ICE has begun targeting and detaining Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio (Ohio Capital Journal)
BY MEGAN HENRY
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement has started targeting and detaining Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, after President Donald Trump revoked their legal status.
As of Friday, August 21st, it has been confirmed that ICE has detained 29 Haitian people. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled at the end of June that President Donald Trump could end temporary protected status for the 330,000 Haitians who’ve fled the violence in their home country.
In Springfield, about 15,000 Haitians have a mix of temporary protected status, citizenship, and other legal statuses. With such a high presence of ICE and the specific targeting of Haitians, many residents are fearful to go outside and do everyday activities
Haitian Support Center Executive Director Viles Dorsainvil stated, “Behind every detention is a family. Behind every deportation is a mother, a father, a husband, a wife, a child, a friend, a church member, a coworker, or a neighbor whose life may be changed forever.” Many Haitians currently live in a state of anxiety and fear, as this is only the beginning of ICE’s targeting of them.
The golden age of food denial: Moral distance, self-deception and the ethics of looking away (ABC News)
BY JOSEPH PHELAN
How can we reconcile a concern for animal welfare while actively participating in systems that cause animals to die?
We are often sentimental toward our pets and care for them, yet we have mastered the skill of looking the other way when it comes to animals raised and killed for our meat, dairy, and eggs; Phelan describes this as “food denial.” Moral distance is the idea that the more separated we are from the consequences of an action, the less immediate or concerned we feel towards those consequences. For animals raised for food, we are entirely separated physically, as the food industry hides slaughterhouses from the public eye and promotes a false image of a regular red barn farm. Additionally, the language used when talking about food creates this distance; we do not say we are eating cow, pig, or calf; we say we eat beef, pork, or veal. Thus, we see no connection to the life behind the food we eat; instead, we view it as a packaged, sold item.
Philosopher Michel Foucault wrote about how societies make certain practices feel natural and unquestioned. In food, killing animals and packaging them for consumption has become normalized, so many individuals do not question it or view eating meat as taking an ethical stance. This natural view of eating meat leads to welfarism: the notion that using animals for food can be morally acceptable as long as unnecessary suffering is avoided. It also leads to labels such as “free-range” or “grass-fed” obscuring the reality of farmed animals for food and shifting the ethical focus from whether animals should be eaten in general toward the conditions in which they are raised and ultimately killed.
Joseph Phelan writes, “Most people understand, at least in broad terms, that much of their food comes from animals that have been killed. The issue isn’t that the reality is hidden from us. It’s that we rarely have to think about it. This doesn’t erase what we know, but it allows that knowledge to remain in the background while we continue with the routines of everyday life”
The Limits of Unauthorized Practice in Regulating Mental Health AI (The Hastings Center for Bioethics)
BY ROEE AMIR, VARDIT RAVITSKY, AND I. GLENN COHEN
Pennsylvania’s State Board of Medicine filed a lawsuit in Commonwealth Court against Character Technologies to halt unauthorized medical practice under Pennsylvania’s Medical Practice Act. The alleged “practitioner” was not a physician or even a human being; it was a chatbot named Emilie.
The Emile case arises as AI use rapidly increases in mental health care, raising ethical and legal questions. The American Psychological Association’s 2026 Chatbots and Mental Health Survey found that 39% of psychologists reported patients using AI to self-diagnose. Recent testing also found that LLM’s and therapy chatbots stigmatize mental health conditions, mishandle emergencies, and encourage suicidal tendencies, significantly increasing serious harm for individuals seeking help.
However, this case raises an important question: when does a conversation become the practice of medicine for conversational AI, whose main output is words? This question is especially difficult in mental health, where conversation itself is an instrument of care. Thus, a chatbot can shift from ordinary conversation to assessment without crossing any clear threshold.
The use of chatbots and AI in mental health care raises an ethical question: when does a conversation cross into unauthorized practice?
Flock cameras are everywhere — and people really, really hate them (VOX)
BY AVISHAY ARTSY and SEAN RAMESWARAM
Big Brother Flock is watching. How comfortable are you with being watched without your consent?
