Reading archive 2025-12-31

States made marijuana use legal. Now they should get it off the road.: There’s no breathalyzer test for driving under the influence of cannabis. But there are other options.

U.S. vaccination rates are plunging. Look up where your school stands.: Rocked by pandemic politics, the nation’s shield against infectious disease is shrinking. - "Public health experts argue the U.S. measles outbreaks show why easing vaccine requirements doesn’t always translate into better school attendance. As the South Carolina experience revealed this month, unvaccinated kids are missing school during quarantines, said Jerome Adams, who served as surgeon general during President Donald Trump’s first term.

"'That is completely inconsistent with folks who say that their biggest concerns about covid were that we didn’t care about keeping kids in school,' he said."

LSU, a governor and a $91 million lesson in college football’s power: Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has long used sports as a political cudgel, but nothing riles up his state like Tigers football.

In Russia, plans to cut mobile internet on New Year’s Eve draw fury: One Russian official called the outage “a break from the endless viewing of unnecessary videos” and urged citizens to deliver holiday greetings in person.

A tiny U.S. territory in the Pacific doubles down on a giant Chinese casino

Kennedy Center Honors ratings tank after Trump takeover: Hosted for the first time by President Donald Trump, the Kennedy Center Honors earned record-low viewership of a little over 3 million.

The quiet rebellion of Black men in quarter-zips: The preppy staple is getting a Black-boy rebrand.

Who needs an election? A bar owner falsely claims a seat already filled.: The man is claiming to occupy the most thankless political office in the city – advisory neighborhood commissioner.

Reading archive 2025-12-08

Pssst. Even a healthy Jayden Daniels hasn’t been very good.: The second-year quarterback’s regression from a starry rookie season goes beyond the fact that he has struggled to stay on the field for the Commanders.

The ACC broke the College Football Playoff, and Notre Dame paid the price: The trickle-down effects of a bloated conference crowning an illogical champion led to the Fighting Irish missing the 12-team playoff field.

Ask a Vet: Is it cruel to neuter my dog?: The debate over a common procedure — and why some countries view it as a form of mutilation.

Donald Trump’s Kennedy Center is showier, emptier and more political: In 10 months, the president has transformed Washington’s cultural hub. Now comes his biggest night yet: the Kennedy Center Honors.

A show of Australian Indigenous art should have inspired awe. It’s a mess.: “The Stars We Do Not See” at the National Gallery of Art tells — and muddies — one of the most fascinating stories in 20th-century art.

Glyphosate safety article retracted eight years after Monsanto ghostwriting revealed in court - "This is how man created Astrology, which is effectively a random collection of lights in a 2-D view of a 3-D universe from Earth, correlated with some human affair."

I was a red state governor. What I saw at Harvard surprised me. The spirit of association remains alive in unexpected places. - "What I’ve experienced may be a natural return to Harvard’s more moderate bearings, following noisy displays of intolerance by campus agitators in recent years. Or it may be due to the Trump administration’s forceful executive orders and fiscal pressure. Either way (and it’s probably both), let’s take the win and learn the broader lesson." [ed. note: he wasn't there, so how would he know it has changed at all?]

How Florida lost track of 30,000 students, a ‘cautionary tale’ for vouchers: The state’s auditor general found “a myriad of accountability problems” in the nation’s largest voucher program.

Trump announces $11 billion tariff relief for farmers: Farmers — particularly those who produce soybeans — have felt the effect of the president’s trade policies.

GOP bill to overhaul D.C. bail system could balloon jail population: Republicans in Congress want to end cashless bail in D.C. and hold more suspects in jail before trial. Watchdogs say it could push the jail system to the brink. - "Data shows that such instances are rare. In D.C., in the first three quarters of fiscal year 2025, 90 percent of people did not reoffend while released, according to the federal Pretrial Services Agency; about 1.2 percent committed a violent offense while released."

Suspect in Jan. 6 pipe bomb case appears in court as probe continues: News of Brian Cole Jr.’s arrest came as a shock to a person who has been in regular contact with him for more than a decade.

D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith is stepping down: D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser praised Smith for her service but did not offer a reason for her departure. Smith said she resigned to spend more time with family.

