A Small Village Takes On Big Oil In How Beautiful We Were By Tochi Onyebuchi | NPR
Random House
A madman commits one of the first acts of rebellion in Imbolo Mbue s vast second novel. In the village of Kosawa, a battle is raging: On one side, the citizens of this once-idyll. On the other, the mammoth oil company Pexton, which has, over generations, polluted the village s water and air and ground and, through its malfeasance, killed a growing number of its children. With smooth prose from a number of narrators among the villagers,
How Beautiful We Were tells the multi-generational saga of one small village s battle not just against one corporation and the dictator who profits from its avarice, but against neocolonialism itself. The novel s reach could have easily exceeded its grasp, given the weighty themes and its span, but Mbue reaches for the moon and, by the novel s end, has it firmly held in her hands.
Brazil Supreme Court Justice Annuls Corruption Conviction Against Former President
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva delivers a speech in Geneva last year. A Supreme Court justice on Monday annulled corruption convictions against him, citing a court s lack of jurisdiction.
Fabrice Coffrini / AFP via Getty Images
A justice on Brazil s Supreme Court has annulled corruption convictions against the country s former leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva a move that could be the first step toward clearing him to run next year against an increasingly vulnerable President Jair Bolsonaro.
The former president, widely known as Lula, who held office from 2003 through 2010, was found guilty in 2017 on corruption and money-laundering charges allegedly for helping a Brazilian engineering company secure lucrative contracts with Petrobras, the country s state-owned oil company. In exchange, the former president allegedly rec
Drug Companies Plan Tax Breaks To Offset $26 Billion Opioid Settlement
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Cardinal Health is one of four of the biggest American health companies have tentatively agreed to pay $26 billion to settle their opioid liability. But tax breaks could allow them to claw back $4 billion.
Darron Cummings / AP
Four of America s biggest healthcare companies are close to a $26 billion settlement for their role making and distributing highly addictive opioid medications.
But critics in Congress say corporate tax breaks could slash the value of the deal by more than $4 billion. If they get away with it, that means less money going into the treasury, less money for programs that would help deal with the fallout for the opioid crisis, said Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA).
People With High-Risk Disabilities Feel Left Out By California s Vaccine System By Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong | NPR
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In January, after opening tiers 1A and 1B, California joined states like Connecticut and Indiana in pivoting from a risk-based strategy to an age-based one.
Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images
On a blustery day in Los Angeles, Mimi Newman unlocks her front door to take the dogs outside. For Newman, outside is a relative term she s been in strict quarantine since March 6, 2020. She s only gone past her front gate three times.
Newman is severely immunocompromised. To a small degree, her medical history prepared her for the pandemic.
George Floyd Case: Jury Selection Begins In Derek Chauvin s Trial
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
A screenshot from Minnesota Public Radio s live Facebook video feed of jury selection in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
MPR News/Screenshot by NPR
Updated March 9, 2021 at 3:30 PM ET
Jury selection in the highly anticipated trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin began in district court on Tuesday, even as the judge in the case awaits higher courts rulings that could halt the proceedings. Chauvin faces charges in the killing of George Floyd last Memorial Day.
The first juror in the case was selected late Tuesday morning: a man dubbed Juror No. 2, as he was the second person to be interviewed. The man, whom attorneys later described as white, said he works as a chemist.