Should we talk about the weather?

The wars in Ukraine and Sudan have resulted in the largest annual increase in displaced people in decades. / The Guardian

What happens now that the Supreme Court has upheld the Voting Rights Act? Election maps in the Deep South will likely be redrawn, which could flip House seats. / ProPublica

Lydia Polgreen: "The mass audience that never paid for news and never will pay remains underserved, and that has big implications for the future of our country." / The New York Times

Illinois has now passed a law that prevents libraries from banning material due to "partisan or doctrinal" disapproval. / CBS News

Cormac McCarthy has died at 89. / NBC News

See also: "My wife and I asked a friend to read a passage from Cormac McCarthy at our wedding… We may be the only fools in the world ever to have done so." / The New Yorker

Wind and solar are now generating more power in the US than coal, production of which has declined due to low gas prices, a warmer winter, and plant closures. / Scientific American

See also: For the first time, US-made wind and solar parts are cheaper than imported components. / Electrek

Alfalfa hay is a major cash crop across the Western US—but it also drinks more than a third of the 80% of the Colorado River that goes to agriculture each year. / High Country News

"But when the bilingual puns are good, they're good—and enhanced by the thrill of belonging." Learning to love Denglisch. / European Review of Books

A visual investigation shows that when it comes to race and gender, Stable Diffusion is as biased as humans. / Bloomberg

"In a way, alcohol may be crucial for air travel, because it allows you to relax into passive helplessness." Why do people drink so early at airports? / The Atlantic

See also: An attempt to avoid small talk at a bar shows just how useful small talk is. / VICE

"There was irony in cottagecore just as there is irony in critterposting." Beatrix Potter's art and today's anti-hustle movement. / Vox


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Your headlines are sourced and composed by Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack, Monday through Saturday. View this edition and the latest headlines at TMN.