The quest to slow aging leads scientists into the powerhouse of cells: Texas A&M researchers create mini mitochondria factories using tiny nanoflowers.

Democrats, who once lambasted Trump on immigration, have grown quiet: The lack of a unified voice comes as the crackdown on minority communities, including legal residents, has grown more aggressive.

Why Miami’s Trump backers are clashing with the ‘America First’ wing over Venezuela: As Trump threatens strongman Nicolás Maduro, Venezuelan and Cuban American supporters are urging the president to do whatever it takes to oust him. - "The Trump administration has said it is targeting Venezuela as part of a crackdown on drug trafficking, though the country is not one of the main suppliers of illicit drugs to the United States. Most fentanyl in the United States comes from Mexico, and most cocaine from Colombia. Very little of Venezuela’s drug production flows into U.S. borders, current and former U.S. officials say."

The tech fix that can clear the Western range of its barbed wire: GPS-based virtual fences clear migration corridors for wildlife while cutting costs for ranchers. - "This technology holds promise in part because ranchers themselves are not fence-lovers. Range fencing requires frequent repair, robbing ranchers of time they would prefer to invest in managing their herds. At upwards of $15,000 a mile, range fencing is also expensive, both to ranchers and to taxpayers. In 2018, the U.S. Agriculture Department subsidized more than $300 million of fencing on private ranch land.

"With virtual fencing, a cow is adorned with a solar-powered collar that communicates with a mapping app via satellite, cell or local reception tower to warn it — by an increasingly loud tone, followed by a mild electric shock — as it approaches a virtual fence line. Cows are not terribly smart, but they can be trained with the technology within a practice pasture in a few days. The current collars are a bit clunky. Cornell University scientists are developing an ear tag that does the same thing as the bulky collar."

The College Football Playoff Chose Outrage Notre Dame is out. Alabama and Miami are in. And the College Football Playoff committee just did what it does best. - "The conference title games exist to make money. To continue making money, they need teams to want to play in them. Telling the SEC runner-up that it would have made the playoff had it just stayed at home on Saturday, but now it’s been eliminated because it showed up and got its ass kicked, would undermine the entire point of college football: making people rich."

Reading archive 2025-12-03

 A sickening moral slum of an administration: Regarding Venezuela, Ukraine and much more, Trump and his acolytes are worse than simply incompetent. - "Two weeks ago, the chief of staff of the French army said: 'We have the know-how, and we have the economic and demographic strength to dissuade the regime in Moscow. What we are lacking … is the spirit which accepts that we will have to suffer if we are to protect what we are. If our country wavers because it is not ready to lose its children … or to suffer economically because the priority has to be military production, then we are indeed at risk.'"

Drunk raccoon passes out in bathroom after ransacking Va. liquor store: The furry bandit was returned to the wild after sobering up. Authorities said he had no signs of injury “other than maybe a hangover and poor life choices.”

Costco sues Trump administration over tariffs, seeks full refund: Trump justified his sweeping tariffs by calling the U.S. trade deficit a “national emergency.” Costco’s suit alleges his signature economic policy is unlawful.

D.C. Council extends stricter youth curfew through April: In addition to extending the curfew, a D.C. Council member put forward and then withdrew an attempt to delay the implementation of ranked-choice voting.

After restaurant pushback, D.C. likely to change streatery rules: Some restaurateurs have said they can’t afford to comply with the city’s new program.

Republicans begin to tighten the screws on Hegseth’s Pentagon: GOP frustration with Trump’s defense secretary has intensified, with some lawmakers questioning their confidence in him as key committees pursue an aggressive oversight campaign.

It’s a strange ‘charity’ that pays fired football coaches $228M: The government should not treat university athletic departments like food banks. - "Plumbing this issue more thoroughly, Thomas asked, 'Why should the Federal government subsidize the athletic activities of educational institutions when that subsidy is being used to help pay for escalating coaches’ salaries, costly chartered travel, and state-of-the-art athletic facilities?'"

Reading archive 2025--09-02

Trump and Smithsonian secretary meet as White House increases museum pressure: The Trump administration has called for changes across the institution. On Thursday, its head, Lonnie G. Bunch III, joined the president for lunch.

