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amierivers.bsky.social
Amie Rivers
@amierivers.bsky.social
1.3K followers 230 following 620 posts
labor journalist @iowastartingline.com // newsletter editor: iowastartingline.com/newsletter // story ideas and hot goss: amie@iowastartingline.com
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amierivers.bsky.social
Get vaccinated, save some lives this winter.
Some scientists and medical professionals are more worried about disappointing vaccination rates, a main reason why flu hospitalizations and deaths were unusually bad during last year's flu season — one of the deadliest this century. "I think we're going to see a really severe season," said Asefeh Faraz Covelli of the George Washington University School of Nursing. Last winter, the overall flu hospitalization rate was the highest seen since the H1N1 flu pandemic 15 years ago. Flu was the underlying or a contributing cause of more than 18,000 deaths, and one seven-day stretch early this year saw more than 1,800 deaths - the highest one-week spike in at least a decade. Child flu deaths also were far higher than usual.
November 22, 2025 at 5:48 AM
Reposted by Amie Rivers
littlevillage.bsky.social
Iowa has "more pounds, if not tons of chemicals per square mile" than other states, Des Moines cancer doctor Richard Deming said at the Iowa Nature Summit.

“We have enough research to show the association" between these ag products and cancer rates; "next we need to have public health policy."
'We know enough': Researchers call for Iowa ag regulations to protect public health - Little Village
Researchers and public health advocates said Wednesday that water quality and land use continue to be modifiable elements impacting public health, and in particular cancer, in Iowa.  The experts spoke...
littlevillagemag.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Amie Rivers
apnews.com
BREAKING: Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Trump loyalist-turned critic, says she is resigning from Congress in January.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, former Trump loyalist, says she is resigning from Congress
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a once-loyal supporter of President Donald Trump who has become a critic, says she is resigning from Congress in January.
bit.ly
November 22, 2025 at 1:27 AM
amierivers.bsky.social
does he just not know what "groceries" means?
Chicago Tribune The president leaned into that message in their White House meeting, saying he sees his efforts as complementary. He said that just like Mamdani, he too wants to build more housing. The president didn't lay out any new policies as he repeated his claims that inflation has dropped under his watch. "Anything I do is going to be good for New York if I can get prices down," Trump said. "The new word is affordability. Another word is just groceries. You know, it's sort of an old-fashioned word, but it's very accurate. And they're coming down. They're coming down."
November 22, 2025 at 5:07 AM
Reposted by Amie Rivers
themountaingoats.bsky.social
while I’m being cranky, access journalism needs to go. When the president does his “I’m alpha because I insulted you” thing somebody needs to fall on his sword and say “what the fuck is wrong with you, old man?” on a hot mic. the hero of the wizard of Oz is Toto.
November 21, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Reposted by Amie Rivers
jackjenkins.me
NEW: Churches in Charlotte are hosting trainings on how to response to ICE agents — with *hundreds* filling pews.

At one training, a child led those gathered in "This Little Light of Mine" — but changed the words to “All around Border Patrol, I’m gonna let it shine" religionnews.com/2025/11/20/a...
As ICE descends on Charlotte, faith leaders draw on other cities' actions to aid immigrants
(RNS) — As many as 500 people, a mix of clergy and other volunteers, have appeared at the training sessions on how to counter ICE.
religionnews.com
November 20, 2025 at 7:38 PM
amierivers.bsky.social
The kidnapping goon squad gutting our workforce keeps rolling to more cities across the US, including Charlotte, North Carolina, and soon New Orleans.

