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Jul 19, 2019

Drug Overdose Deaths Drop in U.S. for First Time Since 1990

Jul 19, 2019

The decline was due almost entirely to a dip in deaths from prescription opioid painkillers, the medicines that set off the epidemic of addiction that has lasted nearly two decades. Fatal overdoses involving other drugs, particularly fentanyl and methamphetamine, continued to rise. (Goodnough, Katz & Sanger-Katz, The New York Times)

Jul 19, 2019

The strange history of emoji and how they conquered the world

Jul 19, 2019

Today, there are more than 2,800 emoji - and that list is growing. Apple, for instance, has released previews of a number of new emoji due to be rolled out later this year, including a range of disability-themed designs. (Field, The Telegraph)

Jul 19, 2019

No Matter Where You Are, Religious Freedom Is Getting Worse

Jul 19, 2019

Hostility against religious minorities spans longstanding hotspots in the Middle East and North Africa to Western contexts in Europe and the Americas, according to a comprehensive analysis released from the Pew Research Center. Christians endured more pushback than any other religious group each year from 2007 to 2017, when they faced harassment in 143 countries (that’s one fewer than in 2016, but markedly higher than before), researchers found. (Jackson, Christianity Today)

Jul 19, 2019

Snow Patrol’s Chasing Cars is a warm, musical cuddle – of course it’s the most-played song of the century

Jul 19, 2019

Is this really the anthem of our age? Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol has been declared the most played song on British radio in the 21st Century (so far). It is news that provokes so many questions, not least: how does it go again? (McCormick, The Telegraph)

Jul 19, 2019

News Archive:

Featured

Drug Overdose Deaths Drop in U.S. for First Time Since 1990

Her removal comes at a critical moment for the organization as state legislatures have recently passed severely restrictive abortion bans that could end up before the Supreme Court — and lead to the overturning of Roe v. Wade now that the court has a conservative majority with the addition of Brett Kavanaugh. (Romo, NPR)

The letter, which is at least 40 to 50 years older than all other known Christian documentary letters outside the Bible, is written by a man named "Arrianus" and addressed to his brother, "Paulus," likely named after the Apostle Paul who recorded much of the New Testament. (Parke, Fox News)

Over the decade from 2007 to 2017, government restrictions on religion – laws, policies and actions by state officials that restrict religious beliefs and practices – increased markedly around the world. And social hostilities involving religion – including violence and harassment by private individuals, organizations or groups – also have risen since 2007, the year Pew Research Center began tracking the issue. (Pew Research Center)

A NORC/AP poll of 1,137 adults released this month shows that doctors, teachers, members of the military — even scientists — are viewed more positively than clergy. The less frequently people attend church, the more negative their views. (Shimron, Religion News Service)

Ignorance about the Holocaust is growing, particularly among young people. A survey last year showed that two-thirds of U.S. millennials were not familiar with Auschwitz, the largest Nazi death camp complex, located near Krakow, Poland. (Povich, USA Today)

Netflix's decision has drawn praise from a number of suicide prevention advocates, such as American Association of Suicidology, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, American School Counselor Association, Dr. Helen Hsu from Stanford, advocacy group Mental Health America, the Trevor Project and Dr. Rebecca Hedrick from Cedars-Sinai, according to THR. (Kennedy, NPR)

“Game of Thrones” demolished an Emmys record on Tuesday, picking up 32 nominations, the highest total for any show in a single year. The final season of the HBO series beat out “NYPD Blue,” which had 26 nominations in 1994. (Koblin, The New York Times)

Being an influencer can be an exhausting, burnout-inducing job, and the people who are good at it have typically spent years working their way up the ladder. (Roose, The New York Times)

Three artists and a pair of curators came together at The New York Times to attempt to make a list of the era’s essential artworks. Here’s their conversation. (La Force & Lescaze, The New York Times)

Hal Shurtleff, the director and co-founder of Camp Constitution, asked the city to fly the Christian flag, an inter-denominational symbol, as part of Constitution Day on Sep. 17, 2017, for a one-hour event. But the city banned its appearance, saying no non-secular flags could be flown. (Parke, Fox News)

Democrats this year are making a more determined effort to reach voters whose political preferences are driven in part by their religious faith. Two presidential candidates — Sen. Cory Booker and Mayor Pete Buttigieg — are recruiting faith advisers to help in their campaigns, and the Democratic National Committee has hired a new "faith engagement" director, the Rev. Derrick Harkins. (Gjelten, NPR)

The number of cases of children entering the foster care system due to parental drug use has more than doubled since 2000, according to research published this week in JAMA Pediatrics.Children being removed for parental drug use were more likely to be 5 years old or younger than children removed for other reasons.(Neilson, NPR)

While $1.2 billion in revenue is a great deal to give up, Chick-fil-A's approach to which days a business should be open is not going to change any time soon. Employees are happy with management, at least according to outside research. Glassdoor listed it as one of the 100 best places to work in 2017. It also has been named one of the country's best fast-food operators. (McIntyre, USA Today)

The family of Dirk and Petra Wunderlich remains in legal limbo as they seek to win the right to homeschool their children in Germany, where homeschooling has been illegal since 1919. (Cockes, Baptist Press)

A new wave of online creators is here.

Every year, thousands of influencers, agents, managers, industry executives, and screaming teenage fans descend on the Anaheim Convention Center in search of the next big internet star. (Lorenz, The Atlantic)

Anni and Ashot Manukyan had spent several months unsuccessfully trying to get pregnant through IVF when they received a bewildering message this April. According to a lawsuit filed yesterday, their clinic in L.A., CHA Fertility Center, needed the couple to come in immediately. When they arrived, they found out their son had just been born—to complete strangers, 3,000 miles away in New York City. (Zhang, The Atlantic)