Wednesday’s News & Ideas - 7/2/2025
- Clergy struggle to visit detainees
- Jimmy Swaggart dies
- Ethics of brain-dead pregnancy
- Gun laws after Charleston
- Ultra-Orthodox Jews & politics
- What makes someone cool?
At a basement ICE detention facility, clergy face barriers to visit congregants*
Christianity Today: With informal sites in LA holding a recent uptick in immigration arrestees, pastors and family struggle to get in to visit.
Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart dies at age 90
NPR: Jimmy Swaggart, a televangelist and gospel singer whose fall from grace in the late 1980s made national headlines, has died, according to a social media post published by his ministry.
Keeping brain-dead pregnant women on life support raises ethical issues that go beyond abortion politics
The Conversation: A 30-year-old woman from Georgia who had been declared brain-dead in February 2025, spent 16 weeks on life support while doctors worked to keep her body functioning well enough to support her developing fetus.
An unfinished memorial, looser gun laws: This is Charleston 10 years after the AME church shooting.
The Trace: “I can’t believe people have such a short attention span,” said one resident following the anniversary of one of America's most deadly racist mass shootings.
After centuries of isolation, ultra-Orthodox Jews engage with the world more than ever
The Associated Press: A 2022 report projected that the strictly Orthodox population could double in size in 15 years. And as the demographic booms, Orthodox political activism is “at the highest point it’s ever been.”
The Spark
What makes someone cool? A new study offers clues.
Six traits can determine your “it” factor,* according to researchers who measured coolness around the globe, says The New York Times.
*access is limited for nonsubscribers
