News & Features

If I Were A Rich Man…

Sam Chapin

If you’re a man who has everything you could ever want and more money than you could begin to count, what could you possibly do to entertain yourself? How could you keep things interesting in a world where anything is possible? What’s that? You buy a Caribbean island for $250,000  to impress your girlfriend? And on the day of your wedding you arrive clinging to the bottom of a helicopter on said island to wed said girlfriend? Touché, Sir Richard Branson.

 

Why Affirmative Action Is Necessary in Higher Education

Carolyn Hsu and Winifred Kao

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, a potentially landmark case that could end the use of race-based affirmative action in higher education. The court ruled nine years ago that although quota systems in admissions processes at colleges and universities were unconstitutional, race can be used as a positive factor, just not a decisive factor. With this new case, the court’s previous ruling that race can be considered as part of the admissions process, is in danger of being overturned. 

Too Little, Too Late? Mitt Romney Reaches Out to African-American Voters

Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Presumptive GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney got exactly what he wanted at the Universal Bluford Charter School in West Philadelphia last week. That was the ultimate photo-op. He had a room filled with black teachers, administrators, and at times smiling students. But most importantly he had banks of TV cameras and reporters recording his every move and word at the school.

 

Meth Addiction, Drug-Related Crimes Plague an Indian Reservation

Allie Hostler and Jacob Simas

He snorted his first line of dope when he was 15. He remembers the day. He ran with the older boys, and they tried to look out for him by refusing to rail him up. They told him, “You better not.” But it wasn’t long before his “bros” caved to his curiosity. Nor was it long before he stopped snorting, and started shooting his poison. He spent the next 21 years incarcerated or on the run, battling an addiction that swept his youth away like powder in the wind.

How San Francisco’s Media and Mayor Turned a Family Affair into a Soap Opera

Rasa Gustaitis

Just about everyone in San Francisco has an opinion about the black-and-blue mark on the upper-right arm of Eliana Lopez, Venezuelan TV star and wife of Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi. A controversial videotaped image of that bruise has been in the news for five months now. Some believe it is evidence of abuse; others think it is being used by Mayor Ed Lee and his allies to unseat the newly elected progressive sheriff.

Student Protests in Mexico Mirror Arab Spring Demonstrations, Uprisings

Manuel Rueda

Thousands of university students took to the streets of Mexico City Wednesday demanding greater freedom of speech in the country and protesting the PRI’s possible return to power. It was the third-largest student protest in less than a week, and it has prompted some journalists in the country to wonder if Mexico is going through a political transformation similar to the “Arab Spring."

Finally, the Voter Registration Process May Enter the Digital Age

Khalil Abdullah

An estimated 1 million potential voters could be added to New York state’s rolls should forthcoming legislation be enacted, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. At the heart of the legislation (co-sponsored by State Sen. Michael Gianaris), crafted with assistance from the Brennan Center and other organizations, is a mandated shift from the current paper-based voter registration system to one reliant on electronic records.

Welcome to the World of the Educated and Underemployed

Kelly Goff

According to a recent Associated Press analysis of government data, 53.6 of bachelor’s degree-holders under the age of 25 are unemployed or underemployed. News flash: The job market is tough for everyone. It has been since before we entered college. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in 2000 was at a 30-year low at 4 percent. We are now hovering around 8 percent, and that’s pretty positive. 

Why Mitt Romney Means ‘Business’

Thomas Adcock

Willard Mitt Romney has emerged as the most winsome debutante of this season’s corporate cotillion, a quadrennial bash sponsored by Wall Street tycoons, right-wing entrepreneurs, K Street lobbyists, golfers, and industrial polluters. Every four years since 1928, the big bucks boys of amalgamated power rally around some beau of the ball who agrees to insist that business acumen is the paramount qualification for election to the office of president.  

Opposing Restrictive Voting Trends, Connecticut Eases Voter Access

Khalil Abdullah

Connecticut is now poised to become only the ninth state -- tenth if Washington, D.C. is counted -- to enact election-day registration, otherwise known as EDR. Bucking a national campaign toward greater restrictions, the move is expected to enhance access to the polls for first-time voters. “We want to take Connecticut in a different direction,” says Secretary of State Denise Merrill, who applauds her state’s action as a vivid contrast to the flurry of legislative activity in states across the country seeking to impose additional barriers on registration or voting. 

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