How a Royal Illness Spurred a Public Health Revolution

For Decades, the British Ignored One of the Greatest Health Calamities of Their Age. Then the Prince of Wales Contracted Typhoid Fever

In the early hours of Friday, October 9, President Donald Trump announced that he, like nearly 8 million other Americans in the past eight months, had tested positive for COVID-19. Days before, Trump had gathered in person with leading Republicans to announce the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Against the advice of public health experts, few at the event wore masks, and there was little or no social distancing. Trump’s subsequent hospitalization at Walter Reed Medical Center offered an opportunity to change the public narrative on …

by Jacob Steere-Williams | November 16, 2020

The Zombie Building That Ate San Diego

Can the Rest of California Learn From the City Losing Millions on an Empty Office Tower?

by Joe Mathews | November 3, 2020

As Californians figure out what to do with thousands of buildings made empty by pandemic and recession, we should hold ourselves to a baseline standard: Let’s not be as scared …

The Horror Genre’s Unique Autopsy of Our Times

Terrifying Films Are Feasting Off Real-World Nightmares—And Experiencing a Global Renaissance

by W. Scott Poole | October 29, 2020

You know it’s been a bad year when making a “Masque of the Red Death” reference this Halloween season seems banal and obvious. What use is there for the genre …

Antonio Villaraigosa Sees Opportunity in Crisis

L.A.’s 41st Mayor Has Advice for Elected Officials Right Now, Some of It Hard-Won

October 28, 2020

“In every crisis there’s an opportunity,” Antonio Villaraigosa said yesterday.

The 41st mayor of Los Angeles was responding to a question asked by moderator Saul Gonzalez, KQED correspondent and co-host of …

How COVID-19 Will Reshape Us

The Pandemic Will Wane. Ins and Outs of Daily Life Are Staying on Zoom

by Debora Spar | October 26, 2020

Those of us who have lived through the COVID-19 pandemic will almost certainly never forget it. Like my father-in-law who lived through the Depression and could never bear to use …

A Letter From South Phoenix, Where Two Pandemics ‘Have Turned American Life Feral’

Raising a Black and Brown Family Here Was Complicated, Even Before COVID Struck

by Rashaad Thomas | October 22, 2020

Thank God for the sun. Its excessive heat has forced the ants, flies, and cockroaches to retreat under the electric boxes planted around the neighborhood jungle gym I call “Dope …

How Epidemics Shaped Modern Life

Past Public Health Crises Inspired Innovations in Infrastructure, Education, Fundraising and Civic Debate—and Cleaned up Rotting Animal Carcasses From the Streets

How Being in Good Health Can Save Californians Money

An Economist Explains How Every Dollar Invested in California Public Health Is Worth $67

I Was on the Front Line of L.A.’s Last Measles Outbreak

Why Doesn’t Anyone Remember the 12,000 People Who Got Sick, or the 600,000 Vaccine Doses We Gave Out 25 Years Ago?

What Do We Owe Doctors and Nurses?

The Virus Has Exposed the Weaknesses of American Healthcare; to Build a Stronger System We Need to Care for Caregivers

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