Searching for Puddles the Clown, whose cover of Lorde’s “Royals” made him an Internet star.

On the difficulties of holding Oakland’s thin blue line accountable.

What it’s like to be a first responder amid the rise of synthetic marijuana.

The possibilities and limits of investigative reporting.

Everything that happened before former NBA star Lamar Odom suffered multiple strokes on the floor of a Pahrump brothel.

An unexplainable murder, double jeopardy, and military courts: the strange case of Tim Hennis.

A college president on the bizarre experience of being informed by NBC News that he had hired a war criminal to teach French.

Brian Hickey, a journalist who was induced into a coma after being left for dead following a hit and run accident, reports the story of his recovery.

Tackling the science of cooking, one perfect french fry at a time.

The fall of a famous anchor.

“It takes this huge amount of will and energy for anything to happen to you.”

When colleges shut down, people get hurt.

The fading beauty of Japan’s traditional cafes and their signature snack.

A portrait of a modern family undone by the political zeitgeist.

How a July 4th meal exposes the coronavirus risk for thousands of US food workers.

How the murder of Timothy Coggins was finally solved.

Finding the author of Pictures for Sad Children.

“Transforming into an Administrative Jekyll for a certain amount of time every day limits the amount of time my Creative Hyde can come up with content to market and sell. Luckily, amphetamines have that problem tackled as well: when you’re using them, you don’t have to sleep… at all.”

When a wealthy businessman set out to divorce his wife, their fortune vanished. The quest to find it would reveal the depths of an offshore financial system bigger than the U.S. economy.

The crimes of former NFL star Rae Carruth.

Previously: “The Boy They Couldn’t Kill” (Thomas Lake • Sports Illustrated)

A cross-country drive with Michael O'Donoghue, the first head writer of Saturday Night Live.

Previously: The Longform Guide to SNL.

Inside the split of the Hoefler/Frere-Jones typography team.

Memories of life as a freshman cheerleader.

War stories from the world of Manhattan real estate, written during an era when everybody knew the Internet would completely change the business and nobody quite knew how.