Eight tech giants issue call for limits on government surveillance of.... Eight prominent technology companies, bruised by revelations of government spying on their customers’ data and scrambling to repair the damage to their reputations, are mounting a public campaign to urge President Obama and Congress to set.... More

Amid uproar over health law, voices of quiet optimism and relief. Since his chronic leukemia was diagnosed in 2010, Ray Acosta has paid dearly for health insurance: more than $800 a month in premiums, plus steep co-payments for the drug that helps keep him alive. More

Why do doctors choose a $2,000 drug when one is available for $50? The two drugs have been declared equivalently miraculous. Tested side by side in six major trials, both prevent blindness in a common old-age affliction. Biologically, they are cousins. They’re even made by the same company. But one holds a.... More

Winter storms grip U.S., knocking out power and grounding flights. A deadly winter storm caused power failures and flight cancellations in Dallas on Saturday, while sleet and freezing rain were forecast for much of the Tennessee Valley and the mid-Atlantic on Sunday. More

Enhanced medical care for an annual fee. On a recent morning, Edward S. Goldberg, an unusually affable internist who bears the look of a scholarly Robert De Niro, sat in his office on the Upper East Side and described the realities of practicing general medicine in the Manhattan of.... More

Wall Street mothers, stay-at-home fathers. Marielle Jan de Beur often catches the 6:27 a.m. train to Grand Central Terminal, waiting on the Westchester platform with a swarm of dark-suited men, and then walks 10 blocks to a Park Avenue office fronted by the fountain where Audrey.... More

Meningitis outbreak strikes two universities. Outbreaks of bacterial meningitis have struck two college campuses, though health officials say the episodes — one on the East Coast, the other on the West Coast — are apparently unrelated. Since mid-November, four students at.... More

Meningitis outbreak strikes two universities. Outbreaks of bacterial meningitis have struck two college campuses, though health officials say the episodes — one on the East Coast, the other on the West Coast — are apparently unrelated. Since mid-November, four students at.... More

Families see Colorado as new frontier on medical marijuana. FOUNTAIN, Colo. — As their children cooed from wheelchairs and rocked softly in their arms, the marijuana migrants of Colorado clasped hands, bowed their heads and said a prayer of cautious thanks. More

Endurance, exercise and life span. Is life expectancy affected if you do “extreme” exercise like ultra-marathons, iron-man races, etc? “The short answer is, we don’t know,” said Dr. James O’Keefe, the director of preventive cardiology at Mid-American Heart Institute.... More

U.S. economy adds 203,000 jobs as unemployment falls to 5-year low. The jobs picture brightened in November as hiring was stronger than expected and the unemployment rate fell to a 5-year low, data that increases the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will begin easing its stimulus efforts sooner, rather than.... More

In Minnesota, health insurance applications double as state works to fix.... After two months of failure and hours of help from her broker, Toni Byard navigated Minnesota’s glitchy health insurance website, MNsure, and bought coverage on Tuesday. “So much frustration!” the 63-year-old from Blaine. said “I just.... More

Does boosting the minimum wage cost jobs? “We all know the arguments that have been used against a higher minimum wage.  Some say it actually hurts low-wage workers — businesses will be less likely to hire them.  But there’s no solid evidence that a higher minimum wage costs.... More

Internet firms step up efforts to stop spying. SAN FRANCISCO — When Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s chief executive, recently announced the company’s biggest security overhaul in more than a decade, she did not exactly receive a standing ovation. Ordinary users asked Ms. Mayer why Yahoo was.... More

U.S. growth faster than estimated as businesses stock up. The economy expanded much faster than first thought in the third quarter, as the government on Thursday revised its estimate of growth in the period to a 3.6 percent annual rate from 2.8 percent. More

The face of AIDS is rapidly becoming poor black and Hispanic men. The AIDS epidemic in America is rapidly becoming concentrated among poor, young black and Hispanic men who have sex with men. espite years of progress in preventing and treating H.I.V. in the middle class, the number of new infections.... More

Why are girls more prone to concussions than boys? With attention on concussions largely focused on professional football and men’s sports, these brain injuries may get overlooked in women’s sports. Concussion experts agree that while football still sees the most concussions, every sport.... More

House votes to renew prohibition on all-plastic guns. With the advent of 3-D printers capable of producing plastic weapons, the House voted Tuesday to renew a 25-year-old prohibition against firearms that can evade metal detectors and X-ray machines. A bipartisan bill extending the Undetectable.... More

U.S. private sector adds 215,000 jobs in November. U.S. private employers added 215,000 jobs in November, topping economists' expectations, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast the ADP National Employment Report would show a gain of.... More

Why a brisk walk is better for your health. Walking, fast or slow, is wonderful exercise. But now a first-of-its-kind study shows that to get the most health benefits from walking, many of us need to pick up the pace. The findings stem from a new analysis of the National Walkers’.... More

Google puts money on robots, using the man behind Android. In an out-of-the-way Google office, two life-size humanoid robots hang suspended in a corner. If Amazon can imagine delivering books by drones, is it too much to think that Google might be planning to one day have one of the robots hop off an.... More

Device use expands through adaptation, innovation The Mayo Clinic's Dr. Richard Marsh helps control brain seizures in epileptic patients with a fiber-optic laser first introduced to treat prostate tumors. At the University of Minnesota, Dr. Ganesh Raveendran has figured out how to treat young.... More

Inside the race to rescue the health care site, and Obama. WASHINGTON — As a small coterie of grim-faced advisers shuffled into the Oval Office on the evening of Oct. 15, President Obama’s chief domestic accomplishment was falling apart 24 miles away, at a bustling high-tech data center in suburban.... More

Life on $7.25 an hour. Older workers are increasingly entering the fast food industry. On a recent Friday evening, Eduardo Shoy left work at 6 p.m. Mr. Shoy, a deliveryman for KFC and Pizza Hut, was coming off an eight-hour shift of driving three-cheese pies and.... More

All dogs may go to heaven; some go to hospice. More and more, cats and dogs get the human treatment. There are pet spas, pet therapists, pet clothes. And as it goes in life, so it now goes in the twilight. The latest phenomenon: pet hospice. Around the country, a growing number of.... More

Shop first, and eat later. Before most Thanksgiving turkeys even approached the oven on Thursday, a small line of tents had formed in front of a Best Buy in Falls Church, Va., their inhabitants waiting for the holiday deals to begin. First in line was William Ignacio,.... More

Once for women only, college adds men's teams after 104 years. LAKEWOOD, N.J. — Luka Zgonjanin arrived in the United States from Serbia in August, barely able to speak English. He had accepted a scholarship to play basketball at Georgian Court, a small liberal arts university on the outskirts of the.... More

On register's other side, little to spend. In many stores around the country, the workers stocking the shelves and ringing up the gifts are at the very heart of this season’s retail lament —many Americans are so financially strapped that projections for holiday sales have grown.... More

Study suggests whooping cough shot curbs illness, not spread. ATLANTA — A government study offers a new theory on why the whooping cough vaccine doesn't seem to be working as well as expected. The research suggests that while the vaccine may keep people from getting sick, it doesn't prevent them from.... More

Many children orphaned by Philippines typhoon. TACLOBAN, Philippines — The teenager with unruly hair in a ponytail wipes tears from her eyes as she holds her feverish 3-year-old brother, who clings to her and lets out a sob of his own now and then. They have been inseparable ever since.... More

Many children orphaned by Philippines typhoon. TACLOBAN, Philippines — The teenager with unruly hair in a ponytail wipes tears from her eyes as she holds her feverish 3-year-old brother, who clings to her and lets out a sob of his own now and then. They have been inseparable ever since.... More

Holidays bring families together . . . for tech support. The trip to Mom and Dad’s to celebrate Thanksgiving comes with turkey, pumpkin pie and a chance to watch football on that fancy new flat-screen TV — after you program the universal remote control, that is. Across Minnesota, college kids and.... More

Hospital studies link heart device to clots. Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic began to suspect in 2012 that something might be wrong with a high-tech implant used to treat patients with advanced heart failure like former Vice President Dick Cheney. The number of patients developing.... More

In Kentucky, health-care debate takes back seat as long-uninsured line up. At the White House, President Obama was still apologizing for the botched federal Web site. In a state where the rollout has gone smoothly, and in a county that is one of the poorest and unhealthiest in the country, Courtney Lively has been.... More

Backlash by the bay: tech riches alter a city. SAN FRANCISCO — If there was a tipping point, a moment that crystallized the anger building here toward the so-called technorati for driving up housing prices and threatening the city’s bohemian identity, it came in response to a diatribe.... More

Anti-viral drugs curb child flu deaths, but fall in use. The flu can lead to serious complications, even death, in children, but relatively few studies have assessed the effectiveness of antiviral treatments in young patients hospitalized with the infection. Now a large study, published Monday in the.... More

Court confronts religious rights of corporations WASHINGTON — 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.... More

Sex, Violence and R ratings. A new study reports that gun violence in PG-13 movies now exceeds that in most R-rated films. Meanwhile, a love story that follows two young people in a relationship has been given an NC-17 rating, discouraging much of the demographic its two.... More

Service members left vulnerable to payday loans. Petty Officer First Class Vernaye Kelly winces when roughly $350 is automatically deducted from her Navy paycheck twice a month. Month after month, the money goes to cover payments on loans with annual interest rates of nearly 40 percent. The.... More

Health care law opens rift among governors SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Republicans are planning to use the troubled health law against Democrats in next year’s midterm elections, but the Affordable Care Act is increasingly dividing their party, too. At the annual meeting here of the.... More

A talk that stirred fears of antigay bias is postponed at Bronx high.... Ever since Pope Francis spoke compassionately about gay people last summer — saying, “Who am I to judge?” — Roman Catholics around the world have debated the meaning of his words. That debate continued this week at Cardinal Spellman.... More

Perks ease way in health plans for lawmakers. Members of Congress like to boast that they will have the same health care enrollment experience as constituents struggling with the balky federal website, because the law they wrote forced lawmakers to get coverage from the new insurance.... More

Perks ease way in health plans for lawmakers. Members of Congress like to boast that they will have the same health care enrollment experience as constituents struggling with the balky federal website, because the law they wrote forced lawmakers to get coverage from the new insurance.... More

Mother's exercise may boost baby's brain. If a woman is physically active during pregnancy, she may boost the development of her unborn child’s brain, according to a heart-tugging new study of expectant mothers and their newborns. The findings bolster a growing scientific consensus.... More

Safer cities? Tell this neighborhood. ST. LOUIS — The unmistakable pop of a gunshot ricocheted through the park in the humid air, and Montez Wayne could only hope that the bullet did not have his name on it. He sprang from his seat beneath a sprawling bald cypress, ready to make.... More

Governors: How we got Obamacare to work in our states. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, is governor of Washington. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, is governor of Kentucky. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, is governor of Connecticut. In our states — Washington, Kentucky and Connecticut — the Affordable Care.... More

Tornadoes, powerful storms, kill 6 and level homes across Illinois, then.... WASHINGTON, Ill. — As a powerful tornado bore down on their Illinois farmhouse, Curt Zehr’s wife and adult son didn’t have time to do anything but scramble down the stairs into their basement. Uninjured, the pair looked out moments later.... More

New risk calculator for cholesterol appears flawed. Last week, the nation’s leading heart organizations released a sweeping new set of guidelines for lowering cholesterol, along with an online calculator meant to help doctors assess risks and treatment options. But, in a major embarrassment.... More

Dispute over gay marriage disrupts in Cheney family. WASHINGTON — They were the towheaded sisters who tagged along on campaigns, polite and smiling, as their father rose through Wyoming and then Washington politics to become one of the most powerful men in the country. “We were as close as.... More

Duncan: 'White suburban moms' upset that Common Core shows their kids.... U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told a group of state schools superintendents Friday that he found it “fascinating” that some of the opposition to the Common Core State Standards has come from “white suburban moms who — all of a.... More

A computer academy in France defies conventional wisdom. PARIS — In a nation of schools typically christened with sensible acronyms or the names of dead Frenchmen, 42 seems an odd title for an institution of higher learning. But then, Xavier Niel’s new technology academy hardly aims to be.... More

Addiction treatment with a dark side. For Shawn Schneider, a carpenter and rock musician, the descent into addiction began one Wisconsin winter with a fall from a rooftop construction site onto the frozen ground below. As the potent pain pills prescribed for his injuries became his.... More

Caught in unemployment's revolving door. On a cold October morning, just after the federal government shutdown came to an end, Jenner Barrington-Ward headed into court in Boston to declare bankruptcy. It took weeks to put the paperwork together, given that her papers and belongings.... More

Alzheimer's anxiety. PHILADELPHIA — ALMOST every day I worry about whether my parents have Alzheimer’s. My dad is 86 and my mother is about to turn 80. Just because of their age they are at high risk for the disease, and I constantly wonder if their.... More

