TWN'S Authors

MIAMI — As the tail end of one of the most active hurricane seasons in history nears, Miami-Dade County appears once again poised to emerge unscathed. The region dodged hurricanes and tropical storms that posed a potential threat to South... Read More

MEXICO CITY — The Mexican economy is cratering, homicides are rising at a record rate, and the COVID-19 death toll has surged past 80,000. For any other leader, the torrent of bad news might herald a political reckoning. Not for... Read More

Seven months into the pandemic, it’s no secret that plenty of people still downplay the risks of COVID-19, scoffing at mask-wearing and social distancing. Politics clearly feeds that mindset, as suggested by a new Pew Research Center survey in which... Read More

ATLANTA — Trevontae Shareef says he didn’t know that his girlfriend of seven months was a runaway from state foster care. At least, not until early August, he said, when about a dozen federal agents and police officers clad in... Read More

DENVER — The pandemic hit Colorado’s ski towns first. As spring breakers headed to the slopes, they brought the coronavirus with them. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis shut down the state’s ski resorts in March, triggering a wave of furloughs and... Read More

Just as soon as the grand jury decision came down in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, several people in southeastern Kentucky began organizing a candlelight vigil in her memory. Taylor was killed in March by police officers in Louisville,... Read More

AUSTIN, Texas — The funeral last month for Jorge Cabrera featured familiar tributes to a fallen officer. Cabrera’s flag-draped coffin sat at the front of the church, near a large replica of a police badge with black ribbon. The strains... Read More

CHICAGO — Scott Sheridan didn’t expect his 23 years of teaching at Illinois Wesleyan University to end like this. Though fewer students are pursuing degrees in his areas of study these days, many still participate. This semester, more than 50... Read More

DALLAS — The Pakistani immigrant was desperate. COVID-19 was spreading through the Prairieland compound, an isolated immigrant detention center about an hour southwest of Dallas. The diabetic man’s time in the facility became too much. He made a tough decision:... Read More

WASHINGTON — If Democrats win control of the Senate and White House in November, many progressives want to get rid of a long-standing Senate rule — the legislative filibuster — to ensure that their agenda in a Joe Biden presidency... Read More

In August, a video posted on social media by a Florida woman named Tina Brown outlined what she claimed were potential hazards with mail-in election ballots. Brown said envelopes for registered Democratic voters included a D in the barcode, while... Read More

MIAMI — During a scouting mission to check on coral colonies in inshore Biscayne Bay last year, Caroline Dennison and a few other marine biology graduate students found something astounding: healthy populations of brain corals. There were no signs of... Read More

Clarence Troutman survived a two-month hospital stay with COVID-19, then went home in early June. But he’s far from over the disease, still suffering from limited endurance, shortness of breath and hands that can be stiff and swollen. “Before COVID,... Read More

For a term that’s at least 100 years old, “herd immunity” has gained new life in 2020. It starred in many headlines last month, when reports surfaced that a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and adviser to... Read More

MONACA, Pa. — Terri Mitko is sure there are former supporters of President Donald Trump who aren’t going to be voting for him again, because she lives with one: her husband. “There was a whole ‘I don’t want to vote... Read More

The federal government did a quick pivot on the threat of the coronavirus spreading through the air, changing a key piece of guidance over the weekend. On Sept. 18, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that tiny airborne... Read More

BANGOR, Maine — Maine is getting an outsized share of Trump love these days. The president visited a remote town of 1,500 in June. His son and daughter-in-law, Eric and Lara Trump, have stumped in the state. A lobsterman from... Read More

When the first fire of the season broke out on the Hoopa Valley Reservation in Northern California in July, Greg Moon faced a dilemma. As Hoopa’s fire chief and its pandemic team leader, Moon feared the impact of the blaze... Read More

BEIJING — The herder couldn’t speak for long. His phone was being monitored, he said, as are those of many other Mongols around him. “We have no way out. There’s nothing we can do,” said Gangbater, a herder in Xilingol... Read More

PHILADELPHIA — Sandy Arnell used to work for Republican lawmakers in Washington and in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s capital. She considered herself to be liberal on issues like abortion but conservative when it came to fiscal issues. She didn’t always vote Republican.... Read More

Colombian police officers at the traffic checkpoint sensed something fishy about an ambulance en route to Santa Marta, a city along the Caribbean Sea. The driver appeared jittery. Given the coronavirus-related mandatory national shutdown and ban on nonessential domestic travel,... Read More

SAN JOSE, Calif. — If it seemed like the most pivotal point in Kamala Harris’ quest to help Democrats win the White House was a looming debate with Vice President Mike Pence, that may all have changed Friday evening. Now... Read More

WASHINGTON — Just days before the Aug. 3 scheduled start of school, officials at the Athens Independent School District in East Texas received a shock. Cybercriminals had attacked the district’s entire computer network, encrypting all the data and demanding $50,000... Read More

WASHINGTON — The months leading up to the coronavirus pandemic already spelled trouble for the Rome Water System and the tiny community it serves in the Mississippi Delta. A tornado tossed around several homes, closed roads and left the community... Read More

WASHINGTON — More than ever, Eric Harris is mindful of the elected officials around him: The school board members deciding whether his children will go back to the classroom, the sheriff influencing how officers interact with people like him, and... Read More

WASHINGTON — Dave and Diane Schell, a retired social studies teacher and a retired human resources professional from South Windsor, Connecticut, left their careers in 2015, and have worked the polls at their local precinct every election since. But not... Read More

WASHINGTON — Chittawan Boonsitanon started junior year at Michigan State University last week from his home in Bangkok, 8,500 miles and half a world away. Boonsitanon said many international students decided months ago to take classes online, before Michigan State... Read More

WASHINGTON — A Trump administration plan to use the census to exclude from congressional representation immigrants who are living here illegally might inadvertently exclude many U.S. citizens living under the radar in states such as Alaska, New Mexico and West... Read More

WASHINGTON — If the United States has even a typical flu season that collides with a COVID-19 flare, the resulting public health nightmare could swamp the nation’s already strained health system. This year’s flu season could be milder than usual... Read More

School librarian Amanda Brasfield bent over to grab her lunch from a small refrigerator and felt her heart begin to race. Even after lying on her office floor and closing her eyes, her heart kept pounding and fluttering in her... Read More