Economy Jun 24 A Skeptic’s Guide to the 2012 Debate Over Manufacturing Job Losses The unemployment rate is more than 9 percent. Banks are swimming in foreclosures. It's no wonder that the 2012 campaign is shaping up to be about the economy. Who wouldn't want to "fix" numbers like those? Ah, but there's the…
Politics May 11 Will Wisconsin’s Recall Elections Hold Clues to 2012? With the 2012 presidential race in early stages and the political press looking for clues about the mood of the electorate, politics in Wisconsin has become a national story. The battles between new Republican Gov. Scott Walker, Democrats and the…
Nation May 03 In a Military Town, a Muted Celebration About Bin Laden The impromptu celebrations that broke out following news that U.S. forces had killed terrorist Osama Bin Laden, were not limited to the New York and Washington. In places as far away as Columbus, Ohio; Austin, Texas and Dearborn, Mich., people,…
Economy Apr 13 Some Jobs Relief Seen in Suburbs, But Long-Term Struggles Likely Ahead Was it a temporary dip or a fundamental restructuring of the American economy? As the last recession dragged on and on, that was the larger question hanging over the country. And yet it remains unanswered. The debate will likely go…
Health Mar 30 How Healthy Is Your County? A Few Miles Can Make a Big Difference What difference can a few miles make? It may be the difference between living a healthy life and struggling against a sea of health problems, according to a new study that ranks the relative health of counties. The study…
World Feb 04 Egypt Coverage Divide Seen Among Patchwork Nation Community Types The scenes playing out in Egypt and across the Arab world are not just dramatic, they are remaking the region and U.S. policy for years to come. Regimes have been pushed out leaving an unsettled landscape in one of the…
Politics Nov 15 GOP Midterm Victory Seen as Ordinary Tidal Change Two weeks after the 2010 midterms, the results are receding into the past, and the new reality is settling in. But before we go too far down the road of analyzing the shift in the American voting public - the…
Politics Sep 17 Mapping the Midterms: District Types Offer Data Behind the Races There are usually two ways of looking at midterm congressional races, neither of them wholly accurate. There is the tendency to see the 435 separate House races as completely individual events - an idea that all politics…
Nation Sep 13 Despite Fiscal Concerns, Cultural Issues Still Resonate in Evangelical Epicenters The discussion about Islam in America has grown more heated - and ugly - in recent weeks, but the debate is not the same in every community. In some places the talk is concrete - there are diverse populations and…
Economy Sep 02 In Hampton Roads, a Military Bastion Meets ‘Austerity’ What the military giveth, the military can taketh away. It's not a happy lesson, but it is one that many Military Bastions, counties around armed services installations, have learned in the recent years through rounds of base closings.