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alexhairysun.bsky.social
Alex Harrison
@alexhairysun.bsky.social
1.4K followers 250 following 280 posts
Reporter @evanstonroundtable.bsky.social, hyperfocusing on zoning + city gov + IL-9 • B/MSJ23 from Medill • NKY ➡️ Chicago • he/him

Read my stuff (or don't, I'm not your dad): https://evanstonroundtable.com/author/alex-harrison
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alexhairysun.bsky.social
JUST KIDDING IT'S OUT OF TOUCH THURSDAY ‼️‼️
Zoomed in now, still holding a PBR, watching the Out of Touch music video by Hall and Oates
November 7, 2025 at 5:19 AM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
Having a very 2004 night
Feet kicked up on my friend's couch with PBR in hand while we watch the Helena music video by My Chemical Romance
November 7, 2025 at 5:07 AM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
Update on this: nevermind actually, the FOIA denial is reversed! City says it was done "in error." Please resume waiting with bated breath for these records to be released.
Screenshot of a message in NextRequest reading: "Message to requester Good evening, This FOIA is reopened. It was closed in error. Alex Ruggie November 6, 2025, 6:45pm by Alexandra Ruggie, Corporation Counsel (Staff)"
November 7, 2025 at 2:28 AM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
Impassioned remarks from City Clerk Stephanie Mendoza, whose parents immigrated from Mexico: "This was a daily occurrence where I went to school, and my classmates came to school to tell us that their parents were gone... if we allow this to continue, it will be normal to our children."
Evanston City Clerk Stephanie Mendoza speaks at the community vigil. Standing next to her is the Rev. Michael Nabors
November 1, 2025 at 8:35 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
The crowd here is massive, filling the parking lot between cars, and still growing. We're currently hearing from local clergy members, including Rabbit Andrea London as seen on the truck/stage in this photo
Crowd of people fill the Prieto parking lot for the community vigil
November 1, 2025 at 8:22 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
I'm outside Evanston's Prieto Community Center at Oakton and Asbury, near where CBP agents arrested several residents after crashing their vehicle yesterday afternoon. A community vigil is set to start any minute now, with remarks from Mayor Daniel Biss and others
Crowd of people gathered for a community vigil in the parking lot of Evanston's Prieto Community Center.
November 1, 2025 at 8:03 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
Video taken by Jay Shefsky at 12:20 p.m. after the crash happened, Oakton Street/Asbury Avenue in Evanston, IL
October 31, 2025 at 6:45 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
This was after a car crash involving at least one fed vehicle and one resident vehicle. Evanston PD showed up shortly after the above incident and the feds took off. Pics from the scene from Margo Milanowski:
Evanston residents are seen gathered around a resident's car that was involved in a crash with a federal vehicle near Oakton Street and Asbury Avenue. Evanston police officers fill the intersection of Oakton Street and Asbury Avenue after a crash between a resident's car, seen at left, and a federal vehicle. The agents inside arrested at least one person from the crash
October 31, 2025 at 6:32 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
Refreshing veto session news while we watch some guy bike down this thing called the megavalanche
TV in my friend's apartment shows a guy biking in a downhill mountain race
October 31, 2025 at 5:33 AM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
No Kings protest today at Fountain Square in Evanston, IL, taken from the Rotary Building by Jean Saunders -- Evanston showed up 👀
Photo taken from a high-rise roof looking down shows a massive crowd of people in and around Fountain Square in Evanston, IL for the No Kings protest on Oct. 18, 2025.
October 19, 2025 at 1:54 AM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
THERE I AM GARY, THERE I AM
spongebob pointing to krusty krab commercial meme
October 13, 2025 at 10:59 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
In Evanston: a last-minute protest against ICE, called just a couple hours ago, draws dozens of people to Oakton Street near where two people were abducted in front of a Home Depot yesterday. I need to run to cover City Council, but more people are still arriving.
Protesters against ICE line up along Oakton Street in Evanston near the Home Depot. In the foreground, two people hold a large Mexican flag. Protesters against ICE line up along Oakton Street in Evanston near the Home Depot.
