Logan Jaffe

Logan Jaffe

@loganjaffe.bsky.social

Newsletter Editor and Writer @ProPublica.org. Public History grad student. Floridian in the Midwest.

13.9K followers1.7K following136 posts

Pinned

What's up! Excited to be on here and reconnect. I'm a journalist with ProPublica, based in Chicago. I write newsletters and stories. I also study and write about public history.

Anna Clark@annaleighclark.bsky.social

Ever more ProPublicans are on here now! 🕵️🔎 If you already followed this starter pack, it's worth checking in again to see who is newly added. go.bsky.app/RkNqWmw

Logan Jaffe reposted

a note: if you'd like to read this story without repeatedly watching footage of violent arrests, you can click to disable the videos at the beginning

ProPublica@propublica.org

NEW: The Trump administration keeps denying and downplaying that immigration agents have been detaining Americans. It’s wrong. We’ve found more than 500 U.S. citizens have been held against their will, including handcuffed or held at gunpoint.

According to @propublica.org I could personally open Ye Olde New Venture Academy, a private school, in 24 states 😅

ProPublica@propublica.org

NEW: We learned that the rules for starting a private school vary wildly across states. Some require background checks and specific qualifications. Others invite anyone with a dream and a pulse. See where your state draws the line. Take our quiz and share your results ⤵️

Logan Jaffe reposted

I’m teaching a workshop this weekend about how historians research. #Skystorians, what are your favorite or most important research tips and tricks? What is your favorite method for finding archives and archival material?

When coming up with newsletter ideas, I ask a lot of @propublica.org reporters how they got the story. That convo with @amierjeski.bsky.social led this piece published today — an investigative, visual tour that starts with a wicker chair in the background of a Russian oligarch’s Telegram video 🤯

propublica.orgDispatches
ProPublica@propublica.org

NEW: On social media and in tabloids, photos from Don Jr. and Bettina Trump’s Bahamas wedding were tightly curated. But sometimes, what — or, who — isn’t pictured is just as important as what is. Let’s go on an investigative, visual tour.

Logan Jaffe reposted

SCOOP: 404 Media placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it. What did we find? It ended up at an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books. Yes. This is literally the logo outside the Amazon warehouse door. Read now:

404media.coWe Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training FacilityWe placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.

Logan Jaffe reposted

🚨 We analyzed the Supreme Court’s decisions over the past 20 years and found that for the first time, the court issued more consequential rulings on its “shadow docket” (unsigned orders often decided without arguments) than the traditional merits docket. www.propublica.org/article/supr...

Logan Jaffe reposted

Replying to @nhannahjones.bsky.social

I am not being hyperbolic. Our insistence on segregating our histories, in encapsulating the struggle for voting/civil rights as a Black struggle and not an American one, has helped bring us to this moment. We did not have representative democracy until 1965. W/o the VRA, it is unlikely to survive.

Logan Jaffe reposted

Newsrooms should not block the Internet Archive. Any public service publisher should not block the Internet Archive. If anything, we should all be directly supporting the Internet Archive.

Logan Jaffe reposted

Logan Jaffe reposted

I hate that contract negotiations are not going better, but this is where we are. Today my colleagues and I @propublica.org are walking out. We need management to come to the table with more serious contract proposals that address our real concerns about discipline, job protections and fair wages.

ProPublica Guild@propublicaguild.org

We’re on strike today! Support our fight for a fair contract by NOT visiting the @propublica.org website or engaging with ProPublica stories today. Tell ProPublica’s management you won’t cross the picket line: actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...

Logan Jaffe reposted

Really sad it’s come to this. On my way to join my colleagues at the picket line. We deserve a fair contract!

ProPublica Guild@propublicaguild.org

We’re on strike today! Support our fight for a fair contract by NOT visiting the @propublica.org website or engaging with ProPublica stories today. Tell ProPublica’s management you won’t cross the picket line: actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...

Logan Jaffe reposted

Good morning! All day today my colleagues and I will be on STRIKE. You can help us send a message! Please do not visit ProPublica's website and tell management to give us a fair contract so we can get back to work: actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...

actionnetwork.orgFair Contract Now for ProPublica GuildWe, the workers of ProPublica, provide our readers with deeply researched, unbiased news that holds power to account. This work is more important now than ever, but our staff can’t properly contribute...
ProPublica Guild@propublicaguild.org

We’re on strike today! Support our fight for a fair contract by NOT visiting the @propublica.org website or engaging with ProPublica stories today. Tell ProPublica’s management you won’t cross the picket line: actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...

