Laura Conaway
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oleta.bsky.social
Laura Conaway
@oleta.bsky.social
1.7K followers 180 following 100 posts
Maddow/MS NOW. (↖️ In this picture, I'm the cyclist. http://nyti.ms/3f8MIPR)
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Reposted by Laura Conaway
akbumpkin.bsky.social
Seth Kantner is my favorite Alaska writer, and his piece on the flooding in NW Alaska and along the Kobuk River is so moving
Life and death on the coast
What the flooding in Northwest Alaska took and left behind.
www.adn.com
November 30, 2025 at 7:31 AM
oleta.bsky.social
"Her decision to open her son's casket was not an act of despair but of fierce faith — faith that seeing would lead to understanding, and understanding to change. That faith still calls to us. The barn carries her same charge: to help the world see."

www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2...
Mississippi barn where Emmett Till was killed to open as memorial site
The barn in Mississippi where 14-year-old Emmett Till was tortured and killed will be open to the public as a "sacred" memorial site by 2030.
www.clarionledger.com
November 28, 2025 at 6:19 PM
oleta.bsky.social
Newport, Oregon, seems like a fascinating place. Much respect.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/u...
Where the Waters Are Rough, a Fishing Town Confronts Trump’s Priorities
www.nytimes.com
November 28, 2025 at 3:42 AM
Reposted by Laura Conaway
safestreetsaustin.bsky.social
Join us 12/4 8pm for a special Austin live panel with War on Cars podcast hosts Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon!

Panelists also include Austin Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes and Black History Bike Ride's Talib Abdullahi. KUT's Nathan Bernier will moderate.

Tickets: www.eventbrite.com/e/the-war-on...
November 25, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Reposted by Laura Conaway
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
Page One in Cincinnati:

“.. I need to be able to look my grandkids in the eye and say I did not remain silent.”

#ICE
November 25, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Reposted by Laura Conaway
gadyepstein.bsky.social
“We’ve tried to not have to do it, but we've got direct orders,” the masked ICE agents told them www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/i...
"I asked for their names. They didn't give me their full names," Hestmark recalled of the agents. "They didn't show me their badge numbers. They didn't remove their masks. They simply said, 'We have a warrant for his arrest, and they handed me a QR code, and they put my husband in handcuffs. And they took him and said I couldn't follow." "She was just stunned," Paul said. "She kept asking what was wrong, what did we do? We'd done everything right." "We kept asking them if there was something we could do, if there was any way we could keep her from being separated from the family," he continued. We’re just trying to figure out what's happening, and they're just telling us, I'm sorry. We’ve tried to not have to do it, but we've got direct orders."| • "I had to take my baby, our baby, from his crying mother's arms," Paul said. "We were completely shocked, and I feel like we were tricked," Hestmark said. "We went through every possible legal and appropriate channel. We followed the advice of our lawyer. We were told that our case was straight forward." "He just wanted to be part of this country and for us to start our future together. And he wanted to do it… "Tom isn't in the system. I can't find him," Hestmark said. "I can't call him. I can't put money into his account. The lawyer doesn't know how to proceed because he hasn't been charged with anything." Both said their spouses were able to call them Thursday night, and they believed they were still being held in the basement of the federal building as of Friday afternoon. "She said that she was scared. She was anxious, missed her baby. She just wants to come home," Paul said. "She said the agents themselves were in the detention down in the basement of the federal building, saying, What are we doing here? These aren't the sort of people were supposed to be arresting.” "They hadn't given him anything to eat or any information," Hestmark said. "They gave him a mat and a foil blanket to sleep on." As she was detailing his arrest Friday afternoon, Bilger called Hestmark again from detention. She said he told her they had moved him to the Otay Mesa Detention Center and back but he hadn't slept and still hadn't been processed. "My wife's alone and terrified," Paul said. "My baby doesn't have his mom to hold him. I can't work right…
November 25, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by Laura Conaway
radleybalko.bsky.social
ICE arrests, detains British woman with US husband and newborn when she shows up for her green card interview. She’s now in a detention center, separated from her 6-month-old. No criminal record. She had overstayed her visa.

www.lbc.co.uk/article/brit...
British mum detained by ICE agents in California as six-month old baby and stunned husband watch on | LBC
Katie Paul, 33, was in the process of applying for a green card when she was ambushed by immigration agents
www.lbc.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 11:13 AM
oleta.bsky.social
Advice for living.
November 25, 2025 at 6:20 PM
oleta.bsky.social
“We aren’t the criminals they said they would target," Laura Murillo told her fiance ... before masked agents arrested her at her tamale stand in Back of the Yards. Even after hearing “la migra” was close, she kept working the morning of Sept. 25.

