FiveThirtyEight’s top stories this week

A [FiveThirtyEight]( email [Popular This Week] Sunday, May 15, 2022 [1. We’re Hiring A Part-Time Research Assistant]( FiveThirtyEight is seeking a diligent, well-organized and kind Research Assistant to help track down and input polls and other election data, as well as contribute research to political stories and projects. [Read more]( [2. Are The Dream For Real? Are The Lynx In Trouble? Lessons From Week 1 Of The WNBA Season.]( [WNBA: MAY 11 Los Angeles Sparks at Atlanta Dream]( Entering the 2022 WNBA season, opinions varied widely on a range of issues. The only place with consensus? There were, potentially, 10 teams fighting for the playoffs. Indiana and Atlanta would be heading for the lottery. [Read more]( [3. How Every Senator And Governor Ranks According To ‘Popularity Above Replacement’]( [0513_POLLA-4×3]( Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup. [Read more]( [4. The Miami Heat Turned A Big 3 Into A Deep 10]( [P.J. Tucker,Max Strus,Tyler Herro,James Harden]( The Miami Heat have been no strangers to championship formulas under Erik Spoelstra. Since 2008-09, Spoelstra’s first season as head coach following the legendary Pat Riley’s decision to step away from the sidelines, only the San Antonio Spurs sport a better win percentage than Miami. [Read more]( [5. The Underrated Career And Complicated Legacy Of Robinson Canó]( [New York Mets v. Washington Nationals]( It might be a bit premature to eulogize the career of Robinson Canó, the veteran free agent who was officially released by the New York Mets on Sunday, after being designated for assignment last week. After all, Canó could still garner interest from another team, which would have to pay him only the league minimum, with New York eating the more than $40 million that remained on Canó’s contract heading into the season. But after Canó hit .195 with a .501 OPS to start the 2022 season, it’s clear the end is rapidly approaching for the 39-year-old former All-Star, if it isn’t here already. [Read more]( [6. Why Trans Rights Became The GOP’s Latest Classroom Target]( [Texas Legislature]( In 2016, North Carolina passed its infamous “bathroom bill”, which prevented transgender people from using public bathrooms that aligned with their gender identity. Today, anti-trans legislation is taking aim at children. Dozens of states have introduced bills limiting transgender students’ participation on school sports teams that match their gender identity. Thirteen states, all Republican-leaning, have passed such bills in the last two years, turning an issue that affects less than 1 percent of the country’s youth into the latest battle in the culture wars. [Read more]( [7. Trump’s Candidate Lost In Nebraska — But Trump Is Still Winning Most Of His Primaries]( [Election 2022 Nebraska]( Former President Donald Trump’s perfect 2022 endorsement record is no more. After all 36 Senate, House or governor candidates he endorsed in Texas, Indiana and Ohio won their primaries, Trump-supported businessman Charles Herbster lost his bid for Nebraska governor last night. [Read more]( [8. How My Fitness Tracker Turned Me Against Myself]( [QUANTIFIED-SELF-4×3]( The alarm was deafening. My coffin-shaped acrylics crawled from underneath the covers, searched for the stop button and quickly found my Apple Watch. I slapped the device onto my wrist before I washed my face, brushed my teeth or checked my phone. If I didn’t start tracking soon, I wouldn’t get credit for the calories I burned or the minutes I stood — the core metrics tracked by Apple’s signature “ring-closing” feature.   [Read more]( [9. The Bucks’ Static Offense Is The Playoffs’ Biggest Wild Card]( [Celtics Bucks Basketball]( With 20 seconds left in Game 3 between the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics, the series tied 1-1 and the Bucks leading 101-100, point guard Jrue Holiday kept the ball for himself, spun into the paint and hit a floater. Zero passes, 2 points and a series lead. [Read more]( [10. Have The Courts Made Gerrymandering Better Or Worse?]( [SlackChat-0510-4×3]( cwick (Chadwick Matlin, deputy editor): Are we sure that redistricting maps aren’t being drawn by the boy who cried wolf? Following the news around gerrymandering over the past few months has felt like one bait and switch after the other. First you hear about a new map in Alabama, then you hear a federal court has struck it down for violating racial gerrymandering laws … and then the Supreme Court lets it stand. Next you hear that New York has achieved the platonic ideal of a partisan gerrymander … and then weeks later the map is struck down by the state’s highest court. And after that … well, it’s easy to lose track of where all these maps stand, and what all these legal interjections mean for the future of gerrymandering redistricting going forward. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Weekly Listen [Play]( [Politics Podcast: The Politics Of Anti-Critical Race Theory Laws]( [FiveThirtyEight] [View in browser]( [ABC News]( [Unsubscribe]( Our mailing address: FiveThirtyEight, 47 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023.