LUNCH BREAK READS

Since Idaho's abortion ban took effect, more than a third of the state's OB-GYNs have quit obstetrics, left, or retired, and Lisa Lerer finds the doctors who stayed near their breaking point.
One Pennsylvania eighth grader opened 4,784 YouTube videos on his school laptop during class hours, and Tyler Kingkade reports that more than 95 percent of what 11 students watched in school wasn't educational.
Hedge-fund billionaire John Overdeck is fighting his wife and his business partner at the same time, with control of Two Sigma on the line.
Joshua Partlow asks why crews spent at least $55 million attacking a remote Yosemite fire that killed two helicopter pilots.

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01 • 25 Minute Read

The New York Times

Lisa Lerer

When Idaho Banned Abortion, OB-GYNs Fled. The Doctors Who Stayed Are Cracking.

Idaho doctors and the state's OB-GYN shortage

On a winter day in Moscow, Idaho, a new mother began hemorrhaging after childbirth, and the obstetrician on call was across the border in Washington. Her family doctors readied the operating room and planned to have a general surgeon attempt a hysterectomy before the bleeding stopped. Since Idaho’s near-total abortion ban took effect in 2022, threatening doctors with prison, more than a third of the state’s OB-GYNs have quit obstetrics, left, or retired. Half of Idaho’s 44 counties have none, and Boise patients wait nine months for an annual exam. Doctors who stayed document miscarriage care to prove it is legal, and one watched a patient labor for two days to deliver a dead fetus because no pharmacy stocked mifepristone, a drug used for both abortions and miscarriages. A November ballot measure would restore abortion rights, but the Republican legislature could repeal it next session, and departed doctors are unlikely to return.

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02 • 19 Minute Read

NBC News

Tyler Kingkade

How Youtube junk is infiltrating classrooms

During eighth grade in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a boy named Richard opened 4,784 YouTube videos during school hours on his school-issued laptop, from sports highlights to police chases to AI-generated animations. An analysis of the YouTube histories of 11 students, provided by their parents, found that more than 95 percent of over 17,000 videos viewed in school were not educational. Many districts build YouTube into lessons, but it gives schools no way to disable autoplay or TikTok-style Shorts without blocking the site, and Google’s distraction-free player requires a subscription. Google says schools have full control over access. At least 30 districts restricted student browsing this year, and a Los Angeles jury found YouTube is designed to hook children, a verdict Google is appealing. When Richard’s mother asked his district to block the site for him, officials refused, saying too many teachers use it for instruction.

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03 • 13 Minute Read

The Wall Street Journal

Peter Rudegeair

A Hedge-Fund Billionaire’s Two Bitter Wars—Against His Wife and His Business Partner

On Aug. 19, hedge-fund billionaire John Overdeck sat in a New Jersey family court, his estranged wife Laura watching, and fought to keep Two Sigma’s confidential records sealed. Overdeck co-founded Two Sigma, now an $85 billion quantitative trading firm, with David Siegel in 2001, and the two have feuded for years over pay, succession, and control, costing the firm senior staff and clients including Wisconsin’s state pension fund. Laura filed for divorce in 2022. He has offered her $723 million, but she wants cash equal to 35 percent of his stake, about $2.2 billion by her lawyers’ estimate. Raising that much could force him to sell shares and tip control to Siegel, and he fears disclosed records would arm Siegel, who has accused him in arbitration of conflicts of interest. The judge insists he is presiding over a divorce, not a fight with Siegel, but the battles keep bleeding together.

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04 • 13 Minute Read

The Atlantic

Joshua Partlow

Two Firefighters Died in Yosemite—For What?

On September 20, a helicopter dropping water on Yosemite National Park’s Dome Fire crashed, killing both pilots. The blaze started near a trail above Wawona, a small park community, then spread into remote mountains away from homes. Crews kept attacking it anyway, with at least 17 helicopters at once and more than 1,000 firefighters, at a cost of at least $55 million for 6,700 acres. That reflects a Trump administration policy, new this year, of fully suppressing every wildfire. Brian Fennessy, the federal fire chief, says record-low snowpack made this no year to let fires burn. But some fire veterans asked what the effort was protecting, and at least 17 wildland fire workers have died this year, above the decade average. Yosemite also skipped prescribed burns this year, though decades of managed fire there produced some of California’s most resilient forests. Critics warn that constant suppression builds fuel for uncontrollable blazes.

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A new mother was hemorrhaging in Idaho. The OB-GYN was in another state.

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