But deportations of immigrant workers continue to happen everywhere—including in Iowa. iowastartingline.com/2025/11/21/m...
Mt. Pleasant landscaper Noel Lopez De La Cruz facing deportation. Here’s how you can help
The latest: Noel Lopez De La Cruz, a 24-year-old landscaper from Mount Pleasant who was brought to Iowa at 2 years old. He has no criminal record.Escucha Mi
iowastartingline.com
November 21, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Amie Rivers
workdaymagazine.bsky.social
A new generation of leaders is reviving the labor movement with historic tactics. Learn more in our latest story on the Inside Organizer School and their recent visit to the Twin Cities. workdaymagazine.org/get-on-the-j...
Get on the Job and Organize with Inside Organizer School - Workday Magazine
How a new generation of leaders is reviving the labor movement.
workdaymagazine.org
November 21, 2025 at 5:06 PM
amierivers.bsky.social
Includes 2 in Iowa:

Public Space One in Iowa City tonight: www.publicspaceone.com/events/alven...

Moody Art Gallery in Le Claire today and tomorrow: www.falloffreedom.com/events
November 21, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Reposted by Amie Rivers
apnews.com
BREAKING: An Ohio officer has been acquitted of murder in the 2023 shooting death of Ta'Kiya Young, a pregnant Black mother accused of shoplifting.
Officer acquitted in death of Ta'Kiya Young, a pregnant Black mother accused of shoplifting
An Ohio officer who fatally shot a pregnant Black mother in a supermarket parking lot after she was accused of shoplifting has been acquitted of murder.
bit.ly
November 21, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Reposted by Amie Rivers
libankerdc.bsky.social
Behind this important reversal is a member of the Coast Guard who saw what was happening and had the courage to leak it to the press. That person deserves serious praise.
November 21, 2025 at 12:23 PM
amierivers.bsky.social
According to the lawsuit, a residential fire occurred at the policyholder’s Nebraska residence on May 5, 2023, and the policyholder immediately filed a claim for losses. In the course of investigating the claim, Farm Bureau’s Special Investigation Unit learned that an adjuster working for the company had used a credit card to pick the lock of the policyholder’s garage near the scene of the fire to determine whether it contained items the insured claimed as being lost in the fire, the lawsuit alleges. Newton and Meskimen allegedly met with Farm Bureau’s general counsel, Wickham, and advised him Farm Bureau had an obligation to inform the policyholder of the illegal access to their garage. According to the lawsuit, the company’s assistant general counsel, Karl Olson, “eventually agreed” to allow Meskimen and Newton to meet with the policyholder and inform them of the illegal garage entry by the adjuster, but barred Meskimen and Newton from disclosing that two third-party vendors hired to investigate the claim had also been inside the garage. The lawsuit claims Olson and Property Casualty Claims Vice President Anthony Kimmi then agreed that all “poisonous” documentation pertaining to the illegal entry, including photographs, should be placed in a separate file using a canceled insurance policy associated with a Minnesota policyholder who had no association at all with Nebraska fire. — Forged signatures: In the spring of 2023, a Farm Bureau agent in Kansas admitted he had forged the signatures of approximately 50 of his policyholders, without their permission, over a period of three to four years, and that the forms contained false and misleading information to support of the clients’ insurance policy applications. Farm Bureau “refused to allow Newton and/or Meskimen to submit this admitted fraudulent conduct to the Kansas Department of Insurance,” the lawsuit alleges, despite a state law requiring such reporting. — Two fired agents: In 2022, Swinton refused to share information with regulators about two fired Farm Bureau agents. In one of the two cases, a Kansas agent admitted to having forged at least 900 various documents with clients’ signatures, allegedly with the clients’ consent, and another 100 documents without the clients’ consent. Swinton allegedly refused to share information with regulators about the two firings. The lawsuit claims that after Newton wrote in an annual report that he had concerns with such matters going unreported, Wickham “was furious” and instructed him to never put anything in writing like that again. — Fraudulent claim: In 2023, after a Farm Bureau agent was fired for filing a fraudulent claim on his own home in Utah, Swinton or others within the company refused to allow Newton and Meskimen to submit information on the agent’s conduct to the Utah Department of Insurance, despite a state law requiring such a referral. — Father’s altered policy: In 2018, the company’s Special Investigations Unit determined an Iowa agent had altered a customer’s policy after a fire so that the policy included a Ford Mustang that was consumed in the blaze. The customer was the agent’s father and a retired Farm Bureau agent. The lawsuit claims Swinton barred the unit from referring the incident to the Iowa Department of Insurance.
November 20, 2025 at 6:33 PM
amierivers.bsky.social
always a connection @rushthewriter.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by Amie Rivers
chabeli.bsky.social
We finally have jobs numbers out this morning from September and take a look at this: big jump again in Black women's unemployment, now 7.5% from 6.7% in August.

