September 17, 2021

The temporary camp in Del Rio has grown with staggering speed in recent days during a massive surge in migration that has overwhelmed the authorities.

Starbucks has closed more than 40 stores, while adding mobile-order pickup counters in others. Other chains like Sonic are taking advantage of vacancies to establish themselves in New York.

Thomas Mann spent the years during World War I composing “Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man,” an idiosyncratic assault on democracy and reason that was recently reissued. The book’s political ideas are of little use, Christopher Beha writes, but Mann’s critique of how democracies enlist writers to serve as their social conscience resonates forcefully today.

Property records don’t go back far enough to date some houses. But experts can pinpoint a house’s age by studying tree-ring patterns in the house’s timber.

Devastation from Hurricane Ida’s remnants stretched deep into New Jersey, forcing residents and officials to address “a new reality.”