Flock cameras have quickly become one of the most highly contested conversations regarding surveillance lately. There are over 120,000 surveillance cameras nationwide, except in Alaska, causing extreme discomfort and anger for many individuals —not only because they monitor people, but also because Flock uses AI to feed a nationwide database that law enforcement can access with few to no restrictions.
Flock claims that its primary use is to aid in criminal investigations. However, recent reporting has revealed that law enforcement officials are abusing the Flock cameras to track current or ex-romantic partners. Local police officers are also aiding ICE by surveilling undocumented individuals using the Flock platform. Another instance of surveillance abuse is apparent in the case where, in Texas, a woman’s partner claimed she had self-administered an abortion, resulting in over 80,000 Flock cameras searched in their system to find the woman.
The use of Flock cameras is transcending their intended purpose of aiding law enforcement in criminal investigations. It has evolved into an invasive form of surveillance attacking individuals concerning issues of immigration, abortion, etc.
Study finds food insecurity remains in historically redlined neighborhoods (Texas A&M University)
BY ANN KELLETT AND TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
The now illegal practice of “redlining” continues to haunt communities with insufficient food access.
Redlining began in 1934 and was used to refuse loans and mortgages to people in specific neighborhoods that were majority racial and ethnic minorities. Redlining left these communities with many hardships such as crime, poor education, housing affordability, food insecurity, and more.
“Being poor only makes matters worse,” Sebastian Linde, a health policy expert with the Texas A&M University School of Public Health at Texas A&M Health, said. “Limited funds force people to buy cheap, fattening foods, and food shortages lead to stress and cycles of overeating when food is available.”
These communities lack access to healthy food. Instead of grocery stores or farmers’ markets, fast-food chains dominate these areas and are often the only affordable food option. To move toward food security, policy changes, along with collaboration with the community and other sectors such as housing and urban planning, should be considered to potentially reverse the effects of redlining on these communities.
How Big Tech Captured American Schools (The New York Times)
BY NATASHA SINGER
Companies such as Google and Microsoft have invested their money to be in nearly every stage of education.
Big Tech has consistently inserted itself into the education systems in a variety of ways. Microsoft hosts workshops for educators to learn how to use its platforms in the classroom and integrate them into their curriculum. Consumer tech giants such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft provide the technological essentials (laptops, desktops, tablets, and platforms) schools need to run and children use throughout their academic journey.
With such powerful influence, it can begin to feel as though Big Tech has overtaken the education system. “Industry funds what helps industry,” Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman said, given these companies’ prevalent presence within every stage of education. Concerns about the rise of AI and its association with these companies have led educators to push back on AI use and be cautious with technology.
NM residents protest pending Project Jupiter air quality permit outside Environment Department (Source NM)
BY JOSHUA BOWLING
The New Mexico Environmental Department is scheduled to initiate a hearing on September 14th. The permit would allow Project Jupiter’s power supply to emit as much greenhouse gas as New Mexico’s largest cities combined.
Protesters gathered in front of New Mexico’s Environmental Department office to voice their opposition to elected officials approving the development of the Oracle and OpenAI data centers. Individuals shared their concerns about the adverse effects the center would have on local water sources and the environment.
“We believe that water is a gift from God. And the creator gave us that gift for us to nourish our life and our communities,” he said into a microphone. “And these vendidos want to take God’s gift to us to power AI slop and hate and artificial intelligence when they won’t invest in human intelligence?” Albuquerque resident Patrick Jaramillo, co-director of the American Friends Service Committee’s New Mexico Program, shared..
Elected officials are also under scrutiny after State Engineer Elizabeth Anderson approved the drilling of emergency wells, violating state law that requires public notice and a hearing in these cases. Additionally, Max Shepard, the hearing officer for NMED’s air quality permit process for Project Jupiter, quickly shifted the hearing from October to September, depriving involved parties and constituents of their right to due process.
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