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Long before QAnon, Ronald Reagan and the GOP purged John Birch extremists from the party

Six decades ago, Reagan, Sen. Barry Goldwater, conservative writer William F. Buckley Jr. and others in the GOP backed away from the conspiracy theories peddled by the leader of the increasingly influential John Birch Society, who claimed former President Eisenhower was a communist plant.

Read the story at the Washington Post.

This scientist sees a way to spot the next pandemic

Alessandro Vespignani sounded an alarm at the start of the coronavirus crisis. Now he wants us to build an early-warning system.

Read the story at Experience Magazine.

A Black Pastor’s Zoom Campaign to Save Pennsylvania for Biden

A turnout disaster four years ago and an ongoing pandemic have spurred creative ways to defeat the president.

Read the story at POLITICO Magazine.

The Surprisingly Limited Success of Trump’s Signature Anti-Poverty Program

Cleveland’s experience shows why “opportunity zones” help middle-income neighborhoods more than poor ones.

Read the story at POLITICO Magazine.

The Obama-Era Police Reform Biden Can’t Wait to Restart

The Justice Department opened a record number of civil rights investigations of police departments, which led to reforms that are still changing cities. Trump abandoned those efforts. Biden has said he’d go even further than his old boss.

Read the story at POLITICO Magazine.

Adrift in Time: Why Peddocks Island is an Island Community Like No Other

Peddocks Island’s summer cottagers are the last people who live on a Boston Harbor island. Their community has an expiration date nobody knows.

Read the story in Yankee Magazine.

What Will Happen If the Stolen Gardner Museum’s Works Are Found?

It’s been 30 years this month since the unsolved Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist first rocked Boston and the art world. Ever wonder what will happen if the 13 stolen artworks are recovered? For the first time, Gardner security chief Anthony Amore offers a step-by-step guide.

Read the story in Boston Magazine.

How Boston Is Becoming the City Where Workers Rule

By helping worker-owned cooperatives launch, the city is trying to boost its lower-income residents.

Read the story at POLITICO Magazine.

More of my coverage of urban jobs efforts:

Detroit’s Plan to Make Sure Redevelopment Boosts the Whole City
A groundbreaking law requires new projects to hire locally and build neighborhood amenities.

Debbie Dingell’s Mission to Take Back Michigan from Trump

Her voters, convinced the Democratic Party had abandoned them, helped turn the state red. Can she find the right message to woo them back?

Read the story at POLITICO Magazine.

In New Hampshire, the town dump is the place to campaign

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I’m writing about the New Hampshire primary for the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism’s Manchester Divided wire service.

Trash Prospectors: Three days before primary, the town dump is the place to campaign in New Hampshire (Feb. 8)

Requesting Equity: Students press the presidential candidates to remember the poor in their climate policies (Feb. 6)

The Other Protest: Pro-Trump truck flashes high-wattage TV clips about Democrats outside a New Hampshire youth climate town hall (Feb. 6)