Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Yana Kunichoff

ACLU @aclu.org · 8d

BREAKING: Our client Mario Guevara, an Emmy-winning journalist detained by ICE in retaliation for livestreaming law enforcement activity, will be deported tomorrow to El Salvador.

Mario and his family are being punished for his reporting. This cruelty is meant to stifle our free press.

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Yana Kunichoff @yanak.bsky.social · 9d

The non-disclosure agreement also says the county will not share the name of the final user for Project Blue with county personnel unless it is legally obligated.

Pima County NDA confirms Amazon is behind Project Blue data center - AZ Luminaria

Pima County agreed to keep Amazon Web Services’ role in Project Blue secret for five years, according to a non-disclosure agreement obtained by Arizona Luminaria. The deal, signed in 2023, sheds new l...

azluminaria.org

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Yana Kunichoff @yanak.bsky.social · 9d

From a mother evicted and grieving her brother, to a woman rotating between shelters and her car, to families in a mobile home park with failing power — Tucson residents show what it takes to survive in extreme heat

Living without air conditioning in Tucson’s deadly heat - AZ Luminaria

Thousands in Tucson endure record-breaking heat without reliable air conditioning. Families share how they survive deadly summers with few resources.

azluminaria.org

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Yana Kunichoff @yanak.bsky.social · 23d

The latest on efforts to build a data center in the Sonoran Desert:

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · 23d

Breaking:
Massive Amazon data center is back in development in Pima County after a fierce fight this summer, in which the greater Tucson community pushed back hard against the developers.

Latest, along with @yanak.bsky.social for @azluminaria.org azluminaria.org/2025/09/17/p...

Project Blue data center pushes ahead in Pima County promising new low-water cooling tech - AZ Luminaria

Data center developer Beale Infrastructure says it is moving forward with Project Blue, this time promising a greener, slimmer proposal that will use a new low-water air-cooling technology. The compa...

azluminaria.org

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Yana Kunichoff @yanak.bsky.social · 29d

Pima County's jail healthcare provider has been in consistent violation of certain performance indicators over the past year, @jwashing.bsky.social reports

azluminaria.org/2025/09/11/s...

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Yana Kunichoff @yanak.bsky.social · Sep 9

same, gonna do what I can to make it happen!

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Yana Kunichoff @yanak.bsky.social · Sep 9

fall lookbook!

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Reposted by Yana Kunichoff

Wyatt Myskow @wyattmyskow.bsky.social · Aug 19

While President Trump calls opposition to the Resolution Copper mine that would destroy a sacred site for Western Apache people “anti-American,” I have the actual details on what’s happening and why the mine is so controversial.

insideclimatenews.org/news/1908202...

Court Temporarily Halts Land Transfer That Would Allow a Mine to Destroy Western Apache Sacred Land - Inside Climate News

The Western Apache and a coalition of environmental groups have fought for years against the Resolution Copper mine, which would become one of the country’s largest at the cost of a site revered by th...

insideclimatenews.org

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Yana Kunichoff @yanak.bsky.social · Aug 8

Immigration enforcement in America's second largest city:

"The masked agents pull up quickly. They jump out of unmarked vans or trucks. They wear blue jeans or battle fatigues. They approach Latino men, at times yelling and carrying assault rifles."

calmatters.org/investigatio...

Taken: What happens after an LA immigration raid

Their families won’t know what happened to them. They’ll be shackled, whisked away to another state, forced to subsist for days on potato chips, apples, water, and the occasional cold sandwich.

calmatters.org

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Reposted by Yana Kunichoff

High Country News @highcountrynews.org · Aug 7

AI-processing data centers require massive amounts of energy and water, and relatively low power prices, state tax incentives, and lax regulations are attracting them to the West, threatening water supplies and straining the grid.

