Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Heidi Stevens @heidikstevens.bsky.social · 20h

“It’s an affront to the gospel, plain and simple.”

They’re shooting pastors with pepper balls.

religionnews.com/2025/10/07/i...

Religious protesters say ICE threatens religious freedom in Chicago

(RNS) — Despite potential danger, religious leaders and faith activists have been a visible presence at Chicago-area ICE protests, some waving signs with slogans such as ‘Love thy neighbor’ and ‘Who w...

religionnews.com

2 5

Reposted by Heidi Stevens

Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 1d

Someone should start asking why we’re hearing and seeing Stephen Miller so much all of a sudden.

1.5K 4.9K 22K

Reposted by Heidi Stevens

Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 2d

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

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

340 5.3K 19K

Reposted by Heidi Stevens

Democracy Action Network @democracyactionnet.bsky.social · 3d

Seems kinda bad that all of a sudden the government is just Stephen Miller and the guy who wrote Project 2025

18 160 500

Reposted by Heidi Stevens

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 3d

Federal agents landed a helicopter on a South Shore building last week, arresting 37 people and leaving behind cracked windows, broken doors and a lot of pain. Lawmakers call for a halt to all federal immigration enforcement in Chicago.
trib.al/noHsmsk

After military-style raid on South Shore apartment, Congress members rally around residents

Federal agents landed a helicopter on a building at 7500 S. South Shore Dr. on Wednesday morning, arresting 37 people and leaving behind cracked windows, broken doors and a lot of pain. Lawmakers call for a halt to all federal immigration enforcement in Chicago.

trib.al

4 67 130

Reposted by Heidi Stevens

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 2d

Illinois sued President Donald Trump early Monday morning over the deployment of National Guard troops into the state against the wishes of Gov. JB Pritzker. The lawsuit names Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem among the defendants. trib.al/VdUdLr0

Illinois sues Trump over National Guard deployment

The lawsuit comes hours after a federal judge in Oregon barred Trump from deploying federalized members of the any National Guard troops under Trump's command to Oregon.

trib.al

6 29 95

Reposted by Heidi Stevens

WIRED @wired.com · 4d

Workers at one agency were given unhinged, partisan language to use when setting out-of-office replies.

Federal Workers Are Being Told to Blame Democrats for the Shutdown

Workers at one agency were given unhinged, partisan language to use when setting out-of-office replies.

wrd.cm

27 75 280

Reposted by Heidi Stevens

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 5d

In a video taken by a witness and shared with the Sun-Times, cars could be seen blocking the white, unmarked SUV before a masked agent rolled down his window and dropped the canisters. Smoke spread around the vehicle and passersby began to scream.

Masked federal agent throws chemical irritants outside Logan Square grocery store: 'My eyes are burning'

Video taken by several witnesses captured the moments where the agent can be seen dropping a canister from a white SUV.

trib.al

6 46 77

Reposted by Heidi Stevens

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 5d

“I asked [agents] why they were holding me if I was an American citizen, and they said I had to wait until they looked me up,” Johnson said. “I asked if they had a warrant, and I asked for a lawyer. They never brought one.”

Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling: 'I feel defeated'

The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested 37 people in the raid.

trib.al

6 52 100

Heidi Stevens @heidikstevens.bsky.social · 4d

“It seems reasonable to expect that in an American city, you could go a block away from your own house and not worry about getting tear gassed when you’re just getting home from preschool.”

t.co/ccpyMj34DZ

https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/03/family-grocery-shoppers-run-as-masked-agent-throws-smoke-bomb-onto-busy-chicago-street/

t.co

1 5 14

Reposted by Heidi Stevens

Rex Huppke @rexhuppke.bsky.social · 5d

They think this is their country. They think a majority shares their twisted views and wants the same kind of world they want. They are woefully wrong on both counts, and their overconfidence and overstepping will backfire. Keep your heads up.

34 170 850

Heidi Stevens @heidikstevens.bsky.social · 6d

Literally the worst

2

Reposted by Heidi Stevens

Block Club Chicago @blockclubchi.bsky.social · 6d

Veterans are speaking out against ICE's "mob tactics" in Broadview.

"Our democracy is being crushed." blockclubchi.co/475z6iV

7 81 420

Reposted by Heidi Stevens

Colin Boyle @colinbphoto.bsky.social · 6d

South Shore Residents Return To Ransacked Apartments After ICE Raid: 'It Looks Like Hell'

@blockclubchi.bsky.social's Mack Liederman & I went in the already rundown apartment. We saw severe damage — doors kicked in, water damage, blood & clothes on the floor etc
blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/02/s...

