The Short List

Sat Apr 1 2023

John Riley | Audience Editor

Good morning, friends of The Short List!✨ I'm John, and I'm excited to share some of the week's best stories from the USA TODAY newsroom. That's no "April fools". Let's dive in:

🔵Beware of noxious fumes: A widely-used pipeline rehabilitation procedure has landed people in the hospital, triggered evacuations and sparked lawsuits because of the noxious fumes it produces. Cured-in-place pipe lining creates a new pipe inside an old one by inserting a soft, resin-soaked liner into a damaged pipe. The process has been used on hundreds of millions of feet of underground infrastructure. Yet, it carries an inherent public health risk that the industry has downplayed, even as the list of exposures continues to grow, a USA TODAY investigation found.

•	More details: How fumes can enter your home

📗'The book from the enemy': In 1967, U.S. Army sergeant Peter Mathews discovered the diary of a North Vietnamese soldier while scouring a battlefield. Duty demanded that he turn it over to military intelligence. But the book was strikingly beautiful, adorned with intricate drawings of flowers and landscapes and what appeared to be poetry and songs. Instead of handing it over to commanders, Mathews put it in his pocket. Later that year, he was sent home. Life went on.

Mathews kept the diary hidden away for more than 50 years. Ultimately, however, he came to realize the book wasn't too beautiful to hand over: It was too beautiful to keep. So in March, he traveled back to Vietnam to deliver it to the fallen soldier's family.

•	How the story began: He found an enemy soldier's diary after a Vietnam War battle. Now he seeks its owner.
•	Photos: 50th anniversary of U.S. combat troops departing South Vietnam

⚾Play ball ... now!: The 2023 Major League Baseball season got underway this week with some of the biggest rule changes in its history in place. The changes, including a 15-second pitch clock when the bases are empty and limits on infield shifts, step up the league's efforts to shorten games and create more offense. Get caught up on the game's new look with this visual explainer from USA TODAY's graphics team.

•	MLB opening day winners and losers: Mixed bag for Shohei Ohtani while Yankees roll and Red Sox flounder
•	MLB's 100 Names You Need To Know For 2023: Who tops the list?