This figure has been ticking up all year. This is now the highest unemployment rate Black women have faced in 4 years, since mid-2021.
November 20, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Amie Rivers
ericblanc.bsky.social
Workers from @sbworkersunited.org put their bodies on the line today, shutting down Starbucks' distribution center in York, PA, the largest in the US

Stand in solidarity with these working-class heroes, DON'T BUY STARBUCKS ANYWHERE UNTIL THEY WIN THEIR STRIKE
November 19, 2025 at 11:21 PM
amierivers.bsky.social
"Walker had known that abortion was illegal in Texas, but she had thought that hospitals could make an exception for patients like her, whose health was at risk.

The reality: In states that ban abortion, patients with chronic conditions and other high-risk pregnancies often have nowhere to turn."
caitlinkelly.bsky.social Caitlin Kelly @caitlinkelly.bsky.social · 4d
NEW:

In 2024, Tierra Walker was sick and getting sicker. She was also pregnant.

She knew abortion was illegal in Texas, but thought there was an exception for women like her, whose health was at risk. Doctors told her there was no emergency.

Then she died.

www.propublica.org/article/texa...
“Ticking Time Bomb”: A Pregnant Mother Kept Getting Sicker. She Died After She Couldn’t Get an Abortion in Texas.
Walker is one of several women ProPublica found with underlying health conditions who died when they couldn’t access abortions.
www.propublica.org
November 20, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by Amie Rivers
thetnholler.bsky.social
“If you’re quiet now, you would’ve been quiet in 1940.”
November 20, 2025 at 4:44 AM
amierivers.bsky.social
A small group of women with advanced breast cancer received a vaccine via a clinical trial more than 20 years ago. Today, they’re all still alive.

Scientists say that kind of long-term survival is almost unheard of for patients with metastatic breast cancer. corporate.dukehealth.org/news/could-c...
Could a Cancer Vaccine Developed Long Ago Hold the Key to Long-Term Survival?
DURHAM, N.C. – A small group of women with advanced breast cancer received a vaccine via a clinical trial more than 20 years ago. Today, they’re all still alive. Scientists say that kind of long-term ...
corporate.dukehealth.org
November 20, 2025 at 3:53 PM
amierivers.bsky.social
“If you’re going to tell me I can’t do it,” said Grambo, who carries a whistle on his keychain and has since bought a body camera to document future interactions, “I’m going to do it even louder.”

