U.S. Journal
The California Town Owned by a New York Investment Firm
Scotia was created, a century and a half ago, so that lumberjacks could live near the trees they cut down. Its current owners have been trying for more than a decade to bring new residents to town.
An Unpermitted Shooting Range Upends Life in a Quiet Town
Residents of Pawlet, Vermont, were accustomed to calm and neighborly interactions. Then a new resident moved in.
An “Academic Transformation” Takes On the Math Department
A series of cuts at West Virginia University has largely affected the humanities, but any program that is not seen as marketable may get the axe.
How a Culture War Over Race Engulfed a School District
After a ten-year-old took her own life, residents battled over whether her death was a tragic but isolated incident, or caused by a pattern of racist bullying.
An Abortion Clinic One Year Later
After the fall of Roe v. Wade, North Dakota’s Red River Women’s Clinic moved two miles away, into Minnesota and a new political reality.
Could Coal Waste Be Used to Make Sustainable Batteries?
Acid mine drainage has long been a scourge in Appalachia. Recent research suggests that we may be able to simultaneously clean up the pollution and extract the minerals and elements needed to power green technologies.
The Aging Student Debtors of America
In an era of declining wages and rising debt, Americans are not aging out of their student loans—they are aging into them.
The Last Abortion Clinic in North Dakota Gets Ready to Leave
The Red River Women’s Clinic has thirty days to close on one side of the border with Minnesota, before reopening on the other.
Prenups Aren’t Just for Rich People Anymore
Younger Americans, especially, have found their own use for prenuptial agreements: protecting their spouses from the worst impulses of the American debt-collection system.
Were the Film-Set Heists in Atlanta an Inside Job?
According to one tally, three million dollars’ worth of equipment was stolen during the past eighteen months, in forty-five separate incidents. “Somewhere, there’s a mole,” a studio owner said.