Katie J. Wells @katiejwells.bsky.social · 06/10/2026dc, as the waymo debates unfold, take note... 162
Reposted by Katie J. WellsKen Schwencke @schwanksta.com · 06/10/2026A year ago, @propublica.org told you immigration agents had detained more than 170 U.S. citizens. We’ve updated our count, and we’ve got all the receipts. The tally: At least 506 citizens detained. Sometimes held at gunpoint, handcuffed, or even deported. projects.propublica.org/american-cit...projects.propublica.orgMore Than 500 U.S. Citizens Have Been Detained, Including Handcuffed or Held at Gunpoint, in Trump’s Immigration Crackdown — ProPublicaThe government doesn’t track how often immigration officers detain U.S. citizens. So ProPublica did. We’ve found more than 500 Americans who were held against their will during this Trump administrati... 271580934
Reposted by Katie J. WellsTim Newman @tnewmsblues.bsky.social · 02/10/2026@katiejwells.bsky.social was saying we should view “self-driving” cars as roving, urban data centers. They sure have the surveillance part down! Is this what we want for our communities? 031
Reposted by Katie J. WellsDC Attorney General Brian Schwalb @dcattorneygeneral.bsky.social · 01/10/2026NEW: Amazon will refund thousands of Prime members in Wards 7 and 8 for secretly excluding them from full delivery services. The exclusions have now been lifted, and Amazon will also be required to change its practices. No corporation is too big to be held accountable for deceiving DC residents. 17114
Katie J. Wells @katiejwells.bsky.social · 01/10/2026want to hear more about doordash's assault on home rule? or on its attempts to derail mamdani? join us tonight. freedcproject.org/event-list/s... 0196
Katie J. Wells @katiejwells.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Looking forward to this conversation and lucky to be doing it. Silicon Valley vs. Home Rule. 1114
Reposted by Katie J. WellsData & Society @datasociety.bsky.social · 29/09/2026"Algorithmic wages & prices are symptoms of a political economy built on the continuous conversion of movement, delay, fatigue, debt, location, browsing, hunger, punctuality, & desperation into commercial leverage." @veenadubal.bsky.social @katiejwells.bsky.social dissentmagazine.org/article/algo...dissentmagazine.orgLife Under the Algorithm - Dissent MagazineAlgorithmic wages and prices don’t just squeeze workers in the present. They make them predictably poor into the future. 02911
Reposted by Katie J. WellsOpen Markets Institute @openmarkets.bsky.social · 29/09/2026In a groundbreaking new legal paper, Sandeep Vaheesan argues companies that systematically violate labor, consumer, copyright, environmental, and other laws to undercut rivals are engaging in an unfair method of competition... 123
Reposted by Katie J. WellsAmy Maxmen, PhD @amymaxmen.bsky.social · 28/09/2026While the news & white papers breathlessly cover the idea of a threat of a future AI bioweapon, an Ebola outbreak is escalating, having killed nearly 4,000 people so far. The Trump admin has diminished US support to control it w/travel bans, an eroded CDC & a hobbled WHO www.who.int/emergencies/...who.intEbola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus - Democratic Republic of the CongoSince the last Disease Outbreak News was published on 11 September 2026, the Bundibugyo virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has expanded further, with two additional health zones af... 06642
Reposted by Katie J. WellsBrian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 26/09/2026This story brought me back to Kara, one of the mothers in my book, There Is No Place for Us. She was homeless with her four kids while driving for DoorDash. They had to pee in bottles so bathroom stops wouldn't make her late. After gas, she earned $6.50 an hour—75 cents less than the minimum wage. 5827312
Reposted by Katie J. WellsRevolving Door Project @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social · 25/09/2026“Y’all are going to need a bigger hospital.” Already burdened by petrochemical plants, Louisiana is facing a wave of gas-powered AI data centers—and their pollution. Dorothy Slater, an oncology nurse, writes for @dissentmag.bsky.social about nursing her patients at the frontier of AI buildout.dissentmagazine.orgDeath by Data Centers - Dissent MagazineI’m an oncology nurse in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley. My patients and I breathe the same polluted air, and we can’t afford the toxic exposure from the gas-fired plants set to power the state’s proposed A... 26442
Reposted by Katie J. WellsThe Associated Press @apnews.com · 23/09/2026A 36-year-old Costa Rican man whose family says he complained of not receiving proper care for his diabetes is the third detainee in less than six months to die at a U.S.bit.lyCosta Rican man complained of lack of care for diabetes before his death in ICE custody, family saysA 36-year-old Costa Rican man whose family says he complained of not receiving proper care for his diabetes is the third detainee in less than six months to die at a U.S. 25350193
