Chart of the Day

Every Tornado in Moore Since 1893, Mapped

AP

Tornadoes in Moore, Oklahoma, are neither new nor uncommon. Monday's massive twister may be the worst the city has seen, but it's also the 22nd since 1890. We put the data for all of them on a map.

By J.K. Trotter

Apr 23, 2013

Five Best Green Stories

BP Oil Spill Worse Than Thought; Obama's Environmental Record

Newsweek on the Deepwater Horizon spill, The New Republic on celebrating Earth Day, The Washington Post on Obama's environmental record, Bloomberg Businessweek on foreign investment in U.S. oil shales, and New Geography on California's would-be fracking boom.

Comments | 2,162 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Apr 23, 2013

Civilian Courts Are Way Better Than Military Courts at Convicting Terrorists

Putting aside the argument of whether Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should even qualify as an enemy combatant, an analysis of previous terrorism prosecutions shows a remarkable track record for civilian courts, which have prosecuted both large and small crimes with great efficiency and success.

Comments | 778 Views

By Philip Bump

Apr 23, 2013

Will the State Department Ever Listen to These EPA Concerns About Keystone?

In a letter responding to the State Department's draft environmental assessment for the Keystone XL pipeline, the EPA finds several areas it deems insufficient. Perhaps the third time's the charm on State doing something about it.

Comments | 583 Views

By J.K. Trotter

Apr 23, 2013

Today's Best

Five Best Tuesday Columns

Michael Chertoff and Dallas Lawrence on social media helping a manhunt, Erwin Chemerinsky on the constitutional rights of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Richard Overy on the use of the word 'Nazi,' John Villasenor on ownership and Google Glass, and William Germano on writing for readers. 

Comments | 1,555 Views

By Philip Bump

Apr 23, 2013

The Real Problem with Obama's Softie Approach on Guns

On its front page today, The New York Times criticizes President Obama for failing to hold Democrats who voted against the gun compromise accountable. But the president's bigger challenge may have been overestimating their empathy.

Comments | 777 Views

By Philip Bump

Apr 23, 2013

George Bush Hasn't Been This Popular Since 2005

With the dedication ceremony of his presidential library in Dallas less than two days away, George W. Bush just got another reason to feel pleased: He's slightly less unpopular than he used to be. For that, he can thank Democrats.

Comments | 972 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

Apr 23, 2013

'The Daily Show' Has Some Anagrams for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Senior Terror Analyst Aasif Mandvi joined Jon Stewart from "Boston" on last night's Daily Show to explain just how difficult it has been to pin down the brothers Tsarnaev.

Comments | 4,269 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Apr 23, 2013

Tsarnaev Says They Got No Outside Help, Brother Was 'Driving Force' In Attacks

Despite speaking only one word during his initial hospital hearing, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is still saying a lot to investigators about his role in the Boston Marathon bombing.

Comments | 21,958 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Apr 22, 2013

The Exploding Fertilizer Plant in Texas Hadn't Had a Full Inspection in Three Decades

While the country's remained fixated on the aftermath of the Boston bombing, a deeply disconcerting set of details about last week's fertilizer plant explosion in Texas has been largely overlooked.

Comments | 5,245 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Apr 22, 2013

The Brothers Tsranaev Left Warning Signs of 'Radical' Islam — and Guilt

On Monday night, multiple reports and government charges combined to shed new light on the investigation into Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's alleged roles in last week's terrorist attack. The new information doesn't make either brother looks less guilty — or suggest that much could have been done to stop them.

Comments | 13,927 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Apr 22, 2013

Comparing Dzhokhar Sympathizers to Beliebers Is Tempting However Terrible

Now, over a week after the attack, the discussion about the two young brothers allegedly responsible for planting bombs at the Boston Marathon finish line is taking some pretty weird turns.

Comments | 3,884 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Apr 22, 2013

Reddit's 'Find Boston Bombers' Founder Says 'It Was a Disaster' but 'Incredible'

The user behind the amateur sleuth page followed 'round the world is now admitting, in an interview with The Atlantic Wire, that his communal photo hunt was "doomed from the start" but that Reddit's community is seeking answers — not about the ongoing investigation so much as about what went right... and what went so very wrong.

