Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Raven Geary @ravengeary.bsky.social · 16h

The tension between "these daily atrocities are the new normal and you have to go on living anyway" and "these atrocities should never be normalized/the world should stop"

1 22 74

Reposted by Raven Geary

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 17d

9/27/25

arrested protester (eyes obscured for privacy) rushed away by border patrol agents in gas masks

Woman gripping Mexican flag face to face with border patrol agent in gas mask

2 45 150

Reposted by Raven Geary

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 18d

Steve is fine/uninjured. Some neck pain from being tackled.

His biggest concern while in custody was what was happening to people outside the facility since he couldn't hear any of the munitions from inside.

In typical Steve fashion, he also made a number of new friends while detained.

The TRiiBE @thetriibe.com · 18d

UPDATE: At 1:27 a.m. on Sept. 28, Unraveled Press reports that co-founder Steve Held has been released.

thetriibe.com/2025/09/chic...

Chicago journalist detained while covering protest outside Broadview immigration facility • The TRiiBE

Video posted to social media shows Unraveled Press co-founder Steve Held being detained by federal agents earlier this evening.

thetriibe.com

7 390 1.4K

Reposted by Raven Geary

gamera obscura @ohrobin.bsky.social · Sep 15

"It’s just ongoing ethnic cleansing. It’s just guys in masks moving swiftly, picking people off that they know no one will care about and no one will plan a protest for. No one will lower the flag for."

Really brilliant work on this fucking nightmare.

Luke O'Neil @lukeoneil47.bsky.social · Sep 15

Today Raven Geary of @unraveledpress.com reports on the spate of kidnappings and violence against immigrants in the Chicago area over the past week or so including a man who was shot to death by ICE on Friday.

www.welcometohellworld.com/theyre-kidna...

They’re kidnapping people off the street cartel-style

I've become accustomed to being lied to every day by now. About Israel and immigrants and trans people to name but a few. But there has been a superlative concentration of lies this past week. A novel...

www.welcometohellworld.com

1 98 240

Reposted by Raven Geary

Dave Byrnes @djbyrnes1.bsky.social · Sep 13

I worked with the reporters at @unraveledpress.com and the Chicago Reader's @mulchy.bsky.social yesterday to cover a brutal day of ICE activity in the Chicago suburbs. By day's end, immigration agents had killed a man and, only a few miles away, subjected protestors to tear gas and pepper balls.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · Sep 13

New, w/ @mulchy.bsky.social & @djbyrnes1.bsky.social:

ICE shot & killed an immigrant in the Chicago suburbs yesterday.

Then they immediately gave a misleading account of events.

Chicago erupted in chaos and a father who lived here for decades is dead. This is what really happened:

What happened to Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez

Immigration agents shot and killed an unarmed 38-year-old father outside Chicago on Friday—and their initial narrative of events was quickly disproven by videos captured by witnesses.

unraveledpress.com

1 78 140

Raven Geary @ravengeary.bsky.social · Sep 13

As I said yesterday, there's no satisfaction in being right.

I am simply empty now, gutted by a week of witnessing + experiencing police brutality while my supposed "colleagues" grieve a man who, through his rhetoric, incited this ethnic cleansing campaign, alongside Silverio's death.

24 120

Raven Geary @ravengeary.bsky.social · Sep 13

I said weeks ago ICE would kill someone at a traffic stop here. I've spent the last five years writing about policing and, more recently, specifically CPD tactical units, our most violent officers. I knew ICE would use these same tactics.

1 25 83

Raven Geary @ravengeary.bsky.social · Sep 13

I have no words left to describe the horrors ICE has unleashed on Chicago this week.

The insanity I feel is magnified by a national press that is drastically out of alignment with events on the ground, focusing on barbs traded between electeds and a total misdirection over the National Guard.

2 45 170

Raven Geary @ravengeary.bsky.social · Sep 13

Some personal context on this reporting:

All of this happened just a few miles from where I grew up, in the near west Cook County burbs.