United Health invests $50 million in low-income housing. UnitedHealth Group Inc. said Thursday that it is putting $50 million into a fund to construct hundreds of low-income housing units in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. While the investment brings financial benefits, officials at the nation’s.... More

E-cigarettes gain attention in schools amid rise in popularity. When a teacher noticed what looked like smoke rising in her Eastern Middle School classroom one day this fall, she quickly investigated, finding an eighth-grade boy holding an e-cigarette. The “smoke” was vapor, but for Casey B. Crouse,.... More

Ravaged by typhoon, Philippines faces threat of serious diseases. The aftermath of the Philippines typhoon is now threatening the country with outbreaks of debilitating and potentially fatal diseases, including some thought to have been nearly eradicated, because of a collapse in sanitation, shortages of.... More

China to ease one-child policy. HONG KONG — The Chinese government will ease its one-child family size restrictions and abolish re-education through labor camps, significantly curtailing two policies that for decades have defined the state’s power to control citizens’.... More

Obama moves to avert cancellation of insurance. President Obama, trying to quell a growing furor over the rollout of his health care law, bowed to bipartisan pressure on Thursday and announced a policy reversal that would allow insurance companies to temporarily keep people on health plans.... More

Boeing workers reject labor deal in Washington State. Members of a union representing thousands of Boeing employees voted late Wednesday to reject a controversial labor deal that would have cut compensation but have kept assembly of the company’s new 777X jets in Washington State, raising the.... More

In a Phillipine hospital, survivors face quiet despair. TACLOBAN, the Philippines — Richard Pulga, a 27-year-old farmer with thick black hair and a gentle manner, has been lying on a hard steel bed in a dark hallway of the main hospital here since Saturday with a shattered lower right leg,.... More

Car mechanic dreams up tool to ease childbirth. The idea came to Jorge Odón as he slept. Somehow, he said, his unconscious made the leap from a YouTube video he had just seen on extracting a lost cork from a wine bottle to the realization that the same parlor trick could save a baby stuck.... More

Obama expected to sign bill aimed at helping kids with food allergies. WASHINGTON — The deaths of two girls in Illinois and Virginia from severe food allergies have helped spur efforts to get schools to stockpile emergency medications that can save lives. That effort has now reached the highest level: President.... More

Rethinking the rise of inequality: is college really key to prosperity? Many Americans have come to doubt the proposition that college delivers a path to prosperity. In a poll conducted last month by the College Board and National Journal, 46 percent of respondents — including more than half of 18- to.... More

Some state health exchanges still face technical problems. Six weeks into the rollout of President Obama’s new health care law, some of the online insurance exchanges run by states are continuing to have serious technological problems, often mirroring the issues plaguing the much larger federal.... More

New guidelines could have far more Americans taking cholesterol drugs. Millions more Americans could end up taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs under new recommendations released Tuesday that advocate a dramatic shift in the way doctors assess and treat cardiovascular risk. Roughly a quarter of Americans.... More

Troubled Healthcare.gov unlikely to work fully by end of November. Software problems with the federal online health insurance marketplace, especially in handling high volumes, are proving so stubborn that the system is unlikely to work fully by the end of the month as the White House has promised, according to.... More

About 40,000 have signed up for plans on healthcare.gov. Roughly 40,000 Americans have signed up for private insurance through the flawed federalonline insurance marketplace since it opened six weeks ago, according to two people with access to the figures. That amount is a tiny fraction of the.... More

In Phillipines, a struggle to reach typhoon victims. CEBU, Philippines — Hundreds of Filipinos gathered at Mactan Air Base on Tuesday, hoping for a chance to board a C-130 transport plane carrying relief supplies to the city of Tacloban, one of the areas worst-hit by Typhoon Haiyan. More

Michelle Obama edges into policy role in higher education. Michelle Obama, after nearly five years of evangelizing exercise and good eating habits, will begin a new initiative on Tuesday that seeks to increase the number of low-income students who pursue a college degree. The goals of the program.... More

Buying cheaper drugs online. Is it safe to order prescription drugs from online pharmacies in Canada? Though technically illegal, millions of Americans do so to save money. But the practice can be a huge gamble. A review of sources has found many sold fake or unapproved.... More

Insurers press for way around healthcare.gov. Some major health insurers are so worried about the Obama administration’s ability to fix its troubled health care website that they are pushing the government to create a shortcut that would allow them to enroll people entitled to subsidies.... More

Amazon to deliver on Sundays, using Postal Service fleet. The Internet has been blamed for the death of the mail, but now it’s offering hope to the beleaguered U.S. Postal Service. Amazon announced Monday that it will begin Sunday deliveries using the government agency’s fleet of foot soldiers,.... More

Health website tests a tycoon and a tinkerer. WASHINGTON — Jeffrey D. Zients, a multimillionaire entrepreneur and management consultant, joined the Obama White House in 2009 with a mandate to streamline the federal bureaucracy. A year later, he issued a prescient warning. The government.... More

Health website tests a tycoon and a tinkerer. WASHINGTON — Jeffrey D. Zients, a multimillionaire entrepreneur and management consultant, joined the Obama White House in 2009 with a mandate to streamline the federal bureaucracy. A year later, he issued a prescient warning. More

South Florida faces ominous prospects from rising waters. MIAMI BEACH — In the most dire predictions, South Florida’s delicate barrier islands, coastal communities and captivating subtropical beaches will be lost to the rising waters in as few as 100 years. Further inland, the Everglades, the.... More

Talk of penalty is missing in ads for health care. New York’s health exchange slogan is “Today’s the Day.” Minnesota has enlisted Paul Bunyan. Oregon held a music contest, and California stresses the “peace of mind” that will come with insurance. The state and federal health.... More

A father tries to end the fat talk. Recently, I was changing my 2-year-old son’s diaper and I happened to be shirtless. In the middle of the change, I caught a glimpse of my body in the mirror. Disturbed by what I’ve always perceived as a less-than-impressive physique, I.... More

Job growth eases fears about effect of shutdown. Despite dysfunction in Washington and a 16-day government shutdown, the economy chugged along in October, surprising many analysts as private sector hiring bounced back after a spring slowdown. The latest figures lifted the estimated monthly.... More

Standing up for the rights of new fathers. Josh Levs, father of a new baby girl, emerged from his sleep-deprived stupor last month to take a stand: He is challenging his employer’s parental leave policy on the grounds that it discriminates against biological dads. This was his third.... More

Gay marriage battle nears end in Hawaii, the first front line. HONOLULU — When, as most everyone expects, Gov. Neil Abercrombie signs into law same-sex marriage here in the coming days, it may almost seem like a routine event. Hawaii is poised to be among 16 states to approve gay marriage, along with.... More

Cuts in hospital subsidies threaten safety-net care. SAVANNAH, Ga. — The uninsured pour into Memorial Health hospital here: the waitress with cancer in her voice box who for two years assumed she just had a sore throat. The unemployed diabetic with a wound stretching the length of her shin. The.... More

President Obama apologizes to those who are losing their health insurance. President Obama apologized Thursday to Americans who are losing their health insurance despite his repeated promises that they wouldn’t, an unusual act of contrition for a president who has come under heavy criticism for misleading the.... More

When nest emptied, discontent entered. When their last child left for college, Arlene Petty, now 64, felt resentment about her decades-long marriage to Ed Petty, also now 64. Facing an empty nest, she asked for a trial separation. In hindsight, both would have done things very.... More

Rules to require equal coverage for mental illness. WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday will complete a generation-long effort to require insurers to cover care formental health and addiction just like physical illnesses when it issues long-awaited regulations defining parity in.... More

Cut in food stamps force hard choices on poor. CHARLESTON, S.C. — For many, a $10 or $20 cut in the monthly food budget would be absorbed with little notice. But for millions of poor Americans who rely on food stamps, reductions that began this month present awful choices. One gallon of.... More

U.S. unemployment rate rises to 7.3%; 204,000 jobs added. The American government shutdown was barely evident in the October jobs report Friday, as temporarily furloughed federal workers lifted the unemployment rate slightly while private employers added positions at a robust pace. More

Senate okays gay rights bill, banning discrimination. The Senate on Thursday approved a ban on discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity, voting 64 to 32 in a bipartisan show of support that is rare for any social issue. It was the first time in the.... More

Health law clock is ticking for seriously ill patients. PORTLAND, Ore. — With federal and state online health care marketplaces experiencing glitches a month into implementation, concern is mounting for a vulnerable group of people who were supposed to be among the health law's earliest.... More

Eye contact in infants seen as earliest sign of autism. Scientists are reporting the earliest behavioral sign to date that a child is likely to develop autism: when and how long a baby looks at other people’s eyes. In a study published Wednesday, researchers using eye-tracking technology found.... More

Reports of military sexual assault rise sharply. WASHINGTON — Reports of sexual assault in the military increased sharply during the last fiscal year, new Pentagon figures showed Wednesday, just weeks before a defense bill with provisions to tackle the problem is expected to reach the.... More

U.S. grew at unexpectedly fast rate in third quarter. The American economy grew at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the third quarter, significantly better than economists had expected and the fastest pace this year. The Commerce Department report had originally been scheduled to come out on Oct..... More

FDA moves to ban trans fats, citing health concerns. The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday proposed measures that would all but eliminate artificial trans fats, the artery clogging substance that is a major contributor to heart disease in the United States, from the food supply. More

Study finds a woman's success may be bad for male partner's ego. Does a woman’s success damage the ego of her male partner? Perhaps we’d like to think we’ve evolved beyond that, but a recent study suggests otherwise. In fact, in the study, a woman’s success made her partner feel worse about himself.... More

Supreme Court takes up Steelworkers' bid for time to put on work gear. The Supreme Court, which ordinarily confronts complicated questions, heard arguments on Monday about what might seem like a simple one: What does it mean to change clothes? But the arguments quickly became tangled, as lawyers and justices.... More

After Los Angeles airport shooting, no easy answers on security strategies. WASHINGTON — When Stephen L. Holl, the chief of police at the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority, gathered his staff for the regular morning meeting on Monday, he opened with a sobering assessment. “It wasn’t our turn this time.... More

Bill advances to outlaw discrimination against gays. WASHINGTON — A measure that would outlaw workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity overcame a significant obstacle in the Senate on Monday as seven Republicans crossed party lines and voted to begin debate on.... More

For uninsured, clearing the way for enrollment. LA GRANGE, Ky. — Kelli Cauley’s fingers raced over her keyboard as she asked the anxious woman at her side a series of questions. What was her income? How many people lived in her household? Did she smoke? (“That’s the only health.... More

New heart device could reverse heart damage in some patients. Though U.S. clinical trials are just starting, doctors and analysts are already intrigued. The new C-Pulse by Sunshine Heart, Inc. rhythmically squeezes the aorta to take strain off the heart and helps it pump more efficiently. Piper Jaffray.... More

Skydiver recounts miracle at 12,000 feet after midair collision. Mike Robinson was on the step outside the plane, 12,000 feet above ground, just seconds from making the 937th sky dive of his career, his final jump of the day. Then came “that terribly loud bang,” he recalled Sunday. The wing and its.... More

Looking for intimacy in the age of Facebook. IT WAS the only time I have ever allowed college students to have their cellphones out during class, in their hands no less. “I want you to send a text to a friend,” I told students in my course, “The Search for Intimacy in the Age of.... More

Colorado asks taxpayers for $1 billion to help schools. In one poor school district in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, students take classes in a bus garage, using plastic sheeting to keep the diesel fumes at bay. In another, there is no more money to tutor young immigrants struggling to read. And.... More

Under Health Care Act, millions eligible for free policies. Millions of people could qualify for federal subsidies that will pay the entire monthly cost of some health care plans being offered in the online marketplaces set up under President Obama’s health care law, a surprising figure that has not.... More

Tablet wars: Apple cedes market share to Samsung. Today is the release date for Apple’s new iPad Air. Globally, Apple continues to dominate the growing tablet market. But as these Reuters charts show, in the last year, Samsung has been gaining ground, more than doubling the number of.... More

Welcomed with kisses, Stanford freshmen risk the 'kissing disease.' STANFORD, Calif. — It is minutes to midnight. A sultry full moon hangs over Stanford’s Memorial Church, bathing the campus’s red roofs and adobe-toned walls. In the Quad, thousands of students mill around, some bobbing drunkenly, some.... More

How to get an A- in organic chemistry. THE molecule looked like a giant jellyfish. Or maybe a spider. Halfway through my organic chemistry final, the monster lay there on the page, mocking me. My task: explain how the ungainly molecule folds into a tidy package. The problem: I had.... More

The pills of last resort. It was shortly after the breadbasket arrived last year at the Temple Bar near Harvard Square that Sarah Broom first told me about the last-ditch plan to save her own life. Broom’s mere presence that evening was something of a miracle..... More

