Homicides of white and wealthy people get more press attention. In this excellent new study, @jbenmenachem.com interviews journalists to understand why. Short version: journalists often recognize the inequity but feel constrained by resources and demands for novelty. doi.org/10.1111/1745...

Which deaths count? Debating homicide coverage amidst newsroom scarcity

Past research documents disparities in which homicides receive news coverage and how victims are portrayed, yet the organizational processes producing these patterns remain understudied. This paper a...

doi.org

This is Chubbers. He is catching a wave. But more importantly, catching a vibe. 14/10 (IG: nataliepaigebentley)

New w/ @shelleyliu.bsky.social in Science Advances We show that a police trust-building proj: - raised police trust among non-Black respondents - lowered it among Black respondents - cut non-Black support for BLM + racial equity policies doi.org/10.1126/scia... Funding: @RussellSageFdn

The US built the greatest talent magnet ever, attracting the smart, skilled, and striving. They’d come to study, then stay and build things here, or leave with positive impressions and fruitful connections. Helped make the US wealthy and powerful. Then America chose to throw it away. And for what?

Ben Allen@evodynamics.bsky.social · 3w ago

Congrats we just made it impossible to come here for a PhD www.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/16/m...

Yesterday a man was fatally struck by a tractor trailer while fleeing ICE agents. This tragedy, in Florida, highlights a change in my thinking (and maybe scholarship and journalism writ large) around fatal law enforcement interactions. Thread. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/14/u...

Man in Florida Fatally Hit by Truck While Fleeing ICE, Official Says

Details were unclear on Tuesday about what exactly happened at a gas station in St. Augustine before the man was killed.

nytimes.com

As Zoom meetings, sprawl, and working from home have proliferated, even this city booster has been surprised by how sticky urban centers have proven. The most profit-driven firms recognize the importance of dense meat space. www.thecityreporter.nyc/2026/07/09/b...

Big Business is Leasing Record Office Space in Mamdani’s New York

Some of the biggest names in banking, law and artificial intelligence are expanding their footprints in Manhattan and Brooklyn office towers.

thecityreporter.nyc

my kind of Jubilee, the Japanese national team vs. 100 kids

Rural areas increasingly dominate the grim homicide rate "leaderboard." Now, that's a tad unfair--they surely dominate safest places too, bc places w small pops have much more volatility (1 extra homicide can swing a rural rate, not NYC's). But still: urban/rural homicides rates are converging.

"If it bleeds, it leads"—many people assume crime news is just about chasing clicks. After interviewing 58 crime journalists across 40 newsrooms, I found something more complicated. My first dissertation paper is live at @sociologicalsci.bsky.social 🧵 sociologicalscience.com/articles-v13...

My great grandfather was a “bridge policeman“ and a tobacco grader (they don’t make jobs like they used to). His son, my grandfather, went to law school on the G.I. Bill and became a Kentucky state supreme court justice. That social mobility level-up helped my mom and then me in immeasurable ways.

Elizabeth Wrigley-Field@wrigleyfield.bsky.social · 2mo ago

White Americans who were eligible for the GI Bill, or had fathers who were, benefitted massively, while the equivalent Black Am benefitted much less on average bc they were funneled into using it on vocational schools (or scam “schools”) Paper estimates that accounts for *5 pp* in sons’ college gap

Excited to see my review article on “the cultural study of law and social crisis” is now online—and open access www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

The Cultural Study of Law and Social Crisis

This article reviews cultural sociological approaches to law and considers how they may sharpen analysis of social crises. As the United States faces myriad law-related crises, such as rising authorit...

annualreviews.org

YOU’RE LISTENING TO SISYPHUS FM, THE HOME OF NON-STOP ROCK

Getting into the shower too quickly and having to wait for the water to warm up…

Surely they've suffered enough?

Cheaper and more effective?! No thanks. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/10/o...

wandering the Sonora desert in a carefree fashion like

This Rachel Aviv story was a Pulitzer finalist today and it's incredible. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Mary Had Schizophrenia—Then Suddenly She Didn’t

Some psychiatric patients may actually have treatable autoimmune conditions. But what happens to the newly sane?

newyorker.com

i’m deleting my repost of a fake account impersonating an nba reporter. i didn’t look close enough and i was fooled, and that’s on me. the basketball court does NOT fold up like a backgammon board after the game and the players do NOT sleep in it until the next game

Philadelphia reported 39 murders through April which is the fewest reported there since 1963. New York City reported 75 murders through April 26 which is on track to be the fewest murders through April ever reported (previous low was 86 in 2018).

“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.” ― Anatole France

The entire budget request for the National Park Service in 2026 was about $2 billion. When any federal lawmaker ever tells you there isn’t enough money for something, they’re lying to you.

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 3mo ago

The cost of the war in Iran has hit nearly $1 billion a day as the U.S. has blown through weapons. Our national security correspondent Eric Schmitt explains what to know. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/23/u...

selecting the window seat and immediately closing the shade to protect my fellow passengers from witnessing the blasphemy of human flight

Come work with me! My department is hiring an assistant research professor to lead the newly formed CLEAR Institute. The job is a 1-1 teaching load with expectations for research and external funding development. HMU with any questions! jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/273...

A new study coauthored by ASA member Theresa Rocha Beardall @trochabeardall.bsky.social focuses on where police killings of Native people are taking place and finds that mortality risk is multiple times higher in and around reservations. @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social

Police disproportionately kill Native people on or near reservations, UW study finds

Roughly 3 in 4 Indigenous people in the United States killed by law enforcement were on or near reservations, a new University of Washington study found.

bit.ly

So excited to share that Diversityland: Hiding Racial Inequality in an American Suburb is available for pre-order! Use code UCPSAVE30 to save 30%. www.ucpress.edu/books/divers... @ucpress.bsky.social

This isn't the right time for anachronisms

It's tax day, so it's time for my annual reminder that tax evasion costs us 63 times more than property theft ($1 trillion vs $16 billion).

The red line shows homicides between 2018 and 2025. The blue line, the number of local government employees. They are mirror images. The blue line trends w/ARPA, a $350B investment in local government. The red line trends down as 1 million teachers, counselors, and clinicians enter the workforce.

how much money does the marine corps lose

CBS News@cbsnews.com · 4mo ago

The U.S. Postal Service, which lost $9 billion in 2025, recently warned that it could run out of money within 12 months.

when it's a lovely, sunny day, some part of my brain invariably goes ooh, maybe we'll have class outside