drmcquillan.bsky.social · 15d

So glad to see this book out! Check out the multi-faceted perspectives included in this edited book on queer youth and bullying, including a conceptual chapter on administrative bullying written by Dr. Cris Mayo and yours truly!

Elizabethe Payne Ph.D. @ecpayne.bsky.social · 16d

Just received in the mail! Our new volume on queer kids and bullying is out now! Thank you to all the outstanding contributors! @uminnpress.bsky.social

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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 18d

Between falling salaries and rising scrutiny, it's no wonder so many districts are facing teacher shortages.

And of course, that's all by design.

Economic Policy Institute @epi.org · 18d

In the past 10 yrs, teachers' wages DECREASED by $46/week after adjusting for inflation. Wages increased by $220 for other college grads

Why are we penalizing teachers for working one of the hardest & most important jobs in our communities?

We need to pay teachers more! www.epi.org/publication/...

The teacher pay penalty reached a record high in 2024: Three decades of leaving public school teachers behind

Over the past three decades, stagnant weekly wages of public school teachers have fallen further and further behind those of college graduates who chose other careers, resulting in an ever increasing ...

www.epi.org

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Scott Nover @scottnover.bsky.social · 25d

NEW: The Pentagon told journalists it will require them to pledge they won’t gather any information — even unclassified — that hasn’t been expressly authorized for release, and will revoke the press credentials of those who do not obey. @washingtonpost.com

Pentagon demands journalists pledge to not obtain unauthorized material

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is imposing strict new rules that would severely limit the ability of journalists to report on the Pentagon.

www.washingtonpost.com

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FactPost @factpostnews.bsky.social · Aug 25

Host: On the anniversary of the deadly Charlottesville riot, the man who helped organize that march tweeted this. 'Eight years ago you were an extremist if you protest being replaced by immigrants... now it is official White House policy. Never give up.'

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AFSCME @afscme.bsky.social · Aug 1

Firing someone for reporting factual data is unacceptable. You can’t bury the truth — we just had the worst 3 months of job growth since we lost 1.3m jobs during the pandemic. We support our economy by investing in working families, not just the 1%.

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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · Jul 30

The fact that literally zero outlets ever cover crime decline as a story is a huge reason. (And before you yell at me, we do!)

Jeff Asher @jeffasher.bsky.social · Jul 30

This @today.yougov.com poll is why I'm going to become the Joker.

The US murder rate in 2024 was likely down nearly 30 percent relative to 2020 and down nearly 50 percent relative to 1990.

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Science Friday @scifri.bsky.social · Jul 24

This month marks 100 years since the Scopes Trial, when a teacher was accused of breaking Tennessee law by teaching evolution. “The great thing about the past is it’s not dusty. And it’s not irrelevant,” says Brenda Wineapple, author of “Keeping the Faith," a book about the history of the trial.

Why Is The Scopes Trial Still Relevant 100 Years Later?

A century after a teacher went on trial for teaching evolution, the role of science in the classroom and in society remains in contention.

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ProPublica @propublica.org · Jul 21

Records obtained by ProPublica show the Trump administration is preparing to shut down seven major investigations of alleged housing discrimination and segregation, including some where HUD already found civil rights violations had occurred.

By @jessecoburn.bsky.social

Trump Administration Prepares to Drop Seven Major Housing Discrimination Cases

Federal housing officials spent years investigating cities from Chicago to Memphis to Corpus Christi for putting industrial plants and unwanted facilities in poor, nonwhite neighborhoods. Now, under…

www.propublica.org

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Annalee Newitz @annaleen.bsky.social · Jun 27

This is literally exhibit A for why queer joy is so profoundly subversive. Anger is important too. But joy -- "smiling and talking and crying and laughing" -- that's what the fascists want to stamp out. That's the real challenge to their reign.

Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · Jun 27

Alito includes screenshots from the books he thinks parents should be able to bar schools from letting their children read.

Mahmoud v. Taylor "Appendix" from Alito with an image from a picture book Uncle Bobby’s Wedding showing a happy wedding announcement.

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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · Jun 18

Sotomayor points out the similarities between the Skrmetti ruling allowing discrimination against transgender people's medical care to Virginia's argument for its interracial marriage ban in Loving.

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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · Jun 18

What this narrative conveniently ignores is that this regression on trans rights is the result of a decade long political strategy by the far right funded to the tune of over billion dollars. I'm not making this up, they literally wrote this exact strategy down in 2015. Every aspect of it.

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Mollie McQuillan @drmcquillan.bsky.social · Jun 18

The health risks remain—but our ability to address them weakens.

