the Web Editors

After seven long years of review, the White House plans to reject the request from a Canadian company to build the Keystone XL pipeline, according to The New York Times.

Envrionmental groups across the United States, including 350.org, have begun celebrating the news as a victory for climate activists. Sojourners has long spoke out against the construction of the Keystone pipeline and celebrates this news a win for all those advocating for the protection of creation.

President Obama announced Nov. 2 a new executive order to reduce hiring discrimination against former convicts, according to MSNBC.

Applicants for positions in the federal government will no longer be required to check a box on their applications if they have a criminal record.

1. Death Café Hopping

A woman explores the recent trend of “death cafés” — public meetups among strangers to share experiences, memories, and challenges dealing with death of loved ones. “Death: What happens next?”

2. Has ‘Diversity’ Lost Its Meaning?

“When the word is proudly invoked in a corporate context, it acquires a certain sheen. It can give a person or institution moral credibility… It’s almost as if cheerfully and frequently uttering the word ‘diversity’ is the equivalent of doing the work of actually making it a reality.” Scorching indictment. Necessary read.

3. Persian Gulf May Soon Become Too Hot for Humans

A new study shows that by the end of the century, the heat index may hit 165 to 170 degrees for at least six hours each day. So about hosting World Cup 2022 in Qatar…

4. ‘Granny Pods’ Keep Elderly Close, at a Safe Distance

Okay, maybe we can find a better name. But these tiny houses that sit in your backyard and come with security and medical resources are a step towards improving end of life care, and keeping our families close.

China announced Oct. 29 that it will revoke the one-child policy, The Washington Post reports.

The Communist Party has decided that couples will now be able to have two children because of the “aging population.”

The Vatican announced Oct. 28 that Pope Francis will issue a document about the family as a follow up to the recently-concluded Synod on the Family, according to America magazine.

The Synod on the Family, a meeting of 270 bishops which discussed, among other things, communion for divorced and remarried Catholics and pastoral approaches to the LGBT population, lasted three weeks and ended Oct. 25. Pope Francis will release an “apostolic exhortation,” a type of papal document commonly released after a synod, which is one step down in authority from an authoritative papal encyclical. “Laudato Si,” Pope Francis’ recent writing on the environment, was an encyclical.

Campus police officers at the University of Mississippi removed the state flag from its campus this morning, days after resolutions from the student body, staff, and faculty urged such action, according to a press release from the University of Mississippi.

It is the first predominantly white institution of higher education in the state of Mississippi to ban the flag.

The student senate was the first to pass the resolution, after 3 hours of "respectful and impassioned debate" culminating in a 33-15-1 vote in support of removal.

1. Nurses, Fathers, Teachers, Mothers. Why Do We Devalue Someone the Minute They Care for Others?

"That work of investing in others is actually just as important as the work we do for money. I now look at my mother’s work as a homemaker as well as her work as an artist, and I say, ‘Those things are equal.’ I didn’t believe that three years ago."

2. Do You Think Science and Religion Conflict? Probably Not, if You're Highly Religious

Yep, you read that right. Polls show many people may think science and religion conflict in the abstract, but far fewer think so of their own religious beliefs.

3. Secular, But Feeling a Call to Divinity School

“I didn’t feel unwelcome, but I did feel like it was a call to creativity,” Ms. Thurston, 30, recalled of her initiation. “I wanted to respond to what I saw as a crisis of isolation among young people.”

4. 'Star Wars' Lets Princess Leia Age Realistically. Thank You, Hollywood

Actress Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) on working with members of the original Star Wars cast: “We all look a little melted. It’s good to see other melted people.”

After long deliberation about whether he would run, the Catholic Vice President Joe Biden announced Oct. 21 at the White House Rose Garden that he will not seek the Democratic Party's nomination for president.

"I've concluded, [the window for running for president] has closed," Biden said, with President Obama and his wife, Jill Biden, beside him.

"I believe we're out of time, the time necessary to mount a winning campaign."

The source said he decided to provide these documents to The Intercept because he believes the public has a right to understand the process by which people are placed on kill lists and ultimately assassinated on orders from the highest echelons of the U.S. government. “This outrageous explosion of watchlisting — of monitoring people and racking and stacking them on lists, assigning them numbers, assigning them ‘baseball cards,’ assigning them death sentences without notice, on a worldwide battlefield — it was, from the very first instance, wrong,” the source said.