How has Lyman, a battered community in eastern Ukraine, endured two years of a war that never feels far away? Children need a secure routine. Services need to be restored. Yet everywhere, still, is uncertainty.

• Russia sanctions rise: The United States and the European Union are piling new sanctions on Russia on the eve of the second anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine and in retaliation for the death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny last week.
• AI drives market boom: Silicon Valley chipmaker Nvidia hits $2 trillion in market value, riding a demand for its chips, which made the firm the pioneer of the generative artificial intelligence boom.
• Venezuela mine collapses: The collapse of an illegally operated gold mine in a remote area of central Venezuela is one of the worst accidents in the country’s poorly regulated mining industry.
• Texas ruling on hairstyles: A Texas judge rules that a Houston-area school district did not violate a newly enacted state law when it punished a Black student for refusing to change his hairstyle, local media reported.

Read these news briefs.

The war in Ukraine has tallied massive costs in lives, money, and materiel not just for the combatants, Ukraine and Russia, but also for much of the world. It will take years before restoration is even within reach. Click the “read” button to see the charts in full.

Polls suggest that Nikki Haley has little hope of pulling off a primary win in her home state. At present, Donald Trump’s sway over the Republican party is too large. But she is taking a longer view.

When our cultural commentator touched down in New York’s Harlem for a walking tour, he found the touchstones of Black history palpable, abundant, and inspiring. Reporting ahead of a major exhibition on Harlem’s 1920s renaissance, he joined our podcast to talk about the Harlem of today. 

When winter grinds on, do as the Danes do: Rather than resist, embrace and savor the season. It’s a counterintuitive lesson in slowing down and leaning in to the state you’re in.  

Recent drone shots high above Los Angeles have captured new and provocative images of a building that a movie director might someday find a way to monetize. The images show a long-abandoned, 27-story skyscraper with much of its exterior covered in colorful graffiti.

Is it beautifully crafted art or an eyesore left by vandals?

Some photographers gave attention to it because they believe someone took an ugly building and made it pretty. Meanwhile, Los Angeles City Council member Kevin de León said the city should not be an open canvas for any budding artists.

Such “creative place-making” as public art is sometimes called – even if done illegally – is often allowed by cities. It comfortably coexists with art in museums. Finding a balance between the two has become essential in urban areas. Philadelphia, in particular, offers an example of how public art has grown in acceptance, especially when it uplifts neighborhoods.

For more than 40 years, the Mural Arts Philadelphia program in the city has transformed blighted areas into wondrous public spaces. It started as the Anti-Graffiti Network to combat entropic acts of vandalism via graffiti and turn them into permanent art with endless canvases. It has grown to include initiatives such as the Restorative Justice program, which is centered around reentry for formerly incarcerated people and can include part-time employment. There is also the environmental justice program, which builds and restores green space.

Another organization, The Village of Arts and Humanities, has been transforming blocks in north Philadelphia with creations to support artists and Black residents in imagining a more just society. In 2021, as part of an exhibit entitled “Staying Power,” artists displayed larger-than-life photographs of five local women who had been released from prison after serving decades behind bars.

The People’s Paper Co-op was started in 2014 as an arts workshop to help individuals get existing criminal records expunged. People whose records were expunged turned their paper versions into pulp, made new paper, and wrote down what their future lives might look like. A more recent effort, called “Village Oracle,” allowed 14 Black artists to display their art on construction fencing.

“There is no shortage of good ideas and excellent practitioners already present and active in Philadelphia, addressing pressing concerns of safety, health, and education through creative place-making,” wrote Andrew Zitcer, a professor in the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design at Drexel University, in The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2021.

When a city such as Philadelphia – or Los Angeles – experiences high levels of violence, drug use, and homelessness, many residents can’t leave. Yet they keep living, which also means imagining the best version of themselves. Public art allows people to encounter beauty and ingenuity for themselves and others. That aesthetic contribution in places where they live can’t be ignored. A newly decorated skyscraper in LA helps explains why.