The issue: Innovative new programs gain popularity, but don’t tell the students this is school The United States seems to be moving inexorably toward a year-round school year, much like the foreign countries that continually outperform us in math and science studies. FOR A LONG TIME, “summer school” had an unfortunate connotation. The students who […]

The issue: A busy storm season looms, experts say Maybe it’s our imagination, maybe weather information is just better and faster, or maybe it really is global warming. But between wildfires, droughts, tornadoes, record temperatures and floods, our weather is getting on the biblical side of scary. And this month marks the start of peak […]

The issue: At the top level, relations between the two powers do not seem to need a reset as much as a rest President Barack Obama’s abrupt cancellation of a face-to-face meeting in Moscow with Vladimir Putin is being portrayed as a deliberate snub of the Russian leader — and it is. BUT SNUB-FOR-SNUB seems […]

The issue: Thanks to Shakespeare, he’ll remain a pluperfect villain It was undoubtedly a good thing for William Shakespeare that England’s King Richard III, killed in 1485, had been dead for at least a century before the immortal bard got around to writing about him and his 26-month reign. HISTORIANS SEEM to agree that Richard […]

The issue: Sweet taste of mint is a lure for new, young smokers Cigarette manufacturers have very effective bait for catching new smokers. It’s mint. A review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released last month concluded that the menthol flavoring that comes from mint makes it easier to start smoking and harder to […]

The issue: Myriad government programs are finally bearing fruit Americans’ bad habits are notoriously hard to break. The teetotalers tried to cut out alcohol, but gave up after 13 years of Prohibition. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s recent efforts to get New Yorkers to cut down on oversize, sugary soft drinks were met with widespread […]

The issue: Let’s hope crimes don’t affect Washington’s hospitality For all the millions of visitors who trek through Washington, D.C., each year, the national capital suffers remarkably few incidents of vandalism. Perhaps it’s because visitors realize that the various statues and memorials are in a very real sense “their” monuments. EVEN DEFACEMENT to make a […]

The issue: It may feel like we’re marching in place, but we’re actually moving forward First, the good news: The unemployment rate fell to 7.4 percent, the lowest in four years. That’s down from 7.6 percent last month and 8.2 percent last July. NEXT, THE BAD NEWS: Part of the reason for that decline is […]

The issue: How could someone so junior have access to such much secret information? A military judge found Army Pfc. Bradley Manning not guilty of the most serious charge against him, “aiding the enemy.” The charge was unprecedented in a leaks case and one that, if it had stood, could make any journalist writing about […]

The issue: Saving this plant is a way to say thank you to this group of patriots One of the keys to the Allied victory in World War II was America’s prodigious production of war materiel. That, in turn, was due to the 6 million women who entered the workforce to fill the jobs vacated […]

The issue: Syria draws radicals seeking military experience To bring Syria’s civil war to a quick conclusion, the United States and Western Europe may have to rethink their tepid support for the rebels. Why? If recent intelligence reports are accurate, the war is becoming a training ground for would-be radical jihadists drawn there both to […]

The issue: Bernanke warns lawmakers not to enact taxes or make further budget cuts Stripped of the restrained language and circumlocutions that traditionally characterize the Federal Reserve Board chairman’s appearances on Capitol Hill, central banker Ben Bernanke had an unusually blunt message for Congress about the economic recovery: Don’t mess it up. HE TOLD CONGRESS […]

The issue: The battle over unlimited NSA eavesdropping isn’t over Pre-Sept. 11, most Americans would have been horrified to learn that their government was vacuuming up and filing away their phone records — who they called and how long they talked — and listening in on those phone calls that caught the spy agency’s attention. […]

The issue: Once-proud city may be one of the first to declare bankruptcy, but it definitely won’t be the last How and if Detroit pulls itself out of bankruptcy is important to the rest of the country because, if successful, Detroit will be the template for rescuing other U.S. cities teetering on the edge of […]