The Most Earthshaking Stories You Need To Read This Week

Millions of Americans may identify as “preppers,” but most don’t have massive stockpiles of guns, dress in camo, or live off the grid. They’re more like Lisa Bedford, the “Survival Mom,” who’s built a massive following simply by suggesting that being ready — for a financial crisis, for a massive natural disaster, for a terrorist attack — is just common sense. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

Noreen Malone meets Miki Agrawal, the animated entrepreneur behind THINX, the feminine hygiene industry's most buzzed-about new product. "For us, we’re like, I just want to wear underwear and bleed in my underwear. You know what I mean?” Read it at New York.

In 2013, Spain was rocked with the news that Rosario Porto and Alfonso Basterra, a well-known, wealthy Spanish couple, had murdered their adoptive Chinese daughter. Giles Tremlett uncovers the troubling history that led to their unthinkable act. “I think they wanted to project the stereotype of a happy family.”

Read it at The Guardian.

Sarah Ryley investigates the consequences of New York City's "nuisance abatement law," a little-known policy that allows officers to shut down places — including residences — they claim are being used for illegal purposes. "Half of the 297 people who gave up their leases or were banned from homes were not convicted of a crime." Read it at ProPublica or the New York Daily News.

Was a prolific serial killer responsible for the death of Teresa Halbach? Daniel Dalton meets John Cameron, a retired cold case detective who certainly thinks so. "The scope of Cameron’s investigation seems to be so wide – between the distances the killer travelled, the methods he used, and the setting up of others – that it can link Edwards to almost any crime. It’s both self-perpetuating theory and self-fulfilling prophecy." Read it at BuzzFeed News.

James C. McKinley Jr. and Rick Rojas chronicle the astonishing deceptions of Jeremy Wilson, a charismatic con artist whose grandiose schemes have baffled and infuriated countless victims. "People have a tendency not just to believe people, but to want to believe people...That’s part of the wrong in the things that I have done, because I take that away from people.” Read it at The New York Times.

Women are severely underrepresented in the upper echelons of America's fine dining restaurants. Amanda Kludt explores how expanded paid family leave policies could help them rise to the top. "It's the industry's fault, it's the government's fault, it's our dining culture's fault. And it's something we can fix." Read it at Eater.

David Noriega reveals the U.S. government's quiet and aggressive crackdown on undocumented Indians at the border, many of whom are Sikhs fleeing political repression at home. "In 2013...83% of Indians facing deportation were imprisoned — a far larger percentage than for immigrants from any other country." Read it at BuzzFeed News.