Islamist Party Leads In Historic Tunisian Vote

In Tunisia, a moderate, once-banned Islamist political party is on track to win the country’s first free and democratic election — and the first among the countries of the Arab Spring. On Sunday, Tunisians elected a national assembly that will rewrite the country’s constitution. Despite the strong showing by the Islamists, no party is expected [...]

Perry Proposes Optional 20 Percent Flat Tax

Rick Perry doesn’t have a catchy marketing slogan for his tax plan. But he’s hoping the idea of a flat, 20 percent income tax rate will do for his campaign what “9-9-9″ did for Herman Cain’s. “We need a tax code that unleashes growth instead of preventing it; that promotes fairness, not class warfare,” Perry [...]

Employers May Not Rush To Drop Health Coverage After All

Despite claims to the contrary, a insightful economic analysis suggests that it wouldn’t be in most employers’ business interests to stop providing health insurance when the main coverage provisions of the federal health overhaul kick in. The work, done by researchers from the Urban Institute for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (a supporter of NPR), [...]

Big Fight Brewing In Senate Over Defense Policy Bill

A big fight is brewing in the Senate over the national defense policy bill. It’s legislation that would authorize a pay raise and other benefits for U.S. troops. But the bipartisan bill also contains a provision about detainees that’s raising alarms at the White House, because the Obama administration says the measure would tie its [...]

School District Says No To Teacher Bonus Grant

An Oregon school district has rejected more than $2.5 million in federal funds. Oregon City — just south of Portland — turned down money that would have given performance-based pay bonuses to teachers, a controversial part of the Obama administration’s education policy. It’s called the Teacher Incentive Fund, and it’s meant to reward results. Oregon [...]

Insuring Child Day Cares

The author of a bill requiring day cares to have liability insurance says too many smaller ones are being allowed to opt out.

Key Panel Recommends Routine HPV Vaccination For Boys

If you thought the HPV vaccine against cervical cancer was controversial before, things are just warming up. A panel of experts that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policies has recommended routine vaccination of 11- and 12-year-old boys with Gardasil, Merck’s vaccine against human papillomavirus. Vaccinations could start as early as [...]

Del Toro On His ‘Eternal’ Obsession With Monsters

Few have as intense a relationship with monsters as filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. His films and books often blend reality, horror and fantasy in characters and themes that are both creepy and thought-provoking. His award-winning film Pan’s Labyrinth depicted imaginary and human monsters, while the hero of his two Hellboy films is a nerdy, wise-cracking [...]

Crowdsourced Happiness: A Short, Good Story About The Internet — For A Change

You read every day about the horrors of online life: stalking, harassing, the appearance of embarrassing photos that sink one’s job prospects, or just the general fact that people can be real jerks when they don’t have to go back and clean up after themselves. This is not that kind of story. Yesterday was a [...]

A DNA Check Reveals Widespread Fish Mislabeling In Massachusetts

Beware, Massachusetts fish fans: If you’re buying or ordering red snapper, white tuna, local cod or haddock, there’s a pretty good chance that’s not what you’re going to get. Two intrepid reporters at the Boston Globe set out to figure out just how bad one form of fish fraud — mislabeling — is in restaurants, [...]