Katie J. Wells @katiejwells.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Last night, Seattle became the 1st US city to ban algorithmic pricing for groceries. It's the strongest ban yet & I couldn't be prouder to have helped a wee bit. A year ago, I was putting together PPTs to guide volunteers through a messy experiment. Never did I think we'd have a ban 12 months later. 070
Reposted by Katie J. WellsThe Washington Sun @washingtonsun.com · 21/09/2026A Venezuelan DoorDash driver shot by an ICE officer in Austin, Texas, said he is now in detention but still has the bullet in his back. www.washingtonsun.com/immigration/i…washingtonsun.comVenezuelan DoorDash Driver Recounts Being Shot by an ICE Officer“I was telling him it hurt a lot, that I couldn't move,” Wilber Rafael Garces Perez said during a press conference from detention. 34221
Reposted by Katie J. WellsMayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 22/09/2026DoorDash has ripped off more than 260,000 NYC delivery workers. We’re making them pay $131.5 million — the largest worker settlement in City history. This is New York, where hard work pays and greed will cost you. 340250604784
Reposted by Katie J. WellsChanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 23/09/2026newbedfordlight.org/ice-arrests-...newbedfordlight.orgICE arrests surge in New Bedford area; immigrants warned to stay home - The New Bedford LightGov. Maura Healey called on ICE to release more information after at least 10 arrests Monday and more Tuesday morning. Mayor Jon Mitchell criticized ICE “overreach.” 210336
Reposted by Katie J. WellsAaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 21/09/2026NEW: @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.comAP Exclusive: ICE hides locations of thousands of detainees with final removal ordersU.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... 18845982953
Reposted by Katie J. WellsBenjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Last week, Ohio State students violated the university’s absurd ban on chalking to protest having a weapons manufacturer as the official sponsor of our athletic department. Faculty from @osuaaup.bsky.social were there to support students’ rights to free speech, which is plainly under attack.thelantern.comProtestors chalk on campus against Ohio State’s partnership with Anduril and the university chalk banColors covered the Thompson statue and bricks around it after protestors chalked phrases like “Democracy now,” “F*** Anduril” and “Divest now” to protest against the university’s partnership with Andu... 322053
Reposted by Katie J. WellsNew York City Policy Forum @nycpolicyforum.bsky.social · 18/09/2026How can NYC protect New Yorkers as AI reshapes the economy? Reserve your seat for our talk with @hellodcwp.bsky.social, Commissioner @saalevine.bsky.social, and writer @edwardongwesojr.com Sept. 30 3:30–5 PM Co-sponsored by the CUNY Law Burns Program, @cplusc.bsky.social, @rooseveltinstitute.orggoverning-ai-for-nyc-workers-and-consumers.eventbrite.comGoverning AI for Workers and Consumers: NYC's Public ApproachDive into what NYC can do to advance affordability for working families during the rise of AI and corporate consolidation. 097
Reposted by Katie J. WellsElisabeth R. Anker @libankerdc.bsky.social · 18/09/2026AI is the largest theft of labor in history, but the case doesn't go far enough -- AI steals not only from journalists and researchers but from authors throughout history, from policymakers and legal writers, from photographers and artists in every medium. 17536
Reposted by Katie J. WellsJosh Eidelson @josheidelson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026NEW @businessweektr.bsky.social investigation: Crafting America’s Favorite Countertops Is Killing Workers www.bloomberg.com/news/feature... Artificial stone manufacturers want Congress to shut down silicosis lawsuits seeking billions. Confidential company records undermine industry's safety claimsbloomberg.com‘Death Sentences:’ Crafting America’s Favorite Countertops Is Killing WorkersHundreds of workers who’ve contracted silicosis are suing the artificial stone industry for billions. While California weighs a ban on fabricating the product, the manufacturers’ defenders in Congress... 32316
Reposted by Katie J. WellsKiss Kiss Die @stromberg.bsky.social · 13/09/2026“The system learns from the injuries it helps to create.” You really must read this. It’s disgusting to realise there are people hellbent now on making this the reality for all of us. (Not “all” of us. Just the 99% whose toil is siphoned to the parasitic rich.) dissentmagazine.org/article/algo...dissentmagazine.orgLife Under the Algorithm - Dissent MagazineAlgorithmic wages and prices don’t just squeeze workers in the present. They make them predictably poor into the future. 112
Reposted by Katie J. WellsAI Now Institute @ainowinstitute.bsky.social · 11/09/2026"Her wage has been adjusted toward what she is predicted to accept. The price of necessities has been adjusted toward what she is predicted to tolerate. The result is not simply precarity, but an iterative constraint." @veenadubal.bsky.social & @katiejwells.bsky.social for @dissentmag.bsky.social 042
