CATEGORIES

WELCOME TO OUR FIRST/FINAL BOOK CLUB!

Thank you, everyone, for coming to our first/final book-club meeting. Apologies for how long it's taken us to settle on a date, but in between work, kids, and the pretense of joining adult recreational sports leagues, it seems that we all have incredibly busy schedules.

ODD JOBS

\"Severance,\" on Apple TV+.

TABULA RASA

“Bleb” is worth eight points in Scrabble. Thought you might like to know. I have known the word since Wednesday, June 11, 1958, when I learned it from a company physician at Time Incorporated, in Rockefeller Center. He said I should have been hospitalized four days ago, but there was nothing much to do about it now, go back to work.

MAKE HIM LAUGH

How Lorne Michaels's sensibility governs \"Saturday Night Live.\"

ON A MISSION FROM GOD

Inside the movement to redirect billions of taxpayer dollars to private religious schools.

FEAR AND LOATHING

Are all our arguments really over who's harmed?

MING HAN ONG

Thadeus had never offered to take Johnny Mac out for a meal before. This is new, Johnny Mac says, grinning. For twenty-five years, Johnny Mac worked as a tenant-rights lawyer. He is a fount of varied and surprising knowledge.

THE POISON MACHINE

The talk-show host Yinon Magal's hard-line tactics.

ZORA NEALE HURSTON'S CHOSEN PEOPLE

What a long-unpublished novel reveals about her magnificent obsession.

Forecast For Wind Keeps Fire Threat Very High

California death toll climbs to 24, with the major blazes largely uncontained

Constellation Energy Is a Hot Stock Again

Three years ago, Constellation Energy was spun out of the utility Exelon, hived off as an unwanted company running nuclear-power plants that might close.

Brother of Slain Leader Seeks to Rebuild Hamas

Hamas suffered a severe blow last fall when Israel killed Yahya Sinwar, the group's leader and strategist behind the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

As Hegseth Goes Before Senators, Ernst Looms as Key Vote

Pete Hegseth's performance will be closely watched in what is expected to be a contentious confirmation hearing on Tuesday for the defense secretary nominee. But also in the spotlight: Sen. Joni Ernst (R., Iowa), whose support the Trump transition team views as crucial.

Outlook Brightens For Job Seekers

Business leaders anticipate hiring more after last year's uncertainties

A Language's Life And Literature

As you descend a ramp into the main exhibition space of the Yiddish Book Center, you walk alongside a display of 49 books.

A Report to Our Readers

As he prepares to leave his post, it was only natural for me to check in with Amb. Roger Carstens. After all, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs and I had shared many ups and downs together in the year past, culminating in his Aug. 1 call to me to confirm that our colleague was finally safe.

Skechers' Focus on Casual Shoes Pays Off

The National Basketball Association's 2023 most valuable player and last season's top European goal scorer aren't Nike or Adidas athletes. When playing, they wear what Martha Stewart wears: Skechers.

Food Sellers Push to Raise Sales Volume

After years of raising prices, food companies making everything from cookies to snacks and frozen meals say they need to sell more products to post a profit.

Investors Bet Profits Will Revive Rally

With Fed unlikely to cut rates as quickly as hoped, earnings are even more critical

U.S. Aims to Correct Record on 1921 Tulsa Massacre

In the weeks after the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, in which white mobs burned the Oklahoma city's vibrant Black neighborhood to the ground, a federal agent quickly concluded that the attack that left as many as 300 people dead wasn't motivated by \"racial feeling,\" and its perpetrators hadn't broken any laws.

Cities Boosted By Free Trade Brace for Shift

Detroit and Laredo, Texas, face uncertain futures as Trump pledges new tariffs

The Goal-Line Stand That Saw Ohio State Corral the Longhorns

Texas was a yard away from tying up the game. A scoop-and-score sealed it for the Buckeyes.

It's a Jubilee Year in Italy. Cue the Crowds

This may be the year to skip Rome-or Italy entirely. The Roman Catholic Church is celebrating a jubilee year, a roughly yearlong tradition dating to the early 14th century.

China Export Boom Raises Vulnerability To Trump Tariffs

China's economy is more dependent on exports than it has been for most of the past two decades, leaving it vulnerable to a new broadside on trade from President-elect Donald Trump.

L.A. Officials Race to Fight Rumors, Conspiracy Theories

Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Erik Scott has one of the most intense jobs in the nation right now: trying to distribute accurate public information during a historically destructive urban fire in America.

Palisades Residents Visit Ruins That Were Once Their Homes

Homeowners want to know the fate of their houses amid concern over looters

Border Czar Becomes Face Of Deportation

Tom Homan, a pugnacious cop who will serve as President-elect Donald Trump's border czar, has taken up a surprising mantle for a longtime immigration hard-liner: the realist in the room.

Syrians Who Share Assad Sect Fear Discrimination, Attacks

Alawites point to mysterious killings, government raids; 'I don't feel safe'

'Moana' Star Discusses Acting and Empathy

Auli'i Cravalho was 14 years old when she was cast in Disney's \"Moana\" as the plucky island princess who traverses the ocean to save her village. Now, at 24, she's reprising the animated role that launched her acting career in \"Moana 2,\" which broke the record for biggest five-day opening at the box office in November.

The Dirty Work Of Clean Energy

Mining is having a moment. Pundits and politicians have rediscovered the reality that extracting minerals from the earth is both critical for a modern economy and an inherently dirty business. Journalists writing about the industry often invoke both its strategic importance and William Blake's \"dark satanic mills.\"