9 Feature Stories You Can't Miss This Week: Radicals, Riches, And Riddles

This week for BuzzFeed News, Freda Moon and Tim Stelloh shed new light on a decades-old case of corruption, murder, and mystery. Read that and these other great stories from around the web.

1. A Murder at La Casa Green — BuzzFeed News

Illustration by Rob Dobi for BuzzFeed News

A four-part series chronicling the lives of Ronald Taylor and George Gould, who were jailed for murdering a New Haven bodega owner in 1993. They were exonerated thanks to the efforts of a cop turned private investigator, only to be ordered back to prison — along with the investigator himself. And in the middle of it all were the victim's troubled son and a heroin addict whose changing testimony has been the most mysterious part of a case that has baffled and infuriated for over 20 years. Read it at BuzzFeed News.

2. The Radical Vision of Toni Morrison — The New York Times Magazine

Photograph by Katy Grannan for The New York Times

Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah pens a stunning profile of the literary legend and examines her unyielding resistance to the "unbearable whiteness" of the publishing industry. "She makes black life — regular, quotidian black life, the kind that doesn’t sell out concert halls or sports stadiums — complex, fantastic and heroic, despite its devaluation." Read it at The New York Times Magazine.

3. Upon Further Review — ProPublica/ The New Orleans Advocate/ Sports Illustrated

Photograph by Heinz Kluetmeier for Sports Illustrated

Darren Sharper is a former NFL safety who helped lead the New Orleans Saints to their first Superbowl victory. He is also an accused serial rapist. In a deep and devastating investigation, T. Christian Miller, Ryan Gabrielson, Ramon Antonio Vargas, and John Simerman explore how the failures of authorities across multiple states allowed Sharper to allegedly drug and assault women without consequence for years. Read it at ProPublica, The New Orleans Advocate, or Sports Illustrated.

4. The Price of a Life — The New Yorker

Photograph by Christaan Felber for The New Yorker

John Restivo spent nearly two decades in prison for the rape and murder of a Long Island teenager before DNA evidence exonerated him in 2003. Ariel Levy asks: How do you rightfully compensate someone who lost their freedom? Or can you? Read it at The New Yorker.

5. On the Road with Hannibal Buress, Comedy's Most Respected Slacker — The Fader

Photograph by Mark Peckmezian for The Fader

After bringing Bill Cosby's alleged history of sexually assaulting women into the national spotlight last year, comedian Hannibal Buress also inadvertently catapulted himself from relative obscurity to stardom. Yet, as Hua Hsu reveals, Buress is still carving out his own path — and at his own pace. Read it at The Fader.

6. Warren Buffett's Mobile Home Empire Preys on the Poor — Center for Public Integrity/ The Seattle Times

Photograph by Daniel Wagner for the Center for Public Integrity

Clayton Homes, America's biggest homebuilder, is controlled by Warren Buffet, the country's second-richest man. The company promises to fulfill dreams of home ownership at low costs, and yet, as this investigation by Daniel Wagner and Mike Baker finds, its predatory business practices have created nightmares for low-income families. Read it at the Center for Public Integrity or The Seattle Times.

7. Secondhand Stories in a Rusting Steel City — Wilson Quarterly

Photograph via Devon Christopher Adams

Robyn K. Coggins explores the dealings and details of a sleepy pawn shop in a rusting Pennsylvania steel town. "Working at the pawn shop seems less like a job than a hobby or a habit — a favor to no one in particular." Read it at Wilson Quarterly.

8. Azealia Banks: 'Not Here to be Your Idol' — Billboard

Photograph by Ramona Rosales for Billboard

Rachel Syme paints an intimate portrait of the ever-controversial, ever-brilliant young rapper. "I work during witching hours, 3 a.m., 4 a.m., when the dead writers, the failed writers and the failed musicians who are dead are roaming around."

Read it at Billboard.

9. The Assistant Economy — Dissent

Michal Dzierza / Flickr

A fascinating examination by Francesca Mari of the engines keeping the heads of America's most elite fields running: their assistants. Scores of privileged, pedigreed students invest years of their post-graduate careers doing someone else's bidding for the ultimate return of success — but is it worth it? Read it at Dissent.

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