THE VIRA BRIEFING Daily Digest · VIRA Broadcasting Sunday, August 30, 2026 Lead Story When a Mountain Falls: How Ice and Rock Triggered Nepal’s Catastrophic Flood – and Why Climate Change Is Raising the Risks A glacial collapse in Nepal on Aug. 26 killed hundreds and left many more missing
There’s a particular comfort in a fantasy novel that knows exactly how much danger it wants you to feel, and Sarah Beth Durst’s Sea of Charms knows precisely: just enough to keep the pages turning, never so much that you can’t fall asleep afterward feeling like the world is, on
Imagine waking up with no memory of who you are, strapped to a bed in a spacecraft, with two dead crewmates floating beside you and the fate of humanity resting on whether you can remember your own name. That is the jolt of an opening Andy Weir gives readers in
There is a particular kind of dread that comes not from a stranger in a dark alley but from a voicemail left on an ordinary afternoon — one that tells you the person you have shared a bed with for twenty years is not who you thought he was. That
By Simon Bowmaker, Distinguished Clinical Professor of Economics, New York University, and Paul Wachtel, Emeritus Professor of Economics, New York University The Federal Reserve — one of the world’s most powerful institutions — affects the U.S. economy in a way that no other part of government can. Interest rates, inflation
By Umesh Haritashya, Professor of Earth, Environment and Sustainability, and Director of Sustainability Programs, University of Dayton The catastrophic flood that killed hundreds of people in Nepal on Aug. 26, 2026, and left many more missing likely began with falling ice and rock crashing into the river below, but that
By Arielle Zionts, KFF Health News One year into its creation, a $50 billion federal program aimed at improving rural healthcare lacks transparency, which could make it difficult to protect against fraud, identify successful projects, and ensure the program delivers on its promise to transform the system. Transparency “is really
By Aneri Pattani, KFF Health News Louisiana directs 20% of its opioid settlement payouts directly to sheriffs — the largest such carve-out for law enforcement of any state in the nation, according to an investigation by KFF Health News in partnership with three Louisiana news outlets: The Current, Gulf States
By LJ Dawson, KFF Health News In the summer of 2024, Emilie and Justin Solomon found themselves on a top-secret mission in Greece. Their family and friends thought the adventure-loving couple was on another jet-setting vacation, but they were keeping something else under wraps: They had turned off their phone
This story was originally published by ProPublica. By Amy Yurkanin, ProPublica When Dr. Craig Towers moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, in 2010, the high-risk obstetrician encountered a crisis unlike anything he’d seen. Towers, who had practiced for 25 years in California and Wisconsin, found himself caring for an unusual number of
You must be logged in to post a comment.