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What happens to children who enter the U.S. illegally and alone after they’re caught by the Border Patrol: “If you’re caught, say you’re an adult so they don’t send you back. “Say you’re a kid so they don’t send you back. If you say you’re a kid, they won’t take you to prison. “Practice your […]

How a Baltimore company that specialized in making metal bagel baskets decided to make a big change to save itself: “Within five years of buying Marlin, Greenblatt was getting killed. Chinese factories suddenly started making bagel baskets. Marlin sold its baskets for $12 apiece and with 36 baskets to equip a typical bagel shop made […]

An excerpt from Radley Balko’s new book Rise of the Warrior Cop, on the militarization of U.S. police forces and the reasons SWAT teams have been able to conduct raids for seemingly minor alleged crimes: “In 2007 a Dallas SWAT team actually raided a Veterans of Foreign Wars outpost for hosting charity poker games. Players […]

Hotels provide guests with luxurious soaps and shampoos, but generally leave toothpaste out of their bundle of complimentary toiletries. An investigation into why: “The first and most popular explanation for the missing toothpaste posits the existence of a giant vat—or several giant vats, really—located in the basement of each hotel. These are filled with shampoo, […]

The Leader of the Free World has a half brother named Malik who would like to get out of his brother’s shadow: “On his way to a grandiose theory of what has happened to the Obamas, Malik simply refuses to be a bit player, and sometimes seems to circumvent his brother entirely. He earnestly claims […]

Picks from Emily Perper, a freelance editor and reporter currently completing a service year in Baltimore with the Episcopal Service Corps. This week’s picks include stories from Christianity Today, The Rumpus, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Rookie.

Taking the fight against child hunger on the road: “The driver’s name was Rick Bible, and his 66-mile route through the hills of Greene County marked the government’s latest attempt to solve a rise in childhood hunger that had been worsening for seven consecutive years. “Congress had tried to address it mostly by spending a […]

The writer visits West, Texas, the town where he grew up, and talks to residents who experienced the fertilizer plant explosion that destroyed its surrounding area on April 17, 2013: “Less than a minute later, he saw a bright flash and heard a deep boom. ‘I thought I was imagining this, but others saw it, […]

Organizers, demonstrators, and speakers remember one of the most significant political rallies in U.S. history: “Rachelle Horowitz “A. Philip Randolph gave a speech that is just ignored too much. He gave the speech for jobs and economic rights, and he did it with incredible power. Then my heart was in my mouth for John Lewis, […]

Behind the scenes of a live mermaid show in Weeki Wachee Springs State Park in Orlando, Fla.: “I sat down next to Crystal Videgar on a bench in front of a mirror that ran along one wall. She wore a black fishnet stocking pulled down over her face, which she used to create a scale […]