What Comes Next for West, Texas?
What will happen next to the town of West, Texas, after an explosion that decimated a fertilizer factory and killed 15?
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What seems like progress from the top-down may reveal the problem with Boy Scouts from the inside-out: its first official coming out party is still a microcosm of discord on gay acceptance, especially in Christian America, no matter what polls say today or the Supreme Court declares in a few weeks. Here's a survey of the reaction so far.
What will happen next to the town of West, Texas, after an explosion that decimated a fertilizer factory and killed 15?
When asked to explain why Dartmouth had to cancel a full day of class this week after threats based on rape, race, and sexual orientation, the university's interim president accidentally likened the state of the Ivy League school to the Boston bombers' weapon of choice. Thing is, apologizing for her ill-timed euphemism might be the least of Carol Folt's problems.
The dramatic images resulting from this week's floods in the Midwest are, in a way, a welcome sight — six months ago, the region was wracked by drought. That extreme see-sawing is close to what some climate change models predict.
Since we learned their names one week ago, some have called Tamerlan and Dzhokar Tsarnaev terrorists, a labeling supported by the news that they hatched a plan to bomb New York — not just "party" there. Others have called them bros, and maybe — just maybe — that's a way of regaining some semblance of power.
Just like the man they carjacked last week said, the Boston Marathon suspects considered attacking a second: New York City.
The opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library brought together all of the living presidents in his honor. Which prompted us to wonder: At what point were the most presidents alive at once?
The Atlantic on future sources of energy, National Geographic on energy scarcity in South Africa, The New York Times on Canada's power play in Washington, Quartz on solar power in California, and The Guardian on Reuters' climate change skepticism.
After a police scanner blip led journalists on social media to connect their 22-year-old son to the Boston Marathon bombings, a terrible month for a Pennsylvania family just reached the ultimate level of awful.
According to second-hand reports from officials, Tsarnaev stopped speaking with investigators after being read his Miranda rights. But the reading of the rights is largely a procedural issue. Reminding the accused of their right to remain silent is essential.
Tom McGeveran on the editorship of Jill Abramson, Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry on the politics of teaching children, Benjamin Todd Jealous on how Republicans can persuade black voters, Ezra Klein on the inevitable GOP embrace of Obamacare, and Noreene Malone on the word "bro."
In a moment that's become almost as big a presidential milestone as the inauguration itself, today George W. Bush celebrates the opening of his presidential library and museum, which is opening the floodgates for historical judgements on his eight years in office.
After eleven hours, fires have finally been extinguished on two natural gasoline barges that exploded overnight in Mobile. The spectacular accident comes at an inopportune time for an industry pushing for increased shipments overseas.
A potential rapist in Dubai learned the hard way why you shouldn't mess with the U.S. Navy after an attack on an off-duty sailor went horribly wrong... for him.
It's already illegal to sell pornography in India. But the country's Supreme Court is contemplating an all-out ban on the stuff, and police in the city of Patna are preparing to crack down on cyber cafés and so-called "CD parlors" — all because they believe it could help curb India's rape epidemic.
There's a lot we still don't know about what happened in Boston. But new details that surfaced on Wednesday night reveal some key details that stand to change the timeline of the final 24 hours of the manhunt dramatically.
An inspiring story of a five-year-old boy from the suburbs in Illinois caught the Internet's attention this week after the St. Louis Post Dispatch published a profile. It's an impressive story that feels one-of-a-kind, but it's not.
It's not like it's a suprise, but the U.S. intelligence committee is already contradicting itself as the investigation into the Boston bombing unfolds. Turns out the CIA knew about one of the Tsarnaev brothers after all.
We see cellphone detonators all the time in the movies and on television, which sometimes seem to stretch the limits of even fictional terrorist technology. But could two brothers living in Massachusetts have learned to make one — and make it work?
One of the new features of charitable giving in America is that we've cut out the middle man, opting instead to give directly to whatever cause we see fit. In the aftermath of Boston, some of the week's victims have had more success than others.
Two women may be in hot water with authorities after TSA officials discovered pieces of human skull in their carry-on luggage. The question separating these voodoo ladies from some very serious charges is whether or not they knew the skulls were in their onboard pottery. And, no, this is not a precedent.
The investigation presses on. A city and a nation mourn. And, slowly, Boston is getting back to normal. But in the hospitals, where there was more good news on Wednesday, there remains one 27-year-old victim of last week's marathon bombings who stands out, and maybe even represents the road to recovery: Jeff Bauman, who transformed from cheering boyfriend to iconic amputee. And Jeff Bauman, a city and a nation will be happy to hear and see, is very well indeed.
