Reading archive 2025-08-06

Why one epidemiologist won’t let his kids play on artificial turf fields: A turf war is raging over artificial grass. Here’s how nervous parents can navigate it.

Data from Calif. and D.C. shows how minimum-wage hikes can hurt: Recent experience underscores the perils of raising minimum wage above what the market can bear.

Reject the Commanders stadium deal: Even after tweaks, the deal still amounts to corporate welfare that the NFL team and its billionaire owner do not need. - "Even if the Commanders were to pull out of the deal, residents might be better-off. A separate report from the council’s budget office — written before the deal was revised — compared tax revenue from mixed-use development of the RFK site with and without the stadium. It projected that, over the course of 30 years, the site would generate about $1 billion more in revenue and $1.4 billion more in economic activity without the stadium."

Bowser needs a reality check on the D.C. stadium: City politicians and the team are promising growth on a scale that football stadiums don’t generate.

Texas election map fight swells into national political warfare: The battle over Republicans’ push to create more safe red U.S. House seats seats has widened, with red and blue states moving to counteract each other and ambitious politicians vowing aggressive partisan combat.