Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jess M. F. Hughes @jessmfh.bsky.social · 14h

This is such a powerful & depressing film. (Depressing in the sense of what we’ve lost, but it does offer some silver lining in showing resistant independent media that’s come out of the wreckage.)

Director Rick Goldsmith visited my class when this film screened on campus, & he’s awesome.

Blake Leyh @earlofedgecombe.bsky.social · 1d

If you think you know why US newspapers died, this feature documentary now streaming for free on PBS might surprise you. It wasn't the Internet. Newspapers were specifically targeted by vulture capitalists.

I composed the score for the film, which features electric cello & Crowfoot guitars.

Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink

A handful of journalists rebel against a hedge fund that is gutting newspapers nationwide.

www.pbs.org

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Thinking Person's Guide to Autism @thinkingautism.com · 1d

WTF: "An Education Department staffer told USA TODAY the agency laid off just about every employee who works to administer funding for IDEA, the primary federal law supporting students with disabilities. He was unsure how those programs will exist moving forward."

www.usatoday.com/story/news/e...

Education Department wipes out special ed office in shutdown layoffs, union says

The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

www.usatoday.com

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Jess M. F. Hughes @jessmfh.bsky.social · 14h

I’m excited to read this! & grateful for all you do, @mskellymhayes.bsky.social

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 1d

My publisher’s been very patient. I’m not doing everything I said I’d do to promote this book (out in a few weeks) because I’m an organizer in a city under federal attack. My days are full and emotionally exhausting. Any help getting the word out means a lot. It's a book people need right now.

Read This When Things Fall Apart by Kelly Hayes | Pilsen Community Books

A bundle of letters to activists and organizers on the frontlines in catastrophic times from Let This Radicalize You co-author Kelly Hayes In social movements, some heartbreaks are all but inevitable.

www.pilsencommunitybooks.com

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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 1d

A library director in Wyoming who was fired two years ago because she refused to remove books with sexual content and LGBTQ themes from a library's children and young adult sections has just been awarded $700,000 in a settlement. t.co/EA5L1kOZfV

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/us/wyoming-library-settlement-book-bans-terri-lesley.html?smtyp=cur&smid=fb-nytimes&fbclid=IwdGRjcANWLXdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHhlnY6nKj_j4zuP3VjNSstXWBaV1t8-sPQ5C3b_jS6WN...

t.co

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Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 1d

For more information about the Friday night massacre at CDC, I wrote up an analysis of who got terminated and what that means for public health.

Grateful to @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social for supporting and amplifying. We are in really terrible trouble.

rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/the-death-...

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Matthew Cortland (they) @matthewcort.land · 1d

"Trump and MAGA are the reason your child lost their special education services" is the message, that's easy. Distribution is going to be hard.

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David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 1d

The end of federal enforcement of special ed laws. Some states - including MN - will likely be ok. But a lot of disabled kids in a lot of states are going to lose the education that federal law and decades of jurisprudence say they are owed.

Education Department wipes out special ed office in shutdown layoffs, union says

The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

www.usatoday.com

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 2d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 2d

it’s said all the time but I think we should continue to hammer home how insane it is that we got dead-eyed bros trying to sell us robots that will free us from the supposedly cruel burden of “creative careers” instead of the actual cruel burden of “doing menial household chores”

Assistant HR Director of Antifa @sethdmichaels.bsky.social · 2d

AI HUCKSTER: "i built you a machine that reads books for you."

ME: "can you build me a machine that unloads the dishwasher for me so *i* can read a book?"

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Jess M. F. Hughes @jessmfh.bsky.social · 3d

This DJ training looks incredible.

“This workshop breaks down the basics of the Medical Industrial Complex (MIC) and offers timely analysis of how the MIC is being used to further authoritarian agendas while amplifying and normalizing ableism, eugenics, and genocide.”

Krystal Kavita Jagoo, MSW (She/Her/Hers) 🇹🇹👊🏽✍️🏾♊️♊️♏️ @equitableforall.com · 4d

Every single time Chantal tries to educate folx about how ableism and fascism are interconnected, defensiveness abounds galore so many of you could benefit from this Pay-What-You-Can virtual Disability Justice training, featuring @talilalewis.bsky.social: www.healthjusticecommons.org/fall-politic...

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 3d

New Study Finds Annual COVID Vaccines Protect People against Severe Disease, Even with Prior Immunity www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-...

Annual COVID Vaccines Save Lives, New Study Shows

A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination

www.scientificamerican.com

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Share My Lesson @sharemylesson.bsky.social · 6d

Teachers & public employees—know your rights online.
🗣️💻 Join @aft.org’s @rweingarten.bsky.social + experts from @penamerica.bsky.social & @ncacensorship.bsky.social for a webinar on free speech, digital safety & protecting yourself online.
REGISTER here 👉 sharemylesson.com/webinars/fre...

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Cate Denial @cjdenial.bsky.social · 4d

It's not too late to sign up for this short, free webinar on exploring the ethics of GenAI, held TODAY (October 8) at 4pm ET. Registration below.

