Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alaina Kinol

@alainakinol.bsky.social

240 followers 390 following 36 posts

Climate policy PhD candidate at Northeastern U Energy nerd, into pollinators

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Alaina Kinol @alainakinol.bsky.social · Aug 21

So embarrassing for NY, used to be an environmental leader next to CA/MA

but now Hochul is working with the White House on bringing back fracked gas against NY climate policy.

Shame @governor.ny.gov

www.ehn.org/new-yorks-bl...

New York’s blocked gas pipelines may move forward under Trump-Hochul energy deal

Hundreds of New Yorkers rallied last week as two previously rejected gas pipeline projects resurfaced amid a potential backroom deal between Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Trump administration.Deep Vakil r...

www.ehn.org

1 1 5

Alaina Kinol @alainakinol.bsky.social · 5h

see also: looking lovingly at photos of baby while baby is sleeping on/next to you

Alaina Kinol @alainakinol.bsky.social · 10h

I think that’s a good take, so long as perception doesn’t supercede the actual work being done to mitigate harm

Alaina Kinol @alainakinol.bsky.social · 18h

The best is going to the office 2 days a week to charge there for free & only paying for road trips. Plus not dealing with the ick of gas stations.

Alaina Kinol @alainakinol.bsky.social · 21h

People are being sold this vision of an ineffective state by interests that shortsightedly believe they would benefit from reduced oversight. It’s objectively untrue. Rather than capitulating to that discourse I think your argument to unsubmerge is far more compelling.

Alaina Kinol @alainakinol.bsky.social · 21h

But I’m not sold that an ineffective state will gain people’s trust either. I don’t see how we have a stable admin state that doesn’t eg protect people against industrial toxicants - the purpose of the state isn’t just employment.

Alaina Kinol @alainakinol.bsky.social · 1d

I would love to see a project of visions for what a future for US gov could be, like collectively building a lighthouse for humane & democratic government

Alaina Kinol @alainakinol.bsky.social · 1d

But not sure that a post-expertise (abandoning technocracy?) approach makes sense for providing necessarily science-dependent evidence-based policy eg healthcare or environmental regulation as much as it would for immigration enforcement
(+re an agency in NC: see EPA in research triangle park)

Alaina Kinol @alainakinol.bsky.social · 1d

I've been desperate to hear discussions of what building a US gov looks like after this admin and @beaubaumann.bsky.social 's piece was thought-provoking in a parallel direction. Genuinely though, can we do post-trump with current political parties? lpeproject.org/blog/rebuild...

Rebuilding State Authority In A Post-Trump America

In the ruins of the administrative state after Trump, many on the left see an opportunity to design a New Deal-type reconstruction agenda. But building state capacity requires a government that is…

lpeproject.org

2 2 3

Reposted by Alaina Kinol

Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 1d

Yet another day of needless cruelty towards queer kids, who are perfect just the way they are. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

Supreme Court Live Updates: Justices Seem Set to Rule Against Colorado’s Ban on Conversion Therapy

www.nytimes.com

4 51 260

Alaina Kinol @alainakinol.bsky.social · 1d

Great go do it

Reposted by Alaina Kinol

Andy Brockman @andybrockman.bsky.social · Sep 19

Everybody makes money out of academic authors except the authors...News.

Wiley is the latest academic publisher to reach a multi-million deal to allow access to its content to AI developers, with no opt out, let alone payment, for the authors who created that content.

Wiley set to earn $44m from AI rights deals, confirms “no opt-out" for authors

The US publisher is the latest to capitalise on deals to give tech firms access to its authors’ content to train their Large Language Models (LLMs).

www.thebookseller.com

1 92 99

Reposted by Alaina Kinol

Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 3d

Trump’s regime is deploying unaccountable masked men into the hearts of our communities to spread fear.

We must stand together against fascist ICE raids. Join an event near you for the biggest day of peaceful protest in American history: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i... #NoKings

ICE Agents Rappel from Helicopter in Overnight Chicago Raid, Dragging Kids from Beds to U-Hauls

Overnight on Tuesday, Sept. 30, federal agents from different agencies raided an apartment building on the South Side of Chicago, pulling men, women and children — some of them allegedly naked — from ...

people.com

31 280 690

Alaina Kinol @alainakinol.bsky.social · 3d

Notably mothers are known to not have to make important decisions

ProPublica @propublica.org · 3d

The judge ultimately ruled that the teen was mature enough to raise two children, but not mature enough to decide if she was ready to be a mother.

(Published 2022 in partnership with The New York Times Magazine)

She Wanted an Abortion. A Judge Said She Wasn’t Mature Enough to Make That Decision.