October 13, 2025 at 9:25 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
There's much more in that NIPAS letter, but moving on: the other letter is the one ref'd by Kreis, sent to NIPAS' attorney by Christopher Wells of the ILAG office, where Wells confirms the actions of the Unified Command (and thus NIPAS) are "permissible under Illinois law, including the TRUST Act".
A letter dated October 3, 2025, with the letterhead of the Illinois Attorney General's Office addressed to Benjamin Schuster, an attorney at Elrod Friedman LLP and the legal counsel for NIPAS. The subject line is "Re: October 3 NIPAS Request for Assistance in Broadview, Illinois. The letter reads: Dear Mr. Schuster: I write at your request as a follow up to our conversation this morning and to my prior communications with member agencies and leadership of the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System (NIPAS). I have enclosed an October 2, 2025 press release issued by the Illinois State Police ("ISP"), the Cook County Sheriff's Office, and the Broadview Police Department, among other agencies. As described in the attached, these agencies have established a unified command to coordinate public safety measures in Broadview in order to "protect the health and safety of all individuals, including nearby Broadview residents and businesses, and enable the peaceful expression of First Amendment rights." The unified command has established "designated areas" in Broadview "where people can safely exercise their rights, which will support the safety of the public, and ensure vehicular traffic can safely access the roads in the area.” Please know that the Illinois Attorney General's Office has been in consultation with ISP regarding the establishment and purpose of the unified command. The type of law enforcement activities referenced in the attached are permissible under Illinois law, including the TRUST Act, and participation by NIPAS agencies in such activities would similarly comport with Illinois law. Respectfully, Christopher G. Wells Chief, Public Interest Division Office of the Illinois Attorney General
October 10, 2025 at 11:09 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
Acouiple things to note:
— Per @capitolfax.bsky.social, Broadview's mayor first requested NIPAS help on Sept. 12: capitolfax.com/2025/09/23/b...
— ISP/CCSP were absolutely "in the vicinity of ICE Officers", there are many pics/vids showing this! Here are three by Ashlee Rezin in CST coverage alone:
ISP and Border Patrol agents standing side-by-side in Broadview on Oct. 3. Taken by Ashlee Rezin for the Chicago Sun-Times. An ISP officer and federal agents push protesters back side-by-side in Broadview on Oct. 3. Taken by Ashlee Rezin for the Chicago Sun-Times. Federal agents arrest protesters directly behind a line of ISP officers in Broadview on Oct. 3. Taken by Ashlee Rezin for the Chicago Sun-Times.
October 10, 2025 at 11:09 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
First is a letter from NIPAS Pres. Patrick Kreis (also Chief of Vernon Hills PD) to member chiefs. He calls TRUST Act compliance (i.e. no assistance to fed immigration actions) a "pertinent issue" in responding to the "unprecedented public safety challenge" (the protests). (Repeated for alt text)
A letter dated October 3, 2025, with the letterhead of the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System, or NIPAS for short. Included along the left side is a shield emblem for the NIPAS Emergency Services Team, which to my knowledge has not actually deployed to Broadview, as well as the current NIPAS leadership and command staff. The letter is written by Patrick Kreis, the current NIPAS president and Chief of the Vernon Hills Police Department. The letter reads: Dear NIPAS Chiefs, Over recent weeks, I have been in consultation with the Broadview Police Department as they struggle with an unprecedented public safety challenge in their community. The NIPAS Board has also discussed this issue at length. Until this morning there had not been any formal request for a NIPAS Mobile Field Force deployment to Broadview, although a MFF Team Commander previously responded to consult on at least one occasion. A pertinent issue on Broadview PD's response to the public safety challenge (and by extension NIPAS') is compliance with the Illinois Trust Act, which was adopted to ensure that local police departments take no steps to assist in Federal Immigration enforcement. This morning, in anticipation of further protests in the vicinity of the ICE Detention Facility in Broadview, the Illinois State Police and Cook County Sheriff's Police deployed personnel to assist the Broadview Police Department. The ISP/CCSP deployment only happened after those agencies received guidance from the Illinois Attorney General's Office that certain assistance to