Must Reads: How a dumpster inspired a front-page story

Compelling, ambitious reads you can’t afford to miss. Dumpsters don’t often inspire front-page stories. But recently, there was an exception. Reporter Peter Holley pulled into the alley behind The Washington Post aboard a rented electric scooter. There was a light summer rain and when he made a slight turn to steer around a dumpster, the scooter lost traction, sending Holley skidding across the pavement through a trickle of foul water. Holley spent the rest of the day nursing his elbow and his ego. “It was painful but it was mostly highly embarrassing,” he says. He started to wonder about the safety of electric scooters that startups with names like Bird, Lime and Skip are deploying to city sidewalks around the U.S. Soon he realized there was a bigger story that needed to be told. Holley spoke to emergency room doctors who described a surge of injuries — some of them traumatic brain injuries — from scooters that can reach speeds above 20 mph. And they say riders don’t seem to realize the power and risks of scooters that can be rented on a whim. “All I want is for people to know what they're getting into,” Holley says. “You should know that you won't be able to sue. That an amateur mechanic who watched YouTube might have just fixed your vehicle or — or might not have. That you were stepping into a world that could result in a traumatic brain injury that alters your personality” and saddles you with debt. Holley still rides rental scooters. He plans to buy a helmet this weekend. — T.J. Ortenzi, General Assignment News Editor Scooter use is rising in major cities. So are trips to the emergency room. They may look like toys, but the shared scooters can inflict the same harm as any other motorized vehicle, critics say. Peter Holley  •   Read more » Summer’s over, and things are back to bonkers. Here’s the view from Crazytown, D.C. It was supposed to be an important week in Washington. Then it went off the rails. Dan Zak and Ben Terris  •   Read more » Bob Woodward’s meticulous, frightening look inside the Trump White House From an impulsive president to scheming aides, the veteran reporter tells a credible tale of chaos in “Fear.” Jill Abramson  •   Read more » John Dean warns of a Supreme Court overly deferential to presidential power The former Nixon White House counsel testifies that a high court with Brett M. Kavanaugh on it would be the ‘most presidential-powers friendly’ of the modern age. Seung Min Kim  •   Read more » Once, he had been homeless. Now he wanted a home in the NFL. In a city with more than 1,400 homeless children, linebacker Vontae Diggs knew he could be a source of inspiration as he attempted to make the Redskins’ roster. DeNeen L. Brown  •   Read more »