Recommended Reading (2/28/25)

Anne Applebaum: The New Rasputins (The Atlantic)

Key takeaways from Starmer's talks with Trump (BBC)

Muhsin Hendricks, world’s ‘first openly gay imam’, shot dead in South Africa (The Guardian)

The MAGA War on Speech (NYT)

Who’s Running the Defense Department? (The Atlantic)

How Trump’s Federal Funding and Hiring Freezes Are Leaving America Vulnerable to Catastrophic Wildfire (ProPublica)

How changes to a CDC vaccine panel under Kennedy could reshape policy (NPR)

HB 524 would repeal the New Hampshire Vaccine Association. But what does the NHVA actually do? (NH Bulletin)

The Hidden-Pregnancy Experiment (The New Yorker)

Deep inside a Norwegian fjord, a dream of farming salmon sustainably (NPR)

Robot umps are here: What MLB players need to know to navigate ABS this spring (The Athletic)

The expensive business of quoting poetry (The Spectator)

Recommended Reading (2/25/25)

Big challenges loom for Germany's Merz in divided country (BBC)

A must-read (with a gift link so you can): The Government's Computing Experts Say They Are Terrified (The Atlantic)

The USDA fired staffers working on bird flu. Now it's trying to reverse course (NPR)

“We Feel Terrorized”: What EPA Employees Say About the Decision to Stay or Go Under Trump (ProPublica)

DNC chair outlines pro-worker, union focus in first memo in fight against Trump (The Guardian)

ACLU of NH investigating reports that Berlin prison will be used for immigration detainees (NHPR)

Democracy in Eastern Europe Faces Another Crisis (The Atlantic)

The U.S. is trying to unravel a hacking plot that targeted climate activists (NPR)

Yankees legend taking Max Fried under his wing: ‘Full-circle moment’ (The Athletic)

Casual Viewing: Why Netflix looks like that (n+1)

Was the Stone Age Actually the Wood Age? (NYT)

Nev Fountain on Writing a Detective Novel About Fandom (CrimeReads)

Recommended Reading (2/24/25)

Zelensky Sets Somber Tone as Ukraine Marks War Anniversary (NYT)

New German leader signals seismic shift in transatlantic relations (BBC)

Presidents May Not Unilaterally Dismantle Government Agencies (The Atlantic)

Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas Deserved a Better World (Kveller)

“We’ve Been Essentially Muzzled”: Department of Education Halts Thousands of Civil Rights Investigations Under Trump (ProPublica)

Courts block Trump's DOGE actions — chaos, panic not proving to be best legal strategy (NPR)

NH Republicans introduce bill allowing trans people to be banned from bathrooms, locker rooms (NH Bulletin)

‘In Alaska, it’s Denali’: senators move to counter Trump’s mountain name order (The Guardian)

Maha Kumbh Mela: The Largest Gathering in the World (The Atlantic)

!!! Yankees announce changes to team’s long-standing facial hair policy (The Athletic)

After 138 years, a Black composer's magnum opus finds a stage (NPR)

The Black Spectacles: John Dickson Carr’s Most Unusual Crime Novel (CrimeReads)

Recommended Reading (2/19/25)

Jordan's military is test-running an air bridge for aid to Gaza (NPR)

Europe’s Leaders, Dazed by an Ally Acting Like an Adversary, Recalculate (NYT)

Trump disrupting US bird flu response as outbreak worsens (The Guardian)

Privacy advocates file lawsuit to stop DOGE from peeking at IRS taxpayer data (NPR)

‘Not My President’s Day’: Thousands Gather in Protest Against Trump (The Atlantic)

Dartmouth researchers brace for Trump’s NIH funding cuts (NH Bulletin)

The Rewriting of a Pioneering Female Astronomer’s Legacy Shows How Far Trump’s DEI Purge Will Go (ProPublica)

This is a good explainer: MLB to test automated ball-strike challenge system during spring games (MLB.com)

First Black woman to serve in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps after desegregation dies (NPR)

The English Apple Is Disappearing (The New Yorker)

Greek poet who inspired Forster, Hockney and Jackie Onassis emerges from the shadows (The Guardian)

Recommended Reading (2/18/25)

Who's who in US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia? (BBC)

An Israeli raid of a famous Palestinian bookstore stokes censorship fears (NPR)

An important read from Anne Applebaum: There’s a Term for What Trump and Musk Are Doing (The Atlantic)

Of course: To Pay for Trump Tax Cuts, House GOP Floats Plan to Slash Benefits for the Poor and Working Class (ProPublica)

I actually agree with this and the baseball analogy they use is delightful: Bill would block undeclared voters from 'same-day voting' in NH primary elections (NHPR)

This made me tear up: We Have Always Been Here (Life Is a Sacred Text)

On the frontline against bird flu, egg farmers fear they're losing the battle (NPR)

Kew’s rescue mission: arborists head to Scotland after hundreds of trees and plants felled by Storm Éowyn (The Guardian)

Noisy, Gaudy and Spiritual: Young Pilgrims Embrace an Ancient Goddess (NYT)

Braves’ Spencer Strider is motivated and stoic as he returns from second elbow surgery (The Athletic)

Rise of the Nanomachines (The New Yorker)

Queering Crime Stories: Establishing a New Order in Mysteries and Thrillers (CrimeReads)

Recommended Reading (2/17/25)

How these suburban moms in Ukraine manage grief by training to down Russian drones (NPR)

This Is What It's Like To Be A Journalist Under Taliban Rule (RFE)

In Breaking USAID, the Trump Administration May Have Broken the Law (ProPublica)