Reposted by Katie J. WellsAI Now Institute @ainowinstitute.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Elena, a nurse, signs up for a shift at a base rate of $35/hour. The next day it's $33/hour. There's no explanation, no one to ask why. AI Now's @katiejwells.bsky.social & @veenadubal.bsky.social tell Elena's story, showing how algorithmic wages & prices are reshaping our lives: bit.ly/46Qp4kRbit.lyLife Under the Algorithm - Dissent MagazineAlgorithmic wages and prices don’t just squeeze workers in the present. They make them predictably poor into the future. 12210
Reposted by Katie J. WellsMarielza @marielza.bsky.social · 08/09/2026"...because the systems are personalized, each act of survival can be misread as evidence of preference: she accepted the lower wage, paid the higher price, took the advance, stayed in the apt, kept working through pain. These facts are understood as records of acquiescence, not of coercion." 🔥 🔥 174
Katie J. Wells @katiejwells.bsky.social · 08/09/2026super grateful to have co-written a piece alongside these superstars. 0125
Katie J. Wells @katiejwells.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Thanks so much, Sonja. This summer I heard nurse after nurse talk about these scores, and so we included it in the story: Elena "tried to scan the code [at the hospital] more than seven minutes before her start time, which dinged her score by half a point." dissentmagazine.org/article/algo...dissentmagazine.orgLife Under the Algorithm - Dissent MagazineAlgorithmic wages and prices don’t just squeeze workers in the present. They make them predictably poor into the future. 22913
Reposted by Katie J. WellsMolly Crabapple @mollycrabapple.bsky.social · 05/09/2026ICE got permission to cut open a Cuban hunger striker’s stomach and insert a gastric tube to make him easier to forcefeed Nuremberg trials are too merciful for these monsters www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...theguardian.comICE given permission to force-feed Cuban hunger striker with gastric tubeExclusive: court orders seen by Guardian show agency given approval to fit Texas detainee with tube without his consent 13250492076
Reposted by Katie J. WellsMeredith Broussard, PhD @merbroussard.bsky.social · 03/09/2026AI cameras on trash trucks in Dallas issue "blight scores" to homeowners. One man is flagged for having soot marks on his chimney. www.nbcdfw.com/investigatio...nbcdfw.comDallas is using AI trash truck cameras to score your home and some homeowners are angryRecords show AI trash truck cameras flagged 21,000 Dallas properties and assigned blight scores. Some homeowners call it a money grab. 45218
Reposted by Katie J. WellsTom Joscelyn @tomjoscelyn.bsky.social · 01/09/2026“A Haitian immigrant who had grown increasingly distraught after losing his protection from deportation and being outfitted with an ankle monitor was run over and killed Monday in what his family believes was a suicide.” www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...washingtonpost.comHaitian immigrant in Ohio takes his own life after losing temporary protected status, family saysPierre Damas Bel’s family said he felt humiliated by an ankle monitor ICE officers placed on him after the Trump administration canceled protections for thousands of Haitian immigrants. 581181559
Reposted by Katie J. WellsDC Attorney General Brian Schwalb @dcattorneygeneral.bsky.social · 01/09/2026WORKER WIN: Online grocery store Weee! will pay $95,000 for illegally misclassifying its delivery drivers. All Weee! drivers in DC will be reclassified as employees with a right to paid sick leave and other worker protections. DC labor laws apply to all industries. The gig economy is no exception. 427442
Reposted by Katie J. WellsProPublica @propublica.org · 28/08/2026NEW: We obtained recordings of 160+ emergency calls made from or about an immigration detention center where three people died within six weeks. “They will not give them medical treatment,” one caller said, seeking help for a detainee with kidney stones.propublica.orgListen to 911 Calls From Inside an Immigration Detention Center: “We Just Need to Take Him to the Hospital”Reporters don’t have access to Camp East Montana, one of the largest immigration detention centers in the country. Emergency calls from the Texas facility offer a glimpse of unfolding crises faced by ... 487109596252
Reposted by Katie J. WellsJames Talarico @jamestalarico.bsky.social · 27/08/2026BREAKING: Liam Tadeo was just deported by ICE. 69492315069
Reposted by Katie J. WellsBen Zipperer @benzipperer.org · 22/08/2026Raleigh, NC taxpayers are spending $3,000 each -- $521 million total -- on Trump's mass deportations. What's your town paying? What could it fund instead? www.epi.org/deportation-... 11610
Reposted by Katie J. Wellspublic health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 24/08/2026i’m dying. i’m dead 814725686
Reposted by Katie J. WellsBritt Paris @hellobrittparis.bsky.social · 20/08/2026Higher ed workers: does your union's CBA have language on classroom recording? Or, does your university have a policy on classroom recording? If so, please dm me with a link to the CBA or policy. Would be very much obliged and help lots of ppl 🫡 221
Reposted by Katie J. WellsOlúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 20/08/2026I 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 182251744
