


The death penalty is disappearing in America
Juries are less willing to impose capital punishment
THE MURDER of Felicia Gayle, a reporter for the St Louis Post-Dispatch, in 1998 was one of those crimes almost perfectly calibrated to shock. In the evening of August 11th that year, Gayle’s husband returned home from work to find the back door of their house in University City, a suburb of St Louis, wide open. Inside, he found his wife dead in the blood-spattered hallway, wearing only a T-shirt, with a kitchen knife sticking out of her neck. It was, the police guessed, a botched burglary. The killer had taken a purse and a laptop, but left behind many other valuables. Bloody fingerprints marked the wall and footprints the floor. Gayle had been stabbed 43 times, seemingly after coming out of the shower and interrupting the thief. “He was probably just as surprised to see her as she was to see him,” said the local police chief at the time.
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America’s growing row over policies for transgender prisoners
Some women’s groups argue that transferring them puts female inmates at risk

What J.D. Vance is learning from Donald Trump
The vice-presidential candidate is devising his own tactics for bending the truth

Kamalamania and the drive for abortion rights are a potent mix
Referendums in ten states will determine the future of abortion access—and may tilt the presidential election
Kamala Harris is outspending Donald Trump. Will it matter?
The Democratic nominee is raising many millions more than her opponent
Eric Adams, New York’s mayor, is indicted on bribery charges
The corruption allegations are a blemish on the Big Apple
Recent special elections bode well for Democrats
They can help in predicting general elections