The Big Stories We Covered This Week
A new and evolving weekly feature reviewing our coverage across The Atlantic.
Eulogies for the Campaigns That Were
The Iowa caucuses marked the start of the presidential primary on Monday. Ted Cruz got a boost moving into the first in-the-nation primary, while Hillary Clinton landed a narrow victory over Bernie Sanders.
The GOP field also got a bit smaller this week with Rand Paul, Rick Santorum, and Mike Huckabee pulling out the race. As did Martin O’Malley, whom Ruth sent off with an elegy.
Ahead of the New Hampshire primary, Clinton and Sanders come off the stage where they sparred over progressivism on Thursday night, while the Republican presidential candidates, minus Carly Fiorina, prepare for tonight’s debate. In case you missed:
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Nora on why you should take poll numbers with a grain of salt.
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Julian E. Zelizer on how Ronald Reagan set the precedent for Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.
The Zika Virus and Its Consequences
On Monday, the World Health Organization classified the recent outbreak of the Zika virus—a virus which is “linked to certain birth defects”—as a public-health emergency. Zika officially landed on U.S. soil, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. Julie wrote on the “past, present, and future” of the virus, while Nora covered how the U.S. government is reacting. As governments abroad began advising women delay pregnancy, Uri investigated “the social and economic consequences of a gap like that in a country’s or region’s population.”
Elsewhere in science, technology, and health:
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Olga and Julie on the CDC’s “bonkers new alcohol guidelines for women.”
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Ed on cat legs.
- Ross on the people who spent their #Snowzilla at NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center.
Nostalgia Reigns; We’ll Never Let Go
Megan reexamined the great love story that is Titanic, in the wake of comments from lead actress Kate Winslet suggesting that Rose definitely could’ve scooted over to make room for Jack. Adrienne looked at how different generations got their names (think “Boomers,” “Generation X,” and “Millennials”). Meanwhile, Spencer argued “2016 pop is sorely in need of [Lady] Gaga’s joyful nonsense.”
In case you missed our reviews from the world of entertainment:
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Sophie on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ attempt to breath new life to the story by Jane Austen and Fox’s Grease: Live!
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Chris on the Coen brothers’ latest film, Hail, Caesar!
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David on a new Netflix comedy special from Hannibal Buress, ABC’s new series based on the story of Bernie Madoff, and FX’s American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson.
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Spencer on a new album from Junior Boys, Big Black Coat.
West-Coast Ways
Our business team covered a range of Left-Coast-based organizations, big and small. Chat-darling Slack released new diversity numbers. Bourree compiled theories about the rumored Amazon bookstores and covered Apple & Alphabet’s neck-and-neck valuations. And Adam Grant wrote on the ubiquity of the phrase “it’s like Uber for x.”
In case you missed:
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Alana on protests in San Francisco just outside Super Bowl City.
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Bourree on the release of January’s job report.
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Amanda Ripley on Starbucks’ generous employee perks.
The Next America Arrives
A project formerly by our sister-publication National Journal, Next America joined us here at the Atlantic, and its reporters hit the ground running:
- J. Weston on Ibtihaj Muhammad, a fencer who will wear a hijab at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, marking “the first time a competing U.S. athlete has worn a hijab at the Olympics.”
- Emily on Reno, Nev.’s “tech ambitions.”
- Janie on a group of state schools trying to crowdsource ideas.
Readers Share Their Abortion Stories
Over the past month, we’ve collected stories from readers about their personal brushes with abortion. Among their stories:
- A pro-life woman who got pregnant at 17,
- an anonymous reader who believes they should have been aborted,
- a woman who got horrific nosebleeds during her pregnancy,
- a woman whose fiancé “sabotaged the birth control,”
- and a reader who was present for a violent attack on an abortion clinic.