Comments | 12,022 Views

By Philip Bump

Apr 22, 2013

Boston's Door-to-Door Searches Weren't Illegal, Even Though They Looked Bad

Friday's door-to-door sweep of Watertown looked shocking in photos and videos. But according to the ACLU, it was all apparently within the bounds of appropriate behavior.

Comments | 9,022 Views

By Connor Simpson

Apr 22, 2013

Will the Pressure Cooker-as-WMD Case Hold Up Against the Boston Bomber?

The new WMD charge against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev could result in the death penalty, raising a strange question in a case sure to be full of precedents in how America prosecutes terrorism: Do bombs made in kitchen pressure cookers now count as weapons of mass destruction?

Comments | 4,276 Views

By Philip Bump

Apr 22, 2013

Reuters Fired Its Indicted Social Media Editor After Bad Social Media Editing

Thomson Reuters could handle Matthew Keys being indicted on federal hacking charges. But after a week in which he was harshly criticized for inaccurate tweets to his 35,000-plus followers about the Boston attacks — and in which he had a public spat with his boss — Keys finds himself out of a job.

Comments | 10,593 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Apr 22, 2013

Steubenville's Football Coach Just Got a Two-Year Contract Extension

Despite allegations that he knew about a rape and tried to protect his players who committed it, despite widespread criticism that he didn't punish his team enough and that he should be fired, and despite a grand jury that could charge him looming next week, Reno Saccocia has been approved for a two-year administrative contract, the city superintendent confirmed to The Atlantic Wire Monday afternoon.

Comments | 10,869 Views

By Philip Bump

Apr 22, 2013

How the Tsarnaev Brothers Slipped by the Feds and Then Lucked Out

From an apparent misspelling by the FBI to alarm in the Muslim community and the obtaining of illegal firearms, the alleged bombers' may have been lucky in escaping their mistakes — and that may be the early if uneasy answer in a case that became official as the U.S. charged Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in his hospital bed Monday. 

Comments | 4,464 Views

By Connor Simpson

Apr 22, 2013

What Did the Boston Bombers' Parents Know?

As Dzhokhar Tsarnaev continues to answer questions from his hospital bed, where he reportedly was charged on Monday as the White House said he will not be as a so-called "enemy combatant," his parents are planning to come to America and answer for him. Already, they have started providing more details than last week — ominous phone calls, elaborate setups, the role of Islam — as the Tsarnaev family's big picture begins to flesh out a portrait.

Comments | 26,678 Views

By J.K. Trotter

Apr 22, 2013

Today's Best

Five Best Monday Columns

Timothy P. Carney on the public use of private cameras, Paul Krugman on austerity-inspired joblessness, Michael Tomasky on GOP fear, Sarah Kendzior on profiling the Boston bombers, and E.J. Dionne, Jr. on the path forward for gun control.

Comments | 2,911 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Apr 22, 2013

Airports Holding Up Under the Crushing Weight of Sequestration

One of those notable "real world consequences" that came out of the government's sequestration debacle hit the country on Sunday, but the real world people that are supposed to be affected by the cuts remain unfazed.

Comments | 776 Views

By Philip Bump

Apr 22, 2013

The Environment's New Math: How to Look at Earth Day, by the Numbers

Perhaps ironically cold in their matter-of-factness, these numbers tells the story of the state of the climate in a way that is tangible. Here are the tools you need to make an assessment of the state of the Earth.

Comments | 2,134 Views

By J.K. Trotter

Apr 22, 2013

Five Best Green Stories

Europe's Pollution Permits; The Rise of Car Ownership

The New York Times on Europe's pollution permits, Scientific American on the rise of car ownership, NBC News on how Earth Day's founder constructs a building, Politico on fracking in California, and The New Yorker on China's response to earthquakes.

