Reading archive 2026-10-07

Kamala Harris has a 2028 opening — and a 2024 problem: The former Democratic standard-bearer retains considerable respect in the party, but there’s an undercurrent of anxiety about her return to the political conversation.

3 science-backed ways to help your brain clear out waste: If the brain’s plumbing doesn’t work properly, research shows, cellular garbage accumulates, and a cleaner brain may be a healthier one.

Will Texas turn blue? Here’s what voters told me at a Buc-ee’s.: Talarico leads Paxton, while a Democrat has also made the governor’s race competitive.

D.C. Council approves $305M for Metro, bus upgrades near RFK Stadium site: The council also passed a bill that allows businesses and other organizations to pay for off-duty parking enforcement officers to target trouble spots. - "On Tuesday, the council also passed a bill that allows businesses, universities and other organizations to pay for off-duty parking enforcement officers to target spots around the District where illegal parking is a problem. It also allows university police to enforce parking on streets within and adjacent to their campuses.

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Seven council members voted 'yes' on the bill. Council member Janeese Lewis-George (Ward 4), the Democratic nominee for mayor, voted 'present.' Council member Robert C. White Jr. (D-At Large) tried to pass an amendment that would have cut the fines for parking tickets in half, but that effort failed."

D.C. wants to build a 15-acre wellness resort on the Anacostia. Some are skeptical.

Maryland offers grants to struggling businesses as Purple Line nears completion

The Republican senator who’s fed up with presidential family sleaze: Sen. John Curtis urges hearings and subpoenas for Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden. [ed. note: embarrassing false equivalence]

The border counties that swung to Trump are now short of workers. They may swing back.: Labor scarcity tied to ICE arrests could shake up a trio of battleground House races along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Tear the frat houses down: ‘I have grown tired of waiting for boys to grow up’: In the wake of the Cornell Chi Phi allegations, Malavika Kannan asks whether fraternity culture can really ever be reformed - "If people in power were actually committed to ending sexual violence – which I am not, truthfully convinced they are –- they would challenge the structures that enable it, especially when men are young. Ending fraternities is an obvious, overdue step: they are a place of concentrated male power and minimal accountability, where boys control access to alcohol and parties and can use that power to exclude, exploit, and sexually assault women."

D.C. Woman Sentenced in Kidnapping and Violent Armed Robbery of Two Women Lured for a Fake ‘Babysitting’ Job