Can’t win if you don’t run: Montana Democrats look to contest more local races The Montana Democratic Party left dozens of legislative seats go uncontested last year, helping guarantee a Republican majority. Now, Democrats are organizing to make sure Republicans are challenged. Read more on NPR

In Iran, women’s resistance defies state clampdown a year after Mahsa Amini’s death The death of a young woman in Iranian morality police custody sparked months of protests and a violent crackdown by the government. A year later, a more subdued defiance endures. Read more on NPR

Kilian the sniffer dog searches for survivors after the Morocco quake The golden retriever, part of a Swedish rescue team, helped find 18 people alive under the rubble in Turkey earlier this year. He searched this week for the last missing person in a Moroccan village. Read more on NPR

How Lehman’s collapse 15 years ago changed the U.S. mortgage industry The global financial crisis of 2008 ushered in a new era of consumer protection, but the future of the housing market is uncertain. Read more on NPR

Fewer North Korean defectors reach South Korea, and questions grow about unification Just 67 North Korean defectors arrived last year. Inter-Korean dialogue and exchange have ground to a halt. Seoul’s Unification Ministry has a new, hawkish head who wants to change the agency’s role. Read more on NPR

Apple picking season? In Colorado, you can pick your own hemp A farm in Montrose, Colo., is showing off its harvest, letting the public take home their own CBD plant. It’s like picking your own Christmas tree, with therapeutic side effects. Read more on NPR

Why are the Jets ‘cursed’ and Barrymore (kind of) canceled? Find out in the news quiz Plus, yet more giraffes, cute killer animals, wacky spills, labor drama and quirky IPOs. What more do you want? Blood? Read more on NPR

Preparing homes for wildfires is big business that’s only getting started Climate change, technological leaps, panicked insurers, the shifting sense of responsibility: All are powering the still-nascent, but fast-growing industry of preparing homes for wildfires. Read more on NPR