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His Idea to Help Homeless: Offering Space in Own Home

'Guardian' profiles a former crack addict who has turned into an 'unlikely do-gooder'

(Newser) - Stuart Potts is a 43-year-old former crack addict who has been in and out of prison much of his adult life. But as a profile in the Guardian reveals, he also is an "unlikely do-gooder" in an unusual way: Over the last few years, he has opened up his...

Whistleblower Calls Out Health Insurer Cigna
Whistleblower Calls Out
Health Insurer Cigna
longform
May 5, 2024 12:10 PM CDT

Whistleblower Calls Out Health Insurer Cigna

Debby Day says she and other doctors are pressured to review cases too quickly

(Newser) - A ProPublica story paints the picture of health insurance giant Cigna being more concerned about productivity—mainly through speedy denials of coverage—than the health of its customers. The story is told through the prism of Dr. Debby Day, who reviewed claims at Cigna for 15 years and says her...

Feds Allege an Audacious, Decades-Long Heist—of Water

'Los Angeles Times' unravels the charges out of the Panoche Water District in rural California

(Newser) - You might say the story of an alleged water heist described in the Los Angeles Times is so audacious it's made for Hollywood—except Chinatown pretty much already covered it. Like that Jack Nicholson classic, the true-life story involves allegations of illicit water siphoning on a massive scale in...

EPA Aims to Relax Limits on Common Pesticide
EPA Aims to Relax
Limits on Common Pesticide
LONGFORM
Apr 28, 2024 3:15 PM CDT

EPA Aims to Relax Limits on Common Pesticide

ProPublica reports on how critics say the agency is working too closely with chemical industry

(Newser) - "It's exactly what we recommended against." That's the view of Veena Singla, a member of a scientific advisory panel tapped by the EPA, on the agency's plan to loosen restrictions on a pesticide called acephate. Sharon Lerner of ProPublica digs into the issue and how...

Have We Gone Overboard on Trees?
Maybe We Should
Just Let Trees Be Trees
longform
Apr 28, 2024 2:15 PM CDT

Maybe We Should Just Let Trees Be Trees

'Guardian' explores the zeitgeisty principles of the 'wood-wide web' and the ensuing backlash

(Newser) - There's a movie in the works based on the popular memoir Finding the Mother Tree by forest ecologist Suzanne Simard, with Amy Adams in line to play the title role. But as Daniel Immerwahr writes in the Guardian , "it is rare for academic ideas to reach the Amy...

After WWII, US Welcomed a 'Greek Baby Trade'
After WWII, a
'Greek Baby Trade' Was Born
longform
Apr 28, 2024 9:01 AM CDT

After WWII, a 'Greek Baby Trade' Was Born

'Politico Magazine' looks at how 'politically motivated adoptions' found its model

(Newser) - Much has been written about the dark side of anti-communist fervor in America after World War II, but Jessica Bateman explores a little-known aspect at Politico Magazine —the ethically dubious adoption of thousands of Greek babies by American families. The phenomenon sprang up in the aftermath of the 1949...

Baseball Has a Serious Pitcher Problem
Baseball
Has a Serious
Pitcher
Problem
longform
Apr 28, 2024 5:30 AM CDT

Baseball Has a Serious Pitcher Problem

They're getting injured and requiring surgery at an alarming rate, the Ringer reports

(Newser) - Baseball has an "ace problem," writes Ben Lindbergh in the Ringer . As in, its pitchers are getting injured at an alarming rate and requiring Tommy John surgery to fix their elbows. More precisely, to repair their ulnar collateral ligament, or UCL. Talk of a "Tommy John epidemic"...

Rodeo Star Makes His Peace With Bull That Broke His Neck
He Might Be the Best
Bull Rider, Ever
longform
Apr 27, 2024 3:30 PM CDT

He Might Be the Best Bull Rider, Ever

But JB Mauney has finally called it quits, and made his peace with the bull that forced his hand

(Newser) - Know the name JB Mauney? If not, you've probably never been to a rodeo, because the 37-year-old is "arguably the greatest rodeo bull rider who ever lived," writes Sally Jenkins in a profile for the Washington Post . Mauney, however, is now in what he calls "forced...

For the Serengeti's Maasai, a Bitter Irony Unfolds

'Atlantic' explores how they're losing land they've carefully tended in the name of conservation

(Newser) - On the surface, the news might please those with a conservationist bent—Tanzania setting aside more and more land for preservation. Look a little closer and what emerges is the brutal toll being exacted on the Maasai—pastoralists who are "among the lightest-living people on the planet"—in...

He Wanted to 'Forget' His Life, Until He Got a Diagnosis

John Paul Scotto writes about learning at 35 that he was autistic

(Newser) - John Paul Scotto has become obsessed with many things—among them internet poker, drinking, and movies—and one of those movies was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Like Jim Carrey's character in the film, there was a time when Scotto wanted to forget things—in his case, as...

