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Maya Dukmasova

@mdoukmas.bsky.social
3.9K followers 196 following 508 posts

Senior reporter at Injustice Watch. Citizen of Flavortown. Chicago Reader alum. Send your courts tips. Headshot: Varvara Mikushkina Cover photo: Brian Cassella

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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 15h
The @injusticewatch.org judicial election guide is now updated with the judges' bar association ratings!! Just in time for early voting, which starts TOMORROW in Chicago! #CheckYourJudges! 2026retention.injusticewatch.org
2026retention.injusticewatch.org
Cook County November 2026 Judicial Election Guide
Injustice Watch's guide to the November 2026 Cook County judicial elections.
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Anne Helen Petersen @annehelen.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This is *the* piece. Kate Manne, professor of philosophy at Cornell, speaks truth to the totality of failures at the university — and why students protesting the war in Gaza have faced far harsher consequences than any of the Cornell 7: www.thecut.com/article/what...
thecut.com
What It Feels Like at Cornell Right Now
As a professor at the Ivy League school, Kate Manne has known many, many victims. There’s a palpable feeling on campus, she writes, that this is big.
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Folks come out for our guide launch party next Monday! These are always so fun and a great way to meet other civically minded people and get to know how our team does the work for the #CheckYourJudges guide. Plus the Clipper is a great venue to chill at and enjoy some music and drinks!
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
IT'S HERE! The @injusticewatch.org #CheckYourJudges guide is back to help you feel informed when you hit that looong judicial retention portion of the ballot! 61 Cook County judges asking for another term on the bench. You can find everything we dug up on them here! 2026retention.injusticewatch.org
2026retention.injusticewatch.org
Cook County November 2026 Judicial Election Guide
Injustice Watch's guide to the November 2026 Cook County judicial elections.
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Looking for anyone who is active in judicial elections in PHILADELPHIA and can help me understand a few things for a story. Can be just on background. Please dm me!
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Guess who's back. There are STILL active prosecutions in Illinois hinging on evidence produced by this shuttered UIC lab. Cases in which people are facing serious prison time based on the lab's claims they were high while driving. www.injusticewatch.org/project/fore...
injusticewatch.org
Discredited UIC lab manager Jennifer Bash is back on the witness stand
Winnebago County prosecutors were informed of serious problems at the lab in 2024. They called Bash to testify in a pair of driving-while-high cases anyway.
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
“They called him ‘Rollover Rands...If your mommy and daddy are somebody important down here, or you get the right attorney, get it into the appellate prosecutor’s hands...Like magic, the charges will be gone.” Wild last story from David Jackson! www.injusticewatch.org/project/shad...
injusticewatch.org
The whistleblowers vs. the shadow prosecutors
A new trove of documents independently confirmed by Injustice Watch allege previously unreported misconduct and conflicts of interest by Illinois’ Special Prosecution Unit.
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Heya @injusticewatch.org is still in big need of volunteer DRIVERS to help us distribute 200,000 print copies of our #CheckYourJudges guide across Cook County! Sign up in the volunteer section of this form: www.injusticewatch.org/judges/judic...
injusticewatch.org
Help your neighborhood get our judicial election guide
We’re expanding the print distribution of our judicial election guide for the November election to reach 200,000 voters — more than ever before. We need
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
TONIGHT: I'll be teaching a FOIA workshop on the west side with the good folks at PNAP! givebutter.com/PNAP091426
givebutter.com
FOIA Fall: FOIA Requests 101
Join us for a hands on workshop facilitated by a journalist working with Injustice Watch.
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Spectrum News NY1 @spectrumnewsny1.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The last speaker at the 9/11 remembrance ceremony lost his father to the attacks.
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
This is a heartbreaking story from @estheryjkang.bsky.social about a man's struggle with homelessness since the South Shore apartment building raid last year. This man is working and can't afford rent and has a 25-year wait for public housing.
