The issue: Instead of overpriced hotel goodies, try Denny’s We’re not telling stories out of school here, but in the news biz there’s such a thing as a story that’s too good to check out. It happens all the time in British tabloids, and we’re told, although we have no first-hand knowledge of such, that […]

The issue: Russia learns the outcome of next March’s presidential election As part of Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s program of “managed democracy,” he has managed to spare the Russian people such time-consuming and, in his opinion, unnecessary drags on the electoral process as debates, caucuses, primaries, conventions, campaigns and all those other gaudy fripperies of true […]

The issue: NASA warns us to watch for space debris on Friday Maybe not Friday but someday, there is a person destined to be an important first in the history of human mobility. If history is any guide, this person’s name will quickly be forgotten. IN 1850, British MP William Huskisson inadvertently became our first […]

The issue: The task now facing the U.S. and Turkey, Syria’s most important neighbor, is how to prevent regime change from breaking down into civil war U.S. intelligence agencies were taken by surprise by the popular uprisings this spring in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria. This is no slight to those agencies. The secret police […]

The issue: GOP leader suggests tax increases may be necessary to stave off big military cuts Congress talks big about spending cuts, but tends to flinch in the face of the actual consequences. THIS SUMMER, Congress and the Obama administration agreed on $350 billion in federal spending cuts across the board. That would be on […]

The issue: An annual stipend would help bridge the gap between scholarship and the true cost of living When it comes to paying college athletes, things often get a bit confused. WE SAW ANOTHER example of that last week when a new report from an athletes-advocacy group placed the value of a scholarship at a […]

The issue: Regulators need to find safe middle ground A 40-ton truck, going 70 mph, with a driver distracted by a cell phone. It’s a formula for disaster, written many times each year on America’s roadways in the cellular age. FEDERAL STATISTICS show that “distracted” driving causes arbout 5,500 highway deaths and 448,000 injuries each […]

The issue: The outlook is for the bill to pass in small bits and pieces, enough for both sides to claim victories, if only small ones Speaking from the White House Rose Garden, President Barack Obama sent his jobs bill to Congress accompanied by demands that the legislation be passed with “no games, no politics, […]

The issue: If it works as planned, Watson could be a true advance in medical administration We know that IBM’s supercomputers can demolish human beings in games. In 1997, Deep Blue beat reigning champion Garry Kasparov at chess. Then a descendant, an even more super computer named Watson, laid waste to TV’s “Jeopardy” stars. NOW, […]

The issue: Russian president looks like he’ll make room for his mentor, Vladimir Putin Russians got a sneak preview of the president they are going to pick in next year’s elections, and it’s increasingly apparent that it won’t be the incumbent, Dmitry Medvedev. Instead, it looks like the current prime minister, Vladimir Putin, will be […]

The issue: As our security forces decline, it’s up to each of us to be alert In the aftermath of 9/11, the public perception was that there was a massive increase in security all across the board: federal, state and local. Except for the federal government, that was largely illusory. In some areas, we are […]

The issue: Maintaining our capital city’s parks is not make-work, it’s necessary, and young people can do it President Barack Obama’s jobs plan likely will have a significant public works component and that’s all to the good. The problem with government public works spending — roads, bridges, public buildings, water and sewer facilities, and flood […]

The issue: Withdrawing our troops has been more difficult that expected Iraq was to have been so simple. A quick three-month conquest of the country with a relatively light force. Be welcomed by the Iraqis as liberators. Oust Saddam Hussein. Destroy his weapons of mass destruction. And then depart, leaving behind a grateful democracy. AS […]

The issue: Latest cooperation is a welcome development in the war against terror Pakistan took the unusual step Monday of announcing publicly that it had captured, in conjunction with the CIA, a top al-Qaida leader and two others described as senior operatives. THE ARRESTS are important, not only because they take three bad guys off […]