A Killing in the Hills

Looking for answers in a decades-old murder case set deep in the Missouri Ozarks.

Published: Feb 10, 2016
Length: 23 minutes (5,882 words)

Head Over Heels

Doree Shafrir goes inside Steve Madden’s well-heeled empire (his eponymous shoes made over $1 billion last year).

Source: BuzzFeed
Published: Feb 9, 2016
Length: 16 minutes (4,113 words)

I Was a Super Bowl Concession Worker

At Slate, Gabriel Thompson describes what it’s like to be a food-service worker at Levi’s Stadium at Super Bowl 50 — and explores the low-wage, part-time workforce of Silicon Valley.

Source: Slate
Published: Feb 9, 2016
Length: 15 minutes (3,966 words)

Whatever Happened to Michael Jackson’s Pet Chimp?

Michael Jackson’s former pet chimp Bubbles is living out his twilight years in a Florida nonprofit sanctuary alongside apes who have costarred with Clint Eastwood, Jim Carrey, and Kevin Smith.

Source: Miami New Times
Published: Feb 2, 2016
Length: 7 minutes (1,900 words)

The NYPD Is Kicking People Out of Their Homes, Even If They Haven’t Committed a Crime

An investigation into the aggressive use of nuisance abatement actions by the NYPD in New York City.

Source: ProPublica
Published: Feb 4, 2016
Length: 27 minutes (6,956 words)

A Brief History of Solitary Confinement

Dickens, Tocqueville, and the U.N. all agree about this American invention: It’s torture.

Source: The New Press
Published: Feb 9, 2016
Length: 21 minutes (5,288 words)

Eileen Myles on the Excruciating Pain of Waiting for Love

An essay about yearning, and an affair begun at an artist colony.

Published: Feb 8, 2016
Length: 8 minutes (2,077 words)

Life Below the Poverty Line in Banktown, USA

A searing, nuanced portrait of a single mother living in poverty in Charlotte, N.C.

Author: Lisa Rab
Published: Feb 1, 2016
Length: 15 minutes (3,769 words)

The ‘Wellness Craze’: Six Stories About Fitness

“Here are several of my favorite stories about fitness magazines, FitBit, yoga and athleisure.”

Source: Longreads
Published: Feb 8, 2016

The Birth of Boko Haram

Andrew Walker traces the growth of Boko Haram, from the tattered remnants of an Islamist sect to a relentless terrorist army.

Source: The Guardian
Published: Feb 4, 2016
Length: 18 minutes (4,595 words)