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Test Scandal in Atlanta Brings More Guilty Pleas

January 6, 2014

The cast of characters was mostly former teachers and principals, six of whom pleaded guilty on Monday in a Fulton County courtroom for their part in what has been described as the largest cheating scandal in the nation’s history. Their pleas bring to 17 the number of educators who have already pleaded guilty, with ...

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In Jobless Youth, Nation Is Said to Pay High Price

January 6, 2014

Persistent high unemployment among young people is adding up to $25 billion a year in uncollected taxes and, to a much smaller degree, increased safety net expenditures, a new report says. The key takeaway here is that it’s not just the individuals who are suffering as members of our generation,” said Rory O’Sulliva...

Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower

January 2, 2014

Seven months ago, the world began to learn the vast scope of the National Security Agency’s reach into the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the United States and around the globe, as it collects information about their phone calls, their email messages, their friends and contacts, how they spend their days...

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Eastern California Real Estate Investor Pleads Guilty to Bid Rigging and Fraud at Public Real Estate Foreclosure Auctions

December 31, 2013

Anthony B. Joachim of Stockton, Calif., entered his guilty plea in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento. Joachim was originally indicted by a federal grand jury in Sacramento on Dec. 7, 2011, along with three other investors – Andrew B. Katakis, Donald M. Parker and Wiley C. Chan...

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The Moreland Game: Sins of the Gov's Commission

December 24, 2013

So New York has a problem with politicians skimming tax dollars, and other politicians have the solution: Just give us the dough up front, please, and call it reform. Brilliant. Thank you, Gov. Cuomo. Thank you, Moreland Act Commission.

Slip Sliding Away: The Incredible, Shrinking Presidency of Barack Obama

December 21, 2013

According to a new Washington Post-ABC poll, Barack Obama now ranks among the least popular presidents in the last century. In fact, his approval rating is lower than Bush’s was in his fifth year in office. Obama’s overall approval rating stands at a dismal 43 percent, with a full 55 percent of the public “disapprov...

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Pennsylvania Supreme Court Finds That Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act Does Not Bar Latent Occupational Disease Lawsuits Against Employers

December 12, 2013

On November 22, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Tooey et al. v. AK Steel Corp. et al.1 held that the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act (the Act) did not immunize employers in lawsuits by the estates of two former employees who had allegedly been exposed to asbestos dust during their employment but did not dev...

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Can't We Do Better? by Thomas Friedman, New York Times

December 8, 2013

THE latest results in the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, which compare how well 15-year-olds in 65 cities and countries can apply math, science and reading skills to solve real-world problems were released last week, and it wasn’t pretty for the home team. Andreas Schleicher, who manages PISA...

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Who Says Math Has to Be Boring?

December 7, 2013

Finding ways to make math and science exciting for students who are in the middle of the pack could have a profound effect on their futures, providing them with the skills that will help them get technical jobs in the fields of food science, computer networking or medicine. It would entice many students who are inse...

Pulling a More Diverse Group of Achievers Into the Advanced Placement Pool

November 27, 2013

Every year, more than 600,000 academically promising high school students — most of them poor, Latino or black — fail to enroll in Advanced Placement courses, often viewed as head starts for the college-bound. Some of them do not know about these courses, which offer an accelerated curriculum and can lead to college...

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Court Confronts Religious Rights of Corporations

November 24, 2013

Hobby Lobby, a chain of crafts stores, closes on Sundays, costing its owners millions but honoring their Christian faith. The stores play religious music. Employees get free spiritual counseling. But they do not get free insurance coverage for some contraceptives, even though President Obama’s health care law requir...

Custody Battle Raises Questions About the Rights of Women

November 24, 2013

When Bode Miller, the Olympic ski star known for daring Alpine racing, met Sara A. McKenna in San Diego last year through the high-end matchmaker Kelleher International, they were both professing interest in finding a marriage partner, she recalls. The relationship did not last long — but she did become pregnant. An...

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Credit data giant Experian tangled in ID theft case

November 5, 2013

An investigation of an alleged Vietnam-based identity theft ring has dragged in the credit reporting firm Experian and rekindled a congressional effort to force companies to reveal how they use Americans’ personal and financial data.The scam, revealed in an indictment unsealed on Friday, allegedly resulted in the th...

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Supreme Court lets stand Oklahoma court ruling against part of new abortion law

November 4, 2013

The Supreme Court decided Monday not to review a ruling by Oklahoma’s highest court that a major portion of the state’s restrictive abortion law is unconstitutional because it effectively bans all drug-induced abortions.

In Memory of Trevor Sims

October 20, 2013

Trevor Sims was first diagnosed with cancer when he was five years old. Five years later, Trevor and his family were informed that his cancer was terminal. With the time he had left, Trevor made a wish that he shared with the Baton Rouge community. He wanted to feed the hungry. The city of Baton Rouge came together ...

Pa. Texting Scandal Highlights Complexities for IT Leaders

October 18, 2013

Abdallah Hawa, the information technology director for the 7,200-student Coatesville Area system, near Philadelphia, was erasing the memory of the district-owned cellphone of Coatesville Area High School's athletic director in August when he uncovered a lengthy text-message exchange between the sports official and t...