Panel says climate change poses risk to food supplies. Climate change will pose sharp risks to the world’s food supply in coming decades, potentially undermining crop production and driving up prices at a time when the demand for food is expected to soar, scientists have found. More

Rollovers for flexible spending accounts. Workers taking advantage of special tax-free accounts to pay out-of-pocket medical expenses could soon be allowed to carry over up to $500 from one year to the next.For nearly 30 years, employees eligible to use the accounts had to forfeit any.... More

Food stamp cuts set to kick in Friday as Congress debates billions in.... More than 47 million Americans who receive food stamps will see their benefits go down starting Friday, just as Congress has begun negotiations on further cuts to the program. Beginning in November, a temporary benefit from the 2009 economic.... More

In first month, vast majority of Obamacare signups are in Medicaid. The first month of the new health law’s rollout reveals an unexpected pattern in several states: a crush of people applying for an expansion of Medicaid and a trickle of sign-ups for private insurance. This early imbalance — in some places,.... More

Homeland Security workers routinely boost pay with unearned overtime. Federal employees at the Department of Homeland Security call it the “candy bowl,” a pot of overtime money they have long dipped into to pad their pay even if they haven’t earned it, whistleblowers say. This practice, which can add up.... More

Walmart discounting could kill holiday season. U.S. retailers facing the shortest holiday season in years are preparing to assail customers with deals and promotions this week, before they have even digested their Halloween candy. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) is kicking off its online.... More

When insurers drop policies: 3 stories. Charles Nance, Dean Wright and Julie Tyrrell are getting dropped — forced out of their existing health insurance plans — and landing smack in the middle of the uproar over President Obama’s health care law. One expects to pay more..... More

Illinois grade school test scores plunge — especially in poor.... The push to toughen state exams for Illinois grade school students triggered widespread drops in 2013 scores, with hundreds of schools in some of the state's poorest communities seeing performances plunge, test results show. But some schools.... More

Nightmares: terror in the kitchen. It was a dark and stormy night. Tree branches brushed the roof as the wind shook the house. She barely noticed from her spot in the kitchen, busy as she was chopping onions, simmering broth and using the immersion blender, while checking e-mail.... More

U.S. jobless claims decline by 10,000. WASHINGTON, Oct 31 — The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits declined largely as expected last week as the impact of a California computer glitch worked its way out of the report. Initial claims for state.... More

As interest fades in the humanities, colleges worry. STANFORD, Calif. — On Stanford University’s sprawling campus, where a long palm-lined drive leads to manicured quads, humanities professors produce highly regarded scholarship on Renaissance French literature and the philosophy of language.... More

No U.S. action, so states move on privacy laws. State legislatures around the country, facing growing public concern about the collection and trade of personal data, have rushed to propose a series of privacy laws, from limiting how schools can collect student data to deciding whether the.... More

Is the sugar high a sweet-tooth myth? Sugar highs seem to be a part of many kids’ Halloween traditions, but no one has ever been able to prove that such a phenomenon actually exists, scientists say. Parents offer trick-or-treat bagfuls of anecdotal evidence that when their.... More

Parents with few options still turn to troubled youth ranches, despite.... LBUQUERQUE, N.M. — David Hall was afraid of his own son. They were getting into violent, physical fights requiring police intervention. Fearing the teen would end up in juvenile detention, Hall had his son hauled away in handcuffs and.... More

Lighter and faster, it's iPad Air. The iPad Air is noticeably lighter than its predecessors. If you are the least bit interested in the new tablet computer from Apple, you probably already know that. The company’s engineers shaved just short of a third off the weight of the.... More

U.S. consumer prices rise, but underlying inflation is benign. U.S. consumer prices rose modestly in September but there was little sign of underlying inflation in the economy, which should give the Federal Reserve scope to maintain its monthly bond purchases. More

In Boston, Obama will point to health law's success. President Obama will travel to Boston on Wednesday to promote the success of the Massachusetts health care program on which the Affordable Care Act was based, while Mr. Obama’s top health official faces an intense grilling on Capitol Hill.... More

Why is it so hard to diagnose ADHD? No laboratory or imaging tests exist to reliably diagnose ADHD. A diagnosis relies only on behavioral symptoms and ruling out other disorders. Many doctors believe that the disorder is both overdiagnosed in some children but underdiagnosed in.... More

Washington state voters will weigh in on million-dollar food fight. In Washington state, a well-financed food fight is about to come to an end. More than $27 million has been spent on an initiative before voters next Tuesday that would require labeling of genetically-modified foods. That’s nearly $10.... More

Education system equating time with learning is being challenged after.... IN 1893, Charles Eliot, president of Harvard, introduced to the National Education Association a novel concept: the credit hour. Roughly equivalent to one hour of lecture time a week for a 12- to 14-week semester, it became the basic unit of a.... More

U.S. home prices rise again in August; yearly gain best since 2006. NEW YORK — U.S. single-family home prices rose in August and also posted their strongest annual gain in more than seven years, a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday. The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas rose.... More

Warily, schools watch students on the Internet. SAN FRANCISCO — For years, a school principal’s job was to make sure students were not creating a ruckus in the hallways or smoking in the bathroom. Vigilance ended at the schoolhouse gates. Now, as students complain, taunt and sometimes.... More

Older workers tend to be happier, survey finds. A study by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 9 in 10 workers who are age 50 or older say they are very or somewhat satisfied with their job. Older workers reported satisfaction regardless of gender, race,.... More

7 ridiculous restrictions on women's rights around the world. With Saudi Arabian women behind the wheel since Saturday to protest their country's refusal to grant driver's licenses to women, they’re challenging not only long-standing restriction, but also a the larger system of Saudi Arabian.... More

Health site's woes could dissuade vital enrollee: the young and healthy. Sean Jackson, like tens of thousands of other Americans, has had trouble signing up for medical coverage using the HealthCare.gov insurance marketplace, despite several attempts. “I was able to create an account on Oct. 2, and I haven’t.... More

Lists that rank colleges value are on the rise. Looking out over the quadrangle before him as students dashed from one class to the next, James Muyskens was feeling proud one recent afternoon, and why not? The college he had led for the past 11 years had just been awarded second place in a.... More

F.D.A. shift on painkillers was years in the making. When Heather Dougherty heard the news last week that the Food and Drug Administration had recommended tightening how doctors prescribed the most commonly used narcotic painkillers, she was overjoyed. Fourteen years earlier, her father, Dr..... More

Don't be the office dinosaur. Linda DiCicco is 53 going on 20. She works at a computer store in Southdale mall, where many of her customers are half her age, and so are her co-workers. “I went to a training seminar in Atlanta where my roommate was 22,” she said. “I.... More

Study finds brains flush toxic waste in sleep, including.... While we are asleep, our bodies may be resting, but our brains are busy taking out the trash. A new study has found that the cleanup system in the brain, responsible for flushing out toxic waste products that cells produce with daily use,.... More

Teen drinking: should parents ever look the other way? It’s one of the fault lines of modern parenting: What do you do when you stumble into a teenage drinking party? Look the other way? Shut it down? Call the police? Susan Burkinshaw, a PTA mom from Germantown, Md., admits that she would want to.... More

Promised fix for health site could squeeze some users. The Obama administration said Friday that it would fix problems in the federal health insurance marketplace by Nov. 30, just two weeks before the deadline to sign up for coverage to replace health insurance policies being canceled because they.... More

Bottled water sales rising as soda ebbs. Few things are more American than Coca-Cola. But bottled water is washing away the palate trained to drain a bubbly soda. By the end of this decade, if not sooner, sales of bottled water are expected to surpass those of carbonated soft drinks,.... More

Biotech firms program living cells like iPhone apps, heralding a.... For scientist Jack Newman, creating a new life-form has become as simple as this: He types out a DNA sequence on his laptop. Clicks “send.” And a few yards away in the laboratory, robotic arms mix together some compounds to produce the.... More

Eight states teaming up to support electric cars. In an effort to spur lackluster sales of electric cars, California, New York and six other states said on Thursday that they would work jointly to adopt a range of measures, including encouraging more charging stations and changing building.... More

To combat elder abuse, doormen are enlisted to keep a watchful eye. Michael Marlow, a doorman at the Gracie Mews apartment building on the Upper East Side, does a lot more than just open doors for residents. He unscrews their jar lids, runs to the store for apple juice, listens to their complaints about spouses.... More

F.D.A. urging tighter rein on painkillers. The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday recommended tighter controls on how doctors prescribe the most commonly used narcotic painkillers, changes that are expected to take place as early as next year. More

F.D.A. moves to regulate food for animals. The Food and Drug Administration proposed rules on Friday that would govern the production of pet food and farm animal feed for the first time. The regulation would help prevent food-borne illness in both animals and people, officials at the.... More

U.S. unemployment applications fall to 350,000. The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits dropped 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 350,000 last week, though the total was elevated for the third straight week by technical problems in California. The Labor Department said Thursday.... More

Better news in new study that assesses U.S. students. Amid growing alarm over the slipping international competitiveness of American students, a report comparing math and science test scores of eighth graders in individual states to those in other countries has found that a majority outperformed.... More

How music can boost our workouts. Making music — and not just listening to it — while exercising makes the exercise easier, a remarkable new experiment finds, suggesting that the human love of music may have evolved, in part, to ease physical effort. More

Case explores rights of fetus versus mother. JACKSON, Wis. — Alicia Beltran cried with fear and disbelief when county sheriffs surrounded her home on July 18 and took her in handcuffs to a holding cell. She was 14 weeks pregnant and thought she had done the right thing when, at a.... More

Health law fails to keep prices low in rural areas. As technical failures bedevil the rollout of President Obama’s health care law, evidence is emerging that one of the program’s loftiest goals — to encourage competition among insurers in an effort to keep costs low — is falling short.... More

It's true: Moms can like a kid best, study finds. Despite what they may say, mothers have favorites among their children, and a new study finds that those preferences tend to continue into old age. The authors of the study suggest that doctors, hospital staff and family members need to take.... More

Federal judge clears way for challenge of health care law. WASHINGTON – A federal judge cleared the way on Tuesday for consumers to challenge President Obama’s health care law on the grounds that the federal government cannot legally provide subsidies to people who buy insurance through the.... More

Shutdown will hinder true gauge of U.S. economy. Like a driver with a broken speedometer, economists are being forced to come up with new ways to gauge the economy’s strength as the aftereffects of the government shutdown distort the usual metrics. Unlike the delayed jobs data released on.... More

Annual rise in cost of public college slows. Tuition and fees at public universities increased less than 3 percent this academic year, the smallest rise in three decades, according to the annual College Board reports on trends in pricing and aid. “This does not mean that college is.... More

Sebelius faces firestorm on health care exchanges. The first, and perhaps most painful, call for Kathleen Sebelius to resign as President Obama’s health secretary came this month from an old family friend: Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, who once boasted of a “special.... More

Language-gap study bolsters a push for Pre-K. Nearly two decades ago, a landmark study found that by age 3, the children of wealthier professionals have heard words millions more times than those of less educated parents, giving them a distinct advantage in school and suggesting the need.... More

Yoga dominated by women despite benefits to both sexes. At a yoga studio in the District recently, practitioners breathed, bent, twisted and stretched their way to a happier state. They left more relaxed, more energized, with better posture and a renewed outlook. But there was one curious thing: Of.... More

Poll shows major damage to GOP after shutdown. The budget confrontation that led to a partial government shutdown dealt a major blow to the GOP’s image and has exposed significant divisions between tea party supporters and other Republicans, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News.... More

Security check now starts long before you fly. The Transportation Security Administration is expanding its screening of passengers before they arrive at the airport by searching a wide array of government and private databases that can include records like car registrations and employment.... More

As gays wed in New Jersey, Christie ends court fight. As couples across New Jersey began marrying on Monday after the stroke of midnight, Gov. Chris Christie abandoned his long fight against same-sex marriage, concluding that signals from the court and the march of history were against him. More

Obama admits Web site flaws on health care. President Obama offered an impassioned defense of the Affordable Care Act on Monday, acknowledging the technical failures of the HealthCare.gov Web site, but providing little new information about the problems with the online portal or the.... More

Gay rights supporters wage quiet campaign to woo Republicans. Few elected Republicans support giving gays the right to marry. The party’s influential social-conservative wing sees “traditional marriage” as a defining issue. And while most major Democrats are rushing to embrace same-sex marriage,.... More

Tablet-makers gear up for latest skirmish. SAN FRANCISCO — The race for the tablet market has become a full-blown sprint. The intense competition will be highlighted on Tuesday, as Apple, Nokia and Microsoft each introduce new tablets. Those devices will be competing for consumer.... More

Breast milk bought online is often tainted, says study. A cottage industry has sprung up facilitating the sale and donation of human breast milk on the Internet, but a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics confirms the concerns of health professionals over this unregulated marketplace. More