Bowser welcomes federal law enforcement presence indefinitely: Bowser issued an executive order Tuesday requiring local coordination with federal law enforcement “to the maximum extent allowable by law within the District.” The order gives no expiration date.

Forget YIMBY. The housing shortage could disappear on its own.: Demographic shifts and construction surges are likely to resolve the housing crisis without federal intervention.

Bill Belichick’s college debut was a spectacle. Then the game kicked off.: Even a fawning friends-and-family presentation couldn’t save the coach’s first game at North Carolina.

The MAGA kids are not all White: A new generation of young, Black conservatives is trying to gain sway within Trump’s GOP. They have some ideas for how to keep the party going. - "Raven Schwam-Curtis, a Chicago-based creator who was part of a cadre of influencers attending the Democratic National Convention last year, sees figures like DuRousseau and Pearson as using the subversiveness of being Black and Republican to position themselves as the new cool kids. 'What they’re doing is the equivalent of 'We’re not like the other girls,'' she says, making it clear she’s opposed to their message. 'It’s essentially a rebranding of the hipster thing: 'Most Black people vote for Democrats, but I’m voting for Republicans, and here’s why you should listen to my deviation from the norm, because, actually, you’ve been duped.''"

A red state community bet on carbon capture. Trump is blocking it.: Amid fierce global competition to dominate the industry’s future, the Trump administration puts U.S. companies in a bind. - "Cement manufacturing also is one more sector where the United States has been in an innovation race with China, with both countries vying to invent the technologies that will be used by cement makers of the future. The abrupt cancellation of major projects in the U.S., industry experts say, plays into China’s hands."

Life Has Gotten Surreal in China: The state is ever more insistent on a reality at odds with people’s experience. That’s not a good sign for progress.

Reading archive 2025-03-07

She hoped Trump’s victory would change her life, but not like this: Ryleigh Cooper is normally more focused on motherhood than politics. Then came DOGE. - "Trump, at a campaign stop an hour and a half south of her, had promised to make IVF free. She knew that from a video clip she saw on TikTok. And she had believed him.

"She also believed him when he said that Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for the next Republican administration that suggested mass cuts to the federal workforce, was not his plan." [ed. note: lol ffs]

Young men in Africa's Sahel flock to Islamist jihad forces: As Africa’s Sahel region has replaced the Middle East as the epicenter of jihadism, young men are flocking to the cause. They don’t always like what they find.

Civilians in Africa’s Sahel join militias as Islamist extremism surges: The advancing tide of Islamist extremism has prompted the rise of pro-government militias. The result has been a vicious cycle of escalating violence.

How Russia's Wagner Group advances Putin's aim of influence in Africa: Soldiers from the Wagner Group have helped Vladimir Putin advance his aim of restoring Russian power in Africa. But on the ground, they’ve learned hard lessons.

US military presence withdraws from Africa as foreign threats rise: At a time when Africa is convulsed by various threats and American interests could be at risk, U.S. influence is in retreat.

A new generation of military officers is seizing power: As many Africans sour on the West, a new generation of military officers is seizing power, vowing to build strong and sovereign nations. But at what cost?

Military juntas target critics and media, exiling democratic forces: Military strongmen have silenced their critics and muzzled the media, threatening, arresting and exiling those who speak out for democracy. A few still dare.

Post-election stock rally dissolves as trade policy bewilders investors: The Nasdaq composite index has fallen more than 10 percent from its December peak. The S&P 500 now sits below its level on Election Day.

Trump tells Cabinet that they, not Musk, should ‘go first’ in cutting workers: The meeting represented the outpouring of weeks of building tensions between the head of DOGE and President Trump’s top political officials.

Trump property purge to include national park visitor centers, museums: Those and other properties would close under budget cuts proposed by the administration.

At the National Arboretum, D.C.’s most famous eagle couple is expecting: The eaglet, or eaglets, could hatch in early April.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett ignites anger on the right after ruling against Trump: Conservative allies of President Donald Trump called Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett “evil,” a “closet Democrat” and a “DEI hire.”

