Earlier this evening, New York Times political editor Carolyn Ryan started hinting that something big would be coming out in Monday's edition.

She seemed reluctant to give details, but hinted that it concerned "humanity".

She also couldn't confirm when the story would be posted.

At 8:45, she gave up.

But as time paused for Carolyn Ryan and Carrie Mathison, the Las Vegas Sun, a subscriber to the New York Times wire, found the story slug and eventually published the full piece on the Sun website around 8 pm.

It's an A1 feature on homeless children living in New York, and it's heartbreaking. The writer describes one shelter, where Dasani — an 11-year-old honor roll student — lives with more than 200 other children and their families.

Her family lives in the Auburn Family Residence, a decrepit city-run shelter for the homeless. It is a place where mold creeps up walls and roaches swarm, where feces and vomit plug communal toilets, where sexual predators have roamed and small children stand guard for their single mothers outside filthy showers.

It's an incredible story. But for some reason, only the Las Vegas Sun is reaping the benefits of Ryan's promotional tweets. Maybe the Times was waiting for the west coast airing of Homeland?

[Update 12:10 am] The Sun has pulled the story from its site and posted this message on its Facebook page.