Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by David Daniel

ProPublica @propublica.org · 9h

Kristi Noem, while governor of South Dakota, supplemented her roughly $130,000 salary by secretly accepting $80,000 donated to a political nonprofit she was affiliated with, records show.

She never disclosed this income on federal ethics forms.

(Published June)

Kristi Noem Secretly Took a Cut of Political Donations

A dark money group paid $80,000 to Noem’s personal company when she was governor of South Dakota. She did not include this income on her federal disclosure forms, a likely violation of ethics requirem...

www.propublica.org

1K 5.7K 12K

Reposted by David Daniel

Joshua Basseches @joshuabasseches.bsky.social · 20h

Oil and gas companies will often claim to be partners in the clean energy transition, when it is politically expedient to do so, but new research finds their actual contributions are marginal:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Oil and gas industry’s marginal share of global renewable energy

Nature Sustainability - The decarbonization of oil and gas companies may not be as speedy or robust as advertised. This analysis finds that renewable energies make up just a minor fraction of the...

www.nature.com

2 52 120

David Daniel @daviddaniel.bsky.social · 12h

"I'm trying to be really thoughtful about how we tell our stories and pick our topics so that we're not out of the gate seen as another left-wing conservationist organization, but an organization that cares about public lands and that speaks to [everyone]." via @niemanlab.org

Re:Public is reporting stories about the lands that belong to all of us

The new publication, from former Outside Magazine EIC Chris Keyes, will focus on longform stories about the 660 million acres of public lands and waters in the U.S.

www.niemanlab.org

Reposted by David Daniel

Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 14h

This is becoming urgent.

Private equity is gutting hospitals for profit — when they collapse, communities lose care. That’s life and death.

PE has been taking over some of your favorite companies for years. They sell off assets, strip the business bare, and when there’s nothing left, it collapses.

84 640 1.3K

David Daniel @daviddaniel.bsky.social · 14h

Somewhere, Seth MacFarlane is smiling.

Conservative Watchdog Parents TV Council Files for Bankruptcy: Famed for ‘Family Guy’ Feud

Seth MacFarlane once famously called the PTC "like getting hate mail from Hitler." Now they've filed for Chapter 11.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

2 3

Reposted by David Daniel

Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 16h

Our personal tech columnist @geoffreyfowler.bsky.social tracked the prices of a bunch of items on Amazon ahead of the latest Prime Day sale.

Turns out only a few prices went down, many stayed the same... and several went significantly *up.* www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Column | I tracked Amazon’s Prime Day prices. We’ve been played.

Here’s what you should do to actually get a good deal on Amazon.

www.washingtonpost.com

9 47 120

Reposted by David Daniel

Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 17h

If you've ever driven through the intersection at Georgia and Missouri Avenues NW, you've gone through Alan's Oasis, where a homeless man has been giving out free bottles of water for more than three years. This is a such a great profile of Alan: 51st.news/dc-alans-oas...

For 1,250 days, Alan has given out free water at a busy Brightwood intersection

He’s built a community that stood up for him when the threat of eviction loomed.

51st.news

6 24

David Daniel @daviddaniel.bsky.social · 17h

Warner Bros. announces AN UNTITLED MINECRAFT SEQUEL will be released July 23, 2027 in IMAX. Jared Hess is back to direct, co-writing with Chris Galletta; "plot details remain deep in the mine for now."

BAD FAIRIES, which had been scheduled for that date, moves up to May 21, 2027.

Detail from the poster for A Minecraft Movie, showing a grassy cube with block cutouts resembling eyes and a frowny/scared mouth.

Reposted by David Daniel

Patrick De Klotz @patdeklotz.bsky.social · 1d

American citizen, read this. www.koin.com/news/portlan...

80 1.1K 2.8K

Reposted by David Daniel

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

Bray is a historian at Rutgers who received death threats after landing on Turning Points USA's Professor Watchlist. As a result, he announced he was moving to Europe. And then this happened.

This kind of harassment and abuse of scholars is Charlie Kirk's legacy and it's only getting worse.

Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 1d

“Someone” cancelled my family’s flight out of the country at the last second.

We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags. Went through security. Then at our gate our reservation ‘disappeared.’

130 3.1K 8.1K

Reposted by David Daniel

Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 1d

Two big GOP activists from Oregon were in DC last month for meetings with Trump admin officials. On their podcast they talk about a plan they discussed to nullify the results of Oregon's 2026 federal elections. Pass federal voter ID law, then refuse to seat OR delegation because OR didn't comply.

Ep. 18: September to Remember
October 6 • S1 E18 • 44 min
Also, we proposed a idea how to do a end run on vote by mail. Concept is based on what Trump proposed. When you vote, you check everyone's citizenship as well as voter ID.
In a vote by mail state, you might be able to check citizenship during voter registration. You can send copies of your passport and your birth certificate in.
How in the world are you going to check our voters?
Voter ID, right? Vote by mail. So that creates a problem for Oregon.
But if federal government new requirement is to check both, and if Oregon can comply with the requirements, what would happen to our election result? I'm talking about the entire federal delegation.
For federal elections, we're talking about only federal elections.
COMMON SENSE
Vascluar

Ep. 18: September to Remember
October 6 • S1 E18 • 44 min
So entire federal delegation, congressmen and senators could be challenged, could be unseated because you didn't follow federal requirements to elect them. So I said the trade-off is worth it. You know why?
Democrats control two Senate seats out of six congressional seats. We only control one. They control five.
You talk about trade-off, right?
COMMON SENSE
Sanctuany

57 1K 2K

David Daniel @daviddaniel.bsky.social · 1d

Wow: Delroy Lindo, America Ferrera, Kristin Chenoweth, Spike Lee, Sanaa Lathan, Rhiannon Giddens, Flea, Hasan Minhaj, Lizzo, Darren Criss, Danielle Deadwyler, Lizzy Caplan and more in season 12 of FINDING YOUR ROOTS, debuting January 6, 2026 on PBS.

