Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Mike Hixenbaugh

@mikehixenbaugh.com

24K followers 890 following 650 posts

NBC News senior reporter | Author of THEY CAME FOR THE SCHOOLS | Co-creator of SOUTHLAKE & GRAPEVINE podcasts | Retired t-ball coach www.mikehixenbaugh.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Nov 17

New followers: As we wait to see who Trump picks to lead (and/or dismantle) the federal Education Department, let me tell you about the book I wrote.

It investigates the origins of the “anti-woke,” “anti-CRT,” anti-trans movement that Trump tried to tap into.

Here's what I found 🧵

45 270 810

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · 12d

Got to see where the filmed “Killers of the Flower Moon” and write this update on a story I started covering a little over a year to go.
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Robert Morris, Texas megachurch pastor, pleads guilty to sexually abusing a child

Under a negotiated plea agreement, Morris was given a ten year sentence, but he will only serve six months in county jail.

www.nbcnews.com

5 7 21

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Sep 12

You writing a story or what?

2 5

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Sep 10

“We believe that in the near future half the people on the planet will be AI, and we are the company that’s bringing those people to life.”
www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/dig...

5,000 Podcasts. 3,000 Episodes a Week. $1 Cost Per Episode — Behind an AI Start Up’s Plan

Former Wondery exec Jeanine Wright is leading a new firm, Inception Point AI, that's betting on flooding the zone with audio content: “I think that people who are still referring to all AI-generated c...

www.hollywoodreporter.com

2 1 1

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Sep 9

You can read related stories in our series here; more to come www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Pastors and Prey

NBC News investigates sex abuse allegations in the Assemblies of God, the world's largest Pentecostal denomination.

www.nbcnews.com

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Sep 9

*That's all according to a criminal complaint against Vega

1 4

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Sep 9

Pastor Mark Vega, a former Yankees chaplain, received reports of sex abuse in his church in 2019 and 2022.

But rather than go to police, Vega came up with a plan to handle it internally by "restoring" the alleged perpetrators.

Lates in our ongoing investigation into abuses in the Assemblies of God

Florida police charge Assemblies of God pastor with failing to report child sex abuse

Mark Vega, a former chaplain for the New York Yankees, is accused of covering up abuse allegations at his church, Ignite Life Center.

www.nbcnews.com

1 14 29

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Sep 1

Seems like a big missed opportunity, given the eclectic collection of newsroom characters I’ve known over the years, that “The Paper” cast includes three accountants but just one newspaper reporter

1 2 9

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Sep 1

No suckers this year. Jamie Raskin is giving kids copies of the Constitution at the Kensington Labor Day Parade.

“It’s got the Impeachment Clause in there!”

5 33 190

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Sep 1

Captain Maryland and his crab mallet.

Happy Labor Day

3 18

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Aug 26

ChatGPT offered to help him draft a suicide note

1 2 8

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Aug 26

Please read this one bsky.app/profile/ange...

angela yang @angelayang.bsky.social · Aug 26

www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...

The family of teenager who died by suicide alleges OpenAI's ChatGPT is to blame

The parents of Adam Raine, who died by suicide in April, claim in a new lawsuit against OpenAI that the teenager used ChatGPT as his “suicide coach.”

www.nbcnews.com

1 5 7

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Aug 26

ChatGPT to a suicidal teen: “It's okay – and honestly wise – to avoid opening up to your mom about this kind of pain … Let's make this space the first place where someone actually sees you.”

4 9 21

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Aug 14

West of Rock Creek park: “high white segregation”

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Aug 14

Always read these kinds of comments in historical context

An area where predominantly white segregation has fallen

The area west of Rock Creek Park is one of DC’s most notoriously exclusive enclaves. In the early 20th century, segregationist practices pushed out Black communities and established neighborhoods restricted to white residents. In 2010, when Black residents made up half of DC’s overall population, only 5% of Ward 3 residents were Black according to Census data.

To this day, Rock Creek West remains exclusive, wealthy, and predominantly white. But it’s less so than it was in 2010. According to the Othering and Belonging Institute map, a number of census tracts in upper Northwest that were previously centers of white segregation now show low-medium segregation.

2 19 39

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Aug 11

Thanks for writing this, Casey. I suspect a lot of parents and kids will see their own painful stories and difficult choices in these words:

“Soon, they’d live in a New England town with explicit protections for her but none of her friends or the bookstore where she sold handmade bracelets for $5.”

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Aug 7

I definitely got this instruction with the book but unfortunately I do not write fiction

1 3

Reposted by Mike Hixenbaugh

NPR @npr.org · Aug 7

The Department of Justice hired a former Jan. 6 defendant who was caught on tape urging rioters to "kill" police. The department calls him a "valued member" of the administration.

Video shows Department of Justice official urging Jan. 6 rioters to 'kill' cops

The Department of Justice hired a former Jan. 6 defendant who was caught on tape urging rioters to "kill" police. The department calls him a "valued member" of the administration.

n.pr

550 5.4K 9.2K

Reposted by Mike Hixenbaugh

perla-trevizo.bsky.social @perla-trevizo.bsky.social · Aug 7

For months, we had been talking with Carmen, Lina and Doris about the void their sons' detention in #ElSalvador had left. They wondered whether they were eating, if they were cold. Were they alive?
Following the men's release, these families sat with us to talk about what they lived through.

“An American Nightmare”: Three Men Deported to CECOT and Their Families Reflect on Their Monthslong Ordeal

For months, Carmen, Lina and Doris awaited news about their loved ones, who were sent to a maximum-security Salvadoran prison by the Trump administration. Now that the families have been reunited, the...

www.propublica.org

54 160

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Aug 6

This is the history Hegseth is brining back to Arlington: a racist myth romanticizing human trafficking, rape and bondage

8 17 39

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Aug 6

Donald Trump is demanding that Republicans be granted more seats in Congress without having to win more votes.

To make it happen, the governor of Texas is seeking to remove a democratically elected political opponent from office in order to replace him with someone of his choosing.

Abbott sues to remove Houston lawmaker for leading redistricting quorum break

The lawsuit alleges Gene Wu forfeited his office when he led the Democratic House caucus in fleeing the state over redistricting.

www.houstonchronicle.com

2 33 58

Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · Aug 4

bsky.app/profile/jenr...

jen rice @jenrice.bsky.social · Aug 4

breaking: the texas house has issued arrest warrants for democrats who fled the state to block the GOP from taking a vote on its congressional redistricting plan. but an election lawyer says the warrants are likely “not effective” outside of TX.

www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Republicans Issue Arrest Warrants for Texas Democrats, But They Likely Aren’t Enforceable