Commission: U.S. Must Make Nuclear Plants Safer

America’s nuclear reactors need new safeguards to ensure that the kind of accident that destroyed reactors in Japan last March doesn’t happen here. That’s the conclusion from a 90-day study of the accident undertaken by experts at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Fukushima accident in Japan damaged or destroyed four reactors and spread radiation [...]

Among Youths, Secondhand Smoke May Be Linked To Hearing Loss

Children who are exposed to secondhand smoke face an increased risk of a litany of problems, including asthma, respiratory infections and sudden infant death syndrome, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. And researchers at New York University’s med school say results of study they’ve conducted may add one more problem to the list: Adolescents [...]

The Al-Qaida ‘Triple Agent’ Who Infiltrated The CIA

On Dec. 30, 2009, seven CIA employees were killed by a suicide bomb at a fortified base in Afghanistan near the Pakistani border. The bomber, a Jordanian doctor named Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, had gotten inside the highly secure base by duping both the CIA and the Jordanian General Intelligence Department, who thought he was [...]

What The Word ‘Compromise’ Really Means

Geoff Nunberg is the linguist contributor on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. He is the author of the book, The Way We Talk Now. Sometimes people avoid even saying the word. Not long after the Republicans took the House last fall, Leslie Stahl interviewed John Boehner on 60 Minutes. He told her the Republicans [...]

An Unrepentant Charlie Sheen Prepares to Shop A New Show; Will Anybody Bite?

An official press release yesterday (you can read it here) sent out the word that Charlie Sheen, who was fired from his wildly popular sitcom Two And A Half Men this spring after a series of bizarre interviews and public appearances but before a live national tour that played okay in some places and disastrously [...]

America’s Attack On Lemonade Stands

If lemonade stands are symbols of the American Dream, and if lemonade stands are under attack in the United States, then the American Dream is under attack. Sure, it’s a somewhat breathless syllogism, but there is truth in it. Arguably there is no catchier, kitschier symbol of the American spirit than a lemonade stand. It [...]

Now An Iowa Underdog, Pawlenty Aims For Survival

Former two-term Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s campaign for the GOP presidential nomination was always expected to be launched, or extinguished, in next-door Iowa. But with his once-promising prospects seemingly atrophied, and his first big test at the Iowa GOP presidential straw poll less than a month away, Pawlenty has embarked on an 18-city tour of [...]

Health Clinics At Schools Get A Funding Boost

Growing pains aren’t just physical maladies. At least 20 percent of children need mental health services, but often they fall through the cracks at schools, which are often poorly equipped to give them the help they need. Schools that have health centers on site are the exception. Three-quarters of these clinics provide not only primary [...]

Immerse Yourself In An Innocent, Ill-Fated Love

In 1995, when I was a sophomore in high school, an older, popular boy came out of the closet. He was taunted daily until he dropped out. I never saw him again. Months later, a decidedly unpopular, more flamboyant boy was beaten in the schoolyard. I remember escorting him to the nurse’s office. I remember [...]

‘The Kid’: A Hellish Upbringing Falls Short On Heart

Looking back from the vantage point of a decade’s worth of American anxiety, darkness and schism, Sapphire’s 1996 debut novel Push may be more transgressive and revelatory than it was upon arrival. The Academy Award-winning 2009 movie adaptation, Precious, obviously hit some of the same story notes, but the slim, 150-page volume — which chronicled [...]