Trump’s plan to downsize government could put downtown D.C. up for sale: As we await a revised list of properties the GSA deems “non-core,” a critic ponders the fate of Washington’s historic landscape. - "It is virtually impossible that America can recoup its investment in these properties if they are sold off rapidly and at this scale. Such a sale probably would turn the government into a renter rather than an owner, with rental rates set by anyone rich enough to buy the properties. The potential for corruption is unprecedented."

How To Build A Thousand-Year-Old Tree: A set of experimental techniques and technologies that might seem harmful to trees is actually helping ancient forests survive. - "Maintaining a supply of dying wood, and exploiting trees’ ability to exist in a state of spooky half-death, is critical for the unique communities of inhabitants that depend on it. Columns of dead and decaying tree matter called 'tree soil’ are the single most important nutrient resource for deadwood-loving insects and can remain supported in 'deadwood chimneys' by the rest of the living trunk, Harris explained. 'That’s where we get the beetles,' he said."

How a Trump effort to cut environmental red tape could backfire: The White House is revoking its own authority to oversee implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act — and leaving a bureaucratic mess in its wake. - "In an echo of the Trump administration’s refrain that extraordinary measures are required to curb government inefficiency, the unraveling of CEQ is intended to “expedite and simplify the permitting process” for important projects, according to Trump’s executive order. But experts who spoke to Grist anticipate that it will have the opposite effect."

Tesla’s Fortunes Fall as Musk Rises in Trump World: CEO’s politics erode brand’s appeal among some core buyers of electric vehicles; ‘I used to idolize the guy’

Butterflies in the U.S. are disappearing at a ‘catastrophic’ rate: The number of butterflies in the contiguous United States declined by 22 percent this century, a collapse with potentially dire implications. - "David Wagner, a University of Connecticut entomologist not involved in the study, said butterflies act as a 'yardstick for measuring what is happening' among insects broadly. He called the new findings 'catastrophic and saddening.'"

Inside U.S. spy agencies, workers fear a cataclysmic Trump cull: Firings and mass disruptions could harm intelligence collection on foreign threats and future recruiting, current and former officials say. - "The elimination of DEI programs is particularly painful to some intelligence officials, who see pragmatic virtue in a more diverse workforce. For years, spy chiefs have spoken of a lack of analysts with the necessary language skills and cultural backgrounds to understand foreign societies — and undercover operatives with the physical features to work clandestinely in Africa, Asia or the Middle East."

How New York drove a steak through the heart of Texas: A long-simmering regional beef over an iconic American food is heating up again. - "Simple justice demands giving credit where it’s due. The steaks aren’t 'Texas strips,' because they arrived from Texas about as chewy as a cowboy’s boot. And they shouldn’t be 'New York strips,' because New Yorkers contributed nothing to the process but their pieholes. They are 'Kansas City strips,' in honor of the city where the beef got its flavor and the men in bloody aprons who popularized the cut."

Which oil do you cook with? The answer can impact your health.: Extra-virgin olive oil has the most scientific evidence for its health benefits. But avocado and high-oleic vegetable oils are also good for your health.

How North Carolina football landed a coaching legend in Bill Belichick

Reading archive 2024-12-12

D.C. Mayor Bowser says Maryland is holding up RFK stadium deal: Funding to replace the collapsed Key Bridge has now entered the complex, multi-party negotiations over federal bill that could pave the way for the Commanders’ next stadium to be in D.C.

With Bill Belichick, UNC signs on for an awkward, miserable experience: The Bill Belichick experience — dour, irritable and ruthless — is coming to Chapel Hill, and it promises to be a coarse yet gripping experiment.

North Carolina GOP changes election rules before losing supermajority: Republicans in the state legislature gave an ally control over the state’s elections board, rewrote ballot-counting rules and chipped away at the power of the incoming Democratic governor.

He thought he had escaped Beijing’s clutches only to vanish back into China - "Cambodian police documents obtained by The Post and business registration filings list the owner of the Thma Da compound as MDS Heng He Investment Co. Ltd. The filings show the company was formed through a joint venture between a Cambodian company controlled by Try Pheap — a Cambodian tycoon under U.S. sanctions and an adviser to the country’s former prime minister and strongman Hun Sen — and a Chinese company established in Cambodia in 2018. This arrangement, researchers and officials say, is typical of online scam operations, which are closely tied to Cambodia’s political elite and are estimated to exceed $12.5 billion annually in returns for Cambodia, according to the United States Institute of Peace."

