Times editors have handpicked 11 stories for you to enjoy. Welcome to The Weekender.
_____
Political candidates in 2023 shelled out donors’ money for a variety of unusual expenses, including gift cards, hairstyling and frozen treats, new filings revealed.
_____
When the nation’s oldest person has a birthday, a California community makes sure to celebrate.
_____
Her triumphant performance at the Grammy Awards left fans wondering what she has been doing since she left the music world, and whether she might return.
When war came to her country, Alla Olkhovska had been planning to open a rare-plants nursery. Now her Clematis seeds have an international following.
_____
In Ivory Coast, lêkê are the preferred footwear for amateur games and almost everything else.
_____
Gabriella Karefa-Johnson on surviving Ye, quitting Condé Nast and speaking her mind.
_____
Investigators in Kentucky have pursued many leads in the search for Randy Sellers, except for what some critics say is the most obvious one.
His choice to become a post-9/11 culture-war champion overshadowed the work of a musician who was funnier, subtler and more politically slippery than his most famous work let on.
_____
A court has been asked to solve a bitter dispute between two families who have very different accounts of the origins of a dish beloved around the world.
_____
So what’s with the elaborate online marketing campaign implying otherwise?
_____
Thanks for reading.
This edition of The Weekender was edited by Justin Porter.
