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America China and climate change Lets agree to agree (19 November 04:09) |
| Barack Obama and others admit that Copenhagen will at most produce only an outline climate agreement. But that would be a lot better than nothingEXPECTATIONS for the Copenhagen climate confe... |
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After Guantánamo Trials to come (19 November 04:09) |
| Tough choices as a deadline is missedAT HIS inauguration, Barack Obama insisted that the choice between America’s safety and its ideals was a false one. In a clear dig at his predecess... |
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Improving education What to teach (19 November 04:09) |
| The long, slow effort to set standardsIN THE long list of problems that plague American education, one is primary: what should students learn? For decades, however, this question has baffled... |
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Maines cod Something new (19 November 04:09) |
| A brave attempt to save local fishIN THE bright midday sun, boats idle as fishermen unload the day’s haul. This scene is commonplace in Maine’s small fishing hamlets; but Port Cl... |
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The New Orleans mayors race The job almost no one wants (19 November 04:09) |
| Well, would you?ASK any New Orleanian whether they are ready for a new mayor, and they will say yes—and soon. A poll by James Carville, a Louisiana-raised consultant who was once Bill ... |
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Lexington Sarah Palin reloads (19 November 04:09) |
| She's back, and this time she's selling books ONE day in January last year, Sarah Palin was watching her son graduate from boot camp. As she gazed at the ranks of “tall and strong and ... |
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Barack Obama and Afghanistan Waiting and waiting for a plan (19 November 04:09) |
| The president continues to take his timeAS HIS plane was refuelling in Alaska en route to Asia, Barack Obama made a vow to the troops who greeted him at Elmendorf air base. “I want you... |
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Oklahomas economy Come home Tom Joad (12 November 04:33) |
| Not exactly a boom state, but people are returningIN THE lobby of a government building in Oklahoma City, several locals were telling a visitor about some of the assets of their state: the i... |
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Culling deer The war on Bambi (12 November 04:33) |
| Taking back the gardens IN JUNE 76-year-old Dorothy Richardson of Euclid, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, discovered a fawn nestled in her garden. She picked up a shovel and beat it to death. I... |
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The killings at Fort Hood After the rampage (12 November 04:33) |
| The shock is subsiding, but the questions are only beginningON NOVEMBER 8th, a cold and rainy Sunday night, the First Baptist Church of Killeen held a prayer service to commemorate the victi... |
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Tim Pawlenty and the presidential race T-Paw stakes his claim (12 November 04:33) |
| The long, winding road to the Republican nominationPRESIDENTIAL hopefuls find a natural habitat in Iowa. Before the caucuses, this energetic species can be seen marching in parades and munch... |
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Baltimores mayor on trial Dixon in the dock (12 November 04:33) |
| The beginning, not the endAS AMERICAN mayoral scandals go, that involving Sheila Dixon, Baltimore’s mayor, is not one of the worst. She was not videotaped smoking crack (Marion Barry, ... |
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Health-care reform Passing the baton (12 November 04:33) |
| One step forward for health reform. But even if they reach the finishing line, the Democrats face trouble in next year’s mid-termsNANCY PELOSI, the speaker of the House of Representati... |
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College enrolment Boom times (12 November 04:33) |
| The recession drives young Americans back to learningA BUSINESS that jacks up its prices during a recession is usually asking to lose customers. Not so America’s colleges, which are si... |
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Streetcars in Washington DC Rolling stuck (12 November 04:33) |
| A light-rail project is up against the brick wall of bureaucracyTHE good news is that the three streetcars that the city of Washington, DC, bought for $10m back in 2006 seem to be running we... |
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Lexington Farmers v greens (12 November 04:33) |
| The biggest obstacle to a climate-change bill is rural AmericaAMERICA will not pass a cap-and-trade law in time for the global climate-change summit in Copenhagen next month. To understand w... |
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The HIV travel ban is lifted Youre welcome (05 November 04:31) |