Broadview PD to assist in crowd control measures would not be in violation of the Illinois Trust Act. ALT TEXT CONTINUES IN NEXT PIC CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PIC Protest activity escalated early and quickly this morning and NIPAS Vice President Matt Buckley and MFF Team Commander Dave Clark responded to the Broadview Unified Command Post. They kept me appraised of the developments and communicated closely with Broadview PD, ISP and CCSP. NIPAS leadership also engaged in direct conversation with the Illinois Attorney General's office regarding concerns on limits of assistance due to the Illinois Trust Act. NIPAS was requested (by Broadview) to stage MFF in order to assist ISP and CCSP MFF Officers should those officers become overwhelmed or in need of back-up. I authorized the staging of NIPAS MFF as a result of the formal request. On scene NIPAS leaders continued their communication with local officials and assessed that the ISP and CCSP were deployed to protect Broadview residents, businesses and to keep 25th Avenue open to the public. ISP and CCSP were not in the vicinity of ICE Officers or ICE property and were not engaged in activities to assist ICE operations. However, protesters in the area did see ISP and CCSP MFF personnel as an attractive target and some unlawfully engaged those personnel, leading to crimes directed against the police. Several arrests were made by ISP and CCSP as a result. Continued conversations with the Attorney General's office resulted in a written notice by that Office to NIPAS (that NIPAS MFF assistance in the same role as ISP and CCSP would not violate the Illinois Trust Act. Once written notice was received, deployment of NIPAS MFF personnel was authorized and some members took positions to relieve ISP and CCSP personnel that were fatigued after hours of deployment. ALT TEXT CONTINUES IN NEXT PIC CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PIC
October 10, 2025 at 11:09 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
Grainy image of Freddy Fazbear looking cooked and giving a thousand yard stare to a couple of beer bottles
October 8, 2025 at 10:51 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
There are a lot of wild details within that are worth reading, but this one sticks out, about the woman's abusive partner doing fucking w h a t ?
The woman “aborted/miscarried while he was outside and he came in and found blood in the bathroom with what he believed was the non-viable fetus,” it says. They “got into a verbal argument and she left and had not been back to [the house] since that day. [He] collected what he thought was the fetus and put it in the freezer. When [he] was asked why he waited so long to report the incident, his answer was he had to process the event and call his family attorney.” “Detective [Calvin] Miller [a detective on the scene] was provided FedEx packaging the pill was sent in, photographs of what [the man] believed to be a fetus and the instructions on how to take the medication,” it adds.
October 7, 2025 at 6:39 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
For clarity — the officers shown in the referenced photo by Paris Schutz are muni cops with the NIPAS Mobile Field Force, which wasn't in the Unified Command's initial presser and only showed up partway thru. They appear to have swapped in for ISP though... so, are they part of the UC? Who knows!
Tweet from Paris Schulz posted at 12:25 PM on Oct. 3, 2025 with a photo showing several black-clad police officers with face masks lined up against several protesters. The Tweet reads: "Governor Pritzker says in a statement that officers from the Unified Command are here to protect 1st Amendment rights, are trained in crowd control, and do not mask their faces. But many of them are indeed fully masked."
October 3, 2025 at 10:44 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
back of alex's head when there's an evanston city council meeting
meme of kylian mbappe saying "i will be there no matter what"
September 29, 2025 at 10:48 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
Update on this: The City of Evanston isn't waiting for Flock to take the cams down, and staff have covered them up with bags and tape. Writing up a quick story to post before I go do (another!) citywide site visit to confirm all are covered (Picture taken yesterday by @joergmetzner.bsky.social)
A Flock camera is seen covered by a black plastic bag secured with black tape.
September 25, 2025 at 8:56 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
Even stranger, some of the cameras aren't even the same model that Evanston is contracted for. All 18 cameras were previously the "Falcon" model, a longer, oval-shaped cam with a solar panel. But 5 spots now have this stubbier model that may take wired power through a cable into the lightpole.
