The chandelier crashes for a final time as Broadway’s longest-running musical, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s extremely ’80s Phantom of the Opera, closes after 35 years and nearly 14,000 performances. Vulture’s Andrea Long Chu assesses its cultural staying power.

The traditional explanation of inflation is simple: too much money chasing too few goods. But some experts are now wondering if companies’ aggressive pursuit of profit is driving up inflation as well.

A federal judge in Texas invalidated the FDA’s decades-old approval of the abortion drug mifepristone. Vox’s Anna North explains the battle over a drug that’s been legal since 2000.

Evan Gershkovich’s detention is a callback to the last time a US journalist was accused of espionage in Russia — and to a Soviet-era tactic for manipulating the West.

Feeding the world’s growing population is an increasingly difficult challenge, and climate change won’t make it any easier. Vox’s Kenny Torrella visited the Netherlands, a small country with big ideas about the future of food, to find out more about how the country is approaching the problem.

The US military faces its worst recruiting crisis since the draft ended in 1973. Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth — aware of the military’s reputation of forever wars, veteran suicide, and sexual assault — is working to convince a new generation to enlist anyway.

The drug that brings people overdosing on opioids back from the brink of death in minutes just got approved for over-the-counter use. The Wall Street Journal’s Julie Wernau explains why she carries it with her everywhere she goes.

Chicagoans feel unsafe, and many blame Mayor Lori Lightfoot. The two Democrats on the ballot to replace her have starkly different views on what the city should do next. WBEZ’s Patrick Smith and Mariah Woelfel explain.

Americans aren’t going downtown like they used to, and a lot of them say it’s because they don’t feel safe there. Today, Explained got the data to untangle crime facts from crime feelings.

Donald Trump is the first US president to be indicted. Now what? Vox’s Andrew Prokop explains.

Newark officials rescinded a sister city agreement with the United States of Kailasa after finding out it wasn’t actually a real place. Reporter Sushmita Pathak explains how a fugitive cult leader from India created a fake nation that conned everyday people, government officials, and the UN.

An AI-generated image of Cool Pope in immaculate drip went viral over the weekend and most everyone thought it was real. The Verge’s James Vincent explains how we should navigate our new internet reality.

Far-right judicial reforms have inspired what might be the largest protests in the history of Israel. If adopted, the reforms could spell the end of democracy in the world’s only majority-Jewish country.

The US has a child care crisis. But New Mexico just figured out a way to fix it (hint: they’re paying for it).

Transit agencies nationwide are facing an existential crisis. Washington, DC’s city council has a paradoxical solution: make subways and buses free.

Five years after March for Our Lives, one of the historic protest’s organizers and his historic friend explain why it’s easy to forget how much progress has been made. Plus, Rep. Frost breaks some news about his first proper piece of legislation.

When the Veterans Administration failed to build the homes it promised, unhoused vets built a tent city across the street — in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. KCRW’s Anna Scott tells their story in “City of Tents: Veterans Row.”

There’s rare bipartisan consensus in Washington: China is a threat to be countered. Cornell professor Jessica Chen Weiss says the American approach could lock both countries into an escalatory spiral.

The war in Iraq has been declared over by nearly every president since the one who started it 20 years ago today. But it’s still not done. At SXSW in Austin, Texas, Sean Rameswaram explained why it’s important we remember.

Pandemic restrictions are mostly over, but cities are still struggling to recover. Empty offices threaten to set off a downward spiral of falling tax revenue and declining services. Today, Explained’s Miles Bryan tries to stop the doom loop before it starts.

Execs like YouTube’s Susan Wojcicki and Meta’s Sheryl Sandberg paved the way for women in tech. Now they’re leaving the industry — and being replaced by men.

The Fox News host aired a splashy exclusive this month about the January 6th insurrection. Some Republican senators saw his coverage — and publicly called “b******t.”

Two siblings in Utah are defying a court order to reunite with their father, who they allege abused them. ProPublica’s Hannah Dreyfus explains a controversial concept known as “parental alienation.”

SVB’s collapse is the biggest bank failure since 2008. Insider’s Ben Bergman explains why the bank collapsed, why the Biden administration intervened, and what this means for the economy writ large.

Huge hits like Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water got nominated alongside Tár. In this episode of Into It, which is now available twice a week, Vulture’s Joe Reid explains the on-again, off-again relationship between the Oscars and the box office.