Oh uh that sounds great: Trump firings cause chaos at agency responsible for America's nuclear weapons (NPR)

Civil Servants Are Not America’s Enemies (The Atlantic)

NH doctors warn against bill that could gut childhood vaccine-buying program (NHPR)

Musk-linked group offered $5m for proof of voter fraud – and came up with nothing (The Guardian)

Everything is so scary right now: Park Service erases 'transgender' on Stonewall website, uses the term 'LGB' movement (NPR)

Secret 'sky island' rainforest saved by new discoveries (BBC)

!! Just a fluke: whale spits out kayaker in incident captured on camera (The Guardian)

A Brilliant Neglected Novel About the Search for a Lost Older Lover (The New Yorker)

Amateur Historians Heard Tales of a Lost Tudor Palace. Then, They Dug It Up. (NYT)

Recommended Reading (2/14/25)

Trump’s Gaza plan unites jihadist and far-right circles, experts warn (The Guardian)

“We Will Fight Back”: Aid Workers Fear Closing a Camp on the Arizona Border Will Endanger Migrants (ProPublica)

What's happening with the anti-HIV program PEPFAR? It depends whom you ask (NPR)

What an Undervaccinated America Would Look Like (The Atlantic)

Some good news! ‘Right-to-work’ legislation stalls again in NH House (NHPR)

After delay, CDC releases data signaling bird flu spread undetected in cows and people (NPR)

A big step forward in New Hampshire’s efforts to reduce food waste (NH Bulletin)

Medicaid will cover traditional healing practices for Native Americans in 4 states (NPR)

Why Is True Crime Still Negating Black Victims and Their Loved Ones From the Story? (CrimeReads)

Is it Possible to Appreciate Patrick Bailey? (Baseball Prospectus)

Dust to Dust (Eater)

Is “Love Is Blind” a Toxic Workplace? (The New Yorker)

Recommended Reading (2/13/25)

‘No to ethnic cleansing’: over 350 rabbis sign US ad assailing Trump’s Gaza plan (The Guardian)

Voices from the new breadlines in Syria: Who's waiting? And why? (NPR)

Jamelle Bouie: If All This Sounds Delusional, That’s Because It Is (NYT)

The Courts Blocked Trump’s Federal Funding Freeze. Agencies Are Withholding Money Anyway. (Pro Publica)

New Hampshire teenagers challenge Trump’s ban on transgender girls in girls’ sports (NH Bulletin)

Adam Serwer: The Attack on Trans Rights Won’t End There (The Atlantic)

RFK Jr. says he'll fix the overdose crisis. Critics say his plan is risky (NPR)

A list of half a million names shines new light on Dutch collaboration with Nazis (NPR)

Cholera is making a comeback — and the world doesn’t have enough vaccines (Vox)

Fascinating: Piecing Together the Secrets of the Stasi (The New Yorker)

Climate change could affect fall colors. 35 years of data from NH might provide insights on how. (NHPR)

Where did MLB’s Latin American starting pitchers go? (The Athletic)

Crime Fiction in Sweden's Fastest Growing City: Malmö (CrimeReads)

Recommended Reading (2/11/25)

“People Will Die”: The Trump Administration Said It Lifted Its Ban on Lifesaving Humanitarian Aid. That’s Not True. (ProPublica)

Trump is weighing big cuts to the U.S. Education Department (NPR)

LGBTQ rights groups urge hospitals not to panic after Trump order on gender-affirming care (NH Bulletin)

This is going to hurt lots of people who like to think they won't be hurt by most policy changes: The Trump administration has stopped work at the CFPB. Here's what the agency does (NPR)

The Army of God Comes Out of the Shadows (The Atlantic)

Dozens of prisoners allege a culture of violence by guards at federal facility in Virginia (NPR)

Health experts alarmed at new overdose drug marketed to WMass police departments (The Shoestring)

Long-lost anti-fascist mural from 1930s restored and back on show in Mexico (The Guardian)

This Book Helped Save the Planet—but Created a Very Harmful Myth (Slate)

Getting some space: UNH-built instrument to observe galactic matter is readying for launch (NHPR)

His Book Was Repeatedly Banned. Fighting For It Shaped His Life. (NYT)

What It's Like to Be a Beat Writer (FanGraphs)

Recommended Reading (2/3/25)

I know I've said similar things before, but I'm going to reiterate that I am not trying to include all important news stories here, because there's just . . . no way. I assume you are getting your main headlines elsewhere.

Far from the front lines, Ukrainians fight a war to preserve their culture (NPR)

Boxed Up: A Portrait of an Immigrant Community Living Under Threat of Deportation (ProPublica)

Fears for ‘security of Jews worldwide’ in wake of Elon Musk AfD speech (The Guardian)

Trump’s return sparks anxiety about what it could mean for New Hampshire Medicaid recipients (NH Bulletin)

Trump's 'stop-work' order for PEPFAR cuts off anti-HIV drugs for patients (NPR)

America’s Monster: How the U.S. Backed Kidnapping, Torture and Murder in Afghanistan (NYT)

NH lawmakers will again try to expand school meal programs, as food insecurity grows (NHPR)

High school students press for more climate curriculum (PBS)

Respectability Be Damned: How the Harlem Renaissance Paved the Way for Art by Black Nonbelievers (LitHub)

The USS Edsall, sunk by Japanese forces in World War II, has been found (NPR)

Is Boston’s Triston Casas the quirkiest player in all of baseball? (The Athletic)

Seeing the Invisible: The Experience of Subordinates in Ancient Greece (Antigone)