The Apple News Today team is off for the holiday weekend. But we are bringing you something special in place of our usual daily show: a narrated News+ article from Popular Mechanics that we’re making free for everyone.

It examines why thousands of cities across the country are shrinking — and what ghost towns of the past can teach us about what happens when thriving places start to fall silent.

Subscribers to Apple News+ can get narrated articles like this one every day. Your News+ subscription includes access to more than 500 publications, 100,000 recipes, premium local news, exclusive daily puzzles, and much more. Click here to start your free trial today.