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Feb 3

A storm bringing heavy snow and ice from the Midwest and the South to the Northeast has already caused travel disruptions in the U.S.

Highways in Missouri are blocked, and a crash on Interstate 70 in Columbia halted traffic for a time. nyti.ms/32SdkAX

Forecasters said that ice could make travel impossible in the Missouri Bootheel. Snow was expected to continue into Thursday for the St. Louis area, with temperatures dropping to 18 degrees overnight.
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The storm closed courtrooms in New Mexico, and Amtrak paused train service across the Midwest and the South. nyti.ms/35KGTFQ

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Feb 2

Two years into the pandemic, the coronavirus is killing Americans at far higher rates than people in other wealthy nations.

The ballooning death toll has defied the hopes that the less severe Omicron variant would spare the U.S. the pain of past waves. nyti.ms/3gAsi21

“Death rates are so high in the States — eye-wateringly high,” a global public health expert said.

Despite having one of the world’s most powerful arsenals of vaccines, the U.S. has failed to inoculate as much of its population as other wealthy nations. nyti.ms/3gAsi21

The U.S. faces other steep disadvantages, ones that experts worry could cause additional problems. For example, many Americans have health problems like obesity and diabetes that increase the risk of severe Covid. nyti.ms/3gAsi21

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Feb 2

The Winter Olympics are a carnival of danger. The athletes who perform these daring feats are not crazy or reckless. But they do have one thing in common that might surprise those of us who watch.

Fear. Every one of them is scared by what they do. nyti.ms/35CLwS9

Ask athletes what scares them, and the answers cover a broad spectrum — the fear of missing the Olympics, of regret, of disappointing family and friends, of losing control.

But the No. 1 answer is the fear of getting hurt. nyti.ms/35CLwS9

To reach the Olympics means not only having talent but also being more daring. Fear, the athletes said, is a balance. Too much can be debilitating. Too little can be worse.

“Fear,” the snowboarder André Höflich said, “is what keeps us alive in the end.” nyti.ms/35CLwS9

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Feb 2

As Japan rapidly ages, the country is turning to electronic surveillance to confront an epidemic of dementia and monitor the vulnerable.

The move has given peace of mind to some and raised concerns for others. nyti.ms/3IR5s1Y

Dementia is the leading cause of missing-person cases in Japan. More than 17,000 people with dementia went missing in 2020.

In his early 70s, Koji Uchida began to vanish. The first time, he was found in front of a vending machine 17 miles from home. nyti.ms/35wrbxN

Uchida began to go missing regularly, once wandering for two days before turning up in front of a stranger’s apartment, hungry and barely able to remember his name. Desperate, his family asked the local government to put him under digital surveillance. nyti.ms/35wrbxN

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Jan 29

Democrats complained, for much of the last decade, that Republicans and their allies were spending hundreds of millions of difficult-to-trace dollars to influence politics. "Dark money" became a dirty word.

Then came the 2020 election.

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Donors and allies of the Democratic Party, spurred by opposition to President Trump, embraced dark money with fresh zeal in 2020, surpassing Republicans in spending by some measures, according to a New York Times analysis.
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The findings reveal the growth and ascendancy of a shadow political infrastructure that is reshaping U.S. politics, as megadonors to these nonprofits take advantage of loose disclosure laws to give millions of dollars in total secrecy.
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Jan 29

Welcome to Hexapolis.

Gerrymandering is the intentional distortion of political districts to favor a party. It has been criticized for disenfranchising voters and fueling polarization. We created this imaginary state to help you understand how it works.

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In Hexapolis, you are an elected legislator for either the Purple Party or the Yellow Party. You are in charge of redrawing Hexapolis’s districts in your party’s favor.

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Districts are made up of 15 adjacent tiles. Draw a district with at least eight of your party’s tiles to secure your party’s advantage.

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