Subprime Auto Defaults Are Soaring
Bloomberg
People say a subprime-loan crisis like the mortgage debacle of a decade ago is unlikely now. Are they whistling past the car-loan graveyard? Defaults are soaring and risks are spreading as easily obtained auto loans are bundled into securities for investors worldwide. Bloomberg digs into a case in point: the partnership between Fiat Chrysler and Banco Santander -- that latter said to have vetted incomes on fewer than one out of every 10 loans packaged into $1 billion of bonds. If history doesn't repeat itself, maybe it rhymes? Secret, Drug-Fueled Life of USC Med School Dean
Los Angeles Times
Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito, dean of USC's Keck School of Medicine, was a renowned eye surgeon with a knack for attracting money and talent to the university. And for abusing his position, a Los Angeles Times investigation found. Behind the scenes, he partied and got high with criminals and dopers. Puliafito, 66, left his $1.1-million-a-year post in March 2016, weeks after a 21-year-old woman OD'd in his presence in a Pasadena hotel. Inside R. Kelly's 'Cult' of Allegedly Abused, Kept Women
BuzzFeed
R&B legend R. Kelly has a well-chronicled reputation for sexual indulgence of the underage and kinky variety, And as he tours the country this summer, he appears not to be diminishing his notoriety. Parents have told police that he is holding women in an abusive "cult" that's tearing families apart. Music critic and journalist Jim DeRogatis investigates for BuzzFeed, drawing on three ex-members of Kelly's inner circle with similar stories. Emirates Said to Have Instigated Qatar Crisis
Washington Post
President Trump's support of gulf states feuding with Qatar appears to be based in part on fake news. U.S. intelligence officials say the United Arab Emirates orchestrated the hacking of a Qatari government news site in May. It planted a false story quoting Qatar's emir as praising Iran and saying Qatar had a good relationship with Israel. Soon after, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt all cut diplomatic ties, heightening volatility in a region synonymous with powder keg. A Pass to Poison in Texas
Texas Tribune
When companies release unauthorized pollution into the air, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is supposed to respond firmly. But state enforcement records from the past five years show no more than 4 percent of "emissions events" were penalized with fines. Is the state properly balancing anti-pollution deterrence with reasonable allowances for accidents? Some wonder about that. One Drug Test, One Destroyed Olympic Dream
Vice
This is a story of the consequences of one bad choice -- a kind of decision common in sports. Eric Thompson was a talented high-jumper in his small-town Illinois high school. He won an athletic scholarship from the University of Arkansas and had Olympic potential. But his career ended when he failed a drug test after snorting a small amount of cocaine at a party. Now his toddler girls cry when he leaves to work second shift in a coal mine. | 