NM City Illustrates Problems of America's Drinking Water

Sunland Park has had illegal levels of arsenic for years, with no resolution

(Newser) - Big headlines occasionally surface about serious problems with drinking water in American cities, as with Flint, Michigan , and Jackson, Mississippi . But the Washington Post reports that the issue may be more widespread than is realized five decades after the passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The newspaper zeroes in...

What It's Like to Run a Walmart Supercenter
The Bane of Walmart
Managers: 'NIL Picks'
longform
Apr 20, 2024 4:40 PM CDT

The Bane of Walmart Managers: 'NIL Picks'

'WSJ' spends a day in the life of a $240K-a-year manager in Texas

(Newser) - Walmart managers typically pull in six figures—even up to $400,000 if the store is big enough—and the Wall Street Journal spent a day with one such manager to get a sense of the job. Nichole Hart runs the Supercenter in Bellmead, Texas, and made about $240,000...

A Fast-Fashion Juggernaut Shows a Darker Underbelly
Shein Brings Fast Fashion
to New Extremes
longform
Apr 20, 2024 5:30 AM CDT

Shein Brings Fast Fashion to New Extremes

'Guardian' explores the ethical issues in the world of cheap, disposable clothing

(Newser) - Quick, name the most-Googled clothing brand on the planet. As Nicole Lipman explains in the Guardian , the answer is Shein, a retailer founded in China that has become a juggernaut in the world of "fast fashion." And "fast" might be an understatement—in a 12-month span during...

A Family Emerged From the Bush. Then the Mystery Began

Dan Kois delves into the disappearance of the Phillips family

(Newser) - A father and his three children vanished in New Zealand in September 2021. But it was only after they turned up 17 days later that "the real mystery started," writes Dan Kois in a lengthy piece for Slate . Tom Phillips had custody of his three young kids, then...

Are You a Pinnacle or a Suite? The 'Cult' of Cruise Ship Life

Author Gary Shteyngart spends a week aboard the world's biggest cruise ship

(Newser) - In a first-person account for the Atlantic , Gary Shteyngart joins the odd subgenre of authors writing about their time on a cruise ship, one famously begun by David Foster Wallace in 1996 . But Shteyngart has some bragging rights: He's not just on any ship, but on Royal Caribbean's...

Chinese Mafias' New US Goldmine: Gift Cards
Chinese Mafias' New US
Goldmine: Gift Cards
longform
Apr 14, 2024 5:45 AM CDT

Chinese Mafias' New US Goldmine: Gift Cards

ProPublica: 'Card draining' is a thing, and the feds have established a task force

(Newser) - It's not your typical story about organized crime— ProPublica reports that Chinese mafia groups are ripping off American consumers and stores through mundane gift cards. And for the first time, the Department of Homeland Security has launched a task force to fight what's known as "card draining....

This Story Is About Gaslighting. Or Is It?
This Story Is About
Gaslighting. Or Is It?
longform
Apr 7, 2024 9:33 AM CDT

This Story Is About Gaslighting. Or Is It?

Leslie Jamison takes a deep dive into the amorphous meaning of the term these days

(Newser) - Have you ever been gaslit? The answer is without a doubt yes given the hard-to-pin-down nature of the term that has exploded in popularity . Leslie Jamison digs in at the New Yorker , beginning with the dictionary definition—the "psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of...

He May Be the World's First Incel Terrorist
He May Be the World's
First Incel Terrorist
longform
Apr 7, 2024 9:03 AM CDT

He May Be the World's First Incel Terrorist

Maclean's explores the groundbreaking case of Oguzhan Sert in Toronto

(Newser) - Oguzhan Sert is serving a life sentence in Canada as a convicted terrorist, but as Lana Hall writes in Maclean's , he appears to be the first person in the world convicted of his particular brand of terrorism. As a 17-year-old, Sert walked into a massage parlor in Toronto in...

3 Decades Ago, a Reporter Posed as a High School Senior

Today, she's not sure her monthlong ruse for the 'San Francisco Chronicle' was ethical

(Newser) - Thirty-two years ago, a 26-year-old reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle posed as a high school student for a month to get an inside look at how students and teachers were coping with severe budget cuts. Only the principal and guidance counselor at George Washington High School, along with the...

Possible Culprit in Mysterious Havana Syndrome: Unit 29155

Media investigation suggests Russian intelligence unit deployed sonic weaponry

(Newser) - Last year, the US government declared that it could find no evidence linking a foreign adversary to the mysterious ailment striking diplomats known as Havana Syndrome . A joint investigation by the Insider , CBS News , and the German outlet Der Spiegel begs to differ and points the finger at Russia:
  • The
...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>