Reposted by Katie J. Wellsmaddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 19/08/2026FTC puts out a proposed policy statement re: personalized pricing (sometimes referred to as "surveillance pricing"). Statement points out several ways personalized pricing is in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act (!) www.regulations.gov/document/FTC...regulations.govRegulations.gov 13013
Reposted by Katie J. WellsAI Now Institute @ainowinstitute.bsky.social · 18/08/2026You passed a data center moratorium. Now what? Join us tomorrow at 1pm ET for a workshop on the policy tools and organizing strategies so moratoriums build momentum for lasting change, featuring real-life examples from Arizona, New Jersey, Texas, and Tennessee. Register: zoom.us/webinar/regi... 1179
Reposted by Katie J. WellsAlan the Baltimoron @bmorons.bsky.social · 17/08/2026For all my Baltimore People - We're trying to push back against a Baltimore Gas and Electric’s rate hike. Lend your name? action.consumerreports.org/nb-20260811-...action.consumerreports.orgOppose this rate hike, and demand affordable energyCall on state leaders to reject rate hikes, and lower energy costs 001
Reposted by Katie J. WellsParis Marx @parismarx.com · 17/08/2026Big news! HYPERSCALE made the longlist for the FT/Standard Chartered Business Book of the Year Award. They call it a “a polemical on-the-ground investigation into the rapid spread of data centres and their impact on the environment and the communities where Big Tech is building them.” 1025844
Reposted by Katie J. WellsAI Now Institute @ainowinstitute.bsky.social · 11/08/2026At the Seattle City Council, @katiejwells.bsky.social explained what happens to fair pricing when retailers adopt AI-powered algorithms. She shared why it is so hard to document this practice and highlighted @moreperfectunion.bsky.social’s grocery pricing investigation, which did just that. 065
Reposted by Katie J. WellsAI Now Institute @ainowinstitute.bsky.social · 11/08/2026Hundreds of communities across the US have passed or are considering data center moratoriums. What happens next? Join us on Aug 19 at 1pm ET for a workshop on the policy tools and organizing strategies that protect against the data center buildout. Register: zoom.us/webinar/regi... 01414
Reposted by Katie J. WellsBrian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 06/08/2026In Arizona alone, a staggering 450,000 people—including more than 100,000 kids—have lost food assistance since Trump's "big beautiful bill" passed. Nationwide, 4.5 million have been pushed off SNAP to fund tax cuts for the rich. That there aren't uprisings in every city, every day, is incredible.nytimes.comArizona’s Food Stamp Crisis Is Coming for the Rest of the U.S.The number of people who receive nutrition assistance in Arizona has dropped significantly in a matter of months. 22517280
Reposted by Katie J. WellsJoel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 06/08/2026This story reflects a larger crisis in the field of Holocaust studies, about why we study the Shoah and what, if any, implications it should hold for the present. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...theguardian.comAn Israeli professor lost a prestigious US job offer after speaking out on Gaza. Now the university is paying him $250,000The University of Minnesota withdrew an offer for Raz Segal to lead its Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies after an organized campaign against his hiring 5358100
Reposted by Katie J. WellsAI Now Institute @ainowinstitute.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Gig nursing companies are bringing Uber’s playbook to healthcare by pushing bills across the country that classify nurses as independent contractors and erode worker protections. “This is such a familiar playbook legislatively and politically,” @katiejwells.bsky.social tells Bloomberg Law.news.bloomberglaw.comGig Nursing Companies Advance Worker Status Bills Across StatesHealthcare staffing is the latest focus of gig economy regulation as state legislatures weigh industry-backed proposals classifying temporary nurses as independent contractors, an advocacy strategy re... 01411
Reposted by Katie J. WellsAAUP @aaup.org · 30/07/2026"There's an extreme, radical, right-wing agenda coming out of the federal government targeting higher education. The AAUP won’t exist in an ivory tower and wait for politics to be done to its members. That’s not the AAUP of 2026." – Todd Wolfson, AAUP Presidentinsidehighered.comAAUP Embraces Political Role With Candidate EndorsementsThe group says the move is a first in its over-100-year existence, and part of countering government threats. Critics say AAUP has lost its neutrality. 06526
Reposted by Katie J. WellsAI Now Institute @ainowinstitute.bsky.social · 30/07/2026There is no shortage of nurses in the US. But there is a shortage of good jobs that nurses are willing to take. AI Now Senior Fellow @katiejwells.bsky.social spoke to @time.com about how gig nursing platforms are a symptom of this mismatch: time.com/article/2026...time.comStop Saying There's a Nursing ShortageThe U.S. may have less of a shortage of licensed nurses than a shortage of nurses who are willing to work in bedside jobs that have become increasingly demanding. 183