American Life
States Are Forcing Condo Boards to Save for Repairs — and Fees Are Climbing Fast
The emails arrive the same way in condo buildings across the country: a notice from the board, a new line…
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Pharmacies Are Closing in Thousands of Communities, and Patients Are Driving Farther for Prescriptions
The drugstore on the corner has been a fixture of American towns for generations — the place to pick up…
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Buy Now, Pay Later Loans Are Starting to Show Up on Credit Reports
For years, a four-part payment plan at checkout lived in a kind of financial blind spot. It wasn’t a credit…
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A New Deadline Is Forcing Cities to Find Out What’s Really in Their Water Pipes
The pipe running from the street to the kitchen sink has never gotten much attention. For an estimated nine million…
Read MoreAs Short-Term Rentals Spread, U.S. Neighborhoods Test the Limits of ‘Home’
The house looked like any other on the block—same siding, same porch, same patch of lawn. What drew attention was…
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As Big Grocers Bulk Up, Food Prices Meet a Quieter Force: Market Power
The weekly supermarket run has become a running tally of higher prices: a dozen eggs, a gallon of milk, a…
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As States Move to Rein in Data Brokers, A Quiet Test of American Privacy Law
The emails arrive without warning. A move to a new city, the purchase of a car, a baby registry created…
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As Hospitals Consolidate, Patients Navigate a Quieter, More Concentrated Market
The local nonprofit hospital did not change its name when it merged. The logo stayed. The billboards stayed. But the…
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Why So Many U.S. Cities Are Quietly Rewriting Their Zoning Codes
A rezoning notice now lands in mailboxes in nearly every region of the country. Apartment bans on single-family blocks, parking…
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