Contractors see weeks of work on health site. Federal contractors have identified most of the main problems crippling President Obama’s online health insurance marketplace, but the administration has been slow to issue orders for fixing those flaws, and some contractors worry that the.... More

At 12:01, same-sex couples in New Jersey say 'I do.' In Lambertville, N.J., the marriage certificate of Beth Asaro and Joanne Schailey allowed only for a “bride” and a “groom,” so Ms. Asaro — in a pink suit — was listed as the groom, and Ms. Schailey — in a black suit — as the.... More

Chalk is the new (old) medium for self-expression. Chalkboards once were a classroom staple. They could be black or green, but always dusty all over with the dregs of algebra problems, history dates and homework assignments. Occasionally, someone might scrawl a wisecrack, or draw a rude stick.... More

Facebook changes privacy settings to let teenagers share with anyone on.... SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook is now allowing teenagers to share their posts on the social network with anyone on the Internet, raising the risks of minors leaving a digital trail that could lead to trouble. The change announced Wednesday affects.... More

Republicans back down, ending crisis. Congressional Republicans conceded defeat on Wednesday in their bitter budget fight with President Obama over the new health care law as the House and Senate approved last-minute legislation ending a disruptive 16-day government shutdown and.... More

Gridlock has cost U.S. billions and the meter is still running. WASHINGTON — Containers of goods idling at ports. Reduced sales at sandwich shops in downtown Washington. Canceled vacations to national parks and to destinations abroad. Reduced corporate earnings forecasts. Higher interest payments on.... More

Search tools wanting on many exchanges. SHELBYVILLE, Ky. — As he was trying to sign up for health insurance through Kentucky’s new online exchange this month, Kenny Wheeler hit a wall. Mr. Wheeler, an independent sales representative with a neuromuscular disorder, had.... More

Riding to rescue? Senators seek debt limit, shutdown deal after House bill.... WASHINGTON — Senate leaders are optimistic about forging an eleventh-hour bipartisan deal preventing a possible federal default and ending the partial government shutdown after Republican divisions forced GOP leaders to drop efforts to ram.... More

Justices weigh Michigan law and race in college admissions. WASHINGTON — Just four months after the Supreme Court largely ducked the question of whether the University of Texas may take account of race in its admissions decisions, the justices heard arguments on Tuesday about whether Michigan’s.... More

Pounding pavement by heel or toe. A noteworthy new study suggests that each style of running has advantages and drawbacks, and the right way to run almost certainly depends on what kind of runner you already are. More

Night shifts not linked to mental decline. NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a large study, middle-aged women working night shifts didn't suffer any long-term impairment in their thinking skills. Previous studies suggested working a mix of day and night shifts disrupts circadian rhythms -.... More

Obamacare's secret traffic weapon Healthcare.gov has, by all accounts, been an absolute train wreck of a website roll-out. Weeks after the site for the Affordable Care Act went online, users still couldn’t sign up for insurance or, in many cases, even get page site to load.... More

Senate near fiscal deal, but House is uncertain. WASHINGTON — Senate leaders neared the completion Monday night of a bipartisan deal to raise the debt ceiling and end the government shutdown while the rest of the world braced for the possibility of an American default that could set off a.... More

Richmond awaits a bold antipoverty plan. RICHMOND, Va. — Dressed on an unseasonably warm day, as ever, in a tailored suit, tie and pocket square, Mayor Dwight C. Jones, a fourth-generation pastor, arrived at a late-afternoon meeting this month to talk about his ambitious — some.... More

Haunted by a child's illness A child’s serious illness can cast a very long shadow across a family, often for years after the crisis has passed. A mother sat in our clinic recently, crying because her older child was having trouble in school. She blamed herself. A.... More

Social Security raise to be smallest in years. WASHINGTON — For the second straight year, millions of Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and federal retirees can expect historically small increases in their benefits come January. Preliminary figures suggest a benefit increase.... More

Debt-ceiling breach would push economy into freefall with no safety net. The Obama administration will have to decide whether to delay — or possibly suspend — tens of billions of dollars in Social Security checks, food stamps and unemployment benefits if negotiations to raise the federal debt ceiling are not.... More

In Washington State, home of highest minimum wage, a city aims higher. SEATAC, Wash. — Washington already has the highest state minimum wage in the country, at $9.19 an hour. Soon, voters in this tiny city south of Seattle will decide whether to push the local minimum even higher. More

Privacy fears grow as cities increase surveillance. OAKLAND, Calif. — Federal grants of $7 million awarded to this city were meant largely to help thwart terror attacks at its bustling port. But instead, the money is going to a police initiative that will collect and analyze reams of.... More

Patients mired in costly credit from doctors. The dentist set to work, tapping and probing, then put down his tools and delivered the news. His patient, Patricia Gannon, needed a partial denture. The cost: more than $5,700. Ms. Gannon, 78, was staggered. She said she could not afford it..... More

Online application woes make students anxious, put colleges behind.... With early admission deadlines looming for hundreds of thousands of students, the new version of the online Common Application shared by more than 500 colleges and universities has been plagued by numerous malfunctions, alarming students and.... More

The soaring cost of a simple breath. OAKLAND, Calif. — The kitchen counter in the home of the Hayes family is scattered with the inhalers, sprays and bottles of pills that have allowed Hannah, 13, and her sister, Abby, 10, to excel at dance and gymnastics despite a horrific.... More

From the start, signs of trouble a health portal. WASHINGTON — In March, Henry Chao, the chief digital architect for the Obama administration’s new online insurance marketplace, told industry executives that he was deeply worried about the Web site’s debut. “Let’s just make sure.... More

Shrunken paychecks force furloughed to slash expenses, take loans, second.... The paycheck federal workers have been dreading hit bank accounts across the region Friday, representing salaries cut in half for most idled employees. The next payday will be all zeros, and with furloughs dragging on, civil servants are.... More

Obama, Republicans in debt talks on two fronts. President Obama opened talks with House Republicans on Thursday about their plan to lift the federal debt limit through late November, raising hopes that Washington would avert its first default on the national debt. But after a 90-minute.... More

VW plant opens door to union and dispute. FRANKFURT — The face-off between Volkswagen and the United Automobile Workers over organizing the company’s new plant in Tennessee is rapidly becoming a global clash of cultures. For months, the U.A.W. has been trying hard to get.... More

In Florida, opposition by the State and snags in signing up on the Web. MIAMI — Be it gold, silver or bronze level, there are two ironclad requirements for buying health insurance in Florida on the federal online exchange: patience and persistence. “Please wait,” read the message on the exchange Web site..... More

Health Act embraced in California. LOS ANGELES — There are radio and television commercials galore, along with Twitter and Facebook posts and scores of highway billboards. There are armies of outreach workers who speak Spanish, Tagalog, Cambodian, Mandarin and Cantonese, all.... More

Some say flawed health care site's problems highlight flawed federal IT.... Problems with the federal government’s new health-care Web site have attracted legions of armchair analysts who speak of its problems with “virtualization” and “load testing.” Yet increasingly, they are saying the root cause is not.... More

California expands availability of abortions. LOS ANGELES — Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday expanded access to abortion in California, signing a bill to allow nurse practitioners, midwives and physician assistants to perform a common type of the procedure, an aspiration abortion, during.... More

"Flipped" schools are turning education upside down. Three years ago, Clintondale High School, just north of Detroit, became a “flipped school” — one where students watch teachers’ lectures at home and do what we’d otherwise call “homework” in class. Teachers record video lessons,.... More

Fat and thin find common ground. When binge eating disorder gained legitimacy as a full-fledged mental condition in the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in May, many people in the eating disorders and obesity communities wondered:.... More

Risk to food safety seen in furloughs The government shutdown is endangering what America eats, food safety experts said this week, as all inspections of domestic food except meat and poultry have halted and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recalled furloughed workers.... More

Cancer patient's treatment on hold because of shutdown. In April 2012, Michelle Langbehn was diagnosed with sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that affects 1 percent of cancer patients in the United States. After nine months of chemotherapy, she and her doctor began looking into other potential.... More

In China, parents bribe to get kids into top schools, despite.... BEIJING — For years, Yang Jie’s friends warned her to save up for her daughter’s education. Not for tuition or textbooks, but for the bribes needed to get into this city’s better public schools. A strong-willed, self-made businesswoman,.... More

Veto halts bill that would allow jury duty for non-citizens. LOS ANGELES — Breaking with Democrats in the State Legislature, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill on Monday that would have made California the first state to allow immigrants who are not citizens to serve on juries, saying that the.... More

Health exchange delays tied to software crash in early rush. The technical problems that have hampered enrollment in the online health insurance exchanges resulted from the failure of a major software component, designed by private contractors, that crashed under the weight of millions of users last.... More

U.S. adults fare poorly in study of skills. American adults lag well behind their counterparts in most other developed countries in the mathematical and technical skills needed for a modern workplace, according to a study released Tuesday. The study, perhaps the most detailed of its.... More

How emotional intelligence affects your relationships. Our success in life, teachers would have us believe, is determined largely by our academic achievements. Another critical factor, we are told, is our intelligence quotient (IQ), a measure of baseline intellect. But here’s a secret truth:.... More

Breakthroughs in prenatal screening. More than 30 years ago, a 37-year-old friend of mine with an unplanned fourth pregnancy was told by her obstetrician that an amniocentesis was “too dangerous” and could cause a miscarriage. She ultimately bore a child severely affected.... More

Abortion vote exposes rift at a Catholic university. LOS ANGELES — Not three weeks have passed since Pope Francis said the church had grown “obsessed” with abortion, declaring, “We have to find a new balance.” But on the campus of Loyola Marymount University, overlooking this city’s.... More

Fed up on the prairie, and voting on seceding from Colorado. CHEYENNE WELLS, Colo. — The Old West has decided it is fed up with the New West. At Nan’s convenience store here in eastern Colorado, where the front door tells visitors that “Gun Control Is Hitting Your Target,” the farmers, crop.... More

Supreme Court has weighty docket in its new term. WASHINGTON — After back-to-back terms ending in historic rulings that riveted the nation, the Supreme Court might have been expected to return to its usual diet of routine cases that rarely engage the public. Instead, the court’s new term,.... More

GOP elders see liabilities in shutdown. The hard-line stance of Republican House members on the government shutdown is generating increasing anger among senior Republican officials, who say the small bloc of conservatives is undermining the party and helping President Obama just as.... More

Boehner tells aides he will avoid a default on federal debt. In meetings with small groups of rank-and-file lawmakers, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) has emphasized that he will not permit the country to default for the first time on its debt. More

Making life, and your cat, sit still. When Mimi Vang Olsen is commissioned to paint a portrait of a home and its inhabitants, her goal is not simply to record the color of the walls and the style of the sofa. Her aim is to produce a small, richly textured domestic drama, studded.... More

For better social skills, study says read a little Chekhov. Say you are getting ready for a blind date or a job interview. What should you do? Besides shower and shave, of course, it turns out you should read — but not just anything. Something by Chekhov or Alice Munro will help you navigate new.... More

Jobs report becomes a casualty of shutdown. On the first Friday morning of almost any other month, from the trading floors of Wall Street to the hushed hallways of the Federal Reserve, all the attention would be focused on two numbers: the latest government estimates for unemployment.... More

Teachers bring fashion into the classroom. A school district in West Virginia prohibits teachers from wearing faded jeans and shorts to work. Last month, an Alabama school superintendent proposed a dress code banning capri pants and scarves, plus restrictions on eye makeup and nail.... More

Shutdown could cost jobs down the line, report says. The economic impacts of a government shutdown are likely to vary depending on geographic location, how many federal employees live in a given area, and how long the partial halt in operations lasts, according to one economist. More

As government slugs it out, its workers take it on the chin. PHILADELPHIA — Lyn Kirshenbaum understands why President Obama and Congressional Republicans keep exchanging roundhouse swings over health care and federal spending. Politics is a brutal business. What she does not understand is why she is.... More

Why are there still so few women in science? Last summer, researchers at Yale published a study proving that physicists, chemists and biologists are likely to view a young male scientist more favorably than a woman with the same qualifications. Presented with identical summaries of the.... More

Millions of poor left uncovered by health care law. A sweeping national effort to extend health coverage to millions of Americans will leave out two-thirds of the poor blacks and single mothers and more than half of the low-wage workers who do not have insurance, the very kinds of people that.... More

San Francisco passes law to prohibit immigrant holds. (Reuters) - San Francisco officials on Tuesday moved to curb their partnership with U.S. immigration authorities, by ending a practice that facilitates deportations by extending the detention of illegal immigrants arrested for crimes. More

Everything you need to know about life under Obamacare. “Obamacare” is what we’ve all apparently decided to call the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a set of health reforms passed by the Congress and signed into law by President Obama in March 2010. The law itself touches on.... More

