“The History of Concrete” Highlights a Material We Depend Upon But Rarely Think About

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. It’s the second-most used material on Earth, it’s an environmental disaster, and it’s falling apart all around us. Meet concrete, the subject of a new feature-length documentary by John Wilson, a filmmaker with a knack for finding laugh-out-loud absurdity in the […]

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Why Are We Still Talking About Voting Rights in 2026?

In the runup to this year’s midterm elections, one of the defining campaign issues is the elections themselves. Ever since President Donald Trump first urged red states to draw new maps to give Republican candidates an electoral edge, America has been caught in a historic redistricting fight, which was supercharged this past spring when the […]

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DOJ Is Suing to Decertify Alaska’s Senate Results—But Only If Republicans Lose

The Department of Justice filed suit against the state of Alaska on Thursday, preemptively attempting to decertify the state’s election results—unless they win. Their justification: Democratic candidate Mary Peltola, who served as Alaska’s House representative from 2022 to 2025, is running against two men named Dan Sullivan, and that could be pretty confusing for voters. […]

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Todd Blanche Swears Arrest of Virginia Democrat Isn’t “Political Payback”

On Thursday, Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel announced racketeering, money laundering, and drug trafficking charges against state Sen. Louise Lucas, the 82-year-old legislator who just so happened to lead Virginia Democrats’ redistricting effort earlier this year. But if you’re wondering if this is just retribution against the Democrats weeks before the […]

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Mamdani on Trump, Floods, and the Fight Over Data Centers

His name might not be on the ballot this November, but New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in American politics right now. After his barrier-breaking victory late last year, Mamdani has emerged as the face of the no-holds-barred progressive movement and has spent the season leveraging his […]

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Palmer Luckey Just Announced a Genetically Engineered War Dog Startup

It is a truth universally acknowledged that rich people love a designer dog. TikTok influencers walk their viewers through the process of cloning their dearly departed pugs. If you’ve got enough money, you can get a genetically-engineered hypoallergenic beagle. And, of course, pre-CRISPR genetic abominations created with simple old-school breeding are all over the American […]

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The EPA Is Quietly Killing its Web Archive

In a little-noticed webpage update, the Environmental Protection Agency has announced a plan to decommission its online web archive at the end of the year, a move that would wipe tens of thousands of publicly available environmental resources from the web. The discreet banner notice comes in stark contrast to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s recent […]

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The “Girl Dad” Running to Oust Max Miller in Ohio’s Messiest Congressional Race

Sipping on an iced caramel latte with whipped cream and talking about “squadding up” with his daughters on Fortnite, Brian Poindexter doesn’t necessarily fit the stereotype of a “manly man,” which is how another magazine characterized the congressional candidate in mid-July. For what it’s worth, it’s his political opponent, Republican Rep. Max Miller, who recently […]

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Finns Are Seething After Google Illegally Toppled 250,000 Trees for a Data Center

This story was originally published by The Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Behind a wire fence lies a vast gaping wound of earth. Before Google’s arrival a few months ago, an estimated quarter-million trees occupied the 815 acres of forest near the town of Muhos in rural northern Finland. Now they are all […]

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Tim Tebow Dropped Out of Life Surge. Then Came the Celebrity Exodus.

Last month, in collaboration with the investigative sports podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out, Mother Jones published a months-long investigation into Life Surge, the Christian wealth seminar company that has attracted large crowds with celebrity speakers including college football legend Tim Tebow, NBA icon Magic Johnson, and Red Sox great David Ortiz. We detailed how the […]

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Democrats Demand “Unredacted Log” of Attendees at $TRUMP Meme Coin Dinner

Senate Democrats are gearing up for an investigation into Donald Trump’s “exclusive” dinner for holders of his meme coin. The dinner, which is scheduled to take place a few weeks after the midterm elections at the president’s DC-area golf club, is just the latest manifestation of the Trumps’ extensive efforts to enrich themselves through the […]

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Banks Are Struggling to Protect Customers From Their Own AI Agents

Leading US banks have reportedly found unapproved AI agents operating inside customer accounts on users’ behalf, sometimes acting independent of their instructions. In response, many institutions are resorting to blocking the tools or rethinking their security policies. According to a Thursday Axios report, unauthorized activity typically occurs after a user grants permission and login information […]

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Anna Paulina Luna’s Husband Owns 10 Percent of Drone Startup That Got $37 Million in Pentagon Deals

Amid congressional gridlock in late 2025, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) attempted to force a vote on a bill that would have banned members of Congress and their immediate family members from buying or trading public stock. “Americans deserve a Congress that works for them, not for special interests or personal portfolios,” Luna said in […]

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A Sheriff Called Maryland “Disneyland for Illegal Immigrants.” Can a Wedding Photographer Oust Him?

Hoping that someone else would step up and throw their hat in the ring, Lana Foley waited until the last day to file her candidacy for the top elected law enforcement job in Wicomico County on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Foley, a wedding and portrait photographer, has no law enforcement background nor had she […]

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Mike Rogers Used His Last Debate to Smear Abdul El-Sayed

Michigan’s US Senate nominees, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers, faced off Wednesday night in their final debate of a toss-up race less than two weeks before the midterms. They clashed over rising costs, the war in Iran, and mass violence by ICE under Donald Trump. El-Sayed tied Rogers to the Trump administration’s war […]

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Will Elon Musk Be the October Surprise?