Gift link:
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/25/c...
As ICE detains longtime Chicago street vendors with no criminal history, neighbors rally with emergency funds
As longtime vendors quietly disappear from the corners they’ve held for years, community organizations and neighbors are scrambling to support those taken, their families and those still working on…
www.chicagotribune.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:44 PM
oleta.bsky.social
Heard in North Carolina:

“I didn’t believe it would happen to me,” Vazquez said. “I was born here.”

ncnewsline.com/2025/11/20/t...
‘They basically just kidnapped me’: US citizen taken by Border Patrol in Cary • NC Newsline
As Border Patrol agents swept the Triangle area, a construction worker born in the U.S. was among those detained.
ncnewsline.com
November 20, 2025 at 8:54 PM
oleta.bsky.social
From Batavia, Illinois, in Chicagoland:

“I think this is an urgent situation,” Ald. Tony Malay added. “We heard loud and clear from our … constituents that they want something done about this.”

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/14/b...
Batavia City Council approves ordinance banning federal immigration actions on city property
After a lengthy debate, Batavia’s City Council in a split vote recently approved an ordinance banning federal immigration enforcement actions on city property, as President Donald Trump’s administr…
www.chicagotribune.com
November 16, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Reposted by Laura Conaway
chanda.blacksky.app
A nice obituary for Alice, who was going to be recognized as one of The Post 50.

I hate that we now have to live without this phenomenal woman.

#GiftLink

wapo.st/49WOdx1
Alice Wong, disability rights advocate and wordsmith, dies at 51
Alice Wong, a transformational leader for disability rights and justice, who founded the Disability Visibility project to magnify disabled culture, died Nov. 14.
wapo.st
November 16, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Reposted by Laura Conaway
chicago.suntimes.com
Chicago may experience less tear gas use as Operation Midway Blitz winds down. Cold and wet weather reduce effectiveness, while wind adds unpredictability.
Wind, cold temps can change the impact of tear gas and pepper balls, experts say
chicago.suntimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:21 PM
oleta.bsky.social
"Federal law says they have every legal right to be in the United States, and that ICE should never have put them in a detention center. "

www.newsfromthestates.com/article/thre...
Three young immigrants ordered freed as Virginia lawsuit tests ICE detention policy
In a decisive rebuke of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an immigration judge on Wednesday ordered the agency to release a young immigrant held at a Virginia detention center — one day after the s...
www.newsfromthestates.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Reposted by Laura Conaway
thewaroncars.bsky.social
We are big fans of this book and it was a valuable source for our own. Highly recommended!
langealexandra.bsky.social Alexandra Lange @langealexandra.bsky.social · 19d
Publication day for the expanded paperback edition of THE DESIGN OF CHILDHOOD, with a new intro and my Pulitzer-winning essays up front geni.us/designofchil...

Plus a brand new audiobook www.audible.com/pd/The-Desig...

@bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social
November 11, 2025 at 5:53 PM
oleta.bsky.social
In the smaller towns of Washington State, they're still counting up the Democratic wins -- a lot of council seats, a lot of legislative seats.

www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
Screengrab from the Seattle Times. Full text reads: In Longview, two Democratic-backed city council candidates defeated more conservative opponents, including ousting the town’s incumbent mayor. In Sunnyside, progressive and Democratic-aligned candidates flipped city council seats. And in Camas, a former Republican “America First” congressional candidate lost her city council seat to a Democratic-endorsed challenger. Those results capped a Democratic sweep in nine special legislative elections, including expensive contested senate races in Pierce and King counties. In Bellevue, longtime city Councilmember Conrad Lee, who donated $50,000 to Trump’s inaugural committee, also lost to a 27-year-old Democratic challenger.
November 11, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Reposted by Laura Conaway
joesonka.lpm.org
Kentucky Hemp Association is ripping McConnell for inserting language again in the CR that they say will devastate the hemp and CBD industries. They are siding with Sen. Rand Paul & other KY delegation on this issue. Background at link: www.lpm.org/news/2025-09...
November 10, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Reposted by Laura Conaway
sifill.bsky.social
And now, if you read the devastating piece about what Venezuelan deportees endured at the El Salvador torture prison, read what incarcerated U.S. citizens endure in Alabama prisons.