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
In this September issue of Prisons, Prose & Protest, I recommend an excellent podcast series that doubles as a training program for incarcerated journalists. I recommend recent articles and essays as well as several art books and exhibits. prisonculture.substack.com/p/prisons-pr...
prisonculture.substack.com
Prisons, Prose & Protest - #42
Rants, Musings and More
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Hey Cook County! Our November judicial election guide will be here before you know it! Let us know where @injusticewatch.org should distribute print copies of the guide in your community! www.injusticewatch.org/judges/judic...
injusticewatch.org
Help your neighborhood get our judicial election guide
We’re expanding the print distribution of our judicial election guide for the November election to reach 200,000 voters — more than ever before. We need
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
We've got a new ED @rubybailey.bsky.social and we're picking back with our EIC search!!
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
This investigation by @aurabogado.bsky.social is a massive indictment of the promises of the Illinois TRUST Act and the promises our legislature and @govpritzker.illinois.gov made to undocumented people. Democrat and Republican prosecutors taking part www.injusticewatch.org/project/ice-...
injusticewatch.org
The county prosecutors who became ICE informants
Illinois prosecutors shared defendants’ personal data with federal immigration agents without criminal warrants, public disclosure, or legislative oversight.
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I'm Margaret! I'm the best! Blah Blah Blah! @vt-vagabond.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
The article about Evans by @mdoukmas.bsky.social linked in the following skeet is long but *fascinating*. I definitely recommend giving it some time, if you have some to spare.
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
NEW: in the wake of his defeat for reelection as Cook County Chief Judge nearly a year ago, Tim Evans is being elevated to the Illinois Appellate Court. Some would argue it beats being back in a trial courtroom, even if that courtroom is at the top of the Daley Center.
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
There are many things to complain about when it comes to American day care/preschool. Many bigger problems. But among the things that grind my personal gears most is children having to take naps with their shoes on. I don't even know if most parents are aware of this but it's standard practice.
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Sarah Lazare @sarahlazare.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
The former Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers who went on strike for 3+ years, only to have the owners sell the paper and fire most of them, have started their own cooperative news org. Important reporting by @maximillianalvarez.bsky.social
therealnews.com
Corporate profiteers destroyed journalism. Worker-owned media can save it.
Former Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers went on strike for over three years and won. Then, the owners sold the paper and most strikers lost their jobs. Now, they’ve launched “a cooperative news organiz...
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Hobbes @flawedfacade.blacksky.app · 27/07/2026
Squished in the middle of this story was this heartbreaking paragraph. Unconscionable.
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
A harrowing account of hourly humiliations. "As a 16-year-old boy, I still find the strip-search process truly dehumanizing. Going through it before and after visits is enough for me to feel truly violated." hammerandhope.org/article/typi...
hammerandhope.org
My Typical Day as a Teenager in the Box on Rikers Island
A magazine of Black politics and culture
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
70 FIRES in just 3 YEARS
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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 20/07/2026
NEW INFO HAS REVEALED that the 28-year-old Mexican man killed while running from ICE last week was just visiting on short tourist visa—and already had a plane ticket to go home. newrepublic.com/post/213277/...
newrepublic.com
Man Who Died Running From ICE Was Tourist With a Ticket Home
The man has been identified as Juan Jairo Coronilla Duran, who was in the U.S. on a tourist visa and already had a plane ticket to go back to Mexico.
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Blair Paddock @blairpaddock.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
NEW: 375 days without stepping foot outside. Three men at Menard Correctional Center allege they were kept in solitary confinement for months on end, instead confined to filthy and unventilated cells so small they couldn’t fully extend their arms. They're suing IDOC. news.wttw.com/2026/07/14/3...
news.wttw.com
375 Days Without Stepping Foot Outside: Lawsuit Alleges No Yard Time for Some Incarcerated at Menard Prison
Three men filed a lawsuit Monday against administrators at the Illinois Department of Corrections and Menard Correctional Center, alleging that they inflicted cruel and unusual punishment on the plain...
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Miami Herald @miamiherald.com · 14/07/2026
NEW: A 28-year-old man died Tuesday morning following an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations agents in St. Augustine, marking the third death involving ICE in a week.
miamiherald.com
Man dies during immigration encounter in Florida, the third ICE-involved death in a week
Third ICE-involved death in a week confirmed after fatal St. Augustine crash during joint agency operation. National outrage grows over enforcement and deaths
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Protect Bridgeport Bicyclists @stevevance.net · 06/07/2026
9 Chicago wards have had 0 new homes permitted this year see that info and more ⬇️
chicagocityscape.com
Chicago building permit statistics
Track Chicago building permit volume, fee payment status, and permit processing times, including a rolling 30-day average for new construction and renovation permits.
