The Wall Street Journal (February 3, 2025): The New Orleans Superdome is set to host Super Bowl LIX between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. The stadium’s latest $560M renovation–from the concession stands to the seating bowl–helped save it from demolition after Hurricane Katrina.
Chapters: 0:00 Evolving stadiums 0:52 Superdome history 1:32 The path to your seat and crowd control 3:33 New concession stands 4:54 The seating bowl 6:42 What’s next for stadium innovation?
NFL games have increasingly become more expensive with the addition of amenities like luxury field suites and club lounges, but all of these redesigns are done in order to increase revenue and efficiency. WSJ spoke with the architect behind the Superdome’s plan, who explains how stadium design is evolving to create more revenue streams.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS MAGAZINE (February 3, 2025): Donald Trump begins his presidency with ambitions of being a peacemaker. He laid out this vision in his inaugural address, declaring that his administration “will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars we end, and perhaps most importantly, by the wars we never get into.” Later that day, he basked in the success of the hostage cease-fire deal in Gaza, including by bringing the families of Israeli hostages to the inaugural parade. “We’re getting a lot of people out in a short period of time,” he proclaimed.
There is no doubt that Trump helped secure the cease-fire deal. But to be a peacemaker who transforms the Middle East, he has more work to do. The main issues he confronts are Gaza and Iran. In Gaza, Israel and Hamas have different views of what is required to achieve the second phase of the deal, which would save the remaining hostages and produce a permanent cease-fire. Iran, meanwhile, is accelerating its nuclear program—with its “foot on the gas pedal” according to Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Tehran thus continues to existentially threaten Israel. Both issues are likely to dominate upcoming talks between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
DAVID MAKOVSKY is the Director of the Program on Arab-Israel Relations at the Washington Institute of Near East Policy and an Adjunct Professor of Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He served as a Senior Adviser to the special envoy of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in the Office of the Secretary of State during the Obama administration.
DENNIS ROSS is Counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a Professor at Georgetown University. A former U.S. Envoy to the Middle East, he served in senior national security positions in the Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations.
Was Trump just “weaving” when he ranted about diversity initiatives after a horrific plane crash, or getting back on message after a week of executive overreach? By Benjamin Wallace-Wells
The Leaning Tower of New York
How a luxury condo building in Manhattan went sideways. By Eric Lach
The U.S. Military’s Recruiting Crisis
The ranks of the American armed forces are depleted. Is the problem the military or the country? By Dexter Filkins
The Long Quest for Artificial Blood
One of the most valuable substances in the world has never been replicated. Are we close? By Nicola Twilley
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (February 1, 2025): The 2.2.25 Issue features Charles Homans on Trump supporters’ wishes for his return to power; James Forman Jr. on the emptying on America’s youth prisons; C.J. Chivers on invasive crabs in New England; and more.
Discover HBR’s January-February 2025 issue: How AI can transform your organization, why leaders shouldn’t try to do it all, and what people still get wrong about negotiations.
Tom Stevenson: Hamas: The Quest for Power by Beverley Milton-Edwards and Stephen Farrell
Jessie Childs: The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad: A True Story of Science and Sacrifice in a City under Siege by Simon Parkin
Michael Wood: At the Movies: ‘The Brutalist’
Alex de Waal: How to Measure Famine
Michael Dobson:
White People in Shakespeare: Essays in Race, Culture and the Elite edited by Arthur LittleShakespeare’s White Others by David Sterling BrownThe Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare while Talking about Race by Farah Karim-Cooper
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