The New Yorker
THE TALK OF THE TOWN
According to the New York City Department of Records and Information Services, Zohran Mamdani will not actually be the city's hundred-and-eleventh mayor, as many people have assumed. A historian named Paul Hortenstine recently came across references to a previously unrecorded mayoral term served in 1674, by one Matthias Nicolls. Consequently, on New Year's Day, after Mamdani places his right hand on the Quran and is sworn in at City Hall, he will become our hundred-and-twelfth mayor—or possibly even our hundred-and-thirty-third, based on the department's best estimates. “The numbering of New York City ‘Mayors’ has been somewhat arbitrary and inconsistent,” a department official disclosed in a blog post this month. “There may even be other missing Mayors.”
10+ min |
December 29, 2025 - January 05, 2026
The New Yorker
PREMEDITATED
Tipped for the Oscars, “Hamnet” was released on November 26th. When the movie showed at film festivals, the director, Chloé Zhao, invited the audience to join her in an act of collective meditation before the screening. Among her instructions: “Close your eyes,” “Feel your own weight,” “Take deep breaths with sound,” “Sigh out loud,” and “Gently say to yourself, “This is my heart. These are our hearts.”
3 min |
December 29, 2025 - January 05, 2026
The New Yorker
Lawrence Wright on A. J. Liebling's "The Great State"
During the 1959 session of the Louisiana state legislature, Governor Earl Long, the less famous younger brother of Senator Huey Long, “went off his rocker,” as the tickled writer A. J. Liebling recounted in this magazine, adding, “The papers reported that he had cursed and hollered at the legislators, saying things that so embarrassed his wife, Miz Blanche, and his relatives that they had packed him off to Texas in a National Guard plane to get his brains repaired in an asylum.”
3 min |
December 29, 2025 - January 05, 2026
The New Yorker
FREUDIAN SLIPS
The psychology of fashion.
10+ min |
December 29, 2025 - January 05, 2026
The New Yorker
The Welfare State
The world beyond the ridgetop was a wall of gray cloud.
10+ min |
December 29, 2025 - January 05, 2026
The New Yorker
ON Y VA
\"Tartuffe\" closes out a year of Molière.
7 min |
December 29, 2025 - January 05, 2026
The New Yorker
THE VICTOR AND THE SPOILS
\"Marty Supreme.\"
6 min |
December 29, 2025 - January 05, 2026
The New Yorker
FOR RICHER OR POORER
Saying yes to the prenup.
10+ min |
December 29, 2025 - January 05, 2026
The New Yorker
ALPHABET SOUP
We know how to help kids with dyslexia, but often fail to. Why?
10+ min |
December 29, 2025 - January 05, 2026
The New Yorker
LAST HIGHWAY
How Willie Nelson sees America.
10+ min |
December 29, 2025 - January 05, 2026
The New Yorker
YES, BOSS
Peter Navarro, a tariff cheerleader, created the template of sycophancy for Trump Administration officials.
10 min |
December 29, 2025 - January 05, 2026
The New Yorker
THE SOUND OF SILENTS
Organists continue to perform imaginative accompaniments to century-old films.
5 min |
December 29, 2025 - January 05, 2026
The New Yorker
LOOK IT UP
Is the dictionary becoming extinct?
10+ min |
December 29, 2025 - January 05, 2026
Los Angeles Times
One of the last remaining Pearl Harbor survivors dies
World War II Navy veteran Ira “Ike” Schab, one of the dwindling number of survivors of the 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, has died.
2 min |
December 22, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Punk scene members' album has political message
(Punk, from Et]
3 min |
December 22, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent
PETER ARNETT, 1934 - 2025
5 min |
December 22, 2025
Los Angeles Times
A Reddit user helps solve Brown, MIT shootings
His online tip ‘blew this case right open,’ Rhode Island’s attorney general says.
5 min |
December 22, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Trojans stomp the Banana Slugs after scramble for an opponent
UC Santa Cruz fills in after Brown canceled game in the wake of on-campus shooting.
3 min |
December 22, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Prison methods are as bad as you've heard, and spreading
The dehumanizing conditions long deployed against incarcerated people are now used beyond prison walls
3 min |
December 22, 2025
Los Angeles Times
How Trump gets away with using dubious figures
Much attention has been focused on Donald Trump’s use of words — that is, his peculiar style of oratory.
6 min |
December 22, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Doncic injured as Lakers can't pull through
Star exits with leg bruise as depleted club is routed by the host Clippers.
2 min |
December 22, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Death cap mushrooms sicken Californians
The winter season has brought cold and wet conditions that are perfect for fungi like death cap mushrooms, or Amanita phalloides, to grow in California, experts say, but with that has come a rash of people mistakenly eating them thinking they’re safe.
3 min |
December 22, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Jaguars end Broncos' Il-game win streak
Trevor Lawrence threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score, leading Jacksonville to a resounding 34-20 win that ended Denver's 11-game winning streak.
3 min |
December 22, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Indiana will try to flex muscles against experienced Alabama
Hoosiers haven’t won a bowl game since 1991 while the Tide have a host of national titles.
2 min |
December 22, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Texas A&M captures its first women’s volleyball crown
Aggies (29-4) sweep Kentucky, achieving the rare feat of beating three No. 1 seeds.
1 min |
December 22, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Plucky James Madison is Group of Five fodder
Clearly overmatched, Dukes put up a valiant fight against Oregon before losing in CFP.
3 min |
December 22, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Schools' abuse settlements hid from the public
Victims in districts across state are muzzled despite transparency laws
10+ min |
December 22, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Aside from James’ play, not much to like
The only thing left for JJ Redick to do was joke about it.
4 min |
December 22, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Allow Leon Thomas to reintroduce himself
The 'Mutt' singer has transformed from child star to R&B innovator
7 min |
December 22, 2025
Los Angeles Times
Schizophrenia drug linked to Reiner son
Sources say he was prescribed medication for mental health before parents' deaths.
2 min |