THE BIG STORY

The last decade was disastrous for abortion rights. Advocates are trying to figure out what’s next.

In 2019, the national right to abortion in the US is in the most vulnerable place it’s been for decades.

Since the start of the decade, hundreds of laws restricting abortion access have been put into place all over the US, forcing abortion clinics to close. As we close out the decade, there are six states each with only one abortion clinic left.

Twenty-five abortion bans were signed into law in 2019 alone, leading to nationwide protests. So far, they’ve all been blocked by the courts, but it’s all building towards a coming major fight over abortion rights at the Supreme Court.

On March 4 next year the Supreme Court will hear its first case pertaining to abortion rights since President Donald Trump solidified a conservative majority on the bench.

Read Ema O’Connor’s analysis of a crucial decade in abortion rights, and how we got here.

IMPEACHMENT TODAY

Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you. ("You" being the Senate). It's impeachment...today! As the House prepares to debate two articles of impeachment against the president, we hop in the time machine. The second time the US impeached a president, it was Richard Nixon. And we all know how that turned out — except we don’t. Listen and subscribe.

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

The kidnapping of a 16-year-old girl may have been staged, police say

A 16-year-old girl was found safe and unharmed after terrifying security camera footage showed the moment she was snatched and thrown into a van, as she walked down a New York City street with her mother.

But the story may have another dimension: after the video made national headlines, police sources told two New York media outlets that what appeared to be a kidnapping was actually staged.

Police sources told the New York Post that why the girl staged her kidnapping remained under investigation. But, the Post reported, she had objected to her mother's plans to move the family back to Honduras.

SNAPSHOTS

Trump’s former campaign aide Rick Gates was sentenced to 45 days in jail. Gates had cooperated with prosecutors in cases against other Trump allies, including Paul Manafort and Roger Stone. He’ll also serve three years of probation.

A groom was allegedly killed by two wedding crashers who had been asked to leave the party. Relatives told reporters the suspects were asked to leave the wedding reception, but they returned later. Authorities say the groom, Joe Steven Melgoza, 30, suffered blunt force trauma to the head. The suspects were taken into custody.

NASA’s plan for a 2024 moon landing just got way less likely. The space agency’s proposal to land astronauts on the moon by 2024 faces a significant shortfall — lawmakers cut the $1.4 billion NASA requested to build a lunar lander down to $600 million.

A YouTuber was fired from Starbucks for saying its coffee tastes “like ass.” 21-year-old Abegael Milot claimed she was fired two weeks ago for saying the Pike Place roast tastes “like ass,” among other disparaging things, in one of her videos. Starbucks told us one of the primary reasons for her firing was “theft” — and her admission to it.

UNHEALTHY OBSESSION

Facebook is still prioritizing scale over safety

Facebook has had an intense focus on growth at any cost. That mentality has birthed some of its most serious scandals of the decade — from election meddling, to political discord, to privacy invasion.

Yet, after repeated apologies and promises to do better, that mentality remains largely unchanged.

We’ve learned that the company continues to evaluate and compensate product managers based mostly on their ability to grow its products, with little regard or understanding of the impact of those products on the world.

WHOLESOME TALE

Four guys asked their neighbor if they could walk her dog. They got a letter back from the dog.

Jack McCrossan and his three friends moved into a house in Bristol in the UK, but when they got there, they discovered their landlord wouldn't allow them to have a dog. All four had grown up with dogs, so they were heartbroken.

One day, they spotted a pup looking at them in their neighbor’s window, so they did what any dog lover would do — they wrote a letter offering their services as dog caretakers. They noted the letter might come across a bit strong, so they explained they missed having a dog — “The adult life is a struggle without one,” they wrote.

The wholesome tale went viral for the best of reasons — the boys got a letter back from the doggo, Stevie Ticks, written by her human Sarah Tolman. I won’t spoil it for you, but it made me so happy.

Let little wonders make your day,

Elamin