WE ARE ON STRIKE TODAY! As someone who regularly looks at ProPublica web traffic, today's the only day of my career I want to see low numbers. We know our readers support our union. Don't read us today. We'll be there tomorrow.

ProPublica Guild@propublicaguild.org

We’re on strike today! Support our fight for a fair contract by NOT visiting the @propublica.org website or engaging with ProPublica stories today. Tell ProPublica’s management you won’t cross the picket line: actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...

Went to an estate sale over the weekend. I thought I’d sworn off of buying other people’s home movies, answering machine cassettes and 35mm slides but when treasure presents itself … I could not resist.

I have a lot of this stuff and most of the required projectors. Been collecting since college. I used to digitize and post on tumblr and try to write about it. But the internet’s changed and lately I’ve been hung up on just finding the people these memories might belong to.

Logan Jaffe reposted

This is 18-mo-old Amalia waving to me when she was detained. She was hospitalized with a respiratory infection while at ICE’s Dilley facility for immigrant families. She’s one of dozens of detainees who I spoke to via video and phone calls, letters and an in-person visit. 🧵1/

Logan Jaffe reposted

1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken. Hundreds of kids are still detained. We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵

Logan Jaffe reposted

Freedom 250, the Trump-run group the NYT reports is offering big donors special access, has totally supplanted America250, the congressional org that had been organizing 250th events, as we reported last week .So Trump is turning 250th into a party for himself, with taxpayer $, but no oversight.

motherjones.comTrump's war on historyAs America's 250th anniversary approaches, the president wants to control the country's future by bulldozing its past.
The New York Times@nytimes.com

President Trump’s allies are offering access to him and other perks to donors who give at least $1 million to a new group supporting flashy initiatives he is planning around the U.S.’s 250th birthday, according to documents and interviews.

Logan Jaffe reposted

Citing fear of ICE, pregnant immigrants in Minnesota are -skipping prenatal care -requesting home births, even when not medically advised -going w/o adequate food Many are experiencing complications providers say can be stress-onset: diabetes, high blood pressure, and even water breaking early

19thnews.orgFear of ICE is keeping pregnant immigrants in Minnesota from critical careHealth care providers in Minnesota said pregnant patients are having more complications linked to stress. But fear of immigration agents is keeping them from prenatal care.

Logan Jaffe reposted

For the 40th anniversary, I interviewed six Black journalists who covered it in some capacity. BTW, the PPD dropped the bømb from a PA state helicopter. www.phillytrib.com/news/local_n...

phillytrib.comSome of Philly's longtime Black journalists recall covering MOVE bombing, its impactSome of Philadelphia’s longtime Black journalists, who were either present on the scene or covered the 1985 MOVE bombing in some capacity, sat down at The Philadelphia Tribune recently to
Nina Turner@ninaturner.bsky.social

On May 13, 1985 in Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania State Police dropped a bomb from a helicopter onto a Black neighborhood. 11 people were killed, 5 of whom were children. As we see ICE terrorize communities, understand that saying “this isn’t who we are” is false.

Logan Jaffe reposted

Synthetic doctors are outperforming real ones on social media. I found more than 25 AI health accounts with +8.5 million followers. The Canadian Medical Assoc runs a program featuring real doctors. Its prez told me: "I would say that our following is not as large." indicator.media/p/ai-generat...

indicator.mediaAI-generated doctors are dispensing dubious health adviceIndicator identified more than two dozen social media accounts that feature synthetic doctors and medical professionals. They've racked up millions of views and engagements.

Logan Jaffe reposted

Replying to @djbyrnes1.bsky.social

The march is now passing the Chicago city hall / Cook County hall building. The chant goes up, "Minnesota don't you fear, we, the people, are right here"

Logan Jaffe reposted

Some immigrant parents, fearful of their children facing similar uncertainty if they were to be arrested, detained or deported are taking the extreme step of legally transferring parental authority to teachers, co-workers, fellow parishioners and neighbors.

bit.lyFearing ICE, parents make plans for their children’s careSome families give legal authority to others to make key decisions about a child’s life if a parent is detained and deported.