Assad’s fall humiliated Putin and could dent his global ambitions: Assad’s fall nine years after Russia saved his regime is a stunning blow to Putin’s goal of forging Russia into a world power to compete with the United States.

The Postal Service’s electric mail trucks are way behind schedule: Defense contractor Oshkosh had only delivered 93 trucks by November — compared to 3,000 originally expected by now. The delays put Biden’s climate goals at risk.

Reading archive 2024-03-11

Opinion  Katie Britt’s big fail shows why the GOP can’t connect with women

Katie Britt’s defense of sex-trafficking anecdote compounds its problems: And now the victim herself is criticizing Britt - "The main problem here is that, in addition to Jacinto’s story not involving Biden, the United States or even the border, it also doesn’t involve the cartels.

...

"(You could even make a case that, to the extent U.S. immigration policy is involved at all, the anecdote reinforces the need for an accessible asylum process for victims like Jacinto.)"

How to Organize Your Fridge

Opinion  What happened to Katie Porter? A lesson for Democrats.

The California Senate race wasn’t ‘rigged’ either

Trump mocks Biden’s stutter again, drawing outrage - "'I learned so much from having to deal with stuttering. It gave me insight into other people’s pain, other people’s suffering. It made me understand that everyone, everyone has something they’re fighting to overcome — and sometimes trying to hide,' Biden said."

Trump’s freewheeling speeches offer a dark vision of a second term: A close examination of one appearance in Rock Hill, S.C., offers an anatomy of a signature rally by the former president

Soaring mobile-home rents anger Arizona voters: Rising costs are giving some conservative voters another reason to back Trump and reducing other voters’ enthusiasm for either candidate

FanDuel to replace D.C.’s troubled sports gambling app this spring

Black college athletes can send a message to Ron DeSantis by staying away

Democrats hope IVF issue might topple key Republican in Pa. swing seat: Rep. Scott Perry (R) says he supports in vitro fertilization -- but he backed a bill declaring embryos people, and Democrats want voters to know it

Biden effigy beaten, kicked at Kansas county GOP event, drawing outrage

S.C. rep says she was ‘shamed’ as rape victim when asked about support for Trump: Nancy Mace was asked to square her support for Donald Trump with her comments as a victim of rape

Reading archive 2012-12-18

How America's harshest immigration law failed: Alabama tried to kick out its undocumented immigrants with the harshest law in the country. Two year's later, the law's in ruins and the immigrants remain. [ed. note: from 2013]

He’s Deeply Religious and a Democrat. He Might Be the Next Big Thing in Texas Politics.: James Talarico confounds Fox News hosts, fights the culture wars by quoting scripture, and has fellow Democrats talking about his statewide future.

The Six Myths Kissinger Created About Himself — That Everyone Fell For: His actual record on China policy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Israel finds large tunnel adjacent to Gaza, raising new questions about prewar intelligence: The army said Sunday that the tunnel facilitated the transit of vehicles, militants, and supplies in preparation for the Oct. 7 attack.

Opinion  Netanyahu is picking a fight with Israel’s best friend: Joe Biden - "'During World War II, Churchill would often howl over policy differences with FDR but never in public. Netanyahu is no Churchill,' Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told me. 'Biden may be the most Zionist president in American history and Netanyahu should be kissing his a--, not kicking it.'"

How a Capitals, Wizards move to Virginia could impact Alexandria, D.C.

Journalist who broke story on decomposing babies in Gaza is shot, injured

Israel’s assault forced a nurse to leave babies behind. They were found decomposing.: A nurse at al-Nasr hospital was caring for premature babies. Then he faced the most difficult decision of his life. - "Then the IDF delivered an ultimatum, al-Nasr director Bakr Qaoud told The Washington Post: Get out or be bombarded. An Israeli official, meanwhile, provided an assurance that ambulances would be arranged to retrieve the patients. 

"The nurse, a Palestinian man who works with Paris-based Doctors Without Borders, saw no choice. He assessed his charges and picked up the strongest one — the baby he thought likeliest to bear a temporary cut to his oxygen supply. He left the other four on their breathing machines, reluctantly, and with his wife, their children and the one baby, headed south.

