Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Lesley Bartlett @lesleybartlett.bsky.social · 2h

Reposted by Lesley Bartlett

David Houston @dmhouston.bsky.social · 15h

Supported by both the Fordham Institute and @wallacefoundation.bsky.social, Michael Hartney and I explored the extent to which U.S. school board members are politically and demographically representative of the communities they serve.

Here's a summary of our main findings:

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Michael Petrilli @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social · 18h

New from Fordham, the Wallace Foundation, @dmhouston.bsky.social & Michael Hartney:

Who’s on Board? School Boards and Political Representation in an Age of Conflict fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...

Who’s on Board? School Boards and Political Representation in an Age of Conflict

School boards have become ground zero for America’s education culture wars, with fiery debates over race, gender, curriculum, and pandemic policies making national headlines. But beyond the noise, how...

fordhaminstitute.org

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Reposted by Lesley Bartlett

Ahhhhh @nerdjpg.com · 15h

Welcome to the capitalist innovation museum we got

- scam machine
- psychosis inducing machine
- weapons of mass destruction
- button you push that makes the planet hotter
- markets that intentionally starve people
- clothes that fall apart after washing them 1 time
- medicine you can’t afford

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Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 19h

Horrific reporting from the AP on the Myanmar families watching their kids starve to death from Trump and Musk’s aid cuts apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior.bsky.social · 1d

Someone should ask what Miller was doing between 2021 and 2025, why David Horowitz recruited him to the foreign policy team of the Trump campaign, why the Democrats never followed through on their 2017 investigation of alleged lies on Miller's SF-86 clearance forms, but no one asks real questions

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John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 1d

Um, ICE just coldly shot an unarmed PRIEST in the head w a pepper ball when he (and everyone around him) clearly posed no threat.

For the crime of … complaining about government policy.

Core 1A speech.

With cameras rolling, they’re sniping priests for sport.

Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 1d

Here’s video of the incident

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Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 2d

"No institution that is committed to the free pursuit of knowledge should submit to the degradation of autonomy and academic freedom contained in it." @acls1919.bsky.social statement on the White House "compact" proposed to universities. www.acls.org/news/acls-st...

ACLS Statement Regarding White House “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”

ACLS stands firmly against this latest White House effort to divide faculties by giving special privileges to students in “hard science programs” and its demand that institutions abolish “units that p...

www.acls.org

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Reposted by Lesley Bartlett

Preston Green @drprestongreen.bsky.social · 4d

‘Absolutely devastating’: Rural schools say $100K visa fee could make it hard to hire teachers

www.chalkbeat.org/2025/10/01/t...

Rural schools use H1B visas to fill teaching positions. A $100,000 fee could end that.

“No district could afford that even for one teacher, much less multiple teachers,” one Alaska superintendent said.

www.chalkbeat.org

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Reposted by Lesley Bartlett

Connor Ewing @cmewing.bsky.social · 5d

"'There simply aren’t enough students to go around,' said Nathan Grawe, an economist at Carleton College in Minnesota. But the effects of the demographic cliff, he noted, 'won’t be evenly distributed.'"

U.S. Colleges Are About to See a Big Decline in Applicants

Forget a lot of what you thought you knew about higher education.

nymag.com

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Reposted by Lesley Bartlett

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 5d

Well, if only there were a large supply of foreign students who would happily pay a premium price to get access to American higher education.

Connor Ewing @cmewing.bsky.social · 5d

"'There simply aren’t enough students to go around,' said Nathan Grawe, an economist at Carleton College in Minnesota. But the effects of the demographic cliff, he noted, 'won’t be evenly distributed.'"

U.S. Colleges Are About to See a Big Decline in Applicants

Forget a lot of what you thought you knew about higher education.

nymag.com

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Reposted by Lesley Bartlett

Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 5d

NEW: ICE is planning to hire a team of nearly 30 people to surveil social media 24/7, build dossiers on people, and flag them for arrest and deportation. @dell.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/ice-so...

ICE Wants to Build Out a 24/7 Social Media Surveillance Team

Documents show ICE plans to hire dozens of contractors to scan X, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms to target people for deportation.

www.wired.com

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Jay 🦋 @jay.bsky.team · 7d

“It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.”
― Jane Goodall

💙 RIP to a real one. My childhood hero

Jane Goodall with monarch butterfly scarf

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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 6d

Amidst the shutdown and the continued attacks on institutions, individuals, and communities, it's important that we document human toll.

To that end, here's a chance to share anonymously how you and your loved ones are faring in the wake of rapid social and policy change.

tinyurl.com/thehumantoll

The Human Toll

The US is undergoing rapid social, economic, and policy change.

If you've been impacted, we want to hear your story!