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Girls' Arrests in Florida Bullying Case May Mark Turning Point

October 18, 2013

The unprecedented felony charges against two young girls in Florida accused of harassing a classmate so much that she jumped to her death may mark a turning point in how U.S. law enforcement agencies react to the problem of cyber bullying and stalking. Grady Judd, the sheriff of Polk County, said in an interview Thu...

Obsidian Financial Group, LLC v. Cox and Reformulating Shield Laws to Protects Digital Journalism in an Evolving Media World

October 8, 2013

Though “journalism” is an amorphous term capable of various meanings, its traditional media are familiar. Yet, if the progression in media from print to radio to broadcast and cable teaches a lesson, it is that dissemination technology is rarely stagnant. As the seemingly endless procession of new media made possibl...

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No Place On Earth: 511 Days of Total Darkness

October 7, 2013

The Incredible True Story Behind The Documentary "No Place On Earth"

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The Glass-Floor Problem

October 3, 2013

WHEN it comes to the economic malaise facing America, the biggest problem is not the widening gap between rich and poor, but the stagnation of social mobility. When the income gap of one generation becomes an opportunity gap for the next, inequality hardens into social stratification.

Creationists on Texas Panel for Biology Textbooks

October 2, 2013

One is a nutritionist who believes “creation science” based on biblical principles should be taught in the classroom. Another is a chemical engineer who is listed as a “Darwin Skeptic” on the Web site of the Creation Science Hall of Fame. A third is a trained biologist who also happens to be a fellow of the Discover...

Why You Truly Never Leave High School: New Science on Its Corrosive, traumatizing Effects

September 28, 2013

Maybe that’s what ultimately got me to that nondescript bar near Times Square last fall. Until Facebook, the people from my high-school years had undeniably occupied a place in my unconscious, but they were ghost players, gauzy and green at the edges. Now here they were, repeatedly appearing in my news feed, describ...

Was This Whistle-Blower Muzzled?

September 21, 2013

THE fifth anniversary of Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy has occasioned one legacy-spinning defense after another. We’ve heard from Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve; Henry M. Paulson Jr., the Treasury secretary at the time; and Timothy F. Geithner, then the New York Fed president and later Mr. Paulson’s ...

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Are Internet Providers, in Fact, at Risk for Defamation Liability?

September 21, 2013

A potentially precedent-setting case may be making its way to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, if not beyond. The case, Sarah Jones v. Dirty World Entertainment, raises a fundamental question about the scope of immunity for Internet Service Providers from defamation liability under Section 230 of Th...

How One College Student Fought His School's 'Free Speech Zone' - And Won

September 14, 2013

Chris Morbitzer wasn’t asking for much. All he wanted to do was receive permission from his school to gather signatures across campus for a time-sensitive, statewide right-to-work ballot initiative in which he and his student group, Young Americans for Liberty, were participating. Because the University of Cincinnat...

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New Bank Investigations: Real Action, or More of the Same? by Matt Taibbi

September 8, 2013

A lot of interesting things happening on the white-collar enforcement front. Evil hedge fund SAC Capital and its villainous ruler Stevie Cohen were run through the gauntlet, Goldman Sachs patsy Fabulous Fab took a beating in civil court (I love the detail that emerged, that Goldman executives now call him "the poor ...

Current Events

Test Scandal in Atlanta Brings More Guilty Pleas

In Jobless Youth, Nation Is Said to Pay High Price

Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower

Eastern California Real Estate Investor Pleads Guilty to Bid Rigging and Fraud at Public Real Estate Foreclosure Auctions

The Moreland Game: Sins of the Gov's Commission

Slip Sliding Away: The Incredible, Shrinking Presidency of Barack Obama

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Finds That Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act Does Not Bar Latent Occupational Disease Lawsuits Against Employers

Can't We Do Better? by Thomas Friedman, New York Times

Who Says Math Has to Be Boring?

Pulling a More Diverse Group of Achievers Into the Advanced Placement Pool

Court Confronts Religious Rights of Corporations

Custody Battle Raises Questions About the Rights of Women

Credit data giant Experian tangled in ID theft case

Supreme Court lets stand Oklahoma court ruling against part of new abortion law

In Memory of Trevor Sims

Pa. Texting Scandal Highlights Complexities for IT Leaders

Girls' Arrests in Florida Bullying Case May Mark Turning Point

Obsidian Financial Group, LLC v. Cox and Reformulating Shield Laws to Protects Digital Journalism in an Evolving Media World

No Place On Earth: 511 Days of Total Darkness

The Glass-Floor Problem

Creationists on Texas Panel for Biology Textbooks

Why You Truly Never Leave High School: New Science on Its Corrosive, traumatizing Effects

Was This Whistle-Blower Muzzled?

Are Internet Providers, in Fact, at Risk for Defamation Liability?

How One College Student Fought His School's 'Free Speech Zone' - And Won

New Bank Investigations: Real Action, or More of the Same? by Matt Taibbi

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