Law and legislation

Sweet Om Alabama

From emails sent to Alabama state representative Jeremy Gray regarding a bill to legalize the practice of yoga in K–12 schools, which was banned in 1993. I have only done…

The Lightning Farm

By Caroline Lester,

The death penalty under Trump and the execution of Dustin Higgs

No Joe!

By Andrew Cockburn,

Joe Biden’s disastrous legislative legacy

Labor’s Last Stand

By Garret Keizer,

Unions must either demand a place at the table or be part of the meal

Flowers of Evil

By Michael Pollan,

Last season was a strange one in my garden, notable not only for the unseasonably cool and wet weather — the talk of gardeners all over New England — but…

Thought Police

From a ruling handed down in September by a Louisiana district court in Officer John Doe v. DeRay Mckesson et al. The anonymous Baton Rouge police officer filed suit last…

Pushing the Limit

By Alexandra Starr,

What the U.S. Olympic Committee can — and can’t — do about sexual abuse

Rensselaer County, New York

By Lydia Davis,

The latest issue that has come before our village board is whether to add an animal-control regulation to the village laws. A member of the public has come to one…

Argyle, Texas

By Spike Johnson,

In June 2013, Governor Rick Perry signed into law the Protection of Texas Children Act, which authorized K–12 schools to designate employees who could carry weapons — and use them,…

Iowa City, Iowa

By Marilynne Robinson,

Like the country as a whole, Iowa has a Republican chief executive and a Republican-controlled legislature that creates problems where they need not exist, problems that look like the effects…

Crime and Punishment