Susan Zalkind’s boyfriend Erik was brutally murdered in 2011 and his killing was never solved. Erik was a close friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, an obscure amateur boxer who would become infamous two years later as one of the Boston Marathon bombers. In her deeply-reported long form story in Boston Magazine, Zalkind argues that the marathon bombing might have been prevented if only the police had taken more interest in Tamerlan as a suspect in 2011. 

The Best of the Week’s News

• A Colorado prison official voluntarily spends the night in solitary confinement, feels like he’s losing his mind.

• Inside the Scott Walker email scandal.

• Man framed for murder gets $6.4 million settlement from NYC after 23 years behind bars.

• How the U.S. evangelical movement stoked Russia’s anti-gay policies.

• Rich Yeselson on Michael Dunn, the end of American consensus, and the hollowness of identity politics. 

[Photo credit: Wander Mule, Creative Commons.]

This month’s Sidney Award-Winner, Amanda Hess, is featured in Media Bistro’s 10,000 Words column.

Media Bistro is a major trade publication. It’s great to see Hess’s expose of the sexist harrassment of female journalists having an impact within the industry. Kudos to Media Bistro for highlighting the issue and Hess’s important work on the topic.

The author of the profile, Alan Krawitz, is collecting his readers’ experiences with online harrassment. If you have a story of harassment or bullying online, tweet it to @10000words and keep this important conversation going. Add the hashtag #Sidney, so we can follow along. 

The Best of the Week’s News

• In honor of Valentine’s Day, we bring you a story on the intricate science of sex toys.

• Will Volkswagen workers in Tennessee say “yes” to the United Auto Workers?

• It wasn’t just the bridge: Chris Christie’s political career is a study in slime.

• So, now we know who to blame: Al From claims he personally stopped the Democratic Party’s “headlong dash into social democracy.”

• A famous anti-choice doctor in West Virginia appears to have fabricated lurid tales of women with “botched abortions” flocking to his emergency room.

[Photo credit: Wander Mule, Creative Commons.]