3 28 61

Reposted by Heidi Stevens

Nancy Armour @nrarmour.bsky.social · 7d

“How is any of this making America safer? Crueler? Certainly. Merciless? Absolutely. Heartless? We’re heading there.”
This whole column by @heidikstevens.bsky.social is excellent, but that last paragraph is a gut punch

Heidi Stevens: ‘We’re going to throw our humanity out?’ Immigration crackdown taking us down a cruel path

It’s hard to believe that this blitz has anything to do with public safety or ensuring that people come to the U.S. the so-called right way.

www.chicagotribune.com

1 3 10

Reposted by Heidi Stevens

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 7d

ICE regularly held immigrants far beyond the hours they set for the Broadview processing center, data through July shows. Immigrants held there say there are no beds, limited food and toilets are out in the open with no soap or toothpaste.
trib.al/um8BERF

ICE's Broadview facility has become a de facto detention center, minus the rules and oversight

ICE regularly held immigrants far beyond the hours they set for the Broadview processing center, data through July shows. Immigrants held there say there are no beds, limited food and toilets are out in the open.

trib.al

2 88 120

Reposted by Heidi Stevens

NPR @npr.org · 7d

Pope Leo XIV weighed in on U.S. politics, saying Catholic politicians must be judged on the full range of their policy positions and suggesting the country's immigration policy is "inhuman."

Pope Leo XIV says 'inhuman treatment of immigrants' in the U.S. isn't 'pro-life'

Pope Leo XIV weighed in on U.S. politics, saying that Catholic politicians must be judged on the full range of their policy positions and suggesting that the country's immigration policy is "inhuman."

n.pr

160 2K 7.2K

Reposted by Heidi Stevens

Rex Huppke @rexhuppke.bsky.social · 7d

Son, I've spent countless hours interviewing gang members across Chicago and they would laugh at you so hard your vampiric skin would slide off your body in a desperate attempt to escape the indignity of it all.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 7d

Stephen Miller: "All that bullshit is done, over, it's finished. The gangbangers you deal with- they think they're ruthless? They have no idea how ruthless we are. They think they're tough? They have no idea how tough we are. They think they're hardcore? We are so much more hardcore than they are"

25 32 240

Heidi Stevens @heidikstevens.bsky.social · 7d

How is any of this making America safer?

Crueler? Certainly. Merciless? Absolutely. Heartless? We’re heading there.

My column.

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/01/h...

Heidi Stevens: ‘We’re going to throw our humanity out?’ Immigration crackdown taking us down a cruel path

It’s hard to believe that this blitz has anything to do with public safety or ensuring that people come to the U.S. the so-called right way.

www.chicagotribune.com

14 33 140

Reposted by Heidi Stevens

The TRiiBE @thetriibe.com · 7d

HAPPENING NOW — Video obtained by The TRiiBE shows a federal agent with his hands around the neck of a Black man following an apparent car crash on the West Side near California Avenue and Congress Parkway.

thetriibe.com/2025/10/vide...

Video shows feds ‘choking’ a Black man in East Garfield Park • The TRiiBE

“Why is you choking him, man? Why is he choking him, man?” a man says at the scene.

thetriibe.com

24 590 930

Heidi Stevens @heidikstevens.bsky.social · 7d

At The OpEd Project, we believe:

✅The story we tell becomes the world we live in.

✅The world becomes more intelligent when it is more inclusive.

✅The best ideas, regardless of where they come from, should have a chance to be heard and change the world.

www.theopedproject.org

The OpEd Project

The OpEd Project's mission is to increase the range of voices and quality of ideas we hear in the world. We provide trainings, fellowships, and resources to amplify underrepresented voices, and change...

www.theopedproject.org

1

Heidi Stevens @heidikstevens.bsky.social · 7d

What the Department of War name change signals, by founder of the Veterans Legal Clinic at the University of Illinois Yulanda Curtis

'War, by its nature, is inherently destructive. It does not seek to build community. Instead, it tears communities down.'

www.stripes.com/opinion/2025...

Bringing back Department of War name is a messaging miss

www.stripes.com

1 3

Heidi Stevens @heidikstevens.bsky.social · 7d

How fighting disagreeable speech is complicated by algorithms that feed us disinformation and competing facts. By professor of philosophy Luvell Anderson. theopinionpages.com/2025/09/thou...

Thoughts on fighting disagreeable speech in the disinformation age | The Opinion Pages

We are currently at an inflection point, with a nation on the precipice. In moments of national crisis, presidential administrations often soothe a restless population with aspirational rhetoric. Lynd...

theopinionpages.com

1 1

Heidi Stevens @heidikstevens.bsky.social · 7d

Why what matters is not simply whether Trump can designate antifa a terrorist organization, but also what his attempt to do so signals. By associate professor Verena Erlenbusch-Anderson. thetriibe.com/2025/09/refl...

REFLECTION: Can he do that? • The TRiiBE

We need to see the terrorism label for what it is: a highly effective rhetorical weapon that serves to delegitimize criticism, persecute political opponents and consolidate power.

thetriibe.com

1 2

Heidi Stevens @heidikstevens.bsky.social · 7d

How SNAP-Ed, which just lost funding, changes lives and interrupts the pathways to preventable nutrition-related diseases. By Daylan Dufelmeier. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/29/o...

Daylan Dufelmeier: SNAP-Ed improves Illinois lives through nutrition education. It needs stopgap funding now.

As the director of the SNAP-Ed, I see firsthand how this nutrition program changes lives. It needs federal funding.

www.chicagotribune.com

1 1