My mom and her friends rode their bikes through these neighborhoods and around the ICE facility where militarized agents assaulted community yesterday.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · Sep 13

New, w/ @mulchy.bsky.social & @djbyrnes1.bsky.social:

ICE shot & killed an immigrant in the Chicago suburbs yesterday.

Then they immediately gave a misleading account of events.

Chicago erupted in chaos and a father who lived here for decades is dead. This is what really happened:

What happened to Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez

Immigration agents shot and killed an unarmed 38-year-old father outside Chicago on Friday—and their initial narrative of events was quickly disproven by videos captured by witnesses.

unraveledpress.com

2 53 120

Reposted by Raven Geary

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · Sep 12

We are on Instagram and TikTok and Reddit and YouTube and we have an email list we rarely spam you from and also one of those crazy things called a website

Find us everywhere, trust no platform's permanence

Bree Lundberg @breelundberg.com · Aug 22

Just a periodic reminder that it's a good idea to bookmark your favorite artists' sites, sign up for their newsletters, and follow them everywhere you can. (My links are in my profile & pinned post!). Because of the current climate of censorship you never know where we'll get kicked off of next.

15 63

Reposted by Raven Geary

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · Sep 10

Hi, notifications are a disaster, too many new followers on too many platforms 🫠

Please don't DM! Text tips only!

Reminder: this account is run by 2 journalists, @peoplesfabric.com / @ravengeary.bsky.social

We are not a substitute for your hyperlocal rapid response networks! Find each other

1 15 100

Reposted by Raven Geary

Cool Zone Media @coolzonemedia.bsky.social · Sep 4

New It Could Happen Here

Mia talks with Unraveled journalist Raven about the impending deployment of the National Guard, ICE and the Border Patrol to Chicago and how the city is preparing to resist.

@miawong.bsky.social @unraveledpress.com

www.iheart.com/podcast/105-...

1 35 79

Reposted by Raven Geary

The People's Fabric @peoplesfabric.com · Aug 19

This was incidental to our main line of reporting but it’s astounding how quickly CPD’s license plate reader network has expanded in less than three years.

Your every move is tracked, and in exchange, they still can’t clear cases.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · Aug 19

CPD spent nearly all of their ORC money on overtime costs, not new cameras.

But in reporting this, we got an updated number of ALPRs from CPD:

They've added almost a thousand ALPRs since WBEZ last reported on them in April 2022. At the time, they reportedly had 433. Now they have 1,386.

The Office of Public Safety Administration IT Division has completed their search. Below are records responsive to your FOIA request.

1. 786 fixed ALPR camera units
2. 540 ALPR mobile camera units deployed on police vehicles
3. 60 active mobile ALPR units (quick deploy or trailer mounted)

24 57

Reposted by Raven Geary

Harms Committed @harmscommitted.com · Aug 19

Automated license plate readers "are seemingly popping up everywhere—including 650 new cameras in Illinois cities since 2023."

Flock "collects 20 billion license plate scans per month."

"[W]e don't really have privacy or rights anymore.”
#Illinois #USA #Gaza #Palestine #Israel #Policing #Genocide

Eyes on the heartland

A vast network of new license plate cameras has exploded across Illinois in recent years—paid for by state grants to fight retail crime. With the federal government clamoring for more information on…

unraveledpress.com

2 15 31

Reposted by Raven Geary

The People's Fabric @peoplesfabric.com · Aug 19

If you want to get an idea of what your local department may have purchased with these grants (2/3 of the total went to surveillance tech), we mapped them all for you.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · Aug 19

We mapped all of the grant recipients, the amount they were awarded by year, and how they spent the funds.

