Breaking news
Jennifer Smola at Dispatch.com reported that Richard Strauss abused at least 177 Ohio State students, according to a report. Strauss was the Ohio State University physician and spent 20 years with the university. A long-awaited report released Friday morning revealed that “university officials repeatedly failed to investigate or act on complaints about his conduct from as early as 1979.”
AP also reported on the story with Investigators: Late Ohio State team doctor abused 177 men. The doctor died in 2005.
R.I.P. Grumpy Cat
Grumpy Cat, Whose Frown Inspired an Internet Meme, Is Dead at 7. We learned the news from the New York Times’ Daniel Victor, who covered the story from Hong Kong. “RIP legend. Unearthed by @bydanielvictor, who wrote a somber obituary for this surly soul,” Tiffany May tweeted.
Gianluca Mezzofiore also covered “the internet's most famous cat’s” death for CNN.
The climate crisis
The Guardian is changing the language it uses about the environment and Damian Carrington there explained why. It includes the update that from now, the house style guide recommends terms such as “climate crisis” and “global heating.”
Also at The Guardian, news that air pollution may be damaging every organ and cell in the body, based on findings from a global review and reported on by Johanna Murphy. “Some brilliant visual journalism here,” Caspar Smith hailed. Gareth Simkins chimed in: “Well deserved ๐๐ to @dpcarrington & @guardian for a barnstorming story on the health impacts of #AirPollution. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if almost every organ was affected. If something is missing... it is probably because there was no research yet.’”
A detailed abortion rights platform
Continuing to be the most active Democratic candidate when it comes to policy, Elizabeth Warren released her Congressional Action to Protect Choice via Medium. “Just days after Alabama votes to effectively ban abortion, @ewarren is out with a detailed abortion rights platform,” Adam Cancryn wrote. Astead Herndon tweeted, “Elizabeth Warren's latest Medium post is about abortion. Says Republican attacks on Roe v Wade "just might work." Calls for Congress to codify Right to Choose in law and ‘guarantee reproductive health coverage as part of all health coverage.’” Gideon Resnick summed it up: “Warren proposes here: —Federal law to parallel Roe v. Wade —Blocking Targeted Regulations on Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws —Repealing Hyde —Ending Trump gag rule.”
Love won
BBC reported that Taiwan legalized same-sex marriage.
Citing Austin Ramzy’s reporting at the New York Times, Shubhankar Chakravorty pointed out that “Taiwan's parliament is the first in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.”
Trump, walls, and the obstruction inquiry
Trump apparently wants his border barrier to be painted black with spikes. He has other ideas, too, Nick Miroff and Josh Dawsey threaten in their headline for the Washington Post. “The barrier that Trump wants to build along the Mexico border will be a steel bollard fence, not a concrete wall as he long promised, and the president is fine with that. He has a few other things he would like to change, though,” Toluse Olorunnipa added.
A judge ordered the public release of what Michael Flynn said in that call to the Russian ambassador, according to Carol Leonnig and Rosalind Helderman at the Washington Post. Matea Gold added that the paper originally sought to unseal the documents in that case.
Meanwhile, former national security adviser Michael Flynn told Mueller that people tied to Trump and Congress tried to obstruct the probe, according to reporting by Adiel Kaplan, Rich Schapiro, Tom Winter. and Tom Winter at NBC News. Winter tweeted, “A newly un-redacted Special Counsel filing sheds insight onto Flynn's role in the obstruction inquiry.”
William Barr is insisting on a review of the origins of the FBI’s Trump-Russia probe and says it could lead to rule changes, Sadie Gurman and Aruna Viswanatha reported at the Wall Street Journal. The rule changes would impact “counterintelligence investigations of political campaigns,” Gurman wrote.
International updates
We lost world-renowned architect I.M. Pei, who died at 102. Paul Goldberger filed the obit for the New York Times. Zac Crain urged: “Go walk by the Meyerson or city hall and pour one out.”
Eva Dou and Chao Deng at the Wall Street Journal explained how Western Companies Get Tangled in China’s Muslim Clampdown. Bradley Hope tweeted this quote from the piece: “‘They say it’s secret. Even speaking of it is not allowed.’ China forces Muslims into training for factories that ultimately supply Adidas, H&M, Esprit, and others.”
For more on what’s happening in places that aren’t America, read Andrew Rosati’s new piece in Bloomberg, Tear Gas and Condom Shortages: What Dating Is Like in Chaotic Caracas. “Dating’s not for the faint of heart anywhere. In Caracas, the road to true love is paved with potholes—hyperinflation, condom shortages, rolling blackouts, tear-gas smoke—that can make you want to give up. Almost,” he tweeted.
More weekend reads
- Jane Bradley and Katie J.M. Baker at BuzzFeed News released a bombshell report this morning that Leaked Records Reveal Tony Robbins Berated Abuse Victims, And Former Followers Accuse Him Of Sexual Advances. Tom Namako wrote, “Tony Robbins is the world’s most famous self-help guru. This is the story he doesn’t want you to read.”
- Variety’s Justin Kroll got the exclusive news that Robert Pattinson will Play ‘The Batman’ for Matt Reeves and Warner Bros. Cameron Williams deemed it “#Pattman.” Kevin Polowy admitted, “Robert Pattinson is Batman and I think the internet's about to break.”
- Drew Magary wrote The Night The Lights Went Out for The Concourse. “Five months ago, my friend and colleague @drewmagary almost died. I'm so fucking grateful that he's still here to write, beautifully, about it,” Megan Greenwell shared. Tom Ley added, “Drew's brain only becomes more powerful if you try to strike it down.”
- There’s an adenovirus going around the University of Maryland and Julie Vitkovskaya at the Washington Post reported that officials waited 18 days to inform students of the threat. “I live in Bethesda, I work in Washington, DC, and somehow I hadn't heard about the heartbreaking death of University of Maryland student Olivia Paregol,” Julie Bogen tweeted. Amy Brittain added, “As a mysterious illness rapidly spread across the University of Maryland, officials remained silent for more than two weeks. We explored the consequences of that decision, told through the story of one 18-year-old freshman: Olivia Paregol.”
- And don’t let the weekend go by without devouring this CNN story on How a cheap, brutally efficient grocery chain is upending America's supermarkets. It’s the work of Nathaniel Meyersohn, Bronte Lord, and Dina Litovsky and it’s about Aldi, which you’ve surely heard your mother talk about. Meyersohn explained, “Aldi, the German discount grocer, makes customers bag their own groceries and charges a quarter to use shopping carts. But the company is on track to become the third largest grocer in the United States.”
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