Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · 1d

azluminaria.org/2025/10/07/a...
New jaguar sighting, bold new resolution from Tohono O'odham's San Xavier District:
The jaguar is “a guardian of the people and the natural world,” the resolution reads, “a sacred being with deep connections to O’odham stories and traditional beliefs.”

6

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · 21d

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

2 6

Reposted by John Washington

Yana Kunichoff @yanak.bsky.social · 27d

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...

2 5

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Sep 8

great. i hadn't seen this. thank you!

1

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Sep 8

I'm writing a new book for @haymarketbooks.org, and I'm writing it fast, so help is most welcome.

More here: johnwashington.substack.com/p/how-to-clo...

1 6 32

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Aug 15

More on Project Blue, the proposed and (for now) scuttled mega data center project in Tucson.

We're releasing some of the early planning docs, obtained via public records requests, which list alternate sites.

Latest from @azluminaria.org

azluminaria.org/2025/08/15/p...

Plan B for Project Blue: Records reveal 3 other sites considered for controversial data center - AZ Luminaria

While Tucson City Council seems to have closed the door on the proposed Project Blue data center, the questions about resource use in the desert that consumed elected officials, experts and community ...

azluminaria.org

2 5 14

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Aug 14

disappointing, even depressing. that mag was so influential on me when i was a kid

1

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Aug 7

complicated, but basically there was no water hookups on the land, so city would have to annex to be able to provide the water to the site.

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

2 10 48

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Aug 5

Tucson City council member Nikki Lee says controversial Amazon-run data center project is inevitable.

“Project Blue has multiple paths to build here, and every intention to do so,” Lee wrote in her newsletter today, “regardless of what the City of Tucson decides.”
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

4 1

Reposted by John Washington

ProPublica @propublica.org · Aug 4

📽️ WATCH: “The U.S. sent us to El Salvador so that El Salvador could do the dirty work that the U.S. couldn’t.”

Hear from Juan José Ramos Ramos, Andry Omar Blanco Bonilla and Wilmer José Vega Sandia — three of 230+ Venezuelan men the Trump administration sent to CECOT — in their own words:

61 1.2K 2.5K

Reposted by John Washington

Raider @iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social · Jul 31

ICE GOONS draw guns on humanitarian aid workers

650 6.4K 13K

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

3 23 29

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Jul 25

This is the moment we're in:
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Immigration agents told a teenage US citizen: ‘You’ve got no rights.’ He secretly recorded his brutal arrest

Video from Kenny Laynez-Ambrosio, 18, puts fresh scrutiny on the harsh tactics used to reach the Trump administration’s ambitious enforcement targets

www.theguardian.com

3 8

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Jul 25

I responded to @markskrikorian.bsky.social's review and misapprehension of my book, The Case for Open Borders.

My latest newsletter.
johnwashington.substack.com/p/case-count...

1 3 17

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Jul 23

I spoke with Dora Rodriguez, Tucson-based immigrant activist who nearly died crossing the desert in 1980, about her memoir.

Latest for @azluminaria.org
azluminaria.org/2025/07/23/l...

Local immigrant rights activist Dora Rodriguez, on surviving a border crossing — and her new memoir - AZ Luminaria

In the summer of 1980, Dora Rodriguez almost died in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Along with a group of 30 people, most of them having fled violence and the beginnings of a gruesome civil war ...

azluminaria.org

18 23

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Jul 22

thank you for the support! really appreciate it.

1

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

6 25 56

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Jul 12

Ah, Im humbled. Thanks Alex.

1

Reposted by John Washington

chuckmertz.bsky.social @chuckmertz.bsky.social · Jul 10

NEW EPISODE: Award-winning journalist @azluminaria.org's @jwashing.bsky.social on his writing at @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social, “The Roots of Bukele’s Gulag.”

Support our work at patreon.com/thisishell

thisishell.com/episodes/1846

Episode 1846: Deep Background on Bukele's Gulags in El Salvador / John Washington

Bukele's Gulags

thisishell.com

3 9

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Jul 10

Enjoyed this in-depth convo w/ @chuckmertz.bsky.social on This Is Hell!.

We discussed deep context of US-Salvadoran relations and Trump admins test-case deportation policies, following my recent work for @nybooks.com
thisishell.com/interviews/1...
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...

Deep Background on Bukele's Gulags in El Salvador / John Washington

John Washington joins us to discuss his recent piece in the New York Review of Books, "The Roots of Bukele’s Gulag." An all new "Rotten History" and "The Moment of Truth" segments follow the interview...

thisishell.com

1 4

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Jul 10

RIP, Fanny.

She was a brilliant torchlight of a writer.

Also a friend.

Read her work.

Jorie Graham @joriegraham.bsky.social · Jul 9

Beloved, visionary Fanny Howe, a beacon of ferocity, honesty & integrity—a fighter in all senses of the term—has moved on. Read her. The powerful voice does not depart. It only grows louder….

1940-2025

www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...

A Hymn

The paper slept but the night in me woke up. While birds swept over the water like pot-bellied angels beautiful bells rang to assist the hoist. Then they kill themselves offstage, away from the pages ...

www.poetryfoundation.org

2

Reposted by John Washington

Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · Jul 8

Imagine people migrating freely and negotiating a niche in their new communities.

This 34-min. podcast is an excellent summary of ideas from @jwashing.bsky.social’s humane book.

99percentinvisible.org/episode/633-...

Open Borders - 99% Invisible

A border is an idea so powerful that we never even have to see it to believe it. Or believe in it. Global borders can be sites of peace and conflict, violence and celebration, opportunity and confinem...

99percentinvisible.org

2 4

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Jul 3

Honored for the dedicated episode from @99pi.org about my book and open borders.

Give it a listen here: 99percentinvisible.org/episode/633-...
Special thanks to producer Lasha Madan.
@haymarketbooks.org

Open Borders - 99% Invisible

A border is an idea so powerful that we never even have to see it to believe it. Or believe in it. Global borders can be sites of peace and conflict, violence and celebration, opportunity and confinem...

99percentinvisible.org

4 10 46

John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · Jun 27

Pretty solid list!

1