| HIV-positive people will at last be allowed to visit AmericaFOR 22 years America has banned HIV-positive people from entering the country without a hard-to-get waiver for fear of the virus s... |
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Health reform Now or never (05 November 04:31) |
| Efforts to speed health legislation hit some snagsWILL the health bill making its way through Congress reach Barack Obama’s desk before the end of the year? In May he insisted: “... |
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Hispanic higher education Closing the gap (05 November 04:31) |
| Improving performance is linked in part to immigration policyTHE University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP) is one of the most binational of America’s big universities. Some 90% of its student... |
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Arizonas budget Stumped (05 November 04:31) |
| An intra-Republican rowEARLIER this year Republicans seemed to be in the ascendant in Arizona, the state of Barry Goldwater, even as they struggled in much of the country. Not only had they ... |
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Lexington Republicans riven but resurgent (05 November 04:31) |
| Why conservative in-fighting may matter less than you might thinkARE the Republicans storming back towards national power? Or do the party’s ideological divisions doom it to irrelevanc... |
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Mayoral races Money cant buy you love (05 November 04:31) |
| A shabby victory for Michael Bloomberg, but breakthroughs elsewhereON ELECTION day in Queens, one voter asked a fellow New Yorker a question about using the voting machine. “Honey,R... |
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Elections in New Jersey and Virginia Lessons from a double defeat (05 November 04:31) |
| Barack Obama will find it hard to take much comfort from this year’s election dayCREIGH DEEDS is a farm boy turned country lawyer from the Alleghenies, in the south-west of Virginia. O... |
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Health-care reform A public row (29 October 05:23) |
| Democrats are trying to revive the idea of a government-run health plan“IT’S not really a public option, it’s a consumer option.” So declared Nancy Pelosi, speaker of... |
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Obama and the unions Love of Labour (29 October 05:23) |
| Unions are winning again in Washington, but the big fights are still aheadTHREE years ago, when negotiations with the union representing air-traffic controllers reached an impasse, the admin... |
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Public-school education Desert excellence (29 October 05:23) |
| An Arizonan modelAND what was the Minotaur? The ten-year-olds scribble their answer onto tiny whiteboards and hold them up for the teacher to see. Once each has got a nod, they repeat togeth... |
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American Jews and Israel J Street puts a foot in the door (29 October 05:23) |
| Can a handful of peaceniks challenge the power of AIPAC?POLITICAL lore in Washington has long ascribed mighty powers to the Jewish lobby—and especially to the American Israel Public Af... |
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New Yorks special election Not right enough (29 October 05:23) |
| A battle for the soul of the Republican Party in upstate New YorkSILVAN JOHNSON has not been this fired up since Sarah Palin joined John McCain’s presidential ticket. Ms Johnson, a mot... |
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The economy A joyless recovery (29 October 05:23) |
| New figures suggest that America has at last moved out of recessionON October 29th the government reported that gross domestic product rose at an annualised rate of 3.5% in the third quarter... |
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Dallas does culture Lights down curtain up (29 October 05:23) |
| While other cities are tightening their belts, Dallas is polishing its buckleON ONE side of Flora Street is the Bill and Margot Winspear Opera House, an airy space designed by Norman Foster.... |
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Cops and crime in Los Angeles Exit Bratton (29 October 05:23) |
| The reasons for falling crime rates remain disputedWILLIAM BRATTON, Los Angeles’s chief of police, has been doing victory laps around the city as he prepares to step down on October 31... |
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Mayoral elections Hard to dislodge (29 October 05:23) |
| Some big-city incumbents are also up for re-election on November 3rdPOOR Bill Thompson. His heart must have broken a little when Robert Gibbs, Barack Obama’s spokesman, said that the p... |
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Lexington One year of The One (29 October 05:23) |
| He has achieved more than his critics claim, but the meat is yet to comeWHEN he was elected president, Barack Obama made it plain that this was an event of some importance. His supporters, h... |
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Criminal trade in human body parts The skin-and-bone business (22 October 04:13) |