A version of the below article first appeared in David Corn’s newsletter, Our Land. The newsletter comes out twice a week (most of the time) and provides behind-the-scenes stories and articles about politics, media, and culture. Subscribing costs just $5 a month—but you can sign up for a free 30-day trial. As I’ve noted in previous issues, I’m now co-hosting a […]

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Experts Say Land Venture Linked to David Flippo is “Batshit” and a “Huge Red Flag”

In December 2022, a 20-year-old California woman loaned most of her savings to a venture calling itself Lost Basin Holdings. In theory, the $25,000 loan from the young conservative, who asked to remain anonymous, would be used to develop remote land in northwestern Arizona. But when the loan came due in late 2024, she got […]

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James Talarico’s Campaign Is a Messaging Machine. I Watched How It Runs.

It seemed like a curious time and place for a campaign event until I got inside the gates. James Talarico’s first big rally in several weeks, following a well-documented and spectacularly mischaracterized bout with the flu, took place at a youth football field in San Marcos last Thursday at the exact time 16,229 students and […]

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Has Partisan Gerrymandering Backfired in Florida?

With just 20 days to go before the midterm elections, Kelly Kirschner faced a crowd of his supporters last week at Café Havana, a Cuban restaurant in Bradenton, Florida, located in Congressional District 16—which he is hoping to win come November. Kirschner, a third-generation Floridian, is a former Sarasota mayor and a founder of UnidosNow, […]

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AI Helped Find a Critical Bug Affecting Huge Swathes of the Internet

Newly announced vulnerabilities could affect broad swathes of the internet after being discovered by teams of cybersecurity professionals—with heavy AI assistance. The issues affect PHP, a widely-used open-source programming language that provides a foundation for content management systems like WordPress, which powers a broad array of websites (including those of the Center for Investigative Reporting). […]

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The White House Is Using Slurs to Attack Journalists

After President Donald Trump snapped at a reporter multiple times during a Tuesday press conference, questioning whether he was “a sick person,” an official White House social media account posted a slur used against people with Down syndrome to describe the reporter. “What’s wrong with you? Are you a sick person?” Trump pointedly asked Andrew […]

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Meet the Trump-Backed Candidates Drowning in Scandal

A candidate for governor in Colorado said living together without getting married leads to demonic possession. A Senate candidate in Georgia featured in his campaign materials his son-in-law, who has promoted white nationalist and antisemitic content online. And there’s a new ad in the Ohio governor race, weaponizing the childhood trauma of a Democratic rival. […]

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GOP Doubles Down on Ad Exploiting Ohio Democrat’s Childhood Rape and Abuse

The last time Dr. Amy Acton—a physician and Ohio’s Democratic nominee for governor—says she saw her mom in person was the day her stepfather Cledith “Bud” Arthur was charged for raping her as a minor. Arthur pleaded not guilty and fled the state before he could be convicted. Despite warrants for his arrest, Acton’s mom, […]

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Memphis Wants to Be the “Digital Delta.” Its Residents Want to Breathe.

The Memphis City Council narrowly failed to pass an 18-month data center moratorium Tuesday night, but instead approved a 135-day development pause. Elon Musk’s xAI has claimed the city as its “home,” building three hyperscale AI data centers in the Memphis metro area and looking to expand further. But the people who live there have […]

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The El-Sayed Heckler’s Dad Got $250,000 to Campaign Against El-Sayed

The guy who tried and failed to catch Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed with a gotcha question about his supposed loyalty to the Muslim Brotherhood is reportedly the son of a Republican strategist who received $250,000 last month to campaign against El-Sayed. In the five-minute confrontation that has now gone viral, the young man, who […]

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An Artful Move to Call Out Ron DeSantis’ Hostility Toward Climate Action

This story was originally published by The Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. A life-sized statue of Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, was unveiled and promptly began melting in front of an audience in Tallahassee in a symbolic protest at his rejection of action on the climate crisis. The silvery statue, revealed to an […]

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Heather Cox Richardson on the Real Genius of America

Heather Cox Richardson is one of today’s unlikeliest social media stars. The Boston College historian has been teaching and writing about 19th-century America, Reconstruction, and the Civil War for decades. But it was only in 2019 that her work took off when she began writing her daily newsletter, Letters from an American, a no-nonsense analysis […]

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Private Contractors Are Set to Cash In As Millions of Americans Lose Health Care

On January 1, new Medicaid work requirements will kick in nationwide, and states are scrambling to comply—a chaotic process which will lead to millions of people losing health care access. Many states are paying third-party contractors millions to design and operate systems to determine which Americans remain eligible under the new law. And some of […]

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Alberta Says No to MAGA-Aligned Independence Campaign

Alberta resoundingly voted against a path to independence in a referendum on Monday, in a blow to the right-wing campaign to separate the wealthy western province from Canada. Albertan independence had drawn support from MAGA-influenced movements and Christian nationalists on both sides of the border, but faced an especially uphill battle in the face of […]

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Voters Are Furious About Corruption

As Election Day closes in on us, a lot of fascinating poll results are flying around. But as a longtime political corruption reporter, I’ve found myself particularly intrigued by the numbers showing how Americans feel about the out-of-control graft in Washington, DC. To be brief: Voters are very concerned. And not just a bare majority. […]

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