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Abigail Higgins

@abigailhiggins.bsky.social
2.4K followers 516 following 213 posts

Journalist in DC, previously Kenya. Co-founder and Managing Editor of @51stnews.bsky.social. Covering inequality, gender, labor for the Washington Post, The Nation, Lux, etc. Organizing with The National Writers Union.

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Reposted by Abigail Higgins
Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
@washingtonpost reported earlier that hospitals insurance costs next year are projected to spike by the most in 2 decades, partly "due to medical providers’ increased use of artificial intelligence to find more claims they can bill for" www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
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Abigail Higgins @abigailhiggins.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"Rose Friedman was an editor to the end. She said she wanted the second line of her obituary to acknowledge her role as a shop steward for SAG-AFTRA...She wanted the line to say that her 'proudest achievement' was helping convince NPR to increase its paid parental leave." www.npr.org/2026/09/18/n...
npr.org
Editor Rose Friedman, who helped shape NPR's cultural coverage, dies at 38
Friedman was in her early 20s when she landed her first position as an editorial assistant at NPR. She became an editor and reporter, and a co-creator of the annual Books We Love reading guide.
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Nara Smith and the [WORKING cuz they were all working] social media trad wives are busy telling people they were never actually trad wives. The cultural *vibe shift* was inch deep if it ever really was a shift...
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
It's why I've been at pains to point out since February 2025 that the fascists weren't actually having any fun. Their parties SUCKED, they have nothing interesting to show re: fashion, what actual good music have they produced over the past couple of years, no good movies... etc etc etc.
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I know that some people don't think these types of things are important but I really do. Cultural change precedes political change. When you don't have the culture, it's more difficult to win politically or to sustain political wins. newrepublic.com/post/215697/...
newrepublic.com
MAGA Festival With Kid Rock Canceled After No One Wanted to Go
The “Freedom Fest” is no longer happening after dismal ticket sales.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
NEW: @apnews.com confirms that ICE has begun electronically "disappearing" people in the agency's custody who have final orders of removal. As of last week, anyone jailed by ICE with a final order of removal will NOT appear in the ICE Online Detainee Locator System, making them effectively vanish.
apnews.com
AP Exclusive: ICE hides locations of thousands of detainees with final removal orders
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stopped publicly revealing where it is holding most detainees who are subject to final deportation orders, in a move that has made it harder for lawyers an...
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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The Salt Lake Tribune is a 150+ year-old newspaper that went the nonprofit route several years ago. It now brings in $13MM in revenue vs $12MM in expenses. Enough to support a robust news operation. This is the way for metro news orgs. www.cjr.org/first_person...
That move has been a success. Last year, the Tribune brought in about thirteen million dollars in revenue, a million dollars more than it incurred in expenses.
Its revenue came from several streams: contributions from big foundations and individual donors, advertising in its online and twice-weekly print editions, and subscription fees, though the paywall would be removed shortly after Ileft Utah, in May. Similarweb's ranking system regularly puts the Tribune's traffic among the nation's top two or three nonprofit news organizations, alongside such stalwarts as ProPublica and the Texas Tribune. It's also ambitious, acquiring one newspaper in southeast Utah and starting another in the southwest corner of the state. Recently, management signed its first contract with the new newsroom union, guaranteeing a sixty-thousand-dollar salary floor, at least three weeks of vacation, and generous work-from-home provisions.
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Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 11/09/2026
This is... to me... a denial that trans people exist. The reference to genetic anomalies is common anti-trans language referring to intersex people.
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The 51st @51st.news · 07/09/2026
What do D.C. residents want from their presumptive next mayor? @alexkoma.bsky.social reports from one of the listening sessions Janeese Lewis George is hosting across the city's eight wards this month:
51st.news
Janeese Lewis George gets a preview of the mayoral life
The presumptive next mayor is holding listening sessions around the city. They show just how complicated the job really is.
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🌹WeegieFromWA 🍀 @onefussyone.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
A 76-year-old man holding permanent US residency and grappling with stage four prostate cancer is reportedly being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention in Tacoma, Washington. What the fuck are we doing here? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
ICE holds man with stage 4 cancer in detention despite permanent US residency
ICE spokesperson says Loreto Javar failed to disclose criminal conviction in Philippines when he applied for visa
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fulana de tal @soulamami.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
