On Oct. 6, First Parish Church was packed for Jill Lepore’s talk on her new book, “We the People: A History of the U.S.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer speaks to the press, on the day of U.S.-China talks on trade, economic and national security issues, in Madrid, Spain, September 15, 2025. REUTERS/Violeta ...

This is officially the second-longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The federal government shut down as of 12:01 a.m. Oct. 1. At its start, up to 750,000 federal workers could have been ...