Dartmouth in the glare of scrutiny on drinking. HANOVER, N.H. — It is a new school year, and there is a new president, Philip J. Hanlon, who no doubt would prefer to begin his tenure as the 18th president of Dartmouth College dealing with issues more lofty than binge drinking, sexual.... More

How intense study may harm our workouts. Tire your brain and your body may follow, a remarkable new study of mental fatigue finds. Strenuous mental exertion may lessen endurance and lead to shortened workouts, even if, in strict physiological terms, your body still has plenty of.... More

On day 1, parks close, workers stay home, and 'Panda Cam' goes dark. WASHINGTON — If there was a symbol on Tuesday of America’s pent-up frustration with a gridlocked political system, it was this: Scores of aging World War II and Vietnam veterans pushing past barricades to honor their fallen comrades at a.... More

Economists worry about prolonged shutdown's danger to economy. A prolonged government shutdown — followed by a potential default on the federal debt — would have economic ripple effects far beyond Washington, upending financial markets, sending the unemployment rate higher and slowing already tepid.... More

Shrinking list of video games is dominated by Blockbusters. Big video game makers, like their cousins in books and music, have scrambled in recent years to adapt to the digital technologies buffeting their business. Tens of millions of people now play games on smartphones and tablets, usually for a.... More

A wave of sewing jobs as orders pile up at U.S. factories. MINNEAPOLIS — It was past quitting time at a new textile factory here, but that was not the only reason the work floor looked so desolate. Under the high ceilings, the fluorescent lights still bright, there were just 15 or so industrial.... More

Health insurance exchanges scramble to be ready as opening day nears. PORTLAND, Ore. — Rocky King, the executive director of Oregon’s new health insurance exchange, has done everything in his power to tamp down expectations for its opening on Tuesday. He rejected the idea of a flashy downtown news conference.... More

Senate action on health law moves to brink of shutdown. The Senate is expected to reject decisively a House bill that would delay the full effect of President Obama’s health care law as a condition for keeping the government running past Monday, as Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic majority.... More

Children's National to build nation's first pediatric IT center. Children’s National Medical Center in Washington and Cerner, a health care technology provider based in Kansas City, Mo., are each investing several million dollars to build what they say is the nation’s first health information technology.... More

How eight lives would be affected by Obamacare. Fatima Abukar has not had health insurance since arriving in the United States from Somalia a decade ago. The health law won’t change that. She is one of millions of people too poor to benefit from Obamacare. More

Your 4-year-old scored a 95? Better luck next time. When other preschool parents bragged that their children had aced the admission test for New York City private schools with a top score of 99 in every section, Justine Oddo stayed quiet. Her twin boys had not done as well. More

Your 4-year-old scored a 95? Better luck next time. When other preschool parents bragged that their children had aced the admission test for New York City private schools with a top score of 99 in every section, Justine Oddo stayed quiet. Her twin boys had not done as well. More

With special courts, NY aims to steer women away from sex trade. New York State is creating a statewide system of specialized criminal courts to handle prostitution cases and provide services to help wrest human- and sex-trafficking victims from the cycle of exploitation and arrest, the state’s chief judge.... More

A nudge to poorer students to aim high on colleges. The group that administers the SAT has begun a nationwide outreach program to try to persuade more low-income high school seniors who scored high on standardized tests to apply to select colleges. More

Samsung dazzles phablet followers with more girth, size. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is seeking to dazzle followers of the phablet with bigger screens, and even possibly with a curved one, in its attempt to fence off a segment of smartphones once mocked for their girth and size. More

Minnesota's Hazelden, California's Betty Ford Center to merge. Two household names in addiction treatment, Hazelden and the Betty Ford Center, said Tuesday they are merging to create the largest nonprofit addiction treatment organization in the nation. The melding of the two addiction care powerhouses.... More

Some companies divulging more about their political contributions. Some of the nation’s largest publicly traded companies are divulging more details about their political contributions, in part to ward off lawsuits and mounting pressure from shareholders, who increasingly have thrust the issue before boards.... More

Why runners don't get knee arthritis. One of the most entrenched beliefs about running, at least among nonrunners, is that it causes arthritis and ruins knees. But a nifty new study finds that this idea is a myth and distance running is unlikely to contribute to the development of.... More

Officials offer first look at premium costs of health plan. The Obama administration on Tuesday provided the first detailed look at premiums to be charged to consumers for health insurance in 36 states where the federal government will run new insurance markets starting next week, highlighting costs it.... More

FAA expected to relax rules for gadgets during flight. Travelers may soon be spared the inopportune phrase, “Please turn off all electronic devices.” The Federal Aviation Administration could decide as soon as this week to relax the ban on some personal electronic devices at low altitudes. New.... More

Illegal immigration may be rising again, says report. The number of illegal immigrants in the United States has leveled off but may be on the rise again, following a sharp drop that accompanied the start of the Great Recession, according to a report released Monday. More

Hostels gain popularity with business travelers. Ferdi van ‘t Wout, a manager for a global electronics manufacturer in the Netherlands, frequently stays in hostels when traveling for work, an option he discovered last year by accident. “I unexpectedly needed to be in Copenhagen to meet.... More

Victims push laws to end online revenge posts. He was a muscular guy with “kind of a nerdy kind of charm,” Marianna Taschinger recalled, a combination that proved irresistible to an 18-year-old girl in a small Texas town. They dated, broke up, dated again. He asked her to pick out a.... More

Struggling, San Jose tests a way to cut benefits. SAN JOSE, Calif. — This metropolis of nearly a million residents is the third-largest city in California, home to tens of thousands of technology industry workers, as well as many thousands more struggling to get by. Yet even here, in the.... More

New concerns on robotic surgeries. In early March 2009, Erin Izumi, a woman in her 30s from Tacoma, Wash., underwent robotically assisted surgery to treat endometriosis. The operation dragged on for nearly 11 hours. Ten days later, Izumi was rushed to an emergency room, where.... More

Concordia captain blames helmsman for botched move at shipwreck trial. GROSSETO, Italy — At his trial on Monday, the captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia blamed his helmsman for botching a last-minute corrective maneuver that he contended would have avoided the cruise ship's deadly collision with a reef. More

What did Apple get right about the new iOS7? A redesign of this magnitude is extremely hard to do. When you completely reimagine something, more or less from scratch, it's tough to please everybody. As much as people maybe like to say they like change, people are creatures of habit. They.... More

Dietary report card disappoints. The latest “report card” on changes in the American diet, collated by the nutritionist Bonnie Liebman and published in the September issue of the center’s Nutrition Action Newsletter, is not one Americans should be especially proud of. More

Lower health insurance premiums to come at cost of fewer choices. WASHINGTON — Federal officials often say that health insurance will cost consumers less than expected under President Obama’s health care law. But they rarely mention one big reason: many insurers are significantly limiting the choices of.... More

U.S. disability rolls swell in tough economy.   MILLINOCKET, MAINE — The huge mills along the Penobscot River roared virtually nonstop for more than a century, turning the dense Maine forests into paper and lifting the thousands of men who did the hot and often backbreaking work.... More

Living in Mexico, learning in the U.S. AT THE U.S. BORDER, Columbus, N.M. — The mothers, holding the small hands of their children, can go only as far as the glass door, where Mexico ends and America begins. They lean down and send off their little ones with a kiss and a silent.... More

Blackberry to cut 40% of workforce after big loss. OTTAWA — At their peak, just a few years ago, BlackBerry smartphones were symbols of corporate and political power. When President Obama took office he made keeping his BlackBerry a personal priority, and when BlackBerry service had a hiccup.... More

Navy hearing in rape case raises alarm. WASHINGTON — For roughly 30 hours over several days, defense lawyers for three former United States Naval Academy football players grilled a female midshipman about her sexual habits. In a public hearing, they asked the woman, who has accused.... More

California expands the rights of non-citizens. California is challenging the historic status of American citizenship with measures to permit noncitizens to sit on juries and monitor polls for elections in which they cannot vote and to open the practice of law even to those here illegally..... More

Citing abuses, lawmakers call for examination of tax-lien programs.... A dozen U.S. senators are calling on the federal government to investigate tax-lien programs across the country and find ways to thwart “unscrupulous practices” that in the District alone have cost dozens of families their homes. More

Lawmakers scale back ambitions as government shutdown looms. When House Majority Leader Eric Cantor rolled out a list of Republican demands this week for raising the federal debt limit, there was a surprising omission: any real plan to tackle the debt. Republicans have long vowed to use the threat of.... More

Task force backs change in legal education system. Faced with rising student debt and declining applications to law schools, a task force of the American Bar Association is calling for sweeping changes in legal education, including training people without law degrees to provide limited legal.... More

What's more important: sleep or exercise? What’s more important: an extra hour of sleep or getting up early to exercise? How do I balance an extra hour of sleep against 40 minutes of exercise? When should I give in to the desire for more sleep and when should I push myself to.... More

U.S. textile plants return, but with floors largely empty of people. GAFFNEY, S.C. — The old textile mills here are mostly gone now. Gaffney Manufacturing, National Textiles, Cherokee — clangorous, dusty, productive engines of the Carolinas fabric trade — fell one by one to the forces of globalization. More

Minnesota anti-poverty program stretches its wings to Texas. The Jeremiah Program, which has helped more than a thousand Minnesota mothers and their children lift themselves out of poverty, is taking its formula nationwide. Thursday, the Minneapolis-based nonprofit will welcome its first clients in.... More

Firms must disclose how much more CEOs make than workers, says SEC. The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday narrowly approved a plan that would require companies to disclose how much more their chief executives are paid than their other employees, advancing an initiative that has been years in the.... More

America's sinking middle class. In some respects, 1988 has the feel of an alien, distant era. There was no such thing as the World Wide Web then. The Soviet Union was still around; the Berlin Wall still standing. Americans elected a Republican president who would raise taxes.... More

New study lends conclusive support to scoliosis treatment. A new study provides the best evidence yet that wearing a back brace will slow the progression of the most common form of scoliosis in adolescents, helping them avoid painful spine surgery. Physicians have recommended bracing for more than 50.... More

Mental health is renewed focus in gun control debate. Despite deep divisions that have kept Congress from passing new gun safety laws for almost two decades, there is one aspect of gun control on which many Democrats, Republicans and even the National Rifle Association agree: the need to give.... More

Homeless Boston man turns in thousands in cash he found. A homeless Boston man who turned in a backpack containing tens of thousands of dollars in cash and traveler’s checks says even if he were desperate he wouldn’t have kept “even a penny.” Glen James was honored Monday at police.... More

All the financial advice you'll ever need on a 4x6 index card. Think managing your finances has to be complicated? Wonkblog contributor (and UC Chicago social scientist) Harold Pollack doesn't. After a talk with personal finance expert Helaine Olen, Pollack managed to write down pretty much everything you.... More

DNA double take. From biology class to “C.S.I.,” we are told again and again that our genome is at the heart of our identity. Read the sequences in the chromosomes of a single cell, and learn everything about a person’s genetic information — or,.... More

In pursuit of tastier chickens, a diet of four-star scraps. EPHRATA, Pa. — They may be the most pampered chickens on the planet. On certain days, a truck pulls up alongside their quiet, spacious coop on an Amish farm here and delivers a feast that seems tailored to a flock of two-legged aristocrats..... More

Complex science at issue in politics of fetal pain. It is a new frontier of the anti-abortion movement: laws banning abortion at 20 weeks after conception, contending that fetuses can feel pain then. Since 2010, a dozen states have enacted them, most recently Texas. Nationally, a bill.... More

Minnesota's childcare union debate, a national issue, is hitting home. Far from the all-night drama of the State Capitol or the legal battling in the courtroom, the fight over unionizing in-home child-care providers has come into the communities and homes of those who must keep order in a houseful of preschoolers.... More

Companies race to gain foothold in new smartphone market for workplace.... A handful of tech companies are betting that smartphones will eventually serve a different role in the workplace than they do outside. The “bring your own device” trend — employers cutting IT budgets by requiring employees to use personal.... More

When teams lose, fans tackle fatty foods. When Vinnie Richichi started watching the Pittsburgh Steelers’ home opener against the Tennessee Titans last Sunday, he was feeling great. After all, the Steelers had won their first home game six years in a row. Then things indeed went south.... More

Teenagers are getting more exercise and vegetables. Teenagers are exercising more, consuming less sugar and eating more fruits and vegetables, a trend that may be contributing to a leveling off of obesity rates, a new study shows. The findings suggest that aggressive anti-obesity messages.... More

In gun debate, divide grows as both sides dig in for battle. The weeks after a gunman killed 20 schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., were characterized by a new optimism about a goal that had seemed elusive for almost a decade: tougher gun laws. The shooting was called on more than one occasion “a game.... More

Some employers see perks of hiring older workers; cite experience,.... Older people searching for jobs have long fought back stereotypes that they lack the speed, technology skills and dynamism of younger applicants. But as a wave of baby boomers seeks to stay on the job later in life, some employers are finding.... More

