I t’s a hot summer night in 1969, and for those of a certain age — young enough to turn on, tune in, drop out — Steve Paul’s the Scene is your place. As a spectator, a musician, a hanger-on. A place where the music comes first, even if you …
Read More »Is the $11 Billion Online Sportsbook Bubble About to Burst?
S hohei Ohtani walks up to home plate at New York’s Citi Field, and the L.A. Dodgers fans, who are well in attendance on this Wednesday afternoon, are up on their feet. “So, ideally you get a pop-up, right? You got like five seconds in the air. God forbid the …
Read More »Every Awful Thing Trump Has Promised to Do in a Second Term
Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election in convincing fashion, trouncing Kamala Harris in the Electoral College and becoming the first Republican to win the popular vote in 20 years. He claimed during his victory speech that he has “an unprecedented and powerful mandate” to do what he wants — …
Read More »Untangling the Mystery of the Art God
T ucked between a taqueria and a discount tobacco store on downtown San Francisco’s Market Street sits the International Art Museum of America (IAMA). The white-column-framed double doors open into a towering hall with a pond and a mossy wooden treehouse. Upstairs, past a pair of imperial guardian lions, the …
Read More »Inside the Growing and Controversial World of Wildlife-Killing Contests
L uke Cowan switches off the safety of his .204-caliber rifle. The single shot rings out and then a thump as the animal hits the ground. At just 25, Cowan’s hair has grayed, but he still retains a boyish face pinkened by years of hunting under the Texas sun. Wearing …
Read More »A Gun Law the NRA Opposes Could Have Saved Its Employee's Life
T HIS STORY WAS PUBLISHED in partnership with The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence. Subscribe to its newsletters. One week in November 2008, Dawn Williams-Stewart showed up for work at the headquarters of the National Rifle Association, in Fairfax, Virginia, with bruises on her face. A close friend …
Read More »Inside the Patchwork World of Emergency Alerts
S oraya Sutherlin knew it was coming, she knew she was prepared, but still, her heart pulsed faster as the moment to push the button neared. Sutherlin has worked in emergency management for more than 15 years, responding to mass shootings, wildfires, an oil-rig explosion, and the drawn-out disaster of …
Read More »'It Is Time to Break It Up': Inside the DOJ's Blockbuster Lawsuit Against Live Nation
J onathan Kanter is standing in the basement recording studio of his Bethesda, Maryland, home, surrounded by an enviable collection of dozens of vintage and limited-edition guitars. It’s a warm June evening and the place feels like the Platinum Room at Guitar Center, with the walls covered in blond wood …
Read More »Inside the $621 Million Legal Battle for the 'Soul of the Internet'
I n the old chapel of a former Christian Science church in San Francisco, late-afternoon sun pours orange through the windows, and several giant servers are hard at work. The tall, black towers fill two large alcoves, and their cooling fans emit a serene, industrial hum as blue lights blink. …
Read More »It Was Supposed to Be a Sting Operation. Did ICE Traffic Drugs Instead?
J ust before dawn on Sept. 24, 2007, a red, white, and blue Gulfstream II fell from the sky over the Yucatán Peninsula. The private jet had taken off without passengers from Rio Negro, Colombia, for Cancún, Mexico, more than 1,200 miles north, but crossed radar as a suspicious flight, …
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