Finding Your Roots Season 12 Trailer

YouTube video by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

www.youtube.com

1 2

Reposted by David Daniel

Dave Jorgenson @davejorgenson.bsky.social · 1d

The Post laid off seemingly the remaining of their liberal-leaning staff members on Opinion last Thursday, when some of them were observing Yom Kippur.

from @oliverdarcy.bsky.social for Status
status.news/p/washington-post-opinion-cuts-adam-oneal

72 840 2.2K

David Daniel @daviddaniel.bsky.social · 1d

I wouldn't count Kevin Costner out -- he's made too many comebacks before -- but this piece illustrates how his Hollywood options may be narrowing.

Full disclosure: I've interviewed Costner several times, most recently for "Horizon" Part 1, and I hope we get Parts 2, 3, and 4 eventually.

How Kevin Costner Lost Hollywood

On-set brawls. Courtroom battles. Epic bombs. Why the world's most bankable cowboy is suddenly shooting blanks.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

David Daniel @daviddaniel.bsky.social · 1d

youtube.com/shorts/v7s1j...

ICE Agents Shoot Pastor With Pepper Ball Outside Broadview Detention Center

YouTube video by Storyful News & Weather

youtube.com

David Daniel @daviddaniel.bsky.social · 1d

I'd say they matter equally -- part of the same process forward.

Reposted by David Daniel

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 1d

The historically volatile Texas grid was entirely stable this summer, despite extreme temperatures. Grid operators never once had to ask Texans to conserve energy or shut off their air conditioners.

Why? Solar & batteries. Want a stable grid? Try solar & batteries.

Solar and batteries had a record-setting, grid-stabilizing summer in…

Solar has set 17 power generation records in Texas so far this year, shoring up the grid alongside batteries as some gas plant developers step back.

www.canarymedia.com

20 450 1.4K

David Daniel @daviddaniel.bsky.social · 1d

Pentagon Press Association statement:

"Limiting the media's ability to report on the U.S. military fails to honor the American families who have entrusted their sons and daughters to serve in it, or the taxpayers responsible for giving the department hundreds of billions of dollars a year."

Pentagon charges ahead with press restrictions ‘designed to stifle a free press,’ media orgs say | CNN Business

Military officials are pushing forward with new restrictions on the Pentagon press corps despite objections from news organizations and watchdog groups.

www.cnn.com

1

Reposted by David Daniel

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 1d

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?

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."

6 330 850

David Daniel @daviddaniel.bsky.social · 1d

Good stuff from @us.theconversation.com: New geothermal engineering techniques hold the promise of clean energy "without the ups and downs of solar or wind – and with little contribution to climate change."

Plus, using old oil wells? Sounds like the clean energy version of swords into plowshares.

Geothermal energy has huge potential to generate clean power – including from used oil and gas wells

The Earth’s own heat can be brought up from underground and used as a source of energy that emits almost no greenhouse gases and can operate 24/7 almost anywhere on the planet.

theconversation.com

1

David Daniel @daviddaniel.bsky.social · 1d

From @us.theconversation.com: "The cyberdefense agency is being hobbled at a time when the need for its services has never been greater, from the ongoing China-led Salt Typhoon attack on U.S. telecommunications networks to ransomware, data breaches and threats to infrastructure."

Federal shutdown deals blow to already hobbled cybersecurity agency

The triple whammy of deep staff cuts, shutdown furloughs and the expiration of an information-sharing law leaves national cybersecurity in a perilous state.

theconversation.com

1 2

David Daniel @daviddaniel.bsky.social · 1d

It's not all positive (this IS 2025), but there's a tremendous amount of good news and useful information in @billmckibben.bsky.social's latest post.

Something extraordinary just happened

But of course there's a but. Or two.

billmckibben.substack.com

1 17 76

David Daniel @daviddaniel.bsky.social · 2d

Maxine Peake played Politkovskaya in the recent film “Words of War,” which I wish more people had seen.

Words of War (2025) ⭐ 5.8 | Biography, Drama, History

1h 57m | R

www.imdb.com

David Daniel @daviddaniel.bsky.social · 2d

It’s probably asking too much for Murphy, Mielants, and Emily Watson to make it official, form a repertory company, and continue turning out one novella adaptation a year, but I certainly wouldn’t mind.

1

David Daniel @daviddaniel.bsky.social · 2d

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes." -- Mark Twain (maybe)

The great @hcrichardson.bsky.social ties the 2020s to the 1920s: the anti-intellectual Pres. Harding, his corrupt appointees, Congressmen better at obstruction than governing, and policies that led to the Great Depression.

Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) @hcrichardson.bsky.social · 2d

October 7, 2025

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) today floated the idea that workers furloughed during a government shutdown are not guaranteed back pay when the shutdown is resolved.

heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

1