It’s true. Neither my 21 or 23 year old use AI and think it’s lame
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Professor Amanda Sturgill @drsturg.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Wow. Passed today. www.rebuildlocalnews.org/explainer-ca...
rebuildlocalnews.org
Explainer: California’s Community NEWS Act (AB 2222)
An overview of California’s proposed local journalist employment credit for newsrooms, explaining how the program works, who qualifies, and the safeguards designed to prevent misuse.
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Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
I know the answers to this question but why is there comparatively so much less media conversation about Did Woke 1 Go Too Far compared to another 2020 explosion of political thought in the vein of: Did Anti-Vax Hysteria Go Too Far, only one of those things commands HHS rn
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
there are a lot of revealing parts of this exchange but "You are exactly one of about 20 people who think that's what the term means" is the top one for me
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
anyways evergreen bsky.app/profile/oluf...
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Jesse Felder @jessefelder.com · 30/08/2026
‘Americans feel they have less and less control over their own lives, and they increasingly blame large corporations. AI and data centres have been the tipping point.’ www.ft.com/content/63e8... by @ranaforoohar.bsky.social
ft.com
Americans feel they have lost their agency
People increasingly blame large corporations for the sense that they have ever less control over their own lives
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Log Off. Live More. ✊ @logofflivemore.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Thousands of data center projects are stalled or dead. Not from a federal law from neighbors who read the zoning documents and showed up. The most powerful companies on earth keep losing to people with a folding chair and a free Tuesday. www.dailysignal.com/2026/08/23/d...
dailysignal.com
Data Center Backlash Brings Thousands of Projects to a Screeching Halt
Americans’ growing opposition to the prevalence of data centers has led many politicians to limit or pause their increase altogether.
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Penelope Wang @pennywriter.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
After being forced out of the military, many trans service members have yet to receive tens of thousands of dollars in severance pay they are owed, leaving them destitute and homeless. (gift link) wapo.st/4qN0TNq
wapo.st
A trans veteran became homeless after the military didn’t pay her severance
Chloe Shapiro is one of a dozen former service members identified by The Washington Post who have waited months for full payments.
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HuffPost Union @huffpostunion.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
A statement from the HuffPost Union @wgaeast.bsky.social on today's layoffs.
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Sam Biddle @sambiddle.com · 24/08/2026
Jess's reporting literally got someone off death row last year and now BuzzFeed laid her off.
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The 51st @51st.news · 24/08/2026
NEW: @robertwhitedc.bsky.social has a vision: hundreds of D.C. residents on their way to nearby states to help elect candidates who will fight for D.C. autonomy. Starting Labor Day weekend, he and other local leaders hope to turn that goal into reality, @samdelgado.bsky.social reports.
51st.news
In the midterms, Defend DC is fighting for statehood
Robert White, Free DC, and other partners are deploying residents to campaign for Democrats in key House races as part of a new political initiative.
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
"Democratic nominee for congressional delegate Robert White has a vision: hundreds of D.C. residents in cars, vans, and buses, on their way to nearby states to help elect candidates who will fight for D.C. autonomy." @samdelgado.bsky.social for @51st.news
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Abigail Higgins @abigailhiggins.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Hell. Yeah.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 23/08/2026
I hope everyone caught this Lancet study confirming that Elon Musk & DOGE are responsible for genocidal levels of suffering & death.
thelancet.com
Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis
USAID funding has significantly contributed to the reduction in adult and child mortality across low-income and middle-income countries over the past two decades. Our estimates show that, unless the a...
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Truthout @truthout.org · 20/08/2026
In late July, Raul Calvo, a well-known California union-buster, called workers at the Rodney Strong Vineyards into a meeting. “He said he was just going to give us the information that he got in an email three days ago, that ICE was here outside.”
truthout.org
Union-Busters Are Using ICE to Intimidate California Wine Industry Workers
California’s wine industry runs on immigrant exploitation. Now migrant workers are unionizing.
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Mia Sato @miasato.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I think I maybe undersold how gross the “prank” played on this employee was. Imagine you come into work, try to help customers, and later realize they've racked up 500,000+ views on social media by harassing you and your coworkers.
In August, Toru Hinkle was stocking shelves at their job at Target when they noticed two customers and asked if they needed any help. The men requested a price check on an item — but even after Hinkle told them the item was $20, the customers asked for the price again and again.