Comments | 970 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Apr 22, 2013

4chan's Mass Shooting Threats Are Bad Enough That They're Police Routine

The Dutch town of Leiden shut down over 20 of its schools on Monday and one arrest has been made — all because of a threat posted to 4chan. Yes, international police forces are on to the Internet's most notorious message boards. You know, as part of regular "Internet checks."

Comments | 2,522 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Apr 22, 2013

Did This Dagestani Terrorist Inspire the Boston Bombers?

As investigators try to understand what led Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev to attack their adopted home city, they are looking carefully at one of the brother's connection to the far off region of Dagestan.

Comments | 10,864 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Apr 21, 2013

Over Half the Prisoners at Guantanamo Are Now on a Hunger Strike

A few days after The New York Times published a rather arresting column written by an inmate staging a hunger strike, 25 percent more prisoners have joined the protest.

Comments | 2,714 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Apr 21, 2013

Wearing an NRA T-Shirt Leads to Criminal Charges for West Virginia Teen

A 14-year-old middle school student appears to be staging some sort of intriguing political protest in Logan, West Virginia, where he was recently charged with causing a disruption after wearing an NRA T-shirt to school.

Comments | 5,038 Views

By Adam Clark Estes and Connor Simpson

Apr 21, 2013

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Is Awake and Answering Questions

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev regained consciousness and began answering written questions from police on Sunday night. Authorities have now released the full transcript of Monday's bedside hearing with a federal judge.

Comments | 45,816 Views

By Connor Simpson

Apr 21, 2013

F.B.I. Released the Tsarnaevs' Photos Because of Reddit and the Post

One of the most interesting details from the Washington Post's steller tick-tock of the F.B.I. investigation into the Boston Marathon bombings has to be the reason they decided to release the photos of Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev: to fend off Reddit and the New York Post

Comments | 39,839 Views

By Connor Simpson

Apr 21, 2013

Who Influenced the Tsarnaev Brothers to Bomb the Marathon?

As the days press on, the investigation into the brothers Tsarnaev is turning up fewer and fewer leads explaining why they would decide to bomb innocent citizens at the Boston Marathon and then engage law enforcement in two days of intense firefights before being captured or killed. 

Comments | 12,810 Views

By Connor Simpson

Apr 20, 2013

See How the Cops Knew Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Was Inside That Boat

When the police received a tip that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev might be hiding out in a Watertown boat, there was obviously some worry: how do you safely check to see if he's there when he's been carrying explosives this whole time? You use a police helicopter's thermal camera, of course. 

Comments | 25,102 Views

By Connor Simpson

Apr 20, 2013

"This Is Our F------- City": Boston Sports Rallies the City

As the Massachusetts city slowly returns to normal life after Friday night's events, Boston's three most important sports teams played Saturday and helped breath a semblance of normal life back into the exhausted citizens. 

Comments | 4,062 Views

By Connor Simpson

Apr 20, 2013

Meet David Henneberry, the Tipster Who Caught Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

David Henneberry is the most beloved boat owner in America. For it was his boat -- a 20-footer resting in his driveway, under a tarp, waiting for the harbor to thaw enough for sailing season to begin -- that led to the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old accused of bombing the Boston marathon. 

Comments | 51,036 Views

By Connor Simpson

Apr 20, 2013

What the Newspapers in Massachusetts Look Like The Morning After

The last Boston Marathon bombings suspect sought by authorities was captured Friday evening in a dramatic two hour stand off with police in Watertown, a community just outside of Boston. The day after, Saturday morning's newspapers offers a look at a state that was brought to its knees, now standing tall once again. 

Comments | 5,610 Views

By Connor Simpson

Apr 20, 2013

Behind the Scenes of Boston's Manhunt: What Happened Last Night? What Now?

A week of uneasy, unanswered questions came to an end Friday evening as Boston authorities were finally able to capture the only surviving suspect allegedly behind the Boston Marathon bombings, but only after another intense firefight with police. Now the nation looks for answers.

Comments | 15,447 Views

By Sara Morrison

Apr 19, 2013

Does Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Deserve His Miranda Rights?

