Report: U.S. Safer Than On 9/11, But Not Safe Enough

Ten years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the United States is “undoubtedly safer and more secure,” but gaps in coordination among the government agencies responsible for security remain a problem. That’s the conclusion reached by two highly influential analysts of American security, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton. The co-chairs of the 9/11 [...]

Obama’s Address To Joint Session Would Be Same Time As GOP Debate

President Obama just told House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) that he wants to address a joint session of Congress on Sept. 7, at 8 p.m. ET, to lay out his latest jobs plan. Worth noting: 8 p.m. ET is also the planned starting time for the Sept. 7 Republican candidates presidential debate at the Reagan [...]

Ruth Reichl: Dining In Disguise And Going ‘Gourmet’

Portions of this interview were originally broadcast on June 29, 1998; October 5, 2004 and October 14, 2009. After years of wearing disguises in restaurants so she could review them for The New York Times without being recognized, Ruth Reichl left her position as the Times restaurant critic to become the editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine. [...]

Meet The ‘Amazing Race’ Teams, Some Of Whom Are Kind Of Overqualified

CBS has released the teams who will be featured on the nineteenth season (holy cow) of The Amazing Race this fall, and they’re apparently not tired of reusing people who have already shown up on other CBS reality shows. (Something they’ve done in the past with Rob and Amber from Survivor, Jeff and Jordan from [...]

‘Kitchen Science’: The Dinner Is In The Details

This interview was originally broadcast on May 22, 2001. Eating out has taught many Americans to be knowledgeable about ordering subtle and complex dishes from around the world, but it’s left many of us less knowledgeable about how to cook our own food. That’s one reason food writer Russ Parsons decided to write How to [...]

Justice Dept. Sues To Block AT&T’s Acquisition Of T-Mobile

The Justice Department just confirmed that it has “filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block AT&T Inc.’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA Inc.” In the department’s view, “the proposed $39 billion transaction would substantially lessen competition for mobile wireless telecommunications services across the United States, resulting in higher prices, poorer quality services, fewer choices and [...]

‘Fielding,’ A Winning Take On Life And Baseball

A good baseball coach and a good novelist are a lot alike, according to Chad Harbach’s satisfyingly old-fashioned debut, The Art of Fielding. If you’re a coach, muses Mike Schwartz, catcher for the Westish College Harpooners, you should ask yourself of each player: “What story does this guy wish someone would tell him about himself?” [...]

Ethical ‘Reality’: A Proposed Code For Producers To Live By

Unscripted television — now referred to as “reality” mostly so that people can put the word “reality” between appropriately skeptical quotation marks — has always been accused of being stupid, vapid, empty, and responsible for crowding out the good stuff that scripted television can accomplish. Let’s put that part aside. Right now, the swelling chorus [...]

Demand For Autos Drives Up Factory Orders

U.S. factory orders rose strongly in July on the biggest jump in demand for autos in more than eight years and a surge in commercial airplane orders. The increase suggests supply chain disruptions created by the Japan crisis are easing. Factory orders climbed 2.4 percent, the largest increase since March, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. [...]

Rebuilding After Irene Is Not Going To Boost The Economy

While Hurricane Irene may, according to The New York Times, “prove to be one of the 10 costliest catastrophes in the nation’s history,” the recovery efforts as work gets going to repair the estimated $7 billion to $10 billion in damages are not going to give the overall U.S. economy a much-needed lift, our Planet [...]