“After a while, I realized that I’m basically being pranked, and I noticed the glasses,” Hinkle says, referring to the frames with a blinking light. They were the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, and the customers were filming. Hinkle eventually called a store manager over, but the pranksters antagonized her, too — asking the price repeatedly, deliberately misgendering Hinkle as “ma’am” and the female manager as “sir.” At one point, Hinkle attempted to stop the recording by saying “Meta, stop recording” out loud, hoping to trigger a voice control setting. The customers pretended to be confused by the accusation that they were recording Hinkle.

The confrontation made Hinkle queasy. “I felt like this pit in my stomach just started to build up,” Hinkle recalls. “After this whole exchange happened, the rest of the shift, I was just quiet and didn’t even talk to anyone because I was just so shaken up by it.” Another customer called the police, Hinkle says, and the two men were escorted out of the store. Target declined to comment.
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Alaska's GOP governor earlier this year vetoed a bill that would have set limits to individual campaign donations. Then what happened? Voters on Tuesday approved a citizen-led ballot initiative that institutes very similar reforms. By a 40%+ margin.
boltsmag.org
After Years of Runaway Spending, Alaskans Vote to Reinstate Cap on Campaign Donations - Bolts
Five years after a federal court ruling introduced unlimited spending in Alaska elections, voters there hit back on Tuesday, defying their Republican governor and approving new limits that restrict th...
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Jon Adcock @jonadcock.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
#booksky
Can't believe we're at the stage of dystopia where we're destroying old books because Tim from corporate can't write his own emails.
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The Media and Democracy Project @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Yes. In addition to individual action there must by large scale action. It’s necessary to agitate and advocate for legislative solutions to the local journalism crisis. There are orgs and communities doing this. We are one. www.mediaanddemocracyproject.org
mediaanddemocracyproject.org
Media and Democracy Project
The Media and Democracy Project is a non-partisan all-volunteer grassroots community formed in 2020. We are alarmed by the power that media narratives, as shaped by mainstream journalists and right wi...
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I am *extremely insistently* tapping the sign to remind you all to support independent, worker run, billionaire free news how and where you are able to
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I'm still finding out about these folks but @freepress.bsky.social (no, not Bari Weiss's outlet!), @rebuildlocalnews.bsky.social, and several unions including @newsguild.org @wgaeast.bsky.social and @nwu.org are all organizations pushing for structural changes to our information environment.
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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
At an invitation-only gathering in Italy, white supremacists mapped out strategies to target rural America while local press coverage vanishes www.confrontthehate.com/p/white-nati...
As economic pressures gut local newsrooms across the country, white nationalist figures see an untapped opening: stepping into media deserts where there are few journalists left to sound the alarm.

“Local media has been dying all over America, which means that there’s essentially no real way to hold local governments accountable—and they can do whatever they want,” Kevin DeAnna told an invitation-only gathering of approximately 50 white nationalists in Rome.

