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Stories 601 - 620 | << Prev   Next >>

She Only Made It 8 Months in FEMA's COVID Call Center

Irene Hild tried to help families looking for funding for loved ones' funeral expenses

(Newser) - Her job interview was made up of three questions: Did she have any call center experience? Was she bilingual? Could she start in two weeks? No, no, yes. That was good enough for Irene Hild to land a job as one of roughly 4,000 contractors hired to staff the...

Rat Poison Is a Menace, and Shockingly Easy to Buy

EPA rules don't cover ecommerce

(Newser) - Rats give us plenty of grief. They can cause outbreaks of diseases ranging from scrub typhus to leptospirosis and their urine and feces are thought to render a fifth of the world's food supply unusable. As Chris Sweeney writes in a lengthy piece for Audubon Magazine , second-generation anticoagulants are...

Man's Death on a Maine Island Doesn't End as You'd Expect

6 witnesses told the same story, but no one was ever arrested

(Newser) - That there was enmity between Roger Feltis and Dorian and Briannah Ames was well-known. The source of it is murkier, but the outcome was painfully clear: on a June night in 2020, Feltis ended up dead. How is somewhat murky, too. In a lengthy piece for Esquire , Jesse Ellison first...

Generators Keep the Lights On—but the Cost Can Be Deadly

Yearlong investigation looks at difficultly in getting industry to make them safer

(Newser) - They're "one of the most dangerous consumer products on the market," but they're often seen as a saving grace: portable generators, which can keep the electricity streaming during power outages but also emit carbon monoxide. If the machine isn't positioned properly—put too close to...

As Floods Increase, So Do Deaths From Storm Drains
Extreme Weather Makes
Old Storm Drains Lethal
longform
Dec 18, 2021 2:20 PM CST

Extreme Weather Makes Old Storm Drains Lethal

ProPublica looks at the growing problem and possible remedies

(Newser) - It's the type of problem a city often doesn't act upon until after tragedy strikes, and ProPublica reports that the odds of such events are on the rise. The issue is people getting sucked into storm drains—think culverts or large pipes—during flooding. Using news accounts and...

One Nondescript Man Reinvented the Drug Trade
One Nondescript Man
Reinvented the Drug Trade
longform
Dec 18, 2021 9:40 AM CST

One Nondescript Man Reinvented the Drug Trade

'Toronto Life' calls Tse Chi Lop the Jeff Bezos of his world

(Newser) - Tse Chi Lop is widely referred to as "Asia's El Chapo." But a profile at Toronto Life by Stephen Marche makes the case that the comparison is off by a mile. El Chapo was a violent drug lord whose cartel was worth maybe $3 billion in its...

'Those Are Not Parasites. They Are Obviously Crazy People'

Inside the rise and fall of Black Oxygen Organics

(Newser) - As far as multi-level marketing companies go, the now-defunct Black Oxygen Organics ("BOO" to its fans) belongs in a category of its own, and not a good one. That's the case Haley Weiss makes in a lengthy piece for Vice about BOO, which "was dedicated to the...

It Took 8 Narcan Doses to Save Her. That Was Just the Start

A fentanyl-addicted daughter, and the mother who tried to help her

(Newser) - Laurie Steves made the drive alone from Port Orchard, Wash., to San Francisco this May. Kind of. As Heather Knight writes in a lengthy story for the San Francisco Chronicle , she had the ashes of her son Zachary in the car. The 25-year-old had died of a fentanyl and ketamine...

'For a While, Candace Was the Most Famous Woman' in US

Skip Hollandsworth has the wild saga of Texas socialite Candace Mossler

(Newser) - "It was, in short, the OJ Simpson trial of its era." And yet somehow, Skip Hollandsworth had never heard of it, despite having spent decades on the Texas crime beat. And so Hollandsworth digs deep into the 1964 death of multimillionaire Houston businessman Jacques Mossler, and the subsequent...

She Nearly Ended Her Life. Instead, She Went Deeper Than Anyone

A profile of Alenka Artnik, the female freediving champion of the world

(Newser) - Alenka Artnik's origin story produces chills, in more ways than one. In a stunning piece for the Long Read , Xan Rice details a 2010 night on a Slovenian bridge when the almost-30-year-old—weighed down by her father's psychological abuse and the death of her mother and her stepbrother—...