...

"When Al-Mashhad aired the report, it blurred the remains. The channel gave an unaltered copy of the video to The Post, which verified that it was recorded inside al-Nasr’s neonatal intensive care unit by comparing it with images of the facility from before the war. 

"The remains, still hooked up to respirators, bear little resemblance to bodies. They appear as piles of rotting flesh, bones protruding, body parts difficult to make out. Soiled-looking diapers remain wrapped around their middles."

The issue isn’t Hitler. The issue is the right’s shift since 2015.

THE CHANGING FACE OF AMERICA’S FAVORITE SPORT: How race, politics, culture and money are shaping which kids abandon tackle football -- and which keep risking its toll.

Reading archive 2023-12-10

Opinion  Actually, people don’t hate the media as much as you think

Opinion  Here’s a realistic path to protecting the Amazon rainforest

Internet sleuths identify lost ‘X-Files’ song, solving 25-year mystery: ‘Staring at the Stars’ was an original country song written at the request of producers, fans discovered

They watched their husbands win the Heisman – then lost them to CTE: For years, Heisman weekend was a chance to remember their husband’s glory. Now it’s a reminder of a sport’s violent toll.

Some states spurn migrants. The Rust Belt wants them. - "In recent months, communities including Detroit; Dayton, Ohio; and Erie, Pa. — all places experiencing population loss — have been working with outside experts on how to transform city services to meet the needs of immigrants. One city, Topeka, Kan., is being even more aggressive, offering legal migrants up to $15,000 to move there."

Ukraine’s Zelensky appears increasingly embattled as U.S. backing wavers

The “Sickening” Story of the Sarah Lawrence Sex Cult: Director Zach Heinzerling on Hulu’s three-part docuseries Stolen Youth, which features firsthand footage and audio of Larry Ray and his young followers: “Each video seemed more horrible than the next.”

What the federal probe into antisemitism, Islamophobia at schools is about

The call of Tokitae: After half a century in a tank, a beloved orca was about to be freed. Then her life ended, and a moment of reckoning began. - "In the water near Tokitae’s pectoral fin, Davis pressed her hand flat against the orca’s side, the place where Davis had always loved to feel that massive heart pumping against her palm. She felt it beat for the last time. In the moment that followed, a low roll of thunder echoed through the stadium — 'as if the sky received her,' she would recall later — and a soft rain began to fall."

Update: Orca abandons body of her dead calf after a heartbreaking, weeks-long journey [ed. note: from five years ago]

Paris Hilton vs. the Crunchy Tradwives: A modern parenting story: There’s nothing unnatural about being a nervous parent who doesn’t know what they’re doing

How Democratic and GOP Senate veterans stopped Tuberville’s military holds: Military veterans from both parties spent months working to find a solution, frustrated over the blockade and its impact on military families

Opinion  The Trump dictatorship: How to stop it

Reading archive 2023-07-16

50 years later, group asks: What if other urban highways had been built?

Opinion  Men are lost. Here’s a map out of the wilderness. - "Galloway leaned into the screen. 'My view is that, for masculinity, a decent place to start is garnering the skills and strength that you can advocate for and protect others with. If you’re really strong and smart, you will garner enough power, influence, kindness to begin protecting others. That is it. Full stop. Real men protect other people.' ...

"Reeves, in our earlier conversation, had put it somewhat more subtly. 'I try to raise my boys' — he has three — 'to have the confidence to ask a girl out, if that’s their inclination; the grace to accept no for an answer; and the responsibility to make sure that, either way, she gets home safely.' His recipe for masculine success echoed Galloway’s: proactiveness, agency, risk-taking and courage, but with a pro-social cast."

Opinion  For proof of the U.S. immigration system’s dysfunction, look to Canada

An 11-year-old needed friends ‘really bad.’ 3,100 strangers stepped up.: A TikTok video of Shayden Walker asking a neighbor for friends has racked up nearly 70 million views

Opinion  We fixed I-95 in 12 days. Here are our lessons for U.S. infrastructure.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggests covid was designed to spare Jews, Chinese people

Inside the college newspaper investigation that got a football coach fired: When student journalists at the Daily Northwestern saw that revered coach Pat Fitzgerald had been suspended, they suspected there was more to the story. They uncovered years of hazing allegations.