Breaking into a broad smile, he excitedly added: “You should be fantasizing about this. This is a good thing.”
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whet moser @whetmoser.com · 19/08/2026
didn't realize loudon county gets 40% of its tax revenue from data centers now, good lord www.nytimes.com/2026/08/19/t...
nytimes.com
A County Got Rich From Data Centers. Some Question ‘At What Cost?’ (Gift Article)
Loudoun County, Va., hosts more than 250 data centers that bring in huge tax revenues. But some officials and residents worry the county has become too dependent on that cash.
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Nieman Lab @niemanlab.org · 18/08/2026
Your inbox has probably seen an influx of pitches, increasingly written with AI. They’re likely bad, irrelevant, and annoyingly clogging up your email. But one publication is over it. If you want to write for The Food Section, you’ll have to pick up the phone. www.niemanlab.org/2026/08/faci...
niemanlab.org
Facing a “deluge” from AI, this publication will only take pitches by phone
Whether you're a reporter or an editor, your inbox has probably seen an influx of pitches, increasingly written with artificial intelligence. They're likely bad, irrelevant, and annoyingly clogging…
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Chuck Wendig @chuckwendig.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Everything is terrible but books are good. Especially books written by real people. Talk about your books. Show us your art. Let us see the cool stuff you make. You need it but we need it too. Art helps maker and receiver get their heads above the rough, churning waters of reality. No shame in it.
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Tim Stephens @proftimstephens.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
“The sea ice surrounding Antarctica has contracted sharply this month in what should be its main expansion season and is at its second-lowest point on record for this time of year, satellite data shows.” www.smh.com.au/environment/...
smh.com.au
‘It’s beginning to look a lot like the future’: Fears over sudden loss of sea ice
Sea ice surrounding Antarctica has contracted sharply and is at its second-lowest point on record for this time of year, satellite data shows.
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The 51st @51st.news · 14/08/2026
"The longer the occupation continues, the less and less it makes sense to me." "Just the maddening mundanity of what a waste their presence is." "All parts of day-to-day life now feature armed supervision.” Here's what our readers said they'll remember from this past year in D.C.:
51st.news
What D.C. residents will remember from a year of National Guard occupation
Ahead of the anniversary, we asked our readers to reflect.
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Aaron Bady @zunguzungu.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
The right has been investing in media for a long time, because they know you can use the media to shape public opinion; one of the way mass media does this is by telling the public what "public opinion" already is, to try to convince the public not to have a different opinion than "capitalism good"
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Philosophers often bring up the "principle of charity": a willingness to assume good faith in an interlocutor and treat them accordingly. It's good to do in many circumstances. But it is worth formulating a principle of not being a fucking mark. If not during the rise of fascism, then when? 12/
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Plenty to reflect about re: the Arday affair, but I'm going to repeat this one thing. The playbook the right used here is effective even though it's not especially sophisticated, as it relies on the audience to do the dirty work. I've been calling it "Trojan horse propaganda", let's go with that. 1/
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Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
I keep thinking about this story. It's unusual to get such specific data illustrating how some writers get a very different set of filing standards, opportunities, and second chances — especially in a very challenging job and freelance media market — and which other writers do not.
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Laura Jedeed @laurajedeed.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Also, attacking someone and attempting to destroy their public life now serves the same function as watching prisoners mauled by lions did in Rome, except we all get to be the lions It's sadism with plausible deniability. The pleasure of hurting a stranger while insisting it's just words
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Laura Jedeed @laurajedeed.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
One of the worst things about right now is that individual acts immediately becomes a stand-in for some bigger thing You aren't attacking a person who believes X or did X, you are attacking X itself. Which means you can be especially cruel, because X isn't a person, it's a concept that should die
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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Abolishing ICE is now the official position of the Democratic Party
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 14/08/2026
Here's Amazon's two new planned fossil-fuelled AI data centres next to the ENTIRE POWER GRIDS OF SEVERAL LARGE COUNTRIES Together, the two gas-burning data centres will emit more than Spain's entire grid, if built
Bar chart comparing 2025 national grid CO2e emissions (grey bars) with two Amazon fossil‑fuelled AI data centres (red bars), showing the Amazon sites at about 33 and 17.5 megatonnes CO2e—higher than many countries' entire power grids.
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Cascadia(PNW) @cascadiarevolting.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Support your local independent media any way you can. Some of the best journalists we have are unable to do journalism because they cannot survive on little to no pay. Nobody can. This is how we get stuck with MSM. We the people can change that. Empower independent local journalists.
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Cascadia(PNW) @cascadiarevolting.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
News for the people and by the people has almost disappeared and we will have to build it again. We will have to make the oligarch owned media monopolies obsolete. We can do that by making them irrelevant and giving people authentic news that is geared towards workers and not oligarchs.
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Cascadia(PNW) @cascadiarevolting.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Independent antifascist media is so important right now. There is a long history of antifascist media playing a KEY role in obstructing fascist movements. Not just with Nazi Germany. But also here in the U.S. We have a history of people creating journalism FOR and BY the people. 🧵
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The 51st @51st.news · 05/08/2026
This August, our newsroom is tripling our reporting capacity — and deepening our politics coverage. Today's news: Alex Koma (@alexkoma.bsky.social) is joining our team later this month. More about Alex's work — and the reporting he's excited to dig into as part of our team:
51st.news
Alex Koma joins The 51st as a Senior Reporter
The 51st is tripling our reporting capacity and deepening our political coverage.
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