To participate, visit: https://tinyurl.com/thehumantoll

Study sponsored under University of Wisconsin-Madison IRB Protocol #2025-1096. PI: Dr. Jessica Calarco

Participants must be at least 18 years of age and reside in the US

[image of a person with their face in their hands]

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Reposted by Lesley Bartlett

Tim Muth @timmuth.bsky.social · 7d

Journalist from El Salvador, Mario Guevara, writes from an ICE detention facility, about the ongoing violations of his human rights and dignity since his arrest in June while covering protest activity. bittersoutherner.com/journalist-m...

Journalist Mario Guevara Speaks - Letter from ICE DETENTION FACILITY — THE BITTER SOUTHERNER

The only journalist detained by ICE on US soil, sends a letter to The Bitter Southerner.

bittersoutherner.com

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Reposted by Lesley Bartlett

Tammy Duckworth @duckworth.senate.gov · 8d

If you live in these states, your ACA premiums are about to jump:

SD - Up 235% LA - Up 150% WV - Up 387% WY - Up 382% TN - Up 320% MS - Up 314% AK - Up 346%

Republicans are fighting to make sure this happens to their own constituents.

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Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 12d

OpenAI's VP for education recently said the company wanted to become "core infrastructure" for schools and universities. Any infrastructure, though, always depends on habituating users to its technical affordances - so I've been trying to track how it's doing that 🧵 www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/t...

Welcome to Campus. Here’s Your ChatGPT.

www.nytimes.com

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David Gura @davidgura.bsky.social · 12d

Bloomberg News has obtained more than 18,000 emails from Jeffrey Epstein’s personal Yahoo account.

Here, my colleagues summarize correspondence between Mitch Webber — then a research assistant to Alan Dershowitz, now a partner at Paul, Weiss — and Epstein:

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 12d

the question to ask the republican majority on the court is “what CAN’T trump do?”

Matt Ford @mford.bsky.social · 12d

Supreme Court rules 6-3 that congressional appropriations are optional: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

On September 3, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia entered a preliminary injunction directing the Executive to obligate roughly $10.5 billion of appropriated aid funding set to expire on September 30. Of that $10.5 billion, $4 billion was proposed to be rescinded in a “special message” transmitted pursuant to the Impoundment Control Act. See 2 U. S. C. §681 et seq. After the District Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied stays of that order, the Government filed this application to stay the District Court’s injunction. The application for stay presented to THE CHIEF JUSTICE and by him referred to the Court is granted. The Government, at this early stage, has made a sufficient showing that the Impoundment Control Act precludes respondents’ suit, brought pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, to enforce the appropriations at issue here. The Government has also made a sufficient showing that mandamus relief is unavailable to respondents. And, on the record before the Court, the asserted harms to the Executive’s conduct of foreign affairs appear to outweigh the potential harm faced by respondents. This order should not be read as a final determination on the merits. The relief granted by the Court today reflects our preliminary view, consistent with the standards for interim relief.

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Claude Taylor @realclaudetaylor.bsky.social · 13d

Perfect.

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Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 13d

Excellent reporting from Heated and Atmos.

It looks like some of the biggest investors in the anti-trans movement are fossil fuel billionaires who are trying to use trans issues to ensure that Republicans pass policies favorable to their industry.

heated.world/p/fossil-fue...

Fossil fuel billionaires are bankrolling the anti-trans movement

An investigation shared exclusively with Atmos and HEATED finds that 80% of anti-trans organizations receive fossil fuel funding.

heated.world

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Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 14d

“CNN identified more than 100 US citizen children, from newborns to teenagers, who have been left stranded without parents because of immigration actions this year …” www.cnn.com/2025/09/23/p... #FamiliesBelongTogether

‘The new family separation crisis’: More than 100 US citizen kids left stranded by ICE enforcement actions, CNN finds | CNN Politics

Children across the US have ended up in the care of relatives, neighbors, friends, coworkers and even strangers after ICE detained or deported their parents.

www.cnn.com

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Lesley Bartlett @lesleybartlett.bsky.social · 14d

Thank you for sharing these links. It goes on and on. Sobering.

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Anne Lutz Fernandez @lutzfernandez.bsky.social · 14d

Writing about this right now. We've had five-plus years of educators being ousted by MAGA. Can we go back and restore those folks' careers, safety, and peace of mind?

Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 15d

Do any of the professors or journalists or teachers also get their jobs back or nah

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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 15d

Do any of the professors or journalists or teachers also get their jobs back or nah

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Prof Dynarski @dynarski.bsky.social · 16d

Trump wants to collect data from colleges on race and admissions

This will require 740,500 additional hours of work

I’m sure the THREE employees left at NCES can handle it

https://fedscoop.com/education-department-research-data-college-admissions-layoffs-doge-restructuring-federal-contracts/

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