Why Do Dickens Characters Still Resonate?

Child labor protections in America are being challenged at the state level and, in some cases, reversed in ways we haven’t seen in decades. In 2022 and 2023, Arkansas, Iowa, New Hampshire, and New Jersey passed laws weakening protections for child workers. At least eight other states are considering similar laws.

LIVONIA, Mich. — A tiny, low-priced electric car called the Seagull has American automakers and politicians trembling. The car, launched last year by Chinese automaker BYD, sells for around $12,000 in China, but drives well and is put together with craftsmanship that rivals U. S. electric vehicles that cost three times as much.

WASHINGTON — The sharp interest rate hikes of the past two years will likely take longer than previously expected to bring down inflation, several Federal Reserve officials have said in recent comments, suggesting there may be few, if any, rate cuts this year. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] A major concern expressed by both Fed policymakers and some economists is that higher borrowing costs aren’t having as much of an impact as economics textbooks would suggest.

Miannica Frison was in the throes of labor in 2020 when a nurse entered her room at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Ala. Frison was screaming in pain. But rather than see how she could help, Frison recalls, the nurse said she heard Frison was having her third baby, and asked if she wanted to be sterilized immediately after she gave birth.

PROVIDENCE, R. I. — The voice Alexis “Lexi” Bogan had before last summer was exuberant. She loved to belt out Taylor Swift and Zach Bryan ballads in the car. She laughed all the time — even while corralling misbehaving preschoolers or debating politics with friends over a backyard fire pit. In high school, she was a soprano in the chorus. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Then that voice was gone. Doctors in August removed a life-threatening tumor lodged near the back of her brain.

A DJ is lighting up both night clubs—and monasteries. Dressed as a monk, sporting a shaved head and gray robe, DJ NewJeansNim has become all the rage in recent weeks as he produces EDM featuring Buddhist messages. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “Put your hands up,” he said in a clip of his DJ set last month in Taiwan, as he pressed his palms together in prayer position and jumped along to the beat.