The West's data centers suck (water and power) - High Country News

From simple searches to chatGPT, the big digital buildup threatens the grid and water supplies.

buff.ly

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Reposted by Yana Kunichoff

Aura Bogado @aurabogado.bsky.social · Aug 6

Local reporting uncovered Amazon was behind the water-guzzling data center slated for the desert. Residents fought against the data center. Today, the city council unanimously voted against Project Blue.

If you care about local journalism that drives impact, consider donating to @azluminaria.org!

Arizona Luminaria @azluminaria.org · Aug 6

BREAKING: Tucson City Council unanimously rejects Project Blue

Tucson City Council rejects Project Blue amid intense community pressure - AZ Luminaria

The Tucson city council voted unanimously Wednesday against bringing the massive and water-devouring Project Blue data center into city limits. That vote directing the city manager and staff to end n...

azluminaria.org

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Reposted by Yana Kunichoff

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Aug 6

Responding to vehement opposition and public service journalism, Tucson's mayor/council unanimously vote to reject a mega data center project from Amazon.

Tucson ain't Eddington.

Read @yanak.bsky.social‬'s latest from city hall.
azluminaria.org/2025/08/06/t...

Tucson City Council rejects Project Blue data center amid intense community pressure - AZ Luminaria

The Tucson city council voted unanimously Wednesday against bringing the massive and water-devouring Project Blue data center — tied to tech giant Amazon — into city limits. After weeks of escalating ...

azluminaria.org

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Yana Kunichoff @yanak.bsky.social · Aug 6

The Tucson city council unanimously rejected the Project Blue data center today.

That comes after weeks of dogged organizing plus our little team @azluminaria.org going hard on helping Tucson understand who was behind this project and its impact on our community

azluminaria.org/2025/08/06/t...

Tucson City Council rejects Project Blue data center amid intense community pressure - AZ Luminaria

The Tucson city council voted unanimously Wednesday against bringing the massive and water-devouring Project Blue data center — tied to tech giant Amazon — into city limits. After weeks of escalating ...

azluminaria.org

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Yana Kunichoff @yanak.bsky.social · Aug 6

And earlier today, Pima County supervisors voted to release a memo on NDAs and push to revoke tax exemptions, @jwashing.bsky.social reports

azluminaria.org/2025/08/05/p...

Pima County Supervisors vote to lobby against AZ sales tax exemptions for data centers - AZ Luminaria

Just steps outside the Aug. 5 Pima County Board of Supervisors meeting in downtown Tucson, protesters held signs, hung banners, and made clear to passing motorists and county officials they were again...

azluminaria.org

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Yana Kunichoff @yanak.bsky.social · Aug 6

My latest on Project Blue: The mega data center has more site options and will be built “regardless of what the City of Tucson decides,” said one council member Tuesday

azluminaria.org/2025/08/05/t...

Project Blue data center inevitable says Tucson council member Nikki Lee - AZ Luminaria

Council member Nikki Lee said Tuesday that the Project Blue data center may be built no matter what the Tucson City Council decides.

azluminaria.org

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Yana Kunichoff @yanak.bsky.social · Aug 1

The Trump administration is using federal jails and facilities as well as reopening shuttered facilities to detain a historic number of immigrants, the Marshall Project team reports

www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/01/t...

5 Ways that Trump Rapidly Ramped Up Immigration Detention

Through threats and incentives, the administration conscripted local jails, federal prisons and private companies to detain immigrants.

www.themarshallproject.org

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Reposted by Yana Kunichoff

Alanna Vagianos @alannavagianos.bsky.social · Jul 31

The Trump administration’s deportation machine has made women invisible targets.

If you’ve ever wondered, like me, what happens to all the women ICE detains:

The People Being Arrested By ICE That No One’s Talking About

The Trump administration’s deportation machine is detaining immigrant women at record numbers — and they've become invisible targets.

www.huffpost.com

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Reposted by Yana Kunichoff

Alanna Vagianos @alannavagianos.bsky.social · Jul 31

NEW: I spoke with a woman named Andrea about her experience being detained by ICE after calling the cops for help during a domestic violence incident.

