The abrupt resignation this month of the North Carolina poet laureate prompts a question: Who are these poets, and what do they do?

Is Poetry Dead? Not if 45 Official Laureates Are Any Indication

Efforts by the freewheeling online community to monetize without driving away its 114 million monthly users will require appealing to advertisers without sacrificing values like personal data privacy.

Can Reddit Grow Up?

Since the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling, lavish spending by outside groups has created a nearly nonstop campaign season with a harsh, negative tone.

Outside Money Drives a Deluge of Political Ads

Activists are seeking to block changes to an operating agreement between The Salt Lake Tribune and the Mormon Church-owned Deseret News.

Rallying for The Salt Lake Tribune as a City Changes

With Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Bobby Cox among the six living inductees, the Hall of Fame ceremony stood in lively contrast to last year’s sleepy proceedings.

Braves Rule Crowds on Cooperstown’s Podium and Lawn

About 1,200 workers from around the country gathered in Illinois at an event largely underwritten by the Service Employees International Union, but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is dubious of the union’s intentions.

Fast-Food Workers Intensify Fight for $15 an Hour

Israel and Hamas both see reasons to continue fighting, and Israeli officials appear dismissive of John Kerry’s aims in a way that few American secretaries of state have faced.

Even Gaza Truce Is Hard to Win, Kerry Is Finding

Though Comic-Con International is far and away San Diego’s largest annual convention, the mobs of pop culture enthusiasts who attend it are not big spenders.

Large Crowds Spend Little at Comic-Con

Health workers with Doctors Without Borders have been threatened with knives, stones and machetes by Guineans who blame them for spreading the deadly virus.

Fear of Ebola Breeds a Terror of Physicians

As unregulated surrogacy agencies proliferate, the story of Planet Hospital stands as a cautionary tale about their ability to prey on vulnerable clients who do not notice the red flags.

A Surrogacy Agency That Delivered Heartache

A three-member tribunal called the seizure of the Russian oil company a politically driven campaign to neutralize its owner and put its assets under state control.

$50 Billion Awarded in Breakup of Yukos

An agency that enforces antimonopoly laws visited company offices in four cities, as the country more closely scrutinizes multinational companies.

With Microsoft in Sights, China Starts to Squeeze U.S. Tech Companies

Visitors from all over are lining up at the Louvre, the Vatican and the Uffizi museums, posing problems for institutions trying to balance accessibility with art preservation.

Masterworks vs. the Masses

Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell star in a knockout production of Sam Shepard’s “Fool for Love” at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts.

To Attract and Repel, in Perpetuity

A package targeting Russia’s financial, energy and defense sectors was driven by the conclusion that Moscow has taken a more direct role in Ukraine.

U.S. and Europe Set to Toughen Russia Sanctions

The Pacific Northwest is a home to the mountain beaver, which is home to the elusive Hystrichopsylla schefferi.

The Great Giant Flea Hunt

Peter Mendelsund has designed hundreds of striking book covers, but his imagination seized up when it came time to design one for his own book.

The Creative Art of Selling a Book by Its Cover

The film director John Michael McDonagh, older brother of the playwright Martin, has become a filmmaker to watch in his own right with “The Guard” and now “Calvary.”

His Turn With the Past

Smaller cities are increasingly attractive for New York chefs, who find savvy audiences willing to support innovative restaurants.

Chefs Move Beyond New York

Tom Petty, Shawn Mendes and Hermán Olivera are among the artists with new albums.

A Singer Drawing Eyes and Ears

Just six weeks of training in simple techniques led to significant reductions in stress, depression and anxiety among the parents of children with developmental disabilities.

When the Caregivers Need Healing

The United States has concluded that Russia violated a landmark arms control treaty by testing a prohibited ground-launched cruise missile, according to senior American officials.

U.S. Says Russia Tested Cruise Missile, Violating Treaty

The six inductees to the Hall of Fame this year have an impressive collection of career highlights among them. 

An Assemblage of Accomplishments Across the Diamond 

The $110 million deal is for the remaining gyms owned by Millennium Partners, and it expands Equinox’s empire to 73 locations worldwide.

Equinox Fitness Is Buying Millennium’s Gyms

Judges in The Hague could rule on a case brought against the Russian Federation, and the Fed may cut its monthly bond purchases to $25 billion.

Verdict on Yukos Seizure Awaited, and Fed Expected to Further Reduce Bond Buying

Alexander Rooney Forbes was a Scottish football player and manager.

Alex Forbes, Scottish footballer and manager (born 1925)

Alex_Forbes

Alakbar Mammadov was a Soviet and Azerbaijani footballer best known as a striker for FC Dynamo Moscow in the 1950s and later as the first manager of the independent Azerbaijan national football team.

July 28, 2014

Headlines from July 28, 2014

Is Poetry Dead? Not if 45 Official Laureates Are Any Indication

Can Reddit Grow Up?

Outside Money Drives a Deluge of Political Ads

Rallying for The Salt Lake Tribune as a City Changes

Braves Rule Crowds on Cooperstown’s Podium and Lawn

Billboard 200

1000 Forms Of Fear

Frozen

In The Lonely Hour

Trigga

x

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for July 28, 2014