Fraud investigation unsettles mental health care in New Mexico. SANTA FE, N.M. — For weeks now, New Mexico has been in the midst of a sweeping criminal investigation into 15 of its largest mental health providers, suspected of defrauding Medicaid of $36 million over three years. Arizona companies have.... More

Living apart, together With housing in New York City an increasingly scarce and costly commodity, and under the hoary “two can live as cheaply as one” rule, logic would seem to dictate that couples would move heaven and earth to place themselves under a single.... More

Financing start-up dreams with retirement savings. Bohnne Jones had always dreamed of being an architect or interior designer. Suzie Ford wanted to know if the home-brewed beer her husband, Todd, made was as good as people said it was, while Jan Morris figured owning a distillery would be more.... More

Girl's suicide points to rise in apps used by cyberbullies. MIAMI — The clues were buried in her bedroom. Before leaving for school on Monday morning, Rebecca Ann Sedwick had hidden her schoolbooks under a pile of clothes and left her cellphone behind, a rare lapse for a 12-year-old girl. More

Despite 'grave danger,' government allows Internet forums to go unchecked. Tom and Misty Mealey brimmed with hope as a battered purple pickup pulled up to their Virginia home. The Mealeys were prepared to give away one of their children: a 5-year-old boy they had adopted from Guatemala months earlier. The boy.... More

Preschool praised as great crime prevention. A growing number of preschoolers have headed to class this fall in St. Paul and elsewhere in Minnesota and, in the eyes of the law, that is an investment worth making. Quality preschool can help prevent kids from becoming career criminals. More

Drinking milk in pregnancy may lead to taller children. A new study suggests that the amount of milk a woman drinks during pregnancy may affect the adult height of her offspring. Researchers followed 685 Danish mother-child pairs in a prospective study over 20 years, tracking milk consumption during.... More

FDA panel backs pre-surgery drug for breast cancer A federal advisory committee cleared the way on Thursday for the first approval of a cancer drug that would be used to treat patients before surgery to remove their tumors. he advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration voted 13 to.... More

Fed prepares to change policies and policy-makers. WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve officials, who have made clear that they intend to cut back on the Fed’s monthly asset purchases by the end of the year, must decide next week whether it is time to tap the brakes or better to wait another.... More

Best colleges 2014: U.S. News ranks top ten. U.S. News has ranked the top National Universities – research institutions that award degrees at every level – for more than 25 years. Because of ties, 11 schools made this year’s top 10, which spans both coasts.  Princeton, Harvard.... More

Virginia takes a stand against solitary confinement. SOLITARY CONFINEMENT is one of the cruelest fates that can befall a prisoner — so cruel, in fact, that the Supreme Court nearly declared it unconstitutional in 1890. Unfortunately, this particular punishment has remained a bitter reality of.... More

Middle-aged men, too, can blame estrogen for that waistline. It is the scourge of many a middle-aged man: he starts getting a pot belly, using lighter weights at the gym and somehow just doesn’t have the sexual desire of his younger years. The obvious culprit is testosterone, since men gradually make.... More

No child left untableted Sally Hurd Smith, a veteran teacher, held up her brand-new tablet computer and shook it as she said, “I don’t want this thing to take over my classroom.” It was late June, a month before the first day of school. In a sixth-grade classroom.... More

Unions' misgivings on health law burst into view. LOS ANGELES — When President Obama phoned the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. last month, he shared some news that the labor leader had long wanted to hear — the administration would propose measures to reduce workplace exposure to.... More

Children suffering from growing economic inequality among families since.... American families are becoming increasingly polarized along race, class and educational lines, according to a new report released Wednesday, a sign of growing economic inequality that was exacerbated by the Great Recession. More

Myths surround breakfast and weight gain. Americans have long been told that routinely eating breakfast is a simple habit that helps prevent weight gain. Skipping breakfast, the thinking goes, increases hunger throughout the day, making people overeat and seek out snacks to compensate.... More

Machines made to know you - by touch, voice, even by heart. How does a machine verify the identity of a human being? Irises, heartbeats, fingertips and voices, for starters. Authentication has been a tough nut to crack since the early days of the Web. Now comes a batch of high-tech alternatives, some.... More

On 9/11 anniversary, moments of silence and reflection. Michael Ollis was not even in high school when terrorists slammed jetliners into the World Trade Center towers. This summer, 12 years later, he was serving his third combat tour with the United States Army when insurgents attacked his base in.... More

Two Colorado gun control supporters voted out of office. Two Colorado Democrats who provided crucial support for a slate of tough new gun-control laws were voted out of office on Tuesday in a recall vote widely seen as a test of popular support for gun restrictions after mass shootings in a.... More

Working longer as jobs contract. IN recent years, many retirement experts have been giving the same unwelcome advice: American workers who are not as rich as Warren E. Buffett should retire three or so years later than they had planned — to ensure that they have a large.... More

Stem cell treatments overtake science. TIJUANA, Mexico — Maggie Alejos arrived here in June from St. Anne, Ill., with her husband, her daughter and a cashier’s check for $13,500, payable to the Regenerative Medicine Institute. Rail-thin, with an oxygen tube anchored above her.... More

Judges hear arguments on rules for Internet. WASHINGTON — In a momentous battle over whether the Web should remain free and open, members of a federal appeals court expressed doubt over a government requirement that Internet service providers treat all traffic equally. More

With a cheaper iPhone, Apple faces hazards SAN FRANCISCO — For upscale brands, there is a fine line between “cheaper” and “cheap.” And for Apple, the premium electronics maker, the key is to avoid crossing it. Apple on Tuesday will introduce two iPhones, including a new.... More

Invasive tactics in foreclosures draws scrutiny. Barry Tatum returned to his home in Chicago in December to find that his front and back doors had been torn from their hinges, leaving his possessions exposed to the frigid winds that whipped through his neighborhood. Terrified that he had been.... More

31 million will still be left behind after Obamacare. Every month, a hundred or so people crowd the lobby of the Arlington Free Clinic, clutching blue tickets to enter a health-care lottery. Uninsured and ailing, they hope to be among the two dozen who hit the jackpot and are given free care. Some.... More

USDA pilot program fails to stop contaminated meat. A meat inspection program that the Agriculture Department plans to roll out in pork plants nationwide has repeatedly failed to stop the production of contaminated meat at American and foreign plants that have already adopted the approach,.... More

Fetus in womb learns language cues before birth, study finds. Watch your mouth around your unborn child — he or she could be listening in. From the sounds of it, babies can pick up language skills while they’re still in the womb. Fetuses exposed to fake words after week 29 in utero were able to.... More

Despite heavy lobbying, chances slim for Congressional action on.... WASHINGTON – Congress is likely to postpone consideration of an immigration overhaul until the end of the year, if not longer, even as advocates are preparing for an all-out urgent push this fall to win their long-standing goal of a path to.... More

Giving mobility when legs can't. NEWARK, DEL. — When automakers conceive vehicles for the youth market, they aim to appeal to drivers 18 to 24 years old. Cole Galloway skews much, much younger: he designs cars for the 18- to 24-month bracket. More

Google races to encrypt data amid backlash against NSA spying. Google is racing to encrypt the torrents of information that flow among its data centers around the world in a bid to thwart snooping by the NSA and the intelligence agencies of foreign governments, company officials said Friday. More

Soft jobs data not expected to delay fed. Despite a disappointing jobs report on Friday that raised fresh questions about the nation’s economic strength, analysts say they still believe the Federal Reserve will start pulling back on its stimulus program in a few weeks. More

A university band, chastened by hazing, makes its return. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Knees sprang up, way up, as the students stepped into their slow march during practice this week. Sweat cascaded down their bodies, but they held the pose, five seconds, again and again. Then, they burst across the field,.... More

Insurance rolls to rise in state fighting plan. FLORENCE, S.C. — Brenda B. Culick has two stents in her heart and a severe wound in her right leg, injured while she was doing home repairs six months ago. But she cannot afford to see a cardiologist or go to a wound care center. More

Seeking investments that are both profitable and green. SARAH KUPFERBERG’S youthful rebellion was slightly unconventional — she wanted to invest in green companies, not the big industrials her parents had preferred. But like most novice investors, she stumbled along the way, once putting money.... More

One in five married households has foreign-born spouse. One in five married households has at least one spouse who was born outside the United States, the Census Bureau reported Thursday. Three states and the District of Columbia have 12 percent or more households where one spouse is American-born.... More

Economy added 169k jobs in August as recovery grinds along. The U.S. economy added 169,000 jobs last month, according to government data released Friday morning, as the grinding recovery continues to disappoint. The Labor Department’s monthly estimate of hiring was weaker than many analysts had.... More

Rise is seen in students who use e-cigarettes. WASHINGTON — The share of middle and high school students who use e-cigarettes doubled in 2012 from the previous year, federal data show. The rise is prompting concerns among health officials that the new devices could be creating as many.... More

San Antonio passes far-reaching anti-discrimination measure. In San Antonio, a nondiscrimination ordinance that includes protections for sexual orientation and gender identity turned into a divisive political battle this summer, the likes of which this liberal-leaning city of 1.4 million has rarely seen.... More

National parks reaching out to minorities. When Shelton Johnson was 5, his family took him to Berchtesgaden National Park in the Bavarian Alps. To this day, he remembers his sense of awe. “The mountains, the sky being so close — it affected me profoundly,” said Mr. Johnson, who.... More

AP Newsbreak: Sticker price for Obamacare: $300 a month premiums for young.... WASHINGTON — The No. 1 question about President Barack Obama's health care law is whether consumers will be able to afford the coverage. Now the answer is coming in. The biggest study yet of premiums posted by states finds that the sticker.... More

An inside look at Google's data-driven job interview process. If you interview for a job at Google, don’t expect the person making the hiring decision to be your prospective boss. When it comes to evaluating job candidates, “what we’ve found is you’re much more objective if you understand the.... More

Albuquerque becomes latest focal point in abortion wars. ALBUQUERQUE — At the New Mexico Holocaust and Intolerance Museum, three dozen people, many of them teenagers, arrived last month without warning. Wearing T-shirts that said “Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust,” they demanded that the.... More

Clinton urges Americans to sign up for health care exchanges. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — He chose his home state as the venue, and did not refrain from ticking off several problems he saw with the law. But former President Bill Clinton on Wednesday made a meticulous, if wonkish, case for Americans of all.... More

Privacy groups ask F.T.C. to block Facebook policy changes. A coalition of six major consumer privacy groups has asked the Federal Trade Commission to block coming changes to Facebook’s privacy policies that they say would make it easier for the social network to use personal data about its users,.... More

Oral infections causing more hospitalizations. Left untreated, a serious tooth abscess can eventually kill. In 2007, Deamonte Driver, a 12-year-old boy in Maryland, died after bacteria from an abscessed tooth spread to his brain. The case drew widespread media attention, and his is the.... More

With change coming, Aetna targets employers. AS the country marches toward a new health insurance system, insurance companies have spent millions on consumer advertising to position themselves as health care companies. But because a majority of Americans are insured through their.... More

Auto sales sizzle in cool economy. Auto sales are surging across the country, touching off a virtuous cycle of healthy competition, job-creating investment and high-tech innovation that stands apart from much of the still-sputtering economy. With numbers due out Wednesday,.... More

For workers and the economy, autumn could be scary. The U.S. economy looks headed for a rough autumn, with slowdown threats looming from the housing market, the Middle East and Washington. Oil and gasoline prices are rising and could shoot up further if Western countries launch military strikes.... More

Schools try new strategies to battle college drinking. The bars near the University of Virginia were packed on graduation day, seniors in billowing black gowns drinking away their final few hours before entering the real world. It was 7 a.m. Waiters and bartenders, many of whom had worked until.... More

U.S. gays face challenges serving abroad. Austin Watkins had reason to celebrate when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a key portion of the Defense of Marriage Act, marking a breakthrough in gay rights and making his husband eligible for federal benefits everywhere in the United.... More

Life expectancy grows for women age 50 and up. Life expectancy for women who live to age 50 is going up around the world, but poor and middle-income countries could easily make greater gains, according to a new World Health Organization report. Countries should focus on lowering blood.... More

Field-testing the math-apps. LAWRENCE, Mass. — Elias was shy at first. “He’s 4,” his teacher whispered when he would not say his age. He made no sound as his peers rushed to the tables with the iPads. When a friend grabbed the device to take his photo, he covered.... More

Expecting the best yields results in Massachusetts. BRAINTREE, Mass. — Conventional wisdom and popular perception hold that American students are falling further and further behind in science and math achievement. The statistics from this state tell a different story. More

Applying new rigor in studying education What works in science and math education? Until recently, there had been few solid answers — just guesses and hunches, marketing hype and extrapolations from small pilot studies. But now, a little-known office in the Education Department is.... More

