We launched our interactive homicides map for New York City today. The interactive had been in the works for a long time, but kept getting sidelined by one project or another — an overly long primary season, Olympics, the election, and so forth. Andy Lehren, a database editor at the Times, drove the data collection and reporting side of the project, while Brian Hamman and Tyson Evans hooked Andy’s data up into an updatable feed. And Matthew Bloch built the terrific map that’s the front end.

Also, in completely other topics, check out Farhana Hossain and Archie Tse’s guide to the challenges in the health care debate.