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Claudia Stellar, PhD @claudiastellar.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
@mdoukmas.bsky.social wrote an excellent article for the @chicagoreader.com on the history and politics of police unions. I highly recommend everyone read it. chicagoreader.com/news/from-so...
chicagoreader.com
From soldier to worker - Chicago Reader
Police unions were born of resistance to discipline for brutality. Do they belong in the labor movement?
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
This event is TOMORROW! There's still time to sign up and join us for what promises to be an excellent conversation about how bad forensic evidence makes it into our courtrooms and what can be done about it. Register here to get the zoom webinar link! airtable.com/appxuo0SNj05...
airtable.com
Airtable | Everyone's app platform
Airtable is a low-code platform for building collaborative apps. Customize your workflow, collaborate, and achieve ambitious outcomes. Get started for free.
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Injustice Watch @injusticewatch.org · 17/06/2026
Congrats to @mdoukmas.bsky.social, who won a Best Investigative Journalism Award from the Institute for Nonprofit News for "Forensic Failures" 🎉 www.injusticewatch.org/project/fore...
injusticewatch.org
Fake science, faulty methods, misleading testimony
How a rogue forensics lab in Chicago got people wrongfully convicted for driving high.
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Reminder that we're collecting tips about judges up for retention this fall in Cook County! @injusticewatch.org wants to hear from lawyers, litigants, family members, court workers, and anyone else with experience seeing these judges work! Tips are confidential www.injusticewatch.org/judges/judic...
injusticewatch.org
What can you tell us about these Cook County judges running for retention?
We’re researching the Cook County judges running for another term in November for our judicial election guide. Have something to share? Let us know.
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Our webinar is one week away! Don't forget to register to receive a link to the event. 100+ folks planning to.join us so far. Can't wait for this exciting conversation about a glaring problem in Illinois courts!
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
There are 60 judges up for retention in Cook County this fall and we want to know abut YOUR experiences with them! Whether you're a litigant, a lawyer, a relative of someone who's had a case before them, a court worker - you can submit tips confidentially here: www.injusticewatch.org/judges/judic...
injusticewatch.org
What can you tell us about these Cook County judges running for retention?
We’re researching the Cook County judges running for another term in November for our judicial election guide. Have something to share? Let us know.
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Registration for this event is off the charts so far!! So glad to see this is a topic of such interest to folks in Illinois and beyond. Sign up and join us for this free event on 6/23!
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Maggie Sivit @msivit.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
This event is a month away and we've seen a ton of interest in it already. Whether you're a forensic science professional, a legal professional, or just someone who's interested in these issues, join us for a webinar moderated by @mdoukmas.bsky.social. RSVP here: airtable.com/appxuo0SNj05...
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Excited to host this conversation! Ever since I began reporting on the scandal at the UIC forensic toxicology lab my mind has been repeatedly blown by how little oversight exists over these kinds of labs. Whether you work in the courts or are interested in how the courts work this event is for you!
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Has everyone known about packing cubes all along????
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Quinn Yeargain @yeargain.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
I wrote about the campaign to criminalize “organized retail theft” in this piece. It’s the only time I’ve written something where I felt like I was going crazy. Theft is already a crime! But retailers lied about the stats, the law, and the causes—they claim that MS-13 and Hezbollah are behind it.
law.georgetown.edu
Big Box Carceralism
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Michelle Cyca @michellecyca.com · 08/05/2026
personally I think it's a very big deal that the Canada bureau chief for the @nytimes.com — certainly one of the highest-paid journalists in the country — asked an unspecified "AI tool" what Poilievre said & published its AI-hallucinated quotes in her reporting.