Googling yourself takes on a whole new meaning. Here’s what you see if you look at my face: a skinny titanium headband stretched across my forehead. It looks like a futuristic pair of sunglasses, minus the lenses. On my right-hand side there’s a computer, a metal frame with a small,.... More

Singles become doubles This last July, on a searingly hot day, as the tennis player Andy Murray closed in on a historic sporting achievement — to be the first British man to win a Wimbledon singles title since Fred Perry in 1936 — the BBC cameras kept.... More

Gay and married couples in new land of taxation. It’s now official: same-sex married couples across the country are allowed to check one of the “married” boxes on their federal tax returns, even if their own state doesn’t recognize their union. More

Poverty makes it harder to make good decisions, study finds. Poverty consumes so much mental energy that people struggling to make ends meet often have little brainpower left for anything else, leaving them more susceptible to bad decisions that can perpetuate their situation, according to a new study. More

Experiment allows man to use his mind to control another's actions. So it turns out a bit of mind control might be possible after all. Scientists had already shown that a human could send an electronic brain signal to a rat, prompting it to wiggle its tail. Now, two University of Washington researchers say.... More

Gay marriages get recognition from the I.R.S. WASHINGTON — All same-sex couples who are legally married will be recognized as such for federal tax purposes, even if the state where they live does not recognize their union, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service said.... More

E-cigarette maker's ads echo tobacco's heyday. Electronic cigarettes may be a creation of the early 21st century, but critics of the devices say manufacturers are increasingly borrowing marketing tactics that are more reminiscent of the heady days of tobacco in the mid-1900s. More

New neighbor's agenda: white power takeover. LEITH, N.D. — The bearded man with thinning, gray-and-bleach-blond hair flapping down his neck first appeared in this tiny agricultural town last year, quietly and inconspicuously roaming the crackly dirt roads. More

Savers are more attractive dating material than spenders. Behaving like Scrooge is typically not the best way to win points with a date. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be counting every penny. It turns out that many love-seekers think savers are actually more attractive than spenders. More

Heat wins: Minneapolis cancels schools without air conditioning. Worried about the health of students and teachers in stifling classrooms, Minneapolis school officials canceled classes Thursday and Friday in its 27 buildings without air conditioning. Wednesday’s decision came after three days of shuffling.... More

Republican-led states find new ways to thwart Obama's health law. Several Republican-led states at the forefront of the campaign to undermine President Obama’s health-care law have come up with new ways to try to thwart it, refusing to enforce consumer protections, for example, and restricting federally.... More

Saluting a dream, and adapting it for a new era. WASHINGTON — President Obama stepped into the space on Wednesday where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once stood, summoning his iconic dream of a colorblind society in a celebration of a half-century of progress and a call to arms for.... More

In Congress, a bid to undo dialysis cuts. WASHINGTON — Eight months ago, Congress ordered the Obama administration to eliminate a stark example of federal government waste: more than $500 million a year in excessive drug payments being sent to dialysis clinics nationwide. More

Rise in thyroid cancer diagnoses is challenged by Mayo researchers. Overdiagnosis of thyroid cancer in the United States could be causing thousands of patients to receive costly and unnecessary procedures that won’t increase the quality or length of their lives, say Mayo Clinic doctors, who recommend a new.... More

A half-century later, economic gulf between blacks and whites persists. Even as racial barriers have tumbled and the nation has grown wealthier and better educated, the economic disparities separating blacks and whites remain as wide as they were when marchers assembled on the Mall in 1963. More

Bring your lunch to work. There are few brown-baggers in the building where I work. This is not because the food in the neighborhood is so great (it isn’t), or because the cafeteria is Google-like (it isn’t), but because many people are either “too busy” or too.... More

Spices link to food ills prompts changes in farming. IDUKKI, India — Spices grown in the mist-shrouded Western Ghats here have fueled wars, fortunes and even the discovery of continents, and for thousands of years farmers harvested them in the same traditional ways. Until now. More

Death panels: this time, maybe not so scary. Give Representative Earl Blumenauer, an nine-term Democrat from Oregon, credit for two things. First, a sense of humor: He began an op-ed piece he wrote for The New York Times a few years back with, “I didn’t mean to kill Grandma.” He.... More

Maximizing shareholder value: the goal that changed corporate America. ENDICOTT, N.Y. — This town in the hills of Upstate New York is best known as the birthplace of IBM, one of the country’s most iconic companies. But there remain only hints of that storied past. The main street, once swarming with.... More

Wave of retirements hitting federal workforce. A wave of retirements by senior federal employees has begun rolling across the government as aging baby boomers who held on to their jobs during the economic downturn are increasingly calling it quits. With retirement accounts on the rebound,.... More

Older workers, laid off, encounter bias. RIDGEWOOD, N.J. — In September 2012, it appeared that the world was John Fugazzie’s frozen oyster. He was in charge of dairy and frozen foods for the A.&P. supermarket chain, making $125,000 a year. He was also a guest that month at a.... More

In Chicago, extra eyes to provide safe passage on way to school. CHICAGO — The first day of school in one neighborhood on this city’s far South Side brought a parade of security workers in neon vests, police officers on patrol, an idling city fire truck and, briefly, a police helicopter hovering above.... More

At charter schools, teachers have short careers by choice. HOUSTON — Tyler Dowdy just started his third year of teaching at YES Prep West, a charter school here. He figures now is a good time to explore his next step, including applying for a supervisory position at the school. More

School security: front offices now the first line of defense. Roslyn Road Elementary in Barrington, Illinois is buttoned down about as tightly as a school can be these days, with a video surveillance system, buzzer-equipped doors and a driver's license scanner that checks visitors against a sex offender.... More

Desperate Calif. city looks to use 'eminent domain' to seize loans to ease.... SAN FRANCISCO — When the mayor of Richmond, Calif., and a gaggle of activists and homeowners showed up at the Wells Fargo Bank headquarters in downtown San Francisco this month, they were on a mission to speak with the bank's chief executive.... More

Disconnect Kids makes managing online privacy easy. Kids growing up in a digital age have dealt with a lot of things their parents didn’t — including learning how to navigate their privacy online. To help them, an anti-tracking start-up called Disconnect has released a kid-focused app that.... More

Baby boomers: lock down a caregiver now; huge shortage expected. Americans should expect an enormous shortage in caregivers for older people in the coming decades, with a dearth of friends and family members available to care for the baby-boom generation as it ages, according to a report released Monday by.... More

Making the choice to halt at the door of citizenship. Jonathan Wajskol, an Italian graphic designer who moved to the United States about three decades ago, has a life with the hallmarks of an immigrant success story: graduate studies at an American university; a successful international firm with.... More

After six budget showdowns, big government is mostly unchanged. After 21 / 2 years of budget battles, this is what the federal government looks like now: It is on pace, this year, to spend $3.455 trillion. That figure is down from 2010 — the year that worries about government spending helped bring on.... More

State officials scramble to set up health-care system. With a key deadline approaching, state officials across the country are scrambling to get the Affordable Care Act’s complex computer systems up and running, reviewing contingency plans and, in some places, preparing for delays. More

Teacher-parent partnerships begin at home. The girls just returned from a trip to Maine, and now they were in the living room of their St. Paul home, listening as a teacher asked them and their parents a few friendly questions. What’d they been up to this summer? Having fun?.... More

Employers weigh paying workers for good health. Marjorie Saporu is one reason why employers are starting to reward workers based on their health. When the administrative assistant learned her blood pressure prevented her from receiving a maximum break on her company’s health insurance, she.... More

Cyberschools grow, fueling new concerns. The number of full-time cyberschools serving Texas public school students will double in the coming school year despite a history of lackluster performance and a new law limiting the number of online courses that public school students are.... More

Despite better times for some, no recovery for black worker. On a sweltering day in late July, the Rev. Martin Rafanan, a St. Louis, Mo., labor organizer, led hundreds of service-industry workers, most of them African American, on a legally protected 24-hour strike. The strike was not only a St. Louis.... More

After veteran's suicide, his family has a new mission: improve VA services. Shortly before his death on June 10, Army veteran Daniel Somers wrote a note for his family, asking his wife, Angel, to share it as she saw fit. “I am left with basically nothing,” he typed on his laptop at their Phoenix townhouse. “Too.... More

A guessing game for taxpayers on what they owe. WHEN it comes to income taxes, my wife and I try to pay exactly what we owe. And by this I mean we try to calculate what we need to pay during the year so we do not overpay. We would rather owe a bit more in April than find out we are getting a.... More

Despite enormous strides, minorities still face barriers, President says. SCRANTON, Pa. — President Obama declared on Friday that the United States had made “enormous strides” in race relations since the March on Washington 50 years ago, but said “institutional barriers” for African-Americans and other.... More

To those who marched on Washington 50 years ago, progress seems fitful. WASHINGTON — When Daniel R. Smith was born dirt poor more than three-quarters of a century ago, there were only about 20 other blacks in his small Connecticut town. His own father had been born a slave in Virginia in 1862. Mr. Smith served as.... More

Federal budget to fight wildfires runs dry. For the second straight year, the federal government has run through its budget for fighting wildfires amid a grueling, deadly season and will be forced to move $600 million from other funds, some of which help prevent fires. More

Citing Obamacare costs, some local governments are cutting hours. Many cash-strapped cities and counties facing the prospect of shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars in new health-care costs under the Affordable Care Act are opting instead to reduce the number of hours their part-time employees work. More

Computer bugs and squirrels: a history of Nasdaq's woes. It was yet another technical difficulty for Nasdaq. On Thursday, when a problem at the Nasdaq stock market halted trading in all Nasdaq-listed stocks, it brought back memories of past problems at the exchange, which trades shares of some of the.... More

What does Obama want to do with college costs? President Barack Obama is pitching an overhaul of federal student aid that would link dollars to the Education Department's ratings of colleges and universities. His proposal would give students at better-rated schools cheaper loans or bigger.... More

How will women's issues fare in D.C. and overseas? WASHINGTON — Catherine M. Russell’s portfolio includes half the population of the planet, roughly 3.5 billion women. But working with the 70,000 employees of the State Department to make women’s issues a permanent priority, she said, may.... More

At the chiropractor, well-adjusted pets. One morning last August, Mary Arabe’s 9-year-old gray and black tiger cat, Leo, came home from a night out exploring with a severe limp and an elbow swollen three times its normal size. He was clearly in pain; Ms. Arabe thought he had.... More

Georgia school employee calmed shooter. DECATUR, Ga. — The 911 tapes from a frightening standoff and shooting at an Atlanta-area school show how a school employee's calm demeanor and kind approach helped end the ordeal without any injuries. More

No clarity from Fed on stimulus, upsetting Wall Street. The confusion over exactly when the Federal Reserve will begin scaling back its huge economic stimulus efforts only deepened Wednesday, with the release of a summary of the deliberations at the central bank’s last meeting in late July. More

After sentencing, Manning says he is female. Pfc. Bradley Manning, the Army private who pleaded guilty to leaking government files to WikiLeaks and was sentenced on Wednesday to 35 years in military prison, said in a statement Thursday that “I am female” and wants to begin living life.... More

Obama's plan aims to rate colleges on affordability. President Obama plans to announce a set of ambitious proposals on Thursday aimed at making colleges more accountable and affordable by rating them and ultimately linking those ratings to financial aid. More

Hawaii next for gay marriage push. Hawaii state House Democrats will meet this week to gauge whether they can come up with the votes to pass a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. If there is sufficient support, and if legislative leaders can agree on language that would.... More

Hawaii next for gay marriage push. Hawaii state House Democrats will meet this week to gauge whether they can come up with the votes to pass a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. If there is sufficient support, and if legislative leaders can agree on language that would.... More

Obama to offer plans to ease burden of paying for college. WASHINGTON — President Obama will offer a series of proposals this week aimed at making college more affordable by reshaping the way Americans pay for higher education, he said in an e-mail to supporters on Tuesday. More

Health costs climb moderately, survey says. Premiums for employer-provided health insurance have increased by relatively modest amounts this year, according to a new survey, a further sign that once-torrid health care inflation has abated for now. More

Tacking health care costs onto California farm produce. HURON, Calif. — Farm labor contractors across California, the nation’s biggest agricultural engine, are increasingly nervous about a provision of the Affordable Care Act that will require hundreds of thousands of field workers to be covered.... More

Facial scanning is making gains in surveillance. WASHINGTON — The federal government is making progress on developing a surveillance system that would pair computers with video cameras to scan crowds and automatically identify people by their faces, according to newly disclosed.... More

Using technology to keep Fido fit and happy. Hamster-scaled stereo speakers. Headphones for cats. A fitness and sleep tracker for dogs. With pet owners in the U.S. spending $50 billion on their pets annually, it might seem as if any of these products could be on pet store shelves right.... More

