In 2026, the U.S. will spend $182 billion on mass incarceration. That's a lot of money that could be better spent on investing in communities instead of locking them up.
New year, same failed priorities.
Happy New Year.
Did you know? Last year, Minnesota eliminated prison gerrymandering.
The law, signed by Tim Walz in the spring, ended the practice of counting incarcerated people where prisons are located, which skews political power within the state.
UnitedHealth sued The Guardian after we reported on bonuses it paid nursing homes that cut hospital transfers for seniors.
We kept reporting.
Now we’re publishing this on allegations that delayed or denied transfers led to the deaths of nursing home residents:
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
🗞️ ‘There’s power in numbers’ -- New Yorkers are banding together to protect street vendors from ICE
Local laws make it so vendors exist in the shadows + are more vulnerable. Time to pass Intro 431 to protect these vendors! www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
No worker should wake up wondering if today is the day an algorithm erases their job.
Intro 1332 = just cause, due process, job security for NYC’s 80,000 deliveristas
The moment is here. @NYCCouncil: Pass #Intro1332.
BREAKING: New York City Council has just passed legislation guaranteeing wage, benefit, and paid time off standards for all private security officers in the city!
Hundreds of young people, led by students at Hillsboro High School, walked out of their classes Friday morning in protest of ICE activity in their communities.
www.oregonlive.com/washingtonco...
Sensitive tactical communications have long been encrypted. But recently, NYPD has been encrypting much of its precinct-level dispatch communications as well.
The act, which passed this summer, gives press access to frequencies that had long been publicly accessible.
Rights advocates are calling out the European Union for "pushing a punishment regime for migrants" with a proposal "legitimizing offshore prisons, racial profiling, and child detention."
Vox ha dado instrucciones a sus cargos para que traten a los socialistas como apestados y que no participen en actos con ellos. Estas directrices han generado tensiones en pequeñas localidades donde las relaciones personales entre vecinos están por encima de las políticas
ICE officers shouldn't be allowed to stick a phone in anyone's face to run face recognition without their consent. A coalition of privacy and civil rights advocates are telling DHS to end the program immediately.
www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
Horizontal bar chart titled “US banks are the most favoured by deregulation.” It displays the expected impact of regulatory changes on return on equity (%). US banks like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are projected to see a boost of nearly 8%. UK banks such as HSBC and Barclays also benefit, but to a lesser extent. EU and Swiss banks (Deutsche Bank, UBS) see a negative impact. Banks are colour-coded by region: dark blue for US, light blue for UK, medium blue for EU, and pink for Swiss banks. Source: Alvarez & Marsal.
Further reforms are yet to be presented in detail — but critics are wary. Analysts say that deregulation will free up almost $2.6tn in lending capacity and boost profitability, prompting bankers around the world to lobby their own regulators for a loosening of rules in a risky “race to the bottom”.
Page One in Cincinnati:
“.. I need to be able to look my grandkids in the eye and say I did not remain silent.”
#ICE
The big data center buildup
An AI server farm tsunami threatens to overwhelm the West’s power grid and water supplies.
“While City expenditures have kept pace with revenues, they have lagged behind the growth of private incomes and spending—which means that as a share of the local economy, the public sector has actually been shrinking for years.”
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/mam...
Santa Fe is now the first city to tie the minimum wage to the cost of rent.
The Santa Fe City Council voted to raise its minimum wage from $15/hr to $17.50 by 2027 — but they also added another provision.
Future increases will factor in inflation, and the price of housing.
NEWS - Trump and Mamdani agree that NY utility ConEd needs to lower utility bills.
🎁 Link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Un incendio obliga a suspender y desalojar la cumbre del clima de Brasil. 21 personas han tenido que ser atendidas por inhalación de humo y crisis de ansiedad. social.elpais.com/7arjb30
A U.S. postal worker on Long Island is accused of trying to help a man escape from ICE custody earlier this month, according to a federal criminal complaint: https://gothamist.visitlink.me/YNagDp
On average, Trump's OBBBA will give the equivalent of a $129,600 annual tax cut to each millionaire in New York next year—2.7% of their total income.
La extrema derecha empuja a las autonomías del PP a eliminar de las escuelas un programa de enseñanza del árabe creado por Rajoy. Murcia y Madrid ya han cerrado el programa, en el que participaron 8.000 alumnos de 400 colegios en 2024 social.elpais.com/c_obl6
Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with 'suspicious' travel patterns
Chaofeng Ge, a Chinese immigrant, was found dead in an ICE custody facility in Pennsylvania with his hands and feet bound. While the county coroner ruled his death as a suicide, his family is suing to obtain records that may explain the circumstances of his death.
documentedny.com/2025/11/13/c...
I'm seeing people wonder why ICE is going after Charlotte.
ICE has been at war with Charlotte's sheriff ever since he won in 2018.
We'd covered this at Bolts back in the day; this quote is from that sheriff:
36 states have crafted subsidies for data center projects, according to Good Jobs First, a nonprofit watchdog group that tracks economic development incentives. But only 11 of those states, including Ohio, disclose which companies receive those incentives ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/11/14/r...
Commentary: New Mexico is expanding its free, high-quality child care program so all families can access it. Families will save an average of $12,000 per year with this program. It’s the first of its kind in the nation, and I hope other states will follow ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/11/13/r...
Colorado and six other states failed to reach a broad agreement this week on how to share the Colorado River’s dwindling water supply, missing a federally-imposed deadline after days of intense closed-door negotiations.
What will it take to rebuild Jamaica’s food system after Hurricane Melissa?
For farmers in the nation’s breadbasket, surviving this storm is no guarantee against the next one.
grist.org/food-and-agr...
#Hurricane #Jamaica #Food #Farms #Disaster #Weather
32BJ SEIU member Sophia Harris holds a union banner. It curls around the building
New: Pull up. We’re building a movement. Solidarity is what unions are all about. Here are a few reasons why it’s a great idea to bring your union identity—and your union—to the struggle. labornotes.org/blogs/2025/1...
Graph showing the prevalence of diagnoses among youth in confinement: 4% autism spectrum, 27% learning disabilities, 60% ADD or ADHD
Data shows that more than two-thirds of confined youth meet criteria for neurodivergence.
Kids need care – not cages.
