A birthday cake left unattended in a care facility hallway is incredibly unsettling. It’s not because of what it stands for on its own, but rather because of what someone decided to say about it. It turned out to be a window into something much darker about how one nurse at a care facility in Gloucestershire treated the residents under her supervision. The moment was small, domestic, and nearly forgotten. This week, Rossitsa Petkova, a registered nurse who spent more than ten years working at Castleford House Nursing Home in Tutshill, was removed from the professional register after eight accusations…
Author: Michael Martinez
The picture of a mother looking through pictures of red spots on her daughter’s cheeks, posting them in a church group chat, and waiting for advice that never involves a doctor is subtly heartbreaking. Hilda Smucker, a 44-year-old Mennonite woman in Lancaster County, experienced this during the summer when three of her unvaccinated children contracted measles. Her congregation advised her to stay hydrated, drink chamomile tea, and take vitamin A. The biggest measles outbreak currently occurring in the US is centered in Lancaster County. According to official statistics, there are 246 confirmed cases in the county, which is roughly half…
Finding a tropical mosquito breeding in someone’s East London backyard has a subtly unsettling quality. It’s not particularly frightening, but it’s the kind of thing that causes you to stop and reevaluate long-held beliefs. With its gloomy skies and consistently wet autumns, Britain has always seemed like the kind of place where tropical insects don’t live long enough to be significant. It turns out that this assumption merits further investigation. Aedes aegypti, a species typically found in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia, has been found breeding at residential properties in east London, the UK…
The majority of people learned about Courtney Budzyn from a golden retriever who had a knack for appearing incredibly unimpressed. With his half-lidded, drooping eyes and his “Linda” expressions, Tucker quickly rose to prominence as one of the most adored dogs on the internet. However, behind every video of that enormous, absurd, happy dog was a woman who had been quietly battling issues unrelated to viral fame for years. Courtney has been candid about the intensity of her depression and anxiety, albeit in bits and pieces and on various platforms. Not the stylish, somewhat relatable type that receives favorable attention…
In television journalism, there are times when a person becomes more of a force of nature than a reporter. Among them was Rick Santelli. Santelli covered markets for more than 20 years, but he also became a part of the atmosphere as he stood on the Chicago Board of Trade floor amid the cacophony of traders. The yelling. The hand makes motions. The barely restrained rage at what he perceived as Washington’s disregard for American workers. Either you enjoyed it, or you didn’t. However, you were always aware of it. Because of this, rumors about his health that surfaced in…
In one version of this tale, Dan Abrams keeps all information to himself. No public advocacy, no Today show segment, and no “check your balls” advice given with the bluntness only a man who has truly faced his own mortality can muster. In that version, he handles it discreetly, resumes his work, and moves on. In actuality, that was his initial plan. In 2003, Abrams, who was 37 at the time, single, and working on-air at MSNBC, “completely freaked out” after finding a lump. Testicular cancer was the final diagnosis. He was informed by the Memorial Sloan Kettering doctors that…
In sports, there are times when you can’t move. Something quieter and more unsettling—the abrupt, inexplicable absence of someone who should have been everywhere—rather than a last-minute defeat or a blown lead. Purdue volleyball is currently playing through a season that began under a cloud that no preseason ranking could have predicted. Before the season really got underway, Kenna Wollard, the senior outside hitter who was widely regarded as a front-runner for National Player of the Year, left the Boilermakers. When Purdue played Butler in an exhibition game in late August, she wasn’t wearing her uniform. No announcement of injuries.…
Witnessing someone who was once regarded as the most complete hockey player of his generation abruptly leave the game is somewhat heartbreaking. There was no formal retirement ceremony for Jonathan Toews. There were no heartfelt rinkside tributes or farewell laps. He simply stopped playing, and as the months stretched into years, the hockey world continued without him, though it never completely forgot about him. When Toews declared in December 2020 that he would be sidelined indefinitely due to what was then only described as an undisclosed condition, the illness that forced him off the ice first came to light. Most…