Editors’ Note: May 1, 2026
This article was updated after The Times learned that a remark attributed to Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative leader, was in fact an A.I.-generated summary of his views about Canadian politics that A.I. rendered as a quotation. The reporter should have checked the accuracy of what the A.I. tool returned.  The article now accurately quotes from a speech delivered by Mr. Poilievre in April. He said, “My personal opinion is that when a member of Parliament goes back on the word they made to their constituents and switches parties, constituents should be able to petition to throw them out and have a byelection. That would put the people back in charge of our democracy rather than having dirty backroom Liberal deals by Mark Carney determine our destiny.” He did not refer to politicians who changed allegiances as turncoats in that speech.
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Jonah Newman @jonahshai.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Congrats to @mdoukmas.bsky.social and @danhinkel.bsky.social on taking home 1st and 2nd place in the Driehaus Awards for Investigative Reporting last night! I'm proud of the work our team @injusticewatch.org does to shed light on systemic failures in the court system.
Dan Hinkel and Maya Dukmasova holding their plaques for the Driehaus awards
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Injustice Watch @injusticewatch.org · 05/05/2026
Join us Wednesday, June 3, at Walls Turned Sideways for an informal conversation about certificates of innocence: what they are, why they matter, and how Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke is trying to make them harder to get. airtable.com/appxuo0SNj05...
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Ida B Wells' Winchester Rifle @dytsras.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
I still cant get over this. How you steal somebody's life... (he was 28 years incarcerated for a crime he DID NOT commit) He gets out, gets a law degree. Runs for office.... WINS... and then they steal the job
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Alma Campos @almacampos.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
20 years ago, Flor lost a job after trying to support immigrant workers in the 2006 march. This year, she brought her family to May Day. For her, the march has become something passed down and a way of refusing to disappear. chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
chicago.suntimes.com
For May Day, Chicago mom takes her family to a protest: ‘I have never heard of any right being won from home’
Twenty years ago, Flor Ramirez lost her job for trying to stand with immigrant workers on May Day. Now, she brings her family to the march, hoping her children learn not to stay silent.
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
New from my colleague @danhinkel.bsky.social - a close look at the campaign Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke is waging against exonerated people trying to escape the trauma and stigma and destitution brought on by wrongful conviction www.injusticewatch.org/project/deny...
injusticewatch.org
Cook County prosecutor fights to block exonerated people from clearing their names
Certificates of innocence can help exonerated people get jobs and housing. State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke is making them harder to get.
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Anthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · 10/04/2026
Tonight in the ai reading group i was reminded of something that happened in 2006 after I dropped out of college, when I was living in a run-down old house next to jb alberto's in rogers park with a bunch of dudes. it was, as you can imagine, not clean.
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Leor Galil @imleor.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
anyway support your local indie press to learn about cool shit 15 months before it goes viral / becomes a hidden gem or whatever
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Leor Galil @imleor.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
This happens *a lot* to journalists at small regional papers—they’ve got boots on the ground, report on stuff first, and are routinely ignored when a big story breaks nationally. I lack the resources and network of the AP, so it’s confounding when something like this happens
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Leor Galil @imleor.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Pretty frustrating that the New York Times is crediting AP with uncovering the existence of Aadam’s archive when I reported on it 15 months prior. chicagoreader.com/music/gossip...
chicagoreader.com
A private collection of 10,000 Chicago show tapes finds a public home - Chicago Reader
The Internet Archive begins posting the Aadam Jacobs Collection. Plus: Four locals heat up the dead of winter with new music.
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Injustice Watch @injusticewatch.org · 17/04/2026
Senior reporter Maya Dukmasova and visual reporter Verónica Martinez won the 2026 McElheny Award for “Fake Science, Faulty Methods, Misleading Testimony." Judges applauded the skillful storytelling, which “weaved impactful scenes with science, accountability, and human stories.” buff.ly/WlNcREA
injusticewatch.org
Investigation Into Rogue Toxicology Lab Wins 2026 McElheny Award
Reporting by the Chicago-based newsroom Injustice Watch exposed a lab tied to more than a dozen wrongful convictions for driving under the influence.
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Maya Dukmasova @mdoukmas.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
This story is wild, been wondering about that mural for months. Thanks for answering all the questions @kerrycardoza.bsky.social !
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Heather Cherone @heathercherone.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
The Chicago Police Department's progress on the consent decree, according to the independent monitoring team in 2024 and 2025.
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