She was recently postpartum, breastfeeding & put in an all-male facility. She was detained for 2.5 months.

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Reposted by Yana Kunichoff

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Jul 29

More on Tucson's Project Blue, the Amazon data center project cloaked in secrecy for years.

@yanak.bsky.social and I pieced together more of the timeline, finding that City of Tucson officials moved to annex the land BEFORE the first public hearing on the project.

azluminaria.org/2025/07/28/c...

City annexation filing reveals next steps for Project Blue data center - AZ Luminaria

Even before its first public meeting on a controversial and long-secretive 290-acre data center project, the city of Tucson had already filed a petition with the Pima County Recorder’s Office to begin...

azluminaria.org

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Reposted by Yana Kunichoff

sarah jeong @sarahjeong.bsky.social · Jul 28

Averaged out, a journalist has been killed every 3 days since the conflict began.

Jason Wilson @jasonaw.bsky.social · Jul 28

To state the obvious, Western journalists, writers, and filmmakers need to talk more about our colleagues being murdered in Gaza and the West Bank. You can do it from pure self interest if you want: every journalist murdered with impunity is a precedent which is headed in your direction

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · Jul 28

Zichro L'MAAPACHA
May his memory be for the revolution ❤️‍🔥

The activist & writer Awdah Hathaleen-- who worked on the film NO OTHER LAND, & brought so many Jews, Israelis & others to Umm Al-Khair to teach abt the realities of settler violence,

was murdered by a West Bank settler w/terrorist record. +

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Yana Kunichoff @yanak.bsky.social · Jul 28

Nearly 70% of mobile home parks running their own water systems violated safe drinking water rules in the past five years

apnews.com/article/mobi...

For millions in US mobile home parks, clean and safe tap water isn’t a given

Millions of people living in mobile home parks don't enjoy the same drinking water protections that Americans are accustomed to.

apnews.com

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Yana Kunichoff @yanak.bsky.social · Jul 22

So important to remember when writing about homelessness: In no state today can a minimum-wage worker afford a two-bedroom apartment.

thebaffler.com/latest/invis...

Invisible Crisis | Michael Friedrich

In his new book “There Is No Place for Us,” Brian Goldstone highlights the invisible crisis of working homelessness.

thebaffler.com

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Yana Kunichoff @yanak.bsky.social · Jul 22

For much of this summer, a public process to bring a massive data center to Tucson moved ahead w/o revealing the company behind the center

Now, through public records, we can share that the company is Amazon Web Services

by @jwashing.bsky.social and I

azluminaria.org/2025/07/21/a...

Amazon Web Services is company behind Tucson’s Project Blue, according to 2023 county memo - AZ Luminaria

Amazon Web Services is revealed to be the company behind the Project Blue data center proposed for Tucson.

azluminaria.org

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Reposted by Yana Kunichoff

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Jul 22

🚨Scoop🚨
The mysterious giant data center planned for Tucson is named in a 2023 doc we obtained from Pima County: Amazon Web Services.

The data center—H20 and electricity intensive—has sparked fierce public pushback

Latest w/ @yanak.bsky.social for @azluminaria.org
azluminaria.org/2025/07/21/a...

Amazon Web Services is company behind Tucson’s Project Blue, according to 2023 county memo - AZ Luminaria

Amazon Web Services is revealed to be the company behind the Project Blue data center proposed for Tucson.

azluminaria.org

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Yana Kunichoff @yanak.bsky.social · Jul 20

"“We have this list of people that the U.S. government has not formally acknowledged in any real way and we pretty much have no idea if they are in CECOT or someplace else"

www.404media.co/flight-manif...

Flight Manifests Reveal Dozens of Previously Unknown People on Three Deportation Flights to El Salvador

Hacked data obtained by 404 Media reveals dozens more people on deportation flights to El Salvador who are unaccounted for. “We have not heard from these people’s families, so I think perhaps even the...

www.404media.co

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