Top 10 Insider News Features of 2022

Gang violence has made El Salvador one of the world's most violent places not at war. But a state of emergency declared by the country's "Bitcoin president" — ostensibly to deal with MS-13 and two offshoots of the rival Barrio 18 gang — has only created a new layer of misery. Since March of 2022, more than 60,000 people, mostly working-age men, have been rounded up indiscriminately and with flimsy explanations.indiscriminately and with flimsy explanations.

Danielle Mackey took us to a shrimp farming community in the coastal Bajo Lempa region of El Salvador, where family members of those detained are finding ways to fight back.

The 'world's coolest dictator' rounded up 60,000 people in a supposed crackdown on MS-13. A shrimp farming community is fighting back.

"Some of you will know this story already. Some of you will think you do. In South Africa, it's lodged in the collective memory, sticky and stubborn. The race. The twins. The watches. The subterfuge. In the world of global running, meanwhile, it still makes lists of the greatest marathon cheats. Even now. Even 23 years later." Thus begins Ryan Lenora Brown's look back at one of the most notorious cheating scandals in long-distance running: the 1999 Comrades race in South Africa.

The not-quite-redemption of South Africa's infamous ultra-marathon cheats

One night in 1985, US agents had the chance to stop the rise of Mexico's most powerful drug lord. Noah Hurowitz reconstructs how the Lord of the Skies slipped through their fingers — and the aftermath that no one could see coming.

The night the Lord of the Skies got away

Photographer Alan Chin took us into the command center of Ukraine's national railway to show us how us how Ukraine was still moving civilians out, and getting in critical supplies, despite Russian attacks.

On board the mobile command that's keeping Ukraine's trains running

Tucker Carlson's mother Lisa McNear Lombardi was a free-spirited artist who mostly disappeared from his life when he was 6 and nearly disinherited Tucker and his brother. Aaron Short and Ted Soqui explored her art, whose fans included David Hockney.

Tucker Carlson's mother, Lisa McNear Lombardi, was a free-spirited artist who mostly disappeared from his life when he was six years old

When skating prodigy Kamila Valieva was caught doping at the 2022 Olympics, Gabrielle Paluch introduced us to the methods of Russian coach Eteri Tutberidze: Find skaters young and light enough to land quads — even if it means by age 17, their careers are over.

The Eteri Expiration Date: Kamila Valieva and Russia's quest for figure skating gold

Noom says its app is based in "psychology." But its coaches aren't therapists. And, as a Pandemic Success Story, there are signs it put growth ahead of coaches and users, including some dealing with eating disorders and serious depression, Gabby Landsverk reported.

Noom sells psychology-driven weight loss. Some users expected therapy

Who is Tucker Carlson, really? Aaron Short dug into the man's as-yet unexamined past.

The Tucker Carlson Origin Story

When Ukraine's President Zelensky beseeched foreign fighters to join Ukraine in its defense against a Russian assault, Tobias and Lukas were probably not who he had in mind. Reporting from Lviv, Ukraine, Katie Livingstone offered an eye-opening account of the men's pursuit of battlefield heroism.

They went to fight Russians. Chaos ensued.

How does a person fall 1,000 feet from Denali — North America's highest peak — and survive? Based on interviews with multiple eyewitnesses, Kelsey Vlamis reconstructed this epic tale of Man v. Nature in riveting detail.

Disaster at 18,200 feet