The Trump Store in Bensalem, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb, closed early this year amid falling sales. Frank Langfitt/NPR hide caption
October 22, 2026 • At least four Trump merchandise stores have closed this year. Store owners say with Trump in his final term, there isn't as much to fire up his consumer fan base and sales have softened.
Youngmoo Kim (left) leads members of the a cappella group the Tonics in singing an arrangement of the song "Everything" by Michael Bublé at their weekly rehearsal in Bryn Mawr, Pa. in September. Rachel Wisniewski for NPR hide caption
October 2, 2026 • The Tonics, an amateur a cappella group of middle-aged men in suburban Philadelphia, have built a mass social media following by posting videos of their rehearsals in each other's kitchens.
A graffiti-covered former Family Dollar in the Lower Ninth Ward is now the New Orleans Free Store. Catie Dull/NPR hide caption
September 20, 2026 • In the Lower Ninth Ward, an old Family Dollar stands covered in graffiti. It looks abandoned. But inside, it's a treasure trove — clothing, home goods, toys and books. And everything is free.
Chef Brian Landry prepares a grilled pompano dish with broken romesco sauce in the kitchen at the Pontchartrain Hotel, explaining its Spanish influences. It's among the recipes in the cookbook Rythm & Roux . Catie Dull/NPR hide caption
September 20, 2026 • At Bayou Bar, music and food go hand in hand. Which is why a new cookbook from chef Brian Landry and bandleader Peter Harris has recipes from the menu and stories from the musicians who play there.
Kimberly Holmes-Ross was the first generation in her family to live outside Evanston, Illinois' 5th Ward, once the only part of the city open to Black people. She grew up there but eventually bought a house in the nearby 2nd Ward. Her family is using reparations money to turn the basement into an apartment for her son. Candace Dane Chambers for NPR hide caption
September 14, 2026 • Evanston, Ill., became the first U.S. city to compensate Black people for historical discrimination. The Justice Department is trying to kill its program before other cities follow suit.
Jack Torney, 23, holds a crab he's just caught in Galesville, Maryland, on a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. Caroline Gutman for NPR hide caption
July 7, 2026 • Two young crabbers are carving out careers on the Chesapeake Bay in a field dominated by older men. One is building a brand through TikTok. The other catches crabs one at a time.
Teammates Otys Train, 16, (left), Zade Pacetti, 16, and Jack Trojan, 17, look through a scope and binoculars as they aim to identify as many bird species as possible during the World Series of Birding at Malibu Beach Wildlife Management Area in New Jersey. Mohamed Sadek for NPR hide caption
May 12, 2026 • The three high-school birders, dubbed The Pete Dunnelins, have one day to count as many bird species across the state of New Jersey as physically possible. Here's what it takes.
