Here is the article on the text-only site:

https://text.npr.org/s.php?sId=627355954

not useless but you do have to record the article ID and use it to get the article you actually want, if it's not in the list. For example this article's text-only version is https://text.npr.org/s.php?sId=627355954

I vastly prefer the text-only site and am glad NPR has it. The photos and other page crap never help with the article anyway, just slow down reading.