| A gruesome tale from RaleighAFTER silencing all-too-appropriate shouts of “butcher!” from the courtroom gallery, a federal judge in North Carolina earlier this month sentenced a ... |
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Capital punishment From arson to politics (22 October 04:13) |
| Why has Texas’s governor derailed a death-penalty investigation?THE sad case of Cameron Todd Willingham began two days before Christmas in 1991. He was alone with his three daughters&#... |
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Farmers and climate change Seeds of discontent (22 October 04:13) |
| America’s farmers threaten to block climate legislationAUTUMN is always a busy time in America’s farm belt. This autumn, however, it is particularly so. In early November farmers... |
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Lexington Harry Reids dilemma (22 October 04:13) |
| It is hard to represent both America and your home stateMANY of his fellow senators were born rich and politically connected, but not Harry Reid. His first home was a shack made of wooden ra... |
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Crime and politics The velvet glove (22 October 04:13) |
| Why the soft approach sometimes worksLOOKING after small children is never easy. Many dribble; some bite. But for Joyce Chavis, the problem until a few years ago was that she could not let t... |
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Immigration and the law Still going after them (22 October 04:13) |
| America’s toughest sheriff is still hunting illegalsJOE ARPAIO, the elected sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona, revels in controversy. “I use my inmates as Hollywood,” h... |
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Guantánamo Home of the brave (22 October 04:13) |
| Certainly not our home for the freeCAN Barack Obama meet his self-imposed deadline of closing the Guantanamo Bay detention camp by the end of January 2010? Congress is at last co-operating a... |
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Lexington Harry Reids dilemma (22 October 04:13) |
| It is hard to represent both America and your home stateMANY of his fellow senators were born rich and politically connected, but not Harry Reid. His first home was a shack made of wooden ra... |
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Gays and hate crimes Small comfort (15 October 04:18) |
| Barack Obama is doing a bit for American gaysELEVEN years ago a young gay man named Matthew Shepard was whipped with a pistol, tied to a fence, robbed, tortured and left to die. This murder ... |
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Health reform takes a step forward But dont ask how much it costs (15 October 04:18) |
| The Senate Finance Committee passes a health-care bill, at long last“WHEN history calls, history calls.” So said Senator Olympia Snowe on October 13th just before casting her muc... |
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Statewatch Louisiana After the storm (15 October 04:18) |
| Hit hard then, but holding on nowIT WAS a steamy afternoon in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans. On one side of the street were abandoned houses with faded symbols in blue spray paint noti... |
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Homosexuality in the Lutheran church Brotherly love (15 October 04:18) |
| Lutherans continue the slow fight for gay equality in America’s churchesMORE than 1,200 Lutherans gathered last month in Geist, north of Indianapolis. Lutheran CORE, the conservative g... |
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The 8220mini mid-terms8221 Republicans resurgent (15 October 04:18) |
| Democrats face two tough races with national implicationsCHRIS CHRISTIE, the Republican candidate for governor of New Jersey, is meeting voters at a restaurant in Monmouth Junction that serv... |
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Cap-and-trade The road to 60 (15 October 04:18) |
| Signs of bipartisanship on the climate-change billMANY commentators fear that Barack Obama’s plans for a cap-and-trade bill have got fatally stuck in the Senate. Their calculations wer... |
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Lexington To surge or not to surge (15 October 04:18) |
| The war inside the Democratic PartyBARACK OBAMA has already roughly doubled the number of American troops in Afghanistan since taking office in January. But Stanley McChrystal, the man he ch... |
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Lexington Of debt and deadbeats (08 October 04:17) |
| A new culture war is brewing over capitalismSEVENTEEN Uncle Sams were seen begging on the streets of Washington, DC, this week. They were a sad sight, with their slightly bedraggled red, whi... |
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The California governors race Early and heated (08 October 04:17) |
| With eight months until its primaries, California is drawing the stars“THIS is a proud day for me,” beamed Gavin Newsom, the youthful mayor of San Francisco, as he stood among th... |
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