Social issues
The Deluge
A new era of fossil fuels is reshaping global economics and politics — and the planet.
[Read online • PDF]
Overdose County, USA
Why do prescription drugs kill so many people?
[PDF]
Organizing Armageddon
What the Haiti earthquake teaches us about the science of coming to the rescue.
[Read online • PDF]
A Paper Trail of Tears
How casino-rich tribes are dealing members out.
[Read online • PDF]
The New Executive Class
Forget overpaid CEOs. Even third-tier execs in American companies are getting enormous salaries–as wages and benefits for many workers stagnate or fall.
[Read online • PDF]
First, Reduce Harm
Faced with a horrific drug problem, Vancouver is trying a radical experiment: Let junkies be junkies.
[Read online • PDF]
Magical Mystery Tour
American drug and alcohol addicts are going abroad in search of a psychedelic treatment that is banned in the US.
[Read online • PDF]
Harvest of Pain
The long, hard journey from Central Valley seed to caesar salad.
[Read online • PDF]
How the Rabbi Got AIDS
A secretly gay and HIV-positive Orthodox rabbi speaks.
[PDF]
Farrakhan Talks to the Jews
An exclusive interview with the Nation of Islam leader.
[PDF]
Lost Vegas
Before there was the Strip, there was Fremont Street.
[PDF]
The Next Bosnia?
Macedonia on the brink.
[PDF]
Let’s Make a Deal
Cuba tentatively opens up to capitalism.
[PDF]
When Duty Calls
Young Turks are dodging the draft in record numbers.
[PDF]
Criminal Justice
Prescription for Death
How painkillers destroyed the town of War, West Virginia
[PDF]
The Cruelest Prison
Is “supermaximum” Pelican Bay State Prison a breeding ground for insanity?
[Read online • PDF]
After Three Strikes [California Sunday]
In L.A. County, one judge decides whom a new law lets out of prison.
Lethal Sting: How the War on Drugs Killed a College Student
[Read online]
The Ultimate Forgiveness
What motivates people who befriend the murderer of someone they loved?
[Read online • PDF]
Kids Locked Up for Life
Should juvenile offenders be sentenced to life in prison?
[Read online]
Obama’s Drug Past Isn’t Hurting Him –
But Thousands Aren’t So Lucky
[Read online]
Burned
A brilliant but troubled CalTech student may have been convicted of a crime he didn’t commit.
[PDF]
Debt to Society: The Real Price of Prisons
(This link takes you to the website of a six month investigative project which I edited and produced. I also wrote one of the articles it includes: How We Got to Two Million.)
[Read online]
Boyz on the Rez
American Indian gangs.
[PDF]
Pensioners or Prisoners?
A new niche market: private prisons for the elderly.
[PDF]
Lucky To Be Alive
How dozens of men and women were exonerated from death row.
[Read online • PDF]
Look for the Prison Label
American companies are tapping a new labor force – convicts.
[PDF]
Obamacare Is a Powerful New Crime-Fighting Tool
An astonishing two-thirds of the 730,000 prisoners released each year have substance abuse or mental health problems. But no one has been willing to pay for their treatment—until now.
Technology
Massive Biometric Project Gives Millions of Indians an ID
iDentified: A massive biometrics program aims to scan the eyeballs of every person in India.
[Read online • PDF]
Deadly Weapon
In prisons across America, convicts are using smuggled cell phones to run gangs, plan escapes, even order hits on witnesses. These guys may be in solitary, but they know where your family
lives. [Read online • PDF]
How Do You Train Astronauts When You Don’t Have Any Spaceships?
[Read online • PDF]
Baghdad, USA
Roadside bombs. Hostile insurgents. 1,200 extras in Arab dress. Welcome to Louisiana and the Army camp known as the Box, where the violence is fake but the fear is for real.
[Read online • PDF]
Finding Water from Outer Space
A globe-trotting geologisst uses satellites to find water under some of the world’s thirstiest places.
[Read online • PDF]
Space Invader
Robert Bigelow made a fortune from his hotel chain, Budget Suites. Now he wants to launch a network of inflatable, modular space pods into orbit. Uses: Research, tourism…and making contact with aliens.
[Read online • PDF]
Digital Weapons Help Dissidents Punch Holes in China’s Great Firewall [Wired]
Profiles & interviews
An Interview with David Simon
A day with the creator of “The Wire” and “Treme.”
[Read online • PDF]
The Father of Lethal Injection
He wanted to make capital punishment kinder. Instead, he believes, he made it easier.
[Read online • PDF]
Paul Haggis
A conversation with the writer/director of “Crash” and “Million Dollar Baby”
[Read online • PDF]
Kimberly Peirce
A conversation with the director of “Boys Don’t Cry” and “Stop/Loss”
[Read online • PDF]
Vengeance is Mom’s
Meet Dianne Clements, the soccer mom who has done as much as anyone to ensure that Texas’ killing chamber remains the nation’s busiest.
[Read online • PDF]
Miscellanea
Save the Poor by Selling Them Stuff—Cheap [Pacific Standard]
The bottom-of-the-pyramid marketing movement tries to profit the developing world and make a profit at the same time.
Can Computers Predict Crimes of the Future? [Pacific Standard]
The LAPD’s Sean Malinowski wants to prevent crime with “predictive policing,” which can forecast patterns of where crime occurs using computer algorithms.
Should You Be Afraid of the Spy in Your Pocket? [Playboy]
Resurrecting the Dead Sea [Pacific Standard]
An extraordinary plan to revive the Dead Sea could ease tensions among Israel, Palestine and Jordan. Or it could create an environmental disaster.
Nine Ways Life in the U.S. is Worse Than in the Developing World [TakePart]
Even in a Refugee Camp, Kids Will (Try To) Be Kids [TakePart]
Lost Vegas [with Gregg Segal]
Will 2018 Be the Year the Death Penalty Dies—Again? [HuffPo]
The Death Penalty on Life Support [Los Angeles Times]
After decades of executions, the U.S. is growing queasy about capital punishment.
Bless This Church [Los Angeles Times]
Welcome to the Universal Life Church. You Are To Be Ordained at Our Modesto World Headquarters. Congratulations. And Remember: Do Only That Which Is Right.
-Orphan/RD