Sites Linked to Equality Movements On List of Most Endangered US Historic Places

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Sites Linked to Equality Movements Join List of Most Endangered US Historic Places (Maria)

The author writes, “The Stonewall National Monument, the President’s House Site and the Women’s Rights National Historic Park are among 11 sites on this year’s annual list of the most endangered historic places in the U.S. compiled by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The 2026 list, announced Wednesday, marks America’s 250th anniversary with the foundational principle that everyone is created equal as the theme, said Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the nonprofit organization. The 11 sites offer examples of how Americans have fought against injustice and for equality, she said.”

A Texas Town May Offer a Preview of a Trump Plan to Force Noncitizens From Public Housing (Reader Steve)

The author writes, “Until recently, young children ran in and out of their public housing homes in this Gulf Coast town, playing on sun-dappled lawns as mothers looked over their shoulders for the school bus to drop off their older kids. Suddenly, couches, dressers and refrigerators started appearing curbside for movers or garbage collectors. Within weeks, the neighborhood was a ghost town and the playground was empty. What prompted the mass exodus was a bungled message from the housing authority in Port Isabel, a South Texas community of 5,000 people, many of whom are immigrants working at hotels and restaurants on the beaches of nearby South Padre Island. The Port Isabel Housing Authority indicated a Trump administration proposal was about to take effect that would end housing assistance to families with at least one member in the country illegally. The events that followed provided a glimpse of what could happen in communities across the U.S. if the proposed rule is actually finalized.”

‘You Want To Get Your Wife Deported?’ A Fake DHS Tip Line Is Exposing What Some Americans Really Think. (DonkeyHotey)

From HuffPost: “Comedian Ben Palmer isn’t an ICE officer ― but he’s gotten a pretty good sense of the kinds of anonymous tips the Department of Homeland Security must receive from the public. That’s because, since January 2025, Palmer has been running an elaborate prank: a fake tip line people can call to report undocumented immigrants. He then posts the calls on YouTube and features some of them in his stand-up comedy. A year and a half into the gag, the Nashville-based comedian says he’s received hundreds of calls: people reporting their neighbors who side-eyed them, their friend’s immigrant nanny, even someone in the neighborhood who’s driving a car they think is way too nice for them to own.” 

Harvard Faculty Vote to Limit A Grades for Undergraduates (Russ)

The author writes, “Harvard faculty voted to cap the number of A grades given to undergraduates at about 20 percent per class, taking assertive action to reverse years of grade inflation at a time of intense scrutiny of higher education. The vote, reported Wednesday, is the most prominent symbol of a reckoning at some elite schools concerned by the increasing number of A’s — a widespread issue that some faculty members warn is fundamentally damaging the integrity of education.” 

Old Oil and Gas Wells Could Find Second Life Producing Clean Energy (Reader Jim)

From Wired: “As states seek out much-needed supplies of clean, reliable energy, some are looking to an unconventional source: abandoned oil and gas wells harnessed for geothermal heat. Millions of inactive wells are littered across the United States, the relics of earlier eras of fossil fuel production. A large number of the sites have no official owner, and many are still polluting groundwater and leaking heat-trapping methane. The country has barely scratched the surface in dealing with this problem. Policymakers in both Republican- and Democratic-led states are exploring whether these sites could instead be converted into new wells for producing geothermal energy.”

The Man Who Blew Up a Nuclear Power Station and Disappeared (Laura)

From The Guardian: “In December 1982, South African Rodney Wilkinson walked four bombs into Koeberg power station — the crown jewel of the apartheid state — pulled the pins and then left on his bicycle. How did he do it?”

Archaeologists Find Egyptian Mummy Buried With the ‘Iliad’ (Dana)

The author writes, “Archaeologists working in Egypt have discovered a remarkable combination of Homeric epic and Egyptian ritual: a 2,000-year-old mummy with a papyrus fragment of the ‘Iliad’ sealed in a clay packet outside its wrappings. It is the first time a literary work has been found playing a functional, spiritual role in the mummification process. And it suggests that for a Roman-era Egyptian, the ‘Iliad’ — specifically some lines from Book 2’s ‘Catalogue of Ships’ — was perhaps as crucial for navigating the afterlife as a magical spell.”