Our top picks for investigative journalism this year.
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The Human Costs of Kamala Harris’s War on Truancy
The “progressive prosecutor” wanted to transform how California responded to students missing school. Parents like Cheree Peoples wound up paying the price.
The Canadians
For many teenagers living before the decline of traditional retail, everything important in life happened in the mall. For Canadian Sophie He, who was adapting to life in southern California without a green card, the mall was also the place that first cast her as an outsider.
California Dreaming
It would have been unthinkable a decade ago that the Republican stronghold of Orange County, California would ever be up for grabs by Democrats. But life behind the “red curtain” is changing, and the county might hold the key for turning disgruntled never-Trumpers into blue voters—as long as the Democrats don’t mess it up.
Down the Rabbit Hole: A Psychedelic Reading List
The science, the strangeness, the promise, of psychedelic journeys.
A Green New Jail
What does environmental justice look like in a landscape overrun by prisons? Where the incarcerated suffer from unusually polluted surroundings, and prisons are a toxin in their own right?
The Mortician and the Murderer
An incredible photo essay in which both the images and words tell the crazy story of imprisoned mortician David Sconce (up for parole in 2022). In the ’80s, Sconce turned his family’s California funeral home into a mass crematorium and black market body part- and organ-harvesting business.
The Endgame of the Olympics
What if the Olympic Games never come back?
Hard Shell Tacos Aren’t As Hardcore Gringo As You Think
The origins of hard shell tacos are hazy, but certain things are clear.
Protecting the Unicorns Beneath the Sea: The Secret Seahorse Colony of Long Beach
“And if you’ve never seen a seahorse in the wild before, you will feel honored and awed, as if you’ve just seen a unicorn beneath the sea.”
