A curated selection of news and stories for your midday escape.

We’ve all been there: you’ve got 20 minutes, a fork in one hand, and your phone in the other ready to scroll something while you eat. But instead of getting pulled into another doomscroll or ad-stuffed feed, why not read something that actually feeds your brain?

That’s the idea behind Lunch Break Reads: a curated newsletter of short, excellent stories sent daily. No fluff. No paywalls. Just the internet’s most interesting writing, selected for your lunch break.

Self-driving vehicles could be coming to an airport near you by Jacopo Prisco (CNN)

Ben & Jerry's co-founder Jerry Greenfield resigns, claiming parent company Unilever 'silenced' its campaigning by Patrick Smith (NBC News)

Controller scolds Spirit Airlines pilot to ‘pay attention’ to radio calls as Air Force One flies 8 miles away by Alexandra Skores (CNN)

Data investigation: Childhood vaccination rates are backsliding across the U.S. by Erika Edwards, Jason Kane, Stephanie Gosk, Mustafa Fattah and Joe Murphy (NBC News)

Madeleine McCann suspect freed from German prison by Jessica Parker and Bethany Bell (BBC)

Inside Beirut’s Fight To Save Its Reading Culture by Amelia Dhuga (New Lines Magazine)

The New Hotness by Pat Cassels (Slate)

The Talented Mr. Bruseaux by Matthew Wolfe (Atavist Magazine)

New Amelia Earhart bio delves into her unconventional marriage by Jennifer Ouellette (Ars Technica)

What to know about zarfs, the fanciest way to drink coffee by James Doubek (NPR)

Astronomers discover previously unknown quasi-moon near Earth by Ashley Strickland (CNN)

Robert Redford knew how to make a thriller by Linda Holmes (NPR)

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