How a Saudi firm tapped a gusher of water in drought-stricken Arizona" Lax rules let the foreign-owned company pump water from state land to grow alfalfa for the kingdom’s cattle. After almost a decade, the deal is in jeopardy. - "Soon after the company, Fondomonte Arizona, arrived in the Butler Valley in 2015, state planners suggested asking the company to install meters and report its water use, according to a memo reviewed by The Washington Post. That way, the memo argued, the state could 'at least obtain accurate information' on water drained from the valley — water that could otherwise serve as backup for booming urban areas. 

"But the proposal 'hit a stone wall,' John Schneeman, one of the planners, told The Post. It was spurned, he said, by officials in the administration of then-Gov. Doug Ducey (R) who were 'cautious of tangling with a powerful company.' The proposal also ran headlong into a view, deeply held in the rural West, that water is private property that comes with access to land, rather than a public resource."

Reading archive 2022-01-08

In Baton Rouge, there’s a $100 million football coach and everyone else: While LSU pays Brian Kelly millions, Baton Rouge residents -- and even LSU students and employees -- scrape by.

U.S. plans to discuss missile deployments with Russia as part of effort to defuse Ukraine crisis

Reading archive 2021-07-28

Simone Biles said she got the ‘twisties.’ Gymnasts immediately understood.

Where was Caeleb Dressel? Question looms after U.S. 4x200 relay misses medal.

Pac-12 Leaders Suggest Realignment Response as SEC Growth May Compromise CFP Expansion: Texas and Oklahoma's imminent move to the SEC is only the beginning. The Pac-12, while comfortable with its core group, is also listening to expansion suitors of its own.

Republicans voice opposition to Jan. 6 investigation as police officers call for accountability - "The Capitol Police Board controls security at the Capitol. On Jan. 6, the board consisted of the House sergeant-at-arms, Paul D. Irving, who was hired under Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), and the Senate sergeant-at-arms, Michael Stenger, who was hired in 2018 when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was majority leader."

China hosts Taliban leaders as U.S. withdraws troops from Afghanistan

Our democracy is under attack. Washington journalists must stop covering it like politics as usual. - "As a model, they might have to swallow their big-media pride and look to places like Harrisburg, Pa., public radio station WITF which has admirably explained to its audience why it continually offers reminders about the actions of those public officials who tried to overturn the 2020 election results. Or to Cleveland Plain Dealer editor Chris Quinn’s letter to readers about how the paper and its website, Cleveland.com, refuse to cover every reckless, attention-getting lie of Republican Josh Mandel as he runs for the U.S. Senate next year."

Illegal cannabis growers are stealing water amid California’s drought, officials say - "In a recent sting in Antelope Valley in northern Los Angeles County, federal, state and local law enforcement officers disrupted hundreds of allegedly illegal marijuana cultivations in the area. They arrested 131 people and seized 65 vehicles, including two water trucks. Authorities recovered $28,000, 33,480 pounds of marijuana and dozens of firearms. Nineteen people were charged with water theft."

"You might not like it, but it’s smart politics.": 'Twas the savvy style that led the political press astray. By the time Trump showed up, they were too far gone to realize it. - "Recently someone else asked me for three or four changes in political journalism that might begin to right this ship. (Emphasis on begin to…) To wind this up, here is what I told him: Defense of democracy seen as basic to the job. Symmetrical accounts of asymmetrical realities seen as malpractice. 'Politics as strategic game' frame seen as low quality, downmarket, amateurish, silly— and overmatched. Bad actors with a history of misinforming the public seen as unsuitable sources and unwelcome guests."

Reading archive 2018-11-02

Maryland Sold Its Soul Only to Fire D.J. Durkin: Just one day after announcing that it would retain Durkin, the university fired its head coach amid a wave of public outcry. What does this reversal say about college football’s power structure—and its history of prioritizing winning above all else?

Congress thinks the public is way more conservative than it actually is. Deep-pocketed lobbyists are to blame, according to new research.

‘Hi, I’m Oprah’: The Georgia governor’s race is at full boil — and now the cavalry has arrived