Obscure Law Allows NYPD to Lock People Out of Their Homes
An obscure law written in the '70s to combat brothels in Times Square allows police to bar families from their homes if they claim it was being used for illegal purposes. ProPublica and the Daily News reviewed 516 residential nuisance abatement actions and found that about half of those who lost their homes were never convicted of a crime, 96 had their cases dismissed, 33 plead to violations and 44 were never prosecuted. [Daily News]
Beyoncé Released a New Song and Music Video and Won the Weekend
The day before she was set to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show, Beyoncé dropped “Formation,” her first new song since she released her namesake album, with equally brief advance notice, back in 2014. The accompanying video is beautiful, compelling, and offers a lot to think about, and for anyone who couldn’t immediately grab their friends and dissect it, the staff conversations published by the New York Times and New York Magazine sated a serious need. As New York Times Magazine staff writer Jenna Wortham noted, “It’s not insignificant that she’s electing to parade her substantial wealth and ability to outearn most men in the music industry (including her husband, Jay Z) during the Super Bowl — the flagship event of male virility and violence in this country... We can’t overlook the audacity of that.” [NYT & New York Magazine]
How We Respond to White Addiction vs Black Addiction
When the crack epidemic and the crime and public health emergencies associated with it hit, black urban communities were seen as wastelands and their residents, whether addicted, in the drug trade, or innocent bystanders, were blamed for their plight. But with the current opioid epidemic hitting white drug users particularly hard, the whole narrative around addiction — it’s a disease now, not a moral and communal failing — has changed. Ekow N. Yankah, writing for the New York Times, laments that white people had to be affected by drugs in order for a more compassionate view of addiction to come into play. [NYT]
Brazilians Are Dressing Up as the Zika Virus for Carnival
Partygoers at Brazil’s Carnival, which is happening this week, are treating the Zika Virus, the mosquito-transmitted disease that has gripped the country and surrounding Latin American countries, with irreverence through elaborate costumes. Participants dressed up as mosquitos, wore mosquito nets and carried anti-Zika banners in the parades to both cope with the outbreak and spread awareness. [Quartz]
The Story Behind Marco Rubio’s Cringe-Worthy Exchange With a Gay Voter
On the eve of the New Hampshire primary, a gay man confronted Republican candidate Marco Rubio about his stance on gay marriage at a campaign stop in a Manchester diner. The exchange didn’t go well, ending with the man shouting “typical politician” to Rubio’s back. Here, Vox explains the policy history and polling data to explain each statement made during the back-and-forth, a handy guide for the next time you get into it with your dyed-in-the-wool uncle. [Vox]
Even David Brooks Says He’ll Miss Obama
As the 2016 campaign continues, its antics have conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks pining for what he describes as the “basic integrity” of the Obama administration. “Obama radiates an ethos of integrity, humanity, good manners and elegance that I’m beginning to miss,” he writes, “and that I suspect we will all miss a bit, regardless of who replaces him.” The title of his column, “I Miss Barack Obama,” was trending on Twitter Tuesday morning. [NYT]
NASA Bans the Word ‘Jesus’
NASA’s Johnson Space Center has prohibited employees, even the JSC Praise & Worship Club, from using the name “Jesus” in club announcements that appear in the employee newsletter. NASA has stated that by including “Jesus” in the announcement, it made it “sectarian” or “denominational” and violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. A religious liberty law firm has threatened to file a lawsuit. [Fox News]
Falling Meteorite May Have Killed Someone For the First Time In Nearly 200 Years
Indian scientists are examining whether a small blue object that fell from the sky at a college campus in the southern state of Tamil Nadu last Saturday was a meteorite. The chunk killed a 40-year old man and left an impact crater about 5-foot-wide. If the object is confirmed to be a meteorite the death would be the first fatality from a meteorite in about 200 years. [Time] [Washington Post]
Why People Cheat (To Win)
Even just a memory of winning, when pitted against other competitors, can cause people to cheat, according to a new study. A takeaway: “In other words, when people win against others, they tend to think they're better, or more deserving. And that thinking helps them justify cheating, since, after all, they're the rightful heir to whatever throne is next.” A possible solution, say the scientists, reward people for doing well, but not necessarily better than other people. [Washington Post]
A South Florida Man is Accused of Throwing an Alligator into a Drive-Thru Window
A man from — you guessed it — Florida has been charged with unlawful possession and transportation of an alligator for throwing the creature through the window of a Wendy’s in Royal Palm Beach. His mother Linda James explained the incident to a CNN affiliate by telling them that her son was “a prankster” who “does stuff like this because he thinks it’s funny.” It looks like the Wendy’s employees disagreed. [CNN]
This column was compiled by DNAinfo reporters Jeanmarie Evelly, Emily Frost, Gwynne Hogan, Noah Hurowitz, Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska, Irene Plagianos, Eddie Small, Rachel Holliday Smith, Danielle Tcholakian and Shaye Weaver.
