First Do No Harm

Georgeanne Mumm’s surgeon emerged from the operating room with welcome news for her worried family. He had removed her cancerous kidney, he said, and her outlook looked good. The surgeon failed to mention, however, that he also had accidentally removed part of her pancreas, having mistaken it for a tumor. Nor did he mention that he had in-advertently cut the blood flow to her spleen, damaging it irrevocably. Only an emergency operation by another doctor the next day kept Georgeanne from dying right then and there.

Published: Mar 10, 2011
Length: 15 minutes (3,977 words)

How We Train Our Cops to Fear Islam

While expertise in counterterrorism training may be in short supply, money for it is not. Each year the federal government directs billions of dollars (no one knows exactly how much) in terrorism-related training grants to state and local governments. These funds cascade down into myriad training programs like the one at Broward College, where instructors ply their trade with only minimal supervision.

Published: Mar 5, 2011
Length: 26 minutes (6,662 words)

The Closing of the Marijuana Frontier

California is not just deciding whether pot should be legal. It’s determining the shape of a major new American industry.

Published: Nov 1, 2010
Length: 29 minutes (7,495 words)

The Agnostic Cartographer

How Google’s open-ended maps are embroiling the company in some of the world’s touchiest geopolitical disputes.

Published: Aug 1, 2010
Length: 10 minutes (2,680 words)

Revisionaries

How a group of Texas conservatives is rewriting your kids’ textbooks.

Published: Feb 1, 2010
Length: 15 minutes (3,833 words)

Big Bother

How a million surveillance cameras in London are proving George Orwell wrong.

Published: Nov 1, 2009
Length: 5 minutes (1,352 words)

Confessions of a Sweatshop Inspector

Presidential candidates are calling for tougher labor standards in trade agreements. But can such standards be enforced? Here’s what I learned from my old job.

Published: Apr 1, 2008
Length: 32 minutes (8,239 words)

Jail Break

How smarter parole and probation can cut the nation’s incarceration rate.

Published: Jul 28, 2009
Length: 13 minutes (3,261 words)

Winning the Good War

Why Afghanistan is not Obama’s Vietnam.

Published: Jul 28, 2009
Length: 15 minutes (3,943 words)