A pic from June of a Falcon camera in Evanston A pic from Tuesday of the stubbier camera model now installed at 5 locations in Evanston A pic from Tuesday showing some boxes attached to one of the stubbier cameras, with a power cable traveling into the lightpole and surrounded by some kind of dark putty
September 24, 2025 at 5:28 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
All of the reinstalled cameras were out right back where they were. Most were just like, reclamped onto public lightpoles, but a few had to have mounting poles reinstalled in the ground. Some even had what I can only call a spray paint calling card, lol
A Flock camera is seen clamped onto a lightpole next to Emerson Street in Evanston A Flock camera is seen on a mounting pole placed in the grass at Main Street and McCormick Boulevard. The pole has a clear dirt pile around it, indicating it was recently installed. Parallel to the pole in the street, there's a white spray painted line and text reading "FLOCK" and "F004"
September 24, 2025 at 5:23 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
After weeks of seemingly endless growth, the field for IL-9's open Congressional seat just shrunk by one, as Miracle Jenkins has dropped out and endorsed @bushraamiwala.bsky.social.
Email from Bushra Amiwala for Congress received at 4:21 pm Headline: Miracle Jenkins Drops out, Endorses Bushra Amiwala for Congress in IL-9 CHICAGO—Miracle Jenkins, candidate for Congress in Illinois’ 9th district, has suspended his campaign and endorsed Bushra Amiwala for the seat. Before running for Congress, Jenkins helped lead campaigns for Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). He has been a prolific advocate for policies that uplift working people in Illinois and across the nation. "As Bernie's political director for Illinois, it's my passion to fight for the working class and identify allies in that fight,” Jenkins said. “No one will fight for the working class as hard as Bushra Amiwala." Eighteen candidates remain in the race to represent IL-09 in Congress. Amiwala, the first Gen Z elected official in the country, is well positioned to win the primary election on March 17, 2026. Jenkins is the first candidate to suspend his campaign in IL-9’s crowded primary and consolidate his support behind another candidate in the field. “Bushra, who has long been a part of our community, consistently been doing the work for the past decade, has a plan to make our families’ lives easier,” Jenkins said. “She believes in universal access to healthcare, an end to bullshit wages, and building the greatest generation of Democrats in America. That means new homes, more reliable public transit, and new job opportunities for young Americans.” Amiwala, elected member of the Skokie District 73.5 School Board, released the following statement: “Jenkins ran a laudable campaign that challenged the status quo of gross economic inequality in our district. I am honored to accept his endorsement.” “Jenkins endorsed me because we have the same goals: to provide Medicare for All, debt-free education, and a Green New Deal that leaves a habitable planet for the next generation. I look forward to working together with him to mobilize voters and bring the values of our district to Washington.”
September 21, 2025 at 9:30 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
it's a good sign when writing about parliamentary procedure starts to sound like describing dante's circles of hell, right
Councilmembers ultimately took 45 minutes to get out of a Matryoshka doll of nested motions that ran four layers deep: • Layer one was the original motion left open from Aug. 4 to change Housing 2.1 to the italicized language above. • Layer two was a motion from Councilmember Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th Ward) to amend layer one by changing Housing 2.1 and adding language to Housing 2.5 further down. • Layer three was a motion by Burns to amend Nieuwsma’s amendment at layer two by adding three new sections of text in the plan’s Evanston Tomorrow, Housing and Implementation chapters requiring that an independent analysis of potential housing impacts be attached to any “citywide zoning rewrite” or “major zoning reform” advanced for public review and council approval. • Layer four was a “friendly amendment” from Nieuwsma to shorten Burns’ layer three sections in the Evanston Tomorrow and Housing chapters, while leaving the Implementation chapter’s section as-is.
September 16, 2025 at 1:10 PM
alexhairysun.bsky.social
both proud and kinda surprised to say that it survived the AM copy edit lmao, read more here: evanstonroundtable.com/2025/09/16/e...
Paragraph: A sixth special meeting, intended to be the last one dedicated to wordsmithing the draft Envision plan before it is prepared for adoption, was booked for 5:30 p.m. Oct. 20. Section header: Motion Matryoshka Paragraph: When testimony was closed at 8:15 p.m., the council had to immediately deal with an open motion left hanging from its last meeting to amend a single action item, Housing 2.1, from the language as recommended by the Land Use Commission, “Preserve and increase Evanston’s diverse housing choices.”
September 16, 2025 at 1:06 PM