General Electric has decided it will no longer help America buy guns. Not that America needs much help.
He can make all the outrageous claims about wind energy that he wants to on Twitter. In the pages of newspapers in Scotland, however, there are limits. On Tuesday, authorities there decided he exceeded them, and ordered he remove anti-wind ads he'd paid for. The problem, as always with Trump, was hyperbole.
Gonorrhea, one of the the smartest of all the bacterial STDs, is on the rise. And now, doctors who devote their careers to studying The Clap are warning that the disease could be completely untreatable sooner than the U.S. elects a new president.
U.S. investigators are going to Russia and back to press the parents of the Boston bombing suspects, seeking private answers after their absurdist public standoff — and countering interviews full of conspiracies and coverups with questions about an extremist trail gone cold but not yet frozen.
We knew that 19-year-old Boston Marathon suspect smoked pot — he seemed to admit as much on his much-parsed Twitter account. But according to a new report, Tsarnaev was also a go-to source for marijuana at UMass Dartmouth. Because, you know, he was a kid in college.
Harold Meyerson on the Koch brothers' play for the Tribune Company, Tom Scocca on literary nepotism, Catherine Rampell on the affordability of New York City, Daniel Gross on a new online sales tax, Avik Roy on being racially profiled after a tragedy.
California's Central Valley retains its title as home to the worst air in America, according to the American Lung Association's "State of the Air" assessment for 2013 — but, like other cities and counties, has still shown improvement in air quality.
The evil sequester has claimed its latest victim as the U.S. Navy has announced a full retreat from the annual Fleet Week celebration in New York City next month.
Reports that Tsarnaev was added to the government's terror watch list seems to bolster the argument that the marathon bombing is the result of FBI error. But that revisionism fails to take into account the scale and complexity of terror investigations.
Margie Carranza and her 71-year-old mother had more than 100 rounds pumped into their blue pickup — despite the fact that it was a completely different model and color than the ex-cop on the loose. That's why they're getting four times the still controversial reward total.
The investigation into the mailing of poisonous letters has turned from an Elvis impersonator to his taekwondo-teaching "bluesman" rival, and turning the case in a tangled mess or ridiculousness.
After much speculation, the Justice Department pulled back the curtain on its plan to recoup some of the dozens of millions of dollars that the government spent sponsoring confessed cheater Lance Armstrong.
A new set of unexpected details about the Boston Marathon bombing, a story so far overflowing with unexpected details, has arrived, and boy is it weird.
A guide to navigating the horrors of other people reading your college admissions essay.
"He's not a normal kid," Limbaugh said on his radio show Tuesday. "There's nothing normal about this, and we don't want it to be normal." Well, yeah, that's the point.
Five days after he was identified and arrested for allegedly mailing ricin-laced envelopes to President Obama, Senator Roger Wicker, and Mississippi judge Sadie Holland — and one day after FBI agents failed to find any ricin-making equipment in his house — Mississippi resident Paul Kevin Curtis has been released from custody. And it gets even weirder than that.
Newsweek on the Deepwater Horizon spill, The New Republic on celebrating Earth Day, The Washington Post on Obama's environmental record, Bloomberg Businessweek on foreign investment in U.S. oil shales, and New Geography on California's would-be fracking boom.
Putting aside the argument of whether Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should even qualify as an enemy combatant, an analysis of previous terrorism prosecutions shows a remarkable track record for civilian courts, which have prosecuted both large and small crimes with great efficiency and success.
In a letter responding to the State Department's draft environmental assessment for the Keystone XL pipeline, the EPA finds several areas it deems insufficient. Perhaps the third time's the charm on State doing something about it.
Michael Chertoff and Dallas Lawrence on social media helping a manhunt, Erwin Chemerinsky on the constitutional rights of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Richard Overy on the use of the word 'Nazi,' John Villasenor on ownership and Google Glass, and William Germano on writing for readers.
On its front page today, The New York Times criticizes President Obama for failing to hold Democrats who voted against the gun compromise accountable. But the president's bigger challenge may have been overestimating their empathy.
With the dedication ceremony of his presidential library in Dallas less than two days away, George W. Bush just got another reason to feel pleased: He's slightly less unpopular than he used to be. For that, he can thank Democrats.
Senior Terror Analyst Aasif Mandvi joined Jon Stewart from "Boston" on last night's Daily Show to explain just how difficult it has been to pin down the brothers Tsarnaev.
Despite speaking only one word during his initial hospital hearing, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is still saying a lot to investigators about his role in the Boston Marathon bombing.
While the country's remained fixated on the aftermath of the Boston bombing, a deeply disconcerting set of details about last week's fertilizer plant explosion in Texas has been largely overlooked.
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