Mitch McConnell has suggested that Loretta E. Lynch's nomination to Attorney General may be delayed if the Democrats won't move forward on a bipartisan human trafficking bill. Democrats are objecting to an anti-abortion provision in the bill. The Senate resumes debate on the bill today.

Mother Jones reports on the Housing First approach to solving homelessness, and how Utah has made it work.

Mark Oppenheimer's column in the New York Times examines a working document by a group of women for the Pontifical Council for Culture. In two places, the document addresses cosmetic plastic surgery in light of commercial standards of beauty, and "the feminine self." 

From The Atlantic, How to Execute People in the 21st Century. States are reverting back to older methods of execution, which may change the perception of the death penalty at large. See also Paul Elie's article in our latest issue on Mario Marizziti's efforts to end the penalty.

Vladimir Putin has just re-emerged after being away from public view for 11 days. On the New York Review of Books blog, Amy Knight looks at the theories around the Kremlin's involvement in Boris Nemtsov's murder.