The Most Dramatic Stories You Can't Miss This Week

For 14 years, Kari Brandenburg was the district attorney of the biggest county in New Mexico, like her father before her, and was a loyal ally to the police. But when she charged two officers for the shooting death of a mentally ill man in 2014, the department's revenge was swift and severe. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

Jennifer Percy details a Japanese man's tireless search for his wife, who disappeared following a 2011 tsunami. "I’ve found it quite difficult, but it is the only thing I can do. I have no choice but to keep looking for her." Read it at the New York Times Magazine.

In the hysteria following the murder of a New Orleans police chief, 11 Italian-Americans were lynched by a vigilante mob angry about the city’s influx of immigrants. Adam Serwer explains how the past and future of American nativism may not be that different. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

USA Gymnastics failed to report to police many allegations of sexual misconduct by coaches, report Marisa Kwiatkowski, Mark Alesia and Tim Evans, allowing predatory coaches to continue working with children for years after the organization was warned. “It’s like they don’t want people to report." Read it at IndyStar.

Jeff Donn finds himself tangled up in an unexpected medical controversy: Does flossing really do all we're told it does? Apparently not. "Even companies with a big market share of the flossing business ... struggled to provide convincing evidence of their claims that floss reduces plaque or gingivitis." Read it at AP.

The terrorist who drove a truck through the crowd in Nice attacked the only place in Jules Darmanin's hometown where people from all walks of life could co-exist. Now hate speech is on the rise. Read it at BuzzFeed Reader.

Allie Jones visits The Ranch, the $4,100 per weekend bootcamp heating up the $494 billion "wellness tourism" industry. "This is the new wellness, where deprivation is luxury, choice is eliminated, the environment is completely controlled, manicured hands are held, and transformation — being bought and paid for — is all but ensured." Read it at The Cut.

Amos Barshad tells the story of Denis Cuspert, aka Deso Dogg, aka Abu Talha al-Almani — the German rapper who fled to Syria for jihad. “He wasn’t angry all the time, of course not. But I think he was looking for something. He always wanted to be somebody. He wanted to be a leading role.” Read it at The Fader.