Should Dzhokhar Tsarnaev survive his wounds, he will most likely face charges and prosecution. But from a civilian or a military court?

Comments | 17,378 Views

By Sara Morrison

Apr 19, 2013

Boston Celebrates the Capture of a Marathon Bomber

A city that's been under siege for five days is now breathing a huge sigh of relief.

Comments | 5,793 Views

By J.K. Trotter

Apr 19, 2013

Dozens Still Missing in Texas Fertilizer Explosion

Two days after a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, caught fire and exploded, 60 people remain unaccounted for in the town of 2,807 as of Friday night.

Comments | 965 Views

By Philip Bump

Apr 19, 2013

Shelter-in-Place Orders Aren't That Uncommon

It's not always shooters. Chemical leaks, refinery problems, and fires have all prompted authorities to ask citizens not leave their homes. Today's shutdown of Boston and surrounding towns is exceptional in scope — but the request itself isn't that uncommon.

Comments | 4,827 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Apr 19, 2013

'I Will Die Young': The Eerie Subtext of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on Social Media

In the most crowdsourced terror investigation on American soil, we have come a long way this week in the neverending game of amateur investigation on social media. Here are the few — if ominous — things we've learned about ourselves, and about a man who was, it seems minutes ago, just a stranger.

Comments | 72,758 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Apr 19, 2013

The Surreal Sight of SWAT Teams in Banal Suburbs of Boston

One of the strangest things about watching heavily-armed tactical teams sweep through Watertown, Massachusetts in search of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the fugitive Boston marathon bomber, was seeing all this war pouring through quaint suburban streets.

Comments | 7,724 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Apr 19, 2013

Boston Bombings Have Led to Multiple Revenge Attacks on Innocent Muslims

The same week that the New York Post first falsely reported the Boston bombing suspect was  a Saudi national then falsely put a Moroccan-American track runner on its cover, it accurately reported on Friday an attack on an innocent Bangladeshi man living in the Bronx who some "idiots" mistook for an Arab.

Comments | 39,673 Views

By Philip Bump

Apr 19, 2013

How the Boston Bombing Suspect Became a U.S. Citizen

In April 2002, Anzor Tsarnaev apparently arrived in the United States on a tourist visa with his sons Tamerlan and Dzhokhar. Dzhokhar became a citizen. Here's how that process worked — and why it would likely have been impossible to predict what happened next.

Comments | 61,370 Views

By J.K. Trotter

Apr 19, 2013

Today's Best

Five Best Friday Columns

D.B. Grady on the high-definition coverage of the Boston bombers, Joan Walsh on Ruslan Tsarni's televised outburst, Jack Shafer on the New York Post's irresponsible bombing coverage, John Kass on the information gathering of the Boston bombings, and Joan Wickersham on the words of trauma.

Comments | 3,862 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Apr 19, 2013

Bombers' Uncle Ruslan on 'Being Losers': A Weird Joy in Boston's Horrible Week

On a Friday filled with suspense as the world began filling in the details on marathon bombing suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, their uncles appeared in Boston for ;impromptu on-camera statements amidst the manhunt for Dzhokhar — and one of them restored a blip of humanity.

Comments | 24,607 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

Apr 19, 2013

NBC's Pete Williams: Media Hero of the Boston Bombing Coverage

When CNN became the butt of jokes for its erroneous reporting Wednesday, NBC's Pete Williams' clear, careful, accurate reporting in a sea of media confusion had made him the most lauded television news reporter working on the Boston Marathon bombing story.

Comments | 14,946 Views

By J.K. Trotter

Apr 19, 2013

Some Basic Facts About Chechnya

As soon as Boston Police revealed the identities of the two Boston bombers — Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26 — an intense focus shifted to the two brothers' geographical origin: the war-torn Chechen Republic, a constituent entity of Russia. Here's what you need to know.

Comments | 5,213 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

Apr 19, 2013

Sean Collier, an MIT Cop with a Calling, Was Shooting Victim in Bombers' Path

He became another victim of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects in the overnight mayhem in Cambridge before it turned to Watertown.

Comments | 5,744 Views

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