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Mollie McQuillan @drmcquillan.bsky.social · Jun 18

These insights arrive as increasingly hostile policies target transgender students. Without accurate data collection on gender identity, policymakers lose vital insights into health trends, making it harder to advocate for evidence-based solutions.

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Mollie McQuillan @drmcquillan.bsky.social · Jun 18

New pub with @joecimpian.bsky.social in @amjpublichealth.bsky.social We discuss how new population-based YRBS results helps bolster our ability to examine transgender adolescents’ health.
ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2...

Masking the Health Impacts of Anti-LGBTQ+ Policies by Political Suppression of Data and Informational Erasure | AJPH | Vol. 115 Issue 7

American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) from the American Public Health Association (APHA)

ajph.aphapublications.org

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Jacqueline (Jackie) Nowicki (she/her) @k12hallmonitor.bsky.social · May 17

71 years after #BrownvBoard, US #k12 #schools are still divided along racial, ethnic, and economic lines. Our 2022 research shows that more than 1/3 of students (18.5 million) attended a school where 75% or more students are a single race/ethnicity. #EduSky

Read more 👉 bit.ly/3RU4Uz6

K-12 Education: Student Population Has Significantly Diversified, but Many Schools Remain Divided Along Racial, Ethnic, and Economic Lines

Schools remain divided along racial, ethnic, and economic lines throughout the U.S.—even as the K-12 public school student population grows more...

www.gao.gov

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Mollie McQuillan @drmcquillan.bsky.social · May 18

So pleased to share this early career support from the W.T. Grant Scholars program that will further my work on improving the use of evidence concerning LGBTQ+ youth in schools. Looking forward to engaging with my mentors, the other Scholars, and the entire network.

William T. Grant Foundation @wtgrantfdn.bsky.social · May 8

🎉 We are delighted to announce the William T. Grant Scholars Class of 2030! The program funds five-year research and mentoring plans that significantly expand researchers’ expertise in new disciplines, methods, and content areas. Read more about the Scholars:

Five Early-Career Researchers Selected for the William T. Grant Scholars Class of 2030 - William T. Grant Foundation

The Foundation is proud to announce the newest class of William T. Grant Scholars: Farzana Adjah, in the graduate school of education at Stanford University, will examine whether an intervention that…

wtgrantfoundation.org

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National Education Association @neatoday.bsky.social · May 15

Something you might not know: school meal programs are often linked to Medicaid. So when Medicaid gets slashed, students lose healthcare AND miss meals.

Congress is considering deep cuts to Medicaid—and the consequences could be huge. buff.ly/rHQ5sH2

Healthy School Meals: What's At Stake for Our Students and Communities? | NEA

Critical programs that enable schools and districts to serve free school meals to all students, provide summer meals, and use science-based nutrition standards—are now facing cuts or elimination.

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Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · May 10

As we point out in Science, the Trump proposal to convert NIH program officer jobs into political appointments (Schedule F) will mean, that instead of actual scientific experts, people like "Big Balls" will choose how to direct NIH funds. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The past few months at NIH and NSF preview how politicized scientific agencies would operate. Funding choices that reflected the consensus of some of the best scientists in the world were reversed by nonscientists. Program officers have, at points, been told not to communicate with the scientific community or have had their engagement limited. Scientific agencies have been directed to effectively reduce the flow of funds to a trickle by adding new layers of redundant review and red tape and even violating court orders to reinstate cancelled grants.

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Mollie McQuillan @drmcquillan.bsky.social · May 7

Can’t wait to start this journey together as we move through the Scholars Program, Ericka!

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Julia Serano @juliaserano.bsky.social · May 1

I won't be around today to read the HHS "Gender Dysphoria Report", but here's my comprehensive 2023 essay, "Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Youth Is Neither New nor Experimental" (with over 100+ references) that will tell you everything that's wrong with it...
juliaserano.medium.com/gender-affir...

Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Youth Is Neither New nor Experimental: A Timeline and Compilation…

NOTE: this essay is a 15 minute read. If it’s listed as longer than that, it’s because it contains a list of over 100 references at the…

juliaserano.medium.com

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Derek W. Black @derekwblack.bsky.social · May 1

This is the day every young voter should remember. For several years running, young people said they needed mental health counselors more than anything—while legislators fawned over vouchers. Washington finally listened in 2022. Trump just cut the program.

Education Department cuts about $1B in federal school mental health grants

The department’s decision centers on funding meant to help train mental health professionals who could work in local schools.

www.politico.com

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Mollie McQuillan @drmcquillan.bsky.social · Apr 22

It’s been such a gift to learn from Dr. Gill, who presented a marvelous dissertation earlier this month. Congratulations, @erinkgill.bsky.social on another accomplishment!