News from January 24–January 30, 2026
Each week, we scan the latest headlines to spot words in action. From major news stories to pop culture buzz, this feature highlights language as it’s unfolding. Stories about floating schools, winter storms, and Dolly Plowton all contributed to the vocabulary from this week’s news.
bison
noun: a large humped animal having hooves and shaggy hair
From the headlines: For the first time in 200 years, bison are grazing freely in Kane County, Illinois. Six of the huge, shaggy mammals were released in the Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve as part of a native tallgrass prairie restoration effort. The bison will be cared for by members of Chicago’s American Indian Center and an experienced herd manager. Experts say the animals are fairly independent but can be stubborn.
buoyant
adjective: tending to float in a fluid
From the headlines: Floating schools now line the shores of Dal Lake near Srinagar in the Kashmir Valley. These buoyant classrooms make education accessible to local children, many of whom live on houseboats or small islands scattered across the water. In the past, limited roads and recurring conflict between India and Pakistan, both of which claim the region, kept many children from attending school at all.
frigid
adjective: extremely cold
From the headlines: A major winter storm blanketed the Eastern United States with snow and ice, followed by days of frigid weather. More than a foot of snow fell in at least nineteen states, while dangerously cold conditions lingered well after the storm moved on. From the Northern Plains through New England, temperatures plunged far below zero, with some areas nearly 30 degrees colder than normal. Officials say the extreme cold may be responsible for as many as sixty deaths.
intensify
verb: become stronger
From the headlines: Tensions between the U.S. government and opponents of stepped-up immigration enforcement have continued to intensify. After days of unrest, two officers involved in the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis were placed on administrative leave. Soon after, senior U.S. Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, who led the Minnesota operation, was reassigned to California.
mycologist
noun: a botanist who specializes in the study of fungi
From the headlines: A Massachusetts mycologist is on a quest to identify every single fungus in an urban Massachusetts reservoir. Since 2005, Larry Millman has found 399 distinct mushroom species near Fresh Pond reservoir in Cambridge. Millman, who has published four books about fungi, said he is particularly interested in overlooked city ecosystems.
pungent
adjective: strong and sharp to the sense of taste or smell
From the headlines: Two Indian graduate students at the University of Colorado reached a $200,000 settlement after filing a lawsuit over complaints that their food was too pungent for a shared office space. The dispute began when Aditya Prakash was heating palak paneer in a microwave and was told by an administrative assistant that strong-smelling food was not allowed. Prakash and other Indian students continued bringing homemade spicy meals, later alleging that retaliation included the loss of doctoral funding. The university denied liability.
purge
noun: an abrupt or sudden removal of a person or group
From the headlines: In China’s latest military purge, the country’s highest-ranked general, Zhang Youxia, is under investigation for “violations of discipline and the law.” It’s the latest arrest in an ongoing removal of officers by the Chinese leadership. Experts believe the purge is part of an attempt to ensure loyalty to leader Xi Jinping. A second general, Liu Zhenli, also faces charges.
repatriation
noun: the act of returning to one’s country of origin
From the headlines: A Japanese court ordered North Korea to pay damages to survivors of a scheme that lured Koreans to move back there from Japan, falsely promising jobs, free healthcare, and education. Between 1959 and and 1984, the deceptive repatriation program instead placed them in conditions where they were cold, malnourished, and restricted from leaving the country. Many Koreans who came to Japan as forced laborers in the early 1900s were fooled by the chance to move back to their native country.
scheme
verb: devise plans, especially in an underhanded manner
From the headlines: Investigators allege that two individuals schemed to steal luxury cars by pretending to be prospective buyers asking for test drives. Their operation took them to dealerships in five Connecticut towns, where they allegedly cloned or swapped key fobs before returning to drive the vehicles away. Typically, one person would engage the salesperson while the other started the car and replaced the fob. Authorities say the plot resulted in the theft of at least twenty vehicles worth more than $2.4 million over the span of a year.
sobriquet
noun: a nickname, often a descriptive or humorous one
From the headlines: One of five newly unveiled snowplows in Nashville is sporting the sobriquet “Dolly Plowton,” a nod to one of the city’s most famous residents, Dolly Parton. The playful name was selected by local public school students, who also helped choose other nicknames including “Music City Plow,” “Blizzard of Oz,” “Snowella,” and “Frosty the Snow Plow.”
