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It's Your Week. Let's talk COVID-19.

Alex Connor   | Paste BN

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessed to being the mastermind behind 9/11. Now 20 years later, he’s still awaiting trial.

Mohammed – or KSM as he is commonly known – stands at the epicenter of the most vexing questions and conflicts that have arisen during our modern age of terror.

Chief among them, Paste BN's Josh Meyer reports, will the United States ever bring Mohammed to justice? 

I'm Alex, and this is Your Week, an exclusive newsletter for subscribers like you. In today's edition: COVID long-haulers are still struggling. The answer to weight loss isn't as simple as we've been led to believe. And a new word to learn today: stagflation.

First, our must-read news coverage

Millions are in long COVID misery

AS COVID-19 swept across the country early last year, the primary concern was for the dying. So far, the pandemic has cost at least 656,000 American lives.

But there are others — as many as 12 million and counting — who took months and months to recover, or are still struggling. These “long-haulers” suffer from what’s called Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, better known simply as long COVID. 

Over the next five days, we will share more stories of families desperate to regain what they've lost and scientists doing everything they can to help. “Changed by COVID” was produced by 11 reporters from Paste BN and 10 Network newspapers.

"We hope this work brings a better understanding of the realities and complexities of long COVID, and the challenges it poses for individuals and our society," said health enterprise editor Jennifer Portman.

The series includes stories from people like Edwin “Avi” Luna, who spent nearly 11 months in the hospital, including all of summer 2020 in a coma. He lost more than 40% of his body weight.

Now Luna, 33, is a double-lung transplant recipient, slowly regaining his strength. His humor is back, but he struggles to climb the steep stairs to the apartment he shares with his parents, wife and two kids. 

So what are the long-term consequences of COVID-19? Medical science is still puzzling over why and how to help ease long-hauler misery. What we know and don't know.

Are you worried about COVID long haul? Here are some resources:

Dive even deeper

Behind the Blue Wall investigation | An Illinois cop exposed police misconduct. Then, he was arrested for it. In this new series, we're investigating how police departments punish whistleblowers and protect those accused of misconduct. This is the story of one cop who’s facing prison for leaking video of a death in custody. 

History lesson, or lack thereof | Across the country, school boards and legislators are more closely examining their textbooks and curricula, traditionally developed by and for white people. Now, a shift is underway as more Black and Latino parents push for inclusive and diverse educational materials. But an accompanying backlash by conservatives decries the concept of critical race theory. (Did you receive a full picture of U.S. history in school? Test your knowledge with this quiz.)

Not all calories are created equal | For years people have been told that weight gain is a simple mathematical problem. Consume more calories than you burn and you'll gain weight, do the opposite and you'll lose. But now a growing consensus of experts in nutrition say it's not that simple. Instead, they say, weight gain is a complicated process involving food quality, metabolism, genetics, medication and the bugs that live in people's guts.

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Thank you for reading! Until next week,

Alex

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