Cate Denial @cjdenial.bsky.social · 13d

A reminder! On October 8 I'll be leading a short webinar on the ethics of generative AI for @onehe.bsky.social. Registration is free - check out the link below! onehe.org/event/explor...

Exploring the Ethics of GenAI – OneHE

onehe.org

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 12d

“Two weeks after a federal committee of vaccine advisers approved new recommendations for who should get Covid-19 shots, neither Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. nor his deputy have signed off, leaving states unable to order updated shots for low-income children.”

Low-income children lack access to Covid vaccines because of approval delay

Two weeks after vaccine advisers approved new Covid recs, Kennedy still hasn’t given his approval, leaving states unable to order updated shots for low-income kids.

www.statnews.com

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rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 12d

Hey remember when the CDC dropped 6 of the 8 foodborne illnesses from the nationwide monitoring system in July and one of them was listeria? Mentioning for no particular reason www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

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Miriam Posner @miriamposner.com · 12d

Once again, it is *faculty*—not administrators—who brought this case and won. Including UC Faculty Association chapters of the AAUP.

Court Rules in AAUP v Rubio: Trump Admin Violated First Amendment

The AAUP and partners sued to block the Trump administration from carrying out large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of noncitizen students and faculty members for ideological reasons.

www.aaup.org

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Lauren Rosenthal @laurenthal.bsky.social · 13d

Electricity now costs 267% more (!!) for 1 month vs. what it cost 5 years ago near data center hotspots. Awesome reporting from Josh Saul @dinabass.bsky.social Leonardo Nicoletti @naurtorious.bsky.social Demetrios Pogkas (gift link) www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring

Wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers.

www.bloomberg.com

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Kodo and Sangha Aid & Abet @kodoandsangha.bsky.social · 14d

They are our employees. We need to remind them of this. Electing someone else is firing a bad employee. Think about them this way. They work for us.

Lupita Nihongo @otsumamiboy.bsky.social · 14d

It is actually peak absurdity that we still have people arguing that voters should bend to the positions of their political representatives instead of the other way around.

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 14d

"After nearly 40 years, the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States, or ARCUS, will close September 30."

"The Arctic Research Consortium of the United States funded programs that aided Indigenous communities and tracked melting sea ice, among dozens of initiatives."

After Trump cut the National Science Foundation by 56 percent, a venerable Arctic research center closes its doors

The Arctic Research Consortium of the United States funded programs that aided Indigenous communities and tracked melting sea ice, among dozens of initiatives.

grist.org

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Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · 15d

Comment period ends on Monday for a proposed rule change that would terminate student visas after 4 years. It also puts limits on exchange visitors and reps of foreign media, and shortens the length of time at the end of the visa from 60 days to 30 days.

www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

Establishing a Fixed Time Period of Admission and an Extension of Stay Procedure for Nonimmigrant Academic Students, Exchange Visitors, and Representatives of Foreign Information Media

Unlike most nonimmigrant classifications, which are admitted for a fixed time period, aliens in the F (academic student), J (exchange visitor), and most I (representatives of foreign information media...

www.federalregister.gov

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🜲 James @jamesskeets.blacksky.app · 16d

Through her creative platform, Saint Heron, Solange has launched The Saint Heron Library, a digital archive dedicated to making rare and out-of-print works by Black authors, poets, and artists accessible to all.

🔗 library.saintheron.com

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Stacy Fahrenthold @sfahrenthold.bsky.social · 17d

Check out the resources here at AAUP's Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, there's a syllabus, a sample slidedeck, and lots of great readings aimed at faculty and student audiences www.aaup.org/academic-fre...

Academic Freedom Syllabus

Academic freedom is at the core of what academics do, inside and outside the classroom. It is the oxygen necessary for our profession to exist. Yet academic freedom is often misunderstood by faculty a...

www.aaup.org

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Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 18d

“Lenacapavir holds the potential to defeat the HIV pandemic, if delivered urgently, at scale; any restrictions on access to an affordable generic price for this essential prevention tool is unacceptable.” – @asia-ilse.bsky.social, Health GAP.

Activists Demand $40-a-year Generic Price for Breakthrough HIV Prevention Drug be Made Available to all Low- and Middle-Income Countries

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David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 19d

“The “refrigerator mother” myth was used as a justification for taking children away from their parents and subjecting the kids to ever-harsher treatments…now the Trump administration is poised to start a new cycle in which moms are once again blamed for their kids’ autism.”

My latest.

Opinion | Once again, people are blaming mothers for their kids’ autism

"While the Trump administration seems obsessed with autism, they never actually talk about the kinds of things that would improve our lives," David M. Perry writes.

www.startribune.com

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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 22d

Step 1: Cut funding for food stamps
Step 2: Stop measuring hunger
Step 3: There's no evidence cuts to food stamps led to a rise in hunger
www.wsj.com/economy/trum...

www.wsj.com

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