Organized Retail Crime Enforcement Fund Grantees - Google My Maps

This map shows all municipalities that received grants from the Organized Retail Crime Enforcement Fund, managed by the IL Attorney General. Pin locations indicate the municipality, not specific ALPR...

www.google.com

38 62

Reposted by Raven Geary

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · Aug 19

Now that these license plate readers have proven so dangerous to the concept of Illinois as a safe haven for everyone from undocumented immigrants to abortion patients, we of course had a number of questions for Raoul's office about Flock & the ORC fund. They did not reply to our repeated requests.

1 10 57

Reposted by Raven Geary

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · Aug 19

CPD spent nearly all of their ORC money on overtime costs, not new cameras.

But in reporting this, we got an updated number of ALPRs from CPD:

They've added almost a thousand ALPRs since WBEZ last reported on them in April 2022. At the time, they reportedly had 433. Now they have 1,386.

1 8 46

Reposted by Raven Geary

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · Aug 19

Denver recently announced they were going to stop sharing their network with Loveland, Colorado after learning they had been sharing access to their network with Customs & Border Patrol agents.

www.9news.com

1 8 48

Reposted by Raven Geary

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · Aug 19

Some communities aren’t waiting for the state or Congress to take action. Oak Park’s board voted this month to terminate their contract with Flock.

Austin, Texas recently did the same.

Oak Park terminates Flock license plate reader contract - Wednesday Journal

Four Oak Park trustees rejected a motion that would’ve turned the Flock cameras off for 90 days, shutting down the program outright

www.oakpark.com

3 16 78

Reposted by Raven Geary

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · Aug 19

Some investigations are happening: The IL Secretary of State has said he is auditing departments’ use of Flock. U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi has initiated a Congressional investigation into Flock’s business practices.

Ranking Members Krishnamoorthi and Garcia Demand Accountability from Flock Group Inc. for Enabling Dangerous Abortion Surveillance and Immigration Tracking

WASHINGTON – Yesterday, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Oversight Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services, and Congressman Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the...

krishnamoorthi.house.gov

1 4 48

Reposted by Raven Geary

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · Aug 19

All of this surveillance is in response to an overblown panic created by the retail industry.

“Targeting people who engage in more routine shoplifting with inflated penalties in an effort to get them to implicate others is reminiscent of the tactics of the War on Drugs,” said Ed Yohnka (ACLU).

1 5 61

Reposted by Raven Geary

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · Aug 19

These companies are of course deeply committed to advancing their AI practices. They promise police departments an ever expanding trove of data on people's movements and travel patterns, linked to personal identifying information scooped from data brokers. ALPRs form the lynchpin:

Flock Decides Not to Use Hacked Data in People Search Tool

The move comes after internal pressure and 404 Media’s reporting.

www.404media.co

1 8 56

Reposted by Raven Geary

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · Aug 19

We mapped all of the grant recipients, the amount they were awarded by year, and how they spent the funds.

Organized Retail Crime Enforcement Fund Grantees - Google My Maps

This map shows all municipalities that received grants from the Organized Retail Crime Enforcement Fund, managed by the IL Attorney General. Pin locations indicate the municipality, not specific ALPR...

www.google.com

2 11 64

Reposted by Raven Geary

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · Aug 19

Over $3.1 million was spent on Axon’s Fusus, a real time crime center platform that integrates private and public surveillance feeds as well as license plate readers and other data.

In Oak Lawn, for example, their Fusus integrated camera network swelled from 16 cameras in 2019 to 1,073 by 2024.

1 7 52

Reposted by Raven Geary

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · Aug 19

Oak Brook came out on top with the biggest award, receiving over $1 million dollars. This paid for ALPRs, body cameras, and real-time crime center software (Fusus), but also lesser known tech like StarChase GPS launchers.

bar graph measuring amount of money received from ORC

oak brook 1,059,389
cook county sheriff 987,006
chicago 615,539
arlington heights 560,750
orland park 541,845
wheaton 539,325
springfield 514,580
cicero 510,000

3 7 49