The Big Stories We Covered This Week
The Calm Before the Storm
The presidential candidates are gearing up for the third round of the race tomorrow: the Nevada Democratic caucuses and the South Carolina GOP primary. Just when you thought the race couldn’t get any stranger, a feud unfolded between Donald Trump and Pope Francis. (Emma touched on the pontiff’s views on Zika and contraception.) And the fate of the Jeb! campaign is very uncertain after Governor Nikki Haley endorsed Marco Rubio.
The questions looming over the weekend: In a tight Democratic race, who will Latinos back? In South Carolina, how will Trump, who holds the lead, fare among evangelicals? We’ll be covering it live here.
In case you missed:
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Christopher D. Cook making “the pragmatic case for Bernie Sanders.”
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Clare on what we can glean from early election results. She also interviewed activist DeRay Mckesson, who’s running for Baltimore mayor.
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Andrew on the waves of political ads in Iowa, in the form of an arcade game.
Scalia Changes Robes for the Heavenly Kind
The deceased Justice laid in repose today at the Supreme Court’s Great Hall, ahead of his funeral tomorrow. Garrett Epps recognized Antonin Scalia’s “outsized legacy” and Jeffrey Rosen articulated “what made Scalia great.” Emma pondered what his death could mean for religious liberty while Charlotte Garden looked at the implications for public-sector unions. Garrett marveled at how Scalia’s death is causing “hysteria” among Republicans and Nora was forced to cover the conspiracy theories surrounding his death because the GOP frontrunner gave them life.
Saying Farewell to Harper Lee
The author of To Kill a Mockingbird died today at 89. Adam dipped in the Atlantic archives in remembrance and Megan commemorated Harper Lee in full.
In case you missed these reviews from our Culture writers:
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David on Race, a new biopic about runner Jesse Owen; on Love, a new Netflix series from Judd Apatow; and on The New Yorker Presents, a new Amazon series from the magazine.
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Spencer on Kanye’s new album, The Life of Pablo; and on season two of Better Call Saul.
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Megan on season three of Broad City.
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Walton Muyumba on Darryl Pinckney’s new book, Black Deutschland.
FBiPhone
Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday pushed back on an FBI order that the company help unlock one of the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, and today the agency pushed right back. Conor covered the controversy and wondered whether officers were “crying wolf about the dangers of locked phones.”
In case you missed:
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Kaveh on hackers holding a California hospital’s data for ransom.
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Douglas Rushkoff on why Twitter “is not a failure.”
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Alia on whether an increase in teacher salary would help students.
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Emma on chaplains in the workplace.
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Roc Morin on “the artificial universe that creates itself.”
Making Sense of the Senses
Enjoy those eagle eyes; your kids may not. Julie reported on a new study predicting almost half of the world will be nearsighted by 2050. If that news isn’t music to your ears, Adrienne covered the acoustics of yesteryear. She also checked her own reporting for gender bias and responded to a reader’s criticism over the piece.
In case you missed:
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Cari on what a skeleton says about syphilis.
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Marta Zaraska on “how humans became such avid carnivores.”