Lex McMenamin (they/them) @leximcmenamin.com

1 day ago

Aug 29 marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina.

@siric.bsky.social profiles 4 young climate advocates whose lives it changed—2 of whom fled New Orleans during Katrina as kids @teenvogue.com:

"For them, combatting climate change, environmental racism, and structural inequality has become a calling."

How the Horrors of Hurricane Katrina Radicalized Young People Into Climate Activists

“I always wonder what my life would have been like if Hurricane Katrina didn't happen," said one survivor and climate advocate.

Keerti Gopal @keertigopal.bsky.social

2 days ago

Chicago has the most lead service lines of any city in the county. We mapped out which neighborhoods are hit hardest. Mega collab out today from me, @peteraldhous.com @juanpab.bsky.social @compatibilism.bsky.social + @amyqin.bsky.social

insideclimatenews.org/news/2808202...

Chicago Has a Huge Lead Pipe Problem—and We Mapped It - Inside Climate News

Lead water service lines are all over the city. But majority Black and Latino neighborhoods bear the biggest burden, our analysis finds.

Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco @juanpab.bsky.social

2 days ago

We got big project out today about Chicago’s lead pipes. The news is we mapped them all. The big idea is that Chicago residents are living through a public health crisis, and we wanted to help them visualize their place in it. @grist.org @wbez.org @insideclimatenews.org @chicago.suntimes.com

Violet Miller @vimiller.bsky.social

3 days ago

EXCLUSIVE: DHS, ICE and CBP agents — and possibly National Guard troops — would operate from a suburban naval base for much of next month as part of President Donald Trump’s plan to target Chicago, per an email from Navy leadership obtained by CST.

They'd be at Naval Station Great Lakes Sept. 2-30.

Trump’s planned Chicago blitz would use naval base to house ICE agents, possibly National Guard

Agents with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement would operate out of Naval Station Great Lakes near North Chicago throughout September, according to an email from a Navy captain who said there were "a lot of concerns and questions" about the plan.

Hannah Recht @hannahrecht.bsky.social

19 days ago

🚀 I made a tracker that shows when the Census Bureau adds or removes datasets from their APIs. Dashboard at www.hrecht.com/census-api-d... and follow @censusapitracker.bsky.social for major updates.

I've been wanting to build this for years but now seemed an especially important time to keep track.

Tracking Census Dataset Changes

See when the U.S. Census Bureau adds or removes datasets.

Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social

16 days ago

My latest investigation!

A story about some wild things that happened at a UIC forensics lab and how inadequate crime lab oversight is in our state. In the course of reporting I: -filed 45+ FOIA requests -did 100+ interviews -reviewed 8000+ pages of records

www.injusticewatch.org/project/fore...

Fake science, faulty methods, misleading testimony

How a rogue forensics lab in Chicago got people wrongfully convicted for driving high.

Alex @acannon.bsky.social

22 days ago

Rail and Bus system recoveries for major US transit agencies through the first half of 2025.

D.C. continues to impress, with a fully recovered bus system and a rail network that has picked up steam over the last year while most peers are tapering off.