🫡
November 20, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Reposted by Amie Rivers
dieworkwear.bsky.social
The people who make Shein's clothes labor for ten to twelve hours per day (in violation of China's labor laws), some up to seven days a week, and earn as little as 15 to 30 cents per t-shirt.
Excerpt from a BBC article: ""We usually work, 10, 11 or 12 hours a day," says a 49-year-old woman from Jiangxi unwilling to give her name. "On Sundays we work around three hours less." She is in an alleyway, where a dozen people are huddled around a row of bulletin boards. They are reading the job ads on the board, while examining the stitching on a pair of chinos draped over it. This is Shein's supply chain. The factories are contracted to make clothes on order - some small, some big. If the chinos are a hit, orders will ramp up and so must production. Factories then hire temporary workers to meet the demand their permanent staff cannot fulfil. The migrant worker from Jiangxi is looking for a short-term contract - and the chinos are an option. "We earn so little. The cost of living is now so high," she says, adding that she hopes to make enough to send back to her two children who are living with their grandparents. "We get paid per piece," she explains. "It depends how difficult the item is. Something simple like a t-shirt is one-two yuan [less than a dollar] per piece and I can make around a dozen in an hour.""
November 20, 2025 at 12:07 AM
amierivers.bsky.social
From Escucha Mi Voz:
A fundraiser for Noel Lopez De La Cruz of Mt. Pleasant is here:
www.gofundme.com/f/keep-noel-...
Escucha Mi Voz Condemns Imminent Deportation of Longtime Mount Pleasant Resident Noel Lopez De La Cruz Trump Administration and ICE ignored due process, community ties, and basic human decency Iowa City, Iowa – Escucha Mi Voz Iowa is condemning the imminent deportation of Noel Jesús Lopez De La Cruz, a 24-year-old landscaper from Mount Pleasant who has lived in Iowa for more than 20 years, has no criminal record, and is being sent to Mexico, a country he has not known since he was two years old. “My heart is broken,” said Noel’s mom, Escucha Mi Voz member and Mount Pleasant resident Mercedes De La Cruz. “Noel has lived in Iowa since he was two years old. This is the only home he knows. He grew up here, went to school here, works here, and he has never been in trouble. I don’t understand how a country that watched my son grow up can now throw him away like this. They are tearing our family apart.” “This is the reality of Trump’s mass deportations: ICE is ripping a young man who grew up in our schools and works in our neighborhoods out of the only home he has ever known and dumping him in a country he can’t even remember,” said Escucha Mi Voz organizer Alejandra Escobar. “That is not justice or public safety; it is state violence against hardworking families, and we condemn it completely.” Earlier this year, Noel was falsely accused of a misdemeanor offense after a small amount of marijuana was found in a car where he was a passenger. The criminal charges against him were fully dismissed. Despite that, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took custody of Noel from a local jail, transferred him between county facilities and an ICE detention center, and pursued his deportation. Under a new Department of Homeland Security policy backed by the Trump Administration, Noel was treated as if he had just arrived at the border, even though he has lived almost his entire life in Iowa. This policy stripped immigration judges of the ability to grant him a bond hearing, …
November 19, 2025 at 9:46 PM
amierivers.bsky.social
"We have a 2000s housing bubble level of financial engineering on top of a 1920s level of private unregulated lending on top of something bigger than a 1990s internet (or 1870s railroad) level of technology and infrastructure build-out. It’s one bubble to rule them all."
prospect.org The American Prospect @prospect.org · 3d
AI companies need $2 trillion in annual revenue by 2030. It’s not going to happen. Big tech firms are borrowing more than ever and they don’t have a way to pay their creditors. @ddayen.bsky.social reports: trib.al/Y77U9j9
The AI Bubble Is Bigger Than You Think - The American Prospect
It’s not just OpenAI that looks overhyped. There’s a whole mountain of sketchy financial engineering underneath.
trib.al
November 19, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Reposted by Amie Rivers
volts.wtf
Is it a threat to free speech when the President of the United States threatens to yank the broadcast license of a channel whose reporters are asking him challenging questions?

I ask because I feel like there used to be tons of pundits worried about free speech. Where'd they go?
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d
Trump in response to an Epstein question: "ABC, your company, your crappy company is one of the perpetrators. I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and so wrong. And we have a great commissioner, a chairman, who should take a look at that."
November 18, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Reposted by Amie Rivers
seiu.org
Starbucks can end this today: bargain in good faith, resolve unfair labor practices, and stop the union-busting.

Until then, workers are holding the line! #NoCoffeeNoContract
November 19, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Reposted by Amie Rivers
sbworkersunited.org
Trucks are still at a standstill at the York distribution center, with at least one recently turning around.

Starbucks could end this RIGHT NOW by finalizing fair union contracts and putting an end to union-busting! #NoContractNoCoffee
November 19, 2025 at 7:47 PM