State prisons in the U.S. that are massive systems of human rights violations.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
‘How is this possible?’: a new film looks inside the appalling abuses of the Alabama prison system
In the year’s most shocking documentary, The Alabama Solution, prisoners share astonishing footage in a plea for help
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:38 PM
oleta.bsky.social
Back when it was food stamps, I relied on this program. At the time, I was starting my work life and caring for a younger family member. At some point in my future, I might need this program again. I might, you might, millions of people already do.
tonyromm.bsky.social tony romm @tonyromm.bsky.social · 21d
NEW: The Trump admin told states it must immediately "undo" the work to provide full food stamp benefits, or face penalties. The feds sent this in a late-night memo, only adding to the chaos and confusion around SNAP. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/b...
Trump Administration Demands States ‘Undo’ Work to Send Full Food Stamps
www.nytimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Reposted by Laura Conaway
heathercherone.bsky.social
The @chicagotribune.com has updated its story to clarify that the baby was exposed to pepper spray, not tear gas
Shots fired at immigration agents in Little Village as residents confront Bovino, Border Patrol, authorities say
Community members once again confronted a convoy of Border Patrol agents led by Cmdr. Gregory Bovino as it moved through Chicago’s South Side neighborhoods.
www.chicagotribune.com
November 8, 2025 at 11:02 PM
oleta.bsky.social
Friday in Waukegan:

“It was a rifle. He said, ‘Put your hands up or I’ll blow your f—–g face off.’ I told him four or five times, ‘I’m the alderman.'”

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/07/w...
Waukegan alderman says federal agents pulled guns on him: ‘There were four barrels pointed at me’
As soon as he felt he felt he was safe, Martinez said his first call was to Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham.
www.chicagotribune.com
November 8, 2025 at 7:00 PM
oleta.bsky.social
This morning in Chicago:

"The man and the baby had both been tear gassed."

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/08/c...
November 8, 2025 at 6:56 PM
oleta.bsky.social
Heard in Chicagoland (Mount Prospect):

“They came and took my dad 10 minutes ago.”

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/08/c...
Screengrab from the Chicago Tribune. Highlight begins at "About two weeks later". Full text of screengrab: She was yelling “a lot of not-safe-for-work things,” she said. She remembers one interaction, when an agent that day asked her if she was “OK with criminals in the neighborhood.” “You’re the criminals,” she told them. “You’re the ones kidnapping people off the street.” About two weeks later, Porter received a text from a neighbor. ICE was back. Porter made her way to her neighbor’s house but by the time she arrived the agents were gone. It left locals feeling uneasy and angry again. On the way home, Porter noticed a young man mowing a nearby lawn. She flagged him down and offered a warning: “I just want you to be safe,” she told him. “ICE is in the area.” But he already knew. What he said in response has lingered in Porter’s mind. She can still hear him saying it: “They came and took my dad 10 minutes ago.”
November 8, 2025 at 6:17 PM
oleta.bsky.social
"CBP-operated helicopters have continued surveillance-like behavior over Evanston with ADS-B Out — the technology that lets the public see an aircraft’s location — turned off."

dailynorthwestern.com/2025/11/07/t...
Federal immigration helicopters surveil off the grid over Evanston
Third Ward resident Maria Bratsolias cannot escape the helicopters. In her Southeast Evanston home — the top floor of a flat-roofed building constructed in the 1910s — she can hear Sikorsky UH-60 Blac...
dailynorthwestern.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:08 PM
oleta.bsky.social
North Side of Chicago.
royalpratt.bsky.social Gregory Pratt @royalpratt.bsky.social · 25d
Federal agents pulling a woman out of Rayito Del Sol, a daycare by Lane Tech high school
November 5, 2025 at 5:38 PM