A Reformed Liar Agrees to Tell One More Lie
Stephen Glass'
'Biggest Lie'
Isn't What
You Think
longform
Dec 11, 2021 12:55 PM CST

Stephen Glass' 'Biggest Lie' Isn't What You Think

'Air Mail' profiles disgraced journalist Stephen Glass and a promise to his ailing wife

(Newser) - Stephen Glass is one of the most famous liars in the world. If you've seen the movie Shattered Glass , you know the story: As a young reporter in the 1990s, he fabricated dozens of stories that ran in several publications, mostly the New Republic. Glass, now 49, is a...

The World Has a New &#39;Narcostate&#39;
Syria's Biggest Export
May Surprise You
longform
Dec 6, 2021 3:09 PM CST

Syria's Biggest Export May Surprise You

'New York Times' alleges that Syria is a 'narcostate' pumping out amphetamine captagon

(Newser) - Last week, Syrian authorities trumpeted the seizure of a large cache of illegal amphetamine pills known as captagon and said an investigation was underway to figure out where the pills came from, notes the AP . Now, an investigation by the New York Times may provide the answer: The Syrian government...

She Feared Her Partner Would Kill Her. Death Came Differently

The 'New York Times' looks at a years-long case of domestic violence

(Newser) - “Your girl just jumped off the 95 bridge.” It was a text that made Detective Kristyn Bernier pull over her car and start crying, and it's the end to one woman's years-long tangle with domestic violence—but there's a coda. Writing for the New York ...

FBI: Images Show Dark Truth About Renowned Collector

'He was a grave robber,' says an agent of Don Miller

(Newser) - Amateur archaeologists and collectors have long conducted their own unsanctioned digs at sites around the country, flying under the radar of various laws designed to protect, say, ancient burial grounds of Native Americans. They're called "pothunters," and the ethics are squishy. Now, Vanity Fair explores the life...

Diabetics' Quest for This 7% Target 'Could Kill Them'

Reuters dives deep into the A1c target and drugmakers' role in pushing it

(Newser) - "He really tried hard to be at" an A1c below 7%, said Lucy Carlson. "That is what actually killed him." If that doesn't make sense to you, there's a good chance you don't have diabetes. Carlson's husband Ron did—type 2, since 2001—...

World&#39;s Biggest Organism Is Under Stress
Hungry Deer Pose Threat
to World's Biggest Organism
in case you missed it
Dec 4, 2021 2:20 PM CST

Hungry Deer Pose Threat to World's Biggest Organism

Pando, a stand of aspens in Utah, also faces threats from disease and warmer temperatures

(Newser) - It looks for all the world like a giant grove of trees, but this one has a twist: The 106-acre stand of aspens in Utah known as Pando is actually a single organism—and the biggest organism in the world at that. The trees don't grow from seeds but...

You Know About Foster Care, Maybe Not Its 'Shadow' System

ProPublica, 'New York Times Magazine' explore abuses in these informal custody arrangements

(Newser) - An estimated 250,000 children enter the formal foster care system each year, a process involving the family court system, mandated check-ins by caseworkers, government funding, etc. But as ProPublica and the New York Times Magazine explain in a joint project, about the same number of children enter what's...

Slick Series About Jesus Upends Crowdfunding Strategy

'The Chosen' is breaking new ground on that front, reports the 'Wall Street Journal'

(Newser) - Like any Hollywood-esque production depicting Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, The Chosen needed plenty of extras for the scene. The twist here: In this case, the extras actually paid for the privilege, with most shelling out at least $1,000 each. Welcome to the unusual—and successful—production model of...

California Demographics Shift, Thanks to 'Inland Empire'

'Wall Street Journal' explores exodus of middle class families from coast to 'Inland Empire'

(Newser) - It's not too much of a stretch to use the word "exodus." The Wall Street Journal digs into census figures out of California to highlight a fast-moving demographic shift: In broad strokes, middle-class families are fleeing the too-expensive coast. Their destination? Many are landing in the region...

The Quest for Fair Skin Leads to 'Serious Adverse Effects'

In India, topical steroid creams that lighten skin cause painful side effects

(Newser) - Since 2018, you shouldn't be able to buy a "fairness cream" over the counter in India. That was the year the government required that 14 topical steroid creams be made available only with a doctor's prescription. And yet CNN was recently able to purchase four types of...

Stories 601 - 620 | << Prev   Next >>