Logan Jaffe reposted

just going to leave this here www.propublica.org/series/life-...

propublica.orgLife of the Mother ArchivesWhen the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, doctors warned that women would die, but lawmakers who passed state abortion bans didn’t listen. The worst consequences are now becoming clear.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Mike Johnson: "It is the strength of the American family again -- that's what we brought back. We measure our success on the number of lives we save and the lives we improve and uplift with common sense life-affirming policies."

Look at this: @inquirer.com has digitally preserved the interpretative signage removed by NPS, and used annotations to explain what specifically was flagged before removal. This keeps the content publicly accessible (for now) while doing newsworthy reporting www.inquirer.com/news/philade...

inquirer.comHere are the signs the Trump administration removed from Independence ParkFollowing last year’s review, every sign has been removed from the President’s House site.

Logan Jaffe reposted

Imagine you're a scientist trying to publish a new study, and being told you can't, unless you do background checks on co-authors who aren't U.S. citizens and send their names to national security staff. Also, studies about climate change or DEI written w/foreign scientists = rejected. ⬇️

ProPublica@propublica.org

The new directive asks USDA workers in the agency’s research arm to use Google to check the backgrounds of all foreign nationals collaborating with its scientists. The names of flagged scientists are being sent to national security experts at the agency, according to records reviewed by ProPublica.

Logan Jaffe reposted

Immigration agents are choking people in America's streets & using tactics against their own policy/training. Many LEO agencies have banned their use A Colombian TikToker. An ICU nurse. A father holding his child. A 16-year-old citizen DHS calls this "utmost professionalism" w/ @mckenziefunk.com

propublica.orgWe Found More Than 40 Cases of Immigration Agents Using Banned Chokeholds and Other Moves That Can Cut Off BreathingCivilians have had apparent seizures. One had his eyes roll back. Another had ribs broken. “I felt like I was going to pass out and die,” said a 16-year-old citizen put in a chokehold. The government ...

White House: “We wish to be assured that none of the leadership of the Smithsonian museums is confused about the fact that the United States has been among the greatest forces for good in the history of the world.”

NPR@npr.org

The White House says the Smithsonian Institution must submit materials about current and upcoming exhibitions and events for a review that will determine whether they express "improper ideology." n.pr/4583d8f

Logan Jaffe reposted

Last week, we published a story detailing ICE's strategy for recruiting new officers, including targeting "gun rights" supporters and geo-fencing ads around gun shows. Ex-ICE director told me: “That mentality you’re fostering tends to inculcate in people a certain aggressiveness" wapo.st/3Ngmo9C

Logan Jaffe reposted

“It is chilling, but not impossible, to envision the signs screaming “Stop the steal!” picked up on the garbage-strewn National Mall on Jan. 7, 2021, treated one day as patriotic treasures, displayed alongside the writing desk Thomas Jefferson used to draft the Declaration of Independence ...”

Peter Manseau@petermanseau.bsky.social

Published this warning about what could happen to the memory of January 6 on the first anniversary of the attack. Never imagined so much of the country would — willfully, foolishly — forget so soon. www.nytimes.com/2022/01/06/o...

This might seem trivial to some, but the context is for decades now historians have been pushing to tell the “fuller American story” which tries to correct white-centric history told since our nation’s founding. Trump admin is essentially saying: We’re sticking to the white version, thanks.

This post is unavailable.

Logan Jaffe reposted

I will never forgot the all-staff meeting after layoffs were announced where someone asked Moog whether he considered taking a pay cut himself (no, of course) — and why reporters and producers had to pay for CPM’s financial woes, instead of the people (ahem, him) who caused them. This is so gross.

Chicago Sun-Times@chicago.suntimes.com

The nonprofit owner of the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ paid its outgoing CEO more than $900,000 in 2024, new tax filings show, as it engaged in staff cuts and other measures to deal with declining revenue.

Question for the historians and public historians on here: Who teaches you how to write history for various audiences? Serious Q. Are there classes in academic programs? Residencies? Working groups?

Logan Jaffe reposted

The majority of archival material out there has NOT been digitized. So if you really want to figure something out, odds are that you have to go to an archive and dig. Historians are trained to dig.