The Best of the Week’s News

• Today in South Carolina’s capitol, the Confederate flag came down, once and for all. 

• Hillman judge Ta-Nehisi Coates garners another rave review for his new book, “Between the World and Me.”

• Stop-and-frisk not dead yet? Stops continue off the books.

• Hillman Prize-winner John Richardson checks in with climate scientists to find out how they feel about their front row seats for Armageddon.

• A beautiful essay about a body farm in Texas and some remarkable people who gave their bodies to science. 

• The disgrace of New York City’s homeless shelters.

The Best of the Week’s News (And There’s LOTS of Good News)

• The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to legalize same-sex marriage, and Dahlia Lithwick was there!

• In other High Court news, the Affordable Care Act survived a major constitutional challenge.

• George Barrett Award-winner Bryan Stevenson on Charleston and the real problem with race in America.

• Wage-thieving bosses in Connecticut will have to repay twice what they stole.

Uber’s worst nightmare has come true:

In what could be an explosive decision, the California Labor Commission has found that a driver for Uber in San Francisco is an employee of the company. That’s from a ruling filed in state court on Tuesday and first reported by Reuters. It’s pretty damning. “Defendants hold themselves out as nothing more than a neutral technological platform, designed simply to enable drivers and passengers to transact the business of transportation,” the commission writes. “The reality, however, is that Defendants are involved in every aspect of the operation.” [Slate]

So far, the ruling only applies to one driver from San Francisco, but the precedent could be far-reaching. Uber plans to appeal.