As abortion access dwindles, America’s “parental-involvement” laws place further restrictions on teenagers — who may need to ask judges for permission to end their pregnancies.

www.propublica.org

Alaina Kinol @alainakinol.bsky.social · 9d

you just can't understand modern US policy processes without obstruction: willful denial & delay of science/narratives/policies that reduce harm to instead increase short-term profits for the ultra wealthy

so disingenuous to place blame for bad politics but not talk about who's materially gaining

Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 10d

Ezra Klein doesn't think about the right wing, like, at all.

He seems honestly to believe it was *our* fault that the Dem tent shrank.

He is blind to GOP disinformation, divisiveness, oppression.

How do you do political analysis without accounting for those forces in American politics?

1/n

You know what I mean? My expectations for the rhetoric of writers, intellectuals, journalists, et cetera, is very, very different than what the expectations should be for people who expect to hold
office.
This I agree with. I think that there are different jobs in all this. But when I say we began writing people off, I think that something that happened, and something I saw - in this debate, but also underneath it — is that the work of politics, of bridging over a lot of profound, fundamental, moral disagreements, became somewhat
demeaned, diminished. It began to seem like, in many cases, a betrayal to people. The tent shrank. The people I feel more comfortable with wielding power
shrank. What Clinton was saying there came from somewhere. It came from the culture that had emerged. It got worse over time. And
then I think it really contributed to us losing.

Reposted by Alaina Kinol

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 16d

“Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic and made way for parks, people-streets and bike-lanes.”

Better for the climate, better for health, better for livability & quality of life.

Common sense.

Such a no-brainer, it’s remarkable that more cities HAVEN’T done the same.

Paris said au revoir to cars. Air pollution maps reveal a dramatic change.

Air pollution fell substantially as the city restricted car traffic and made way for parks and bike lanes.

www.washingtonpost.com

17 220 560

Reposted by Alaina Kinol

Antonia Juhasz @antoniajuhasz.bsky.social · 14d

So, this is awesome. A new interactive map and database lets you track the largest polluters where you live, including the biggest sources of fossil fuel-climate-destroying emissions. @climatetrace.org
www.cnn.com/2025/09/24/c...

How to track the super polluters next door | CNN

A new tool allows people in the world’s largest metros to track their air pollution exposure and who’s doing the polluting.

www.cnn.com

5 13

Reposted by Alaina Kinol

Dr Rasu Shrestha @rasushrestha.bsky.social · 16d

If you think Tylenol is bad for children’s health, wait until you see what guns do.

Firearms were responsible for 20 percent of all child and teen deaths in the U.S. for both 2020 and 2021, compared to an average of less than 2 percent in similarly large and wealthy nations, according to a new KFF analysis. This puts the U.S. far ahead of peer nations in child and teen firearm deaths.

Data show that U.S. firearm deaths for children and teens again surpassed motor vehicle deaths – the second leading cause of death – and that the increase has been primarily driven by gun assault deaths.

On a per capita basis, the firearm mortality rate among children and teens in the U.S. is over 9.5 times the rate of Canada, the country with the second-highest child and teen firearm death rate. If firearm deaths in the U.S. had mirrored Canada’s rates between 2010 and 2021, approximately 30,000 U.S. children and teenagers would still be alive.

22 450 1.1K

Reposted by Alaina Kinol

Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 21d

A program in Flint, MI, gave $1,500 to any/all pregnant people and $500/month for the first year of their infant’s life.

Among the benefits, those babies experienced lower rates of prematurity and low birth weight, which resulted in fewer NICU admissions, saving the city of Flint $6.2 million/year.

The US town that pays every pregnant woman $1,500: ‘We’re not OK with our babies being born into poverty’

Infants in Rx Kids in Flint, Michigan, saw lower rates of prematurity and other issues, saving millions in NICU visits

www.theguardian.com

32 750 2.1K

Reposted by Alaina Kinol

Jeff Seidman (he/him) @jeffsseidman.bsky.social · 22d

🔌💡 This slide from the Electrotech deck is analogous to a point that @georgemonbiot.bsky.social makes: if alt proteins can displace the low-value parts of a cow used as ingredients, that raises the price at which meatpackers needs to sell high-value parts of cow in order to break even.

3 5 18

Reposted by Alaina Kinol

Pete Sikora @petesikora.bsky.social · 28d

Question:
What do Zohran Mamdani, Hakeem Jeffries, Vito Fossella, AOC and the Adams administration agree on?

Answer:
Stopping the Williams NESE fracked gas pipeline project, which would raise utility bills & super pollutes.

Hey @governor.ny.gov Hochul, are you paying attention? #NoTrumpPipelines

15 31

Reposted by Alaina Kinol

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 29d

JUST IN: A judge quashed the subpoena to Boston Children's Hospital by the DoJ that sought the records of trans patients.

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

A court order from the United States District Court, dated September 9, 2025, in case 1:25-mc-91324-MJJ. The order grants a Motion to Quash a subpoena.
Highlighted text explains the judge's reasoning: that the subpoena reflects the administration's disapproval of the transgender community, and its true purpose is to interfere with gender-affirming care in Massachusetts, harass the hospital, and intimidate patients. The judge finds the government failed to show proper purpose and that the subpoena was "motivated only by bad faith."
The order is signed by Judge Myong J. Joun.

51 870 3.7K

Reposted by Alaina Kinol

Sarah Kaplan @sarahkaplan48.bsky.social · 29d

“We’re just constantly exposed to a soup of chemicals."

Amazing reporting by @shannonosaka.bsky.social & co. on the plastic pollutants that are almost impossible to avoid -- and whose potential harms we're just beginning to understand.
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

The health risks from plastics almost nobody knows about

Researchers have linked phthalates, chemicals found in plastics, to premature birth, infertility and ADHD.

www.washingtonpost.com

1 3

Alaina Kinol @alainakinol.bsky.social · 29d

No money to complete ongoing pediatric cancer research but $40B to prop up the dying fossil fuel industry is 👍

WIRED @wired.com · 29d

The Trump administration has already added nearly $40 billion in new federal subsidies for oil, gas, and coal in 2025, a report released Tuesday finds, sending an additional $4 billion out the door each year for fossil fuels over the next decade.

And guess what, taxpayers are going to pay for it.

US Taxpayers Will Pay Billions in New Fossil Fuel Subsidies Thanks to the Big Beautiful Bill

A report finds that President Trump’s flagship legislation will grant $40 billion in new subsidies to the oil and gas industry over the next decade.

www.wired.com

Alaina Kinol @alainakinol.bsky.social · Sep 8

If only there was a document that said that people have a right not to be discriminated against based on their race etc. It would be so nice to have a document like that that could guide our legal decisions!

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · Sep 8

BREAKING: The Supreme Court — over the objection of Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson — allows the Trump administration’s racial profiling of people working certain types of jobs in its immigration raids during litigation.

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
-
No. 25A169
-
KRISTI NOEM, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, ET AL. U. PEDRO
VASQUEZ PERDOMO, ET AL.
ON APPLICATION FOR STAY
[September 8, 2025]
The application for stay presented to JUSTICE KAGAN and by her referred to the Court is granted. The July 11, 2025 order entered by the United States District Court for the Central District of California, case No. 2:25-cv-5605, is stayed pending the disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such a writ is timely sought. Should certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court.

JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR, with whom JUSTICE KAGAN and
JUSTICE JACKSON join, dissenting.
In early June, the Government launched immigration enforcement raids across Los Angeles and its surrounding counties. During the raids, teams of armed and masked agents pulled up to car washes, tow yards, farms, and parks and began seizing individuals on sight, often before asking a single question.
A Federal District Court found that these raids were part of a pattern of conduct by the Government that likely violated the Fourth Amendment. Based on the evidence before it, the court held that the Government was stopping individuals based solely on four factors: (1) their apparent race or ethnicity; (2) whether they spoke Spanish or English with an accent; (3) the type of location at which they were found (such as a car wash or bus stop); and (4) the type of job they appeared to work. Concluding that stops based on these four factors alone, even when taken together, could not satisfy the Fourth Amendment's requirement of reasonable suspicion, the District Court temporarily enjoined the Government from continuing its pattern of unlawful mass arrests while it considered whether longer-term relief was appropriate.

Instead of allowing the District Court to consider these troubling allegations in the normal course, a majority of
2
NOEM v. VASQUEZ PERDOMO
SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting
this Court decides to take the once-extraordinary step of staying the District Court's order. That decision is yet another grave misuse of our emergency docket. We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job. Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent.

*
*
The Fourth Amendment protects every individual's constitutional right to be "free from arbitrary interference by law officers." Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S., at 878. After to-day, that may no longer be true for those who happen to look a certain way, speak a certain way, and appear to work a certain type of legitimate job that pays very little. Because this is unconscionably irreconcilable with our Nation's constitutional guarantees, I dissent.

Reposted by Alaina Kinol

Dr Charlie Gardner @charliejgardner.bsky.social · Sep 4

New research demonstrating a shift in online climate misinformation

Rather than denying climate science, this 'new denial' comprises "attacks that seek to undermine and cast doubt on proposed climate solutions and those who support them."

resolve.cambridge.org/core/journal...

7 54 100