Minnesota's new 'Dream Act' law makes college possible for immigrant.... Alex Gonzalez has long known that he wants to finish his college career at the University of Minnesota. But despite living in the Twin Cities area since he was 6 years old, he didn't expect to pay the U’s in-state price. That’s because.... More

D.C. traditional public school teacher pay is higher than charters. Teachers in the District’s traditional public schools earn more than their counterparts at nearly every D.C. charter school, according to a Washington Post review of teacher salaries across the city, with many city teachers earning salaries.... More

Climate panel cites near certainty on warming. An international panel of scientists has found with near certainty that human activity is the cause of most of the temperature increases of recent decades, and warns that sea levels could conceivably rise by more than three feet by the end of.... More

Children lost in war zones and disasters find their families with an app. Entrepreneurs often talk about the “pain points” their new app or service will ease, but as it has been repeatedly pointed out, the problems they solve are more often than not the problems of affluent and hyper-connected 20-somethings in.... More

Christie will sign bill that bans gay conversion therapy. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Monday will announce that he plans to sign a bill that will ban the practice of trying to convert gay children to a heterosexual lifestyle, according to an aide. More

Rapid rehousing: a new way to head off homelessness. At a little after 7 on an August morning, Contessa Allen-Starks puts on her beige scrubs, pours coffee into a plastic foam cup, locks the door to her apartment and hurries to the A4 bus stop on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SW for an hour-long.... More

Most of U.S. is wired, but millions aren't plugged in. The Obama administration has poured billions of dollars into expanding the reach of the Internet, and nearly 98 percent of American homes now have access to some form of high-speed broadband. But tens of millions of people are still on the.... More

A call for aid, not laws, to help women in Italy. ROME — Responding to the persistent problem of violence against women, Prime Minister Enrico Letta this month announced “very harsh, very tough” measures to counter domestic abuse and what he called “femicide,” the killing of women.... More

U.S. workers are grounded by deep spending cuts. WASHINGTON — Geological visits to monitor volcanoes in Alaska have been scaled back. The defense secretary is traveling to Afghanistan two times a year instead of the usual four. For the first time in nearly three decades, NASA pulled out of.... More

A lesson in healing at home. KLAWOCK, ALASKA – Kecia Weatherwax is convinced her son was healed not just by surgeons but also by the misty archipelago she sailed to all those years ago: an Alaskan village where a “mad Indian,” as she describes herself, would be.... More

Scanning the entire Internet in an hour. Until recently, scanning the entire Internet, with its billions of unique addresses, was a slow and labor-intensive process. For example, in 2010 the Electronic Frontier Foundation conducted a scan to gather data on the use of encryption.... More

For Obama, economic equality the path to racial justice. President Obama has only occasionally used his bully pulpit to confront racial inequality in America, even if race inherently has been a backdrop of his tenure as the first black president. He has, however, made fighting economic inequality a.... More

In all flavors, cigars draw in young smokers. BALTIMORE — At Everest Greenish Grocery, a brightly lit store on a faded corner of this city, nothing is more popular than a chocolate-flavored little cigar. They are displayed just above the Hershey bars along with their colorful cigarillo.... More

Master's degree is new frontier of study online. Next January, the Georgia Institute of Technology plans to offer a master’s degree in computer science through massive open online courses for a fraction of the on-campus cost, a first for an elite institution. If it even approaches its goal.... More

Decline in childhood obesity linked to motivation and means. If you had asked Christian Prado Diaz a year ago about his favorite foods, the preschooler would have listed some greasy delight from Wendy’s, where his mother works the drive-through lane. Today? “Arroz!” the 4-year-old proclaimed..... More

On Martha's Vineyard, a stark look at income inequality. CHILMARK, MASS. — Once a month, on a street of picture-perfect clapboard houses, white picket fences and fluttering American flags, families gather in this wealthy Massachusetts enclave for a lifeline. They walk through an unmarked door and.... More

One dip into a 401(k) often leads to another. Some people can’t seem to stop at just one. After workers borrow money from their 401(k) retirement account, they may find that it becomes easier to come back for another loan — and perhaps even another. And yet another one after that. More

Layoffs taboo, Japan's workers are sent to the boredom room. TAGAJO, Japan — Shusaku Tani is employed at the Sony plant here, but he doesn’t really work. For more than two years, he has come to a small room, taken a seat and then passed the time reading newspapers, browsing the Web and poring over.... More

Victim's dilemma: 911 calls can bring eviction. NORRISTOWN, Pa. — The police had warned Lakisha Briggs: one more altercation at her rented row house here, one more call to 911, and they would force her landlord to evict her. They could do so under the town’s “nuisance property”.... More

Apps promise to teach babies to read and count, but evidence is scant. Fisher-Price promises its Laugh & Learn Apptivity mobile software will teach babies letters, numbers, shapes and colors. And when a consumer group challenged those claims, the toy industry’s trade association decided it was going to.... More

Minnesota vendors queue up for gay wedding business. It’s no secret that weddings are a bonanza for photographers, florists, jewelers, stylists and limo drivers. Now vendors are hastening to cash in on same-sex marriage, legal as of two weeks ago in Minnesota. Project 515, a gay rights.... More

Giving troubled youth a chance to leap and soar. LEEDS, England — Trey was nervous. He tapped his bare feet on the studio floor and pulled the zipper on his indigo jumpsuit up and down so fast it sang. He was talking a lot. He was talking too much. “Trey, please,” said Helen Linsell,.... More

"Navigators" seen as crucial to success of Obamacare. OAKTON, Va. — Cyndy Dailey held a job fair at her nonprofit agency here last weekend, with a major caveat: she did not yet know if she could hire. Like many organizations across the country, Ms. Daily’s agency, Northern Virginia Family.... More

Focus on race is at core of ruling in NYPD stop-and-frisk issue. The long-awaited decision declaring the New York Police Department's use of stop-and-frisk tactics unconstitutional was mostly expected; even the staunchest defenders of the practice anticipated that Judge Shira A. Scheindlin would find the.... More

Back away from that soda; even moderate levels of sugar could hurt your.... Sugar, even at moderate levels, could be toxic to your health — or at least to your sex life, a new study says. Scientists at the University of Utah looked at how sugar affected mice and found that the mouse equivalent of just three sugary.... More

Study: half who now buy own health insurance will get tax credits under.... WASHINGTON — About half the people who now buy their own health insurance — and potentially would face higher premiums next year under President Barack Obama's health care law — would qualify for federal tax credits to offset rate shock,.... More

A simple device to detect concussions. The start this month of high school and college football seasons across the country renews concerns about the issue of repeated head impacts and how to manage or, preferably, avoid concussions. Unfortunately, the resources to deal with the.... More

New York issues scorecards on teacher colleges. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has used data to rate restaurants, track the repair of potholes and close lackluster schools in New York City. Now he is bringing his results-oriented approach to an area far outside his usual purview: teacher.... More

To judge sleep aids, U.S. looks at drowsy driving in the morning. The first test for a new sleep drug is — unsurprisingly — how safely it puts people to sleep. Now comes a second test: how safely it lets people wake up. The Food and Drug Administration is taking heightened interest in the issue, as new.... More

Surge of brain activity may explain near-death activity, study says. It’s called a near-death experience, but the emphasis is on “near.” The heart stops, you feel yourself float up and out of your body. You glide toward the entrance of a tunnel, and a searing bright light envelops your field of vision. More

Is a new iPhone coming this Fall? SAN JOSE, Calif. - In a day of whiplash-inducing reports about Apple’s health and future, the most tantalizing tidbit to emerge from the blogosphere was a simple date: Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013. That, according to a report in AllThingsD.... More

Autism's unexpected link to cancer genes. Researchers studying two seemingly unrelated conditions — autism and cancer — have unexpectedly converged on a surprising discovery. Some people with autism have mutated cancer or tumor genes that apparently caused their brain disorder. More

New laws, rising costs, create surge in supersized hospitals. Hospitals across the nation are being swept up in the biggest wave of mergers since the 1990s, a development that is creating giant hospital systems that could one day dominate American health care and drive up costs. More

Limit on costs for consumers is delayed in health care law. In another setback for President Obama’s health care initiative, the administration has delayed until 2015 a significant consumer protection in the law that limits how much people may have to spend on their own health care. More

In his second term, Obama becomes bolder on the environment. President Obama’s environmental policies are likely to play a prominent role in defining his second term, even as the budget, immigration and health care still dominate the current political debate. More

Cramming for stardom at Korea's K-Pop schools. SEOUL, South Korea — Kim Chae-young attends cram school five evenings a week, toiling deep into the night. But unlike most young South Koreans who spend hours at special schools to polish their English and math, she studies slide steps and.... More

LinkedIn connects big data, human resources. MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF. — Every second, more than two more people join LinkedIn’s network of 238 million members. They are head hunters in search of talent. They are the talent in search of a job. And sometimes, the career site for the.... More

Dr. Google will see you now. FEELING good today? You are not alone. We’re approaching Aug. 11, which is, excluding Christmastime, the happiest day of the year in this country. Or at least the day with the lowest rate of depression, according to our Google searches. More

U.S. companies thrive as workers fall behind. AMERICAN companies are more profitable than ever — and more profitable than we thought they were before the government revised the national income accounts last week. Wage earners are making less than we thought, in part because the.... More

Baby boomers reversing trend; choosing life in cities. Robert Solymossy doesn’t remember when he last gassed up his one remaining car. His other two cars are blissfully consigned to memory, along with his lawn, his driveway, and “a lifetime’s worth of furniture” accumulated over the 23.... More

Sometimes second best makes a better role model. Recently the Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who was just suspended for 211 games for steroid use, proclaimed that he still wanted to be a role model, despite “all the noise.” Here’s something to think about. It may not be A-Rod’s.... More

High blood sugar linked to dementia. People with diabetes face an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, a connection scientists and physicians have worried about for years. They still can’t explain it. More

The weather god of Oklahoma City I had heard stories about the special powers of Gary England, Tornado Alley’s most famous weatherman: how he had tracked storms, back in the day, from a tiny attic office with a primitive radar repurposed from the nose of an airplane; More

The business of financing hate groups. The major credit card companies position themselves as being quite broad-minded: observing gay pride month, creating a Shariah-compliant credit card, celebrating diversity among employees. But the companies also do business with hate groups,.... More

Some girls have been married 60 times by the time they turn 18. When young girls are sold into marriage, as 38,000 are every day, they can expect a life with no education and few opportunities, little public autonomy outside of their adult husband's control and an increased risk of death from pregnancy or.... More

"Yes week-end" - France's work-life war. The battle over Sunday trading in Paris is part of a growing fight in France between the champions of deregulation and those defending the 35-hour working week. More

A $147 million signal of faith in Atlanta's public schools. ATLANTA — The most expensive public high school ever built in Georgia opens Wednesday in an old I.B.M. office building. With 11 stories, a 900-car parking deck and views fit for a corporate executive, the school, North Atlanta High, looks.... More

Poor children show decline in obesity. After years of growing concern about obesity among children, federal researchers have found the clearest evidence yet that the epidemic may be turning a corner in young children from low-income families. More

The opt-out generation wants back in. Sheilah O’Donnel tells herself that her new home, a townhouse in a development in Chevy Chase, Md., just a stone’s throw from a Safeway, isn’t really all that bad. Sure, it’s near a gas station. And the front window, with its cheerily.... More

List of nation's top party and sober schools is published. IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Princeton Review released its 2014 edition of "The Best 378 Colleges" book Monday, which includes the lists of the Top 20 party schools and the Top 20 sober schools. More

Homeless running group helps men reach their goals. It’s just after 7 a.m. as a small band of runners sets out on W. 7th Street in downtown St. Paul, pumping their arms and legs in unison. They’re members of Next Steps — a running club for homeless people. For more than a year now, the.... More

Whooping cough linked to shorter life expectancy. People who are born during whooping cough epidemics and survive them are more likely to die prematurely later in life, according to a new study analyzing 158 years of Swedish population data. More

Chicago sees pension crisis drawing near. CHICAGO — Corporations are moving in, and housing prices are looking better across the region. There has been a slight uptick in population. But a crushing problem lurks beneath the signs of economic recovery in Chicago: one of the most.... More

To ensure bone health, start early. Most people don’t start thinking about the health of their bones until midlife or later, by which time it can be too late to do very much to protect against serious bone loss and resulting fractures. Researchers who study bone health say.... More

Minnesota working to break down cultural barriers to breast-feeding. Breast-feeding her newborn seemed the right choice for ReaShondra Walker two years ago, but she got little support from those closest to her. Her sister said it would be painful. Her mother “didn’t talk about such things.” The baby’s.... More

Women scarce in the top posts of Los Angeles. LOS ANGELES — There are 1.9 million women in Los Angeles. The two senators from California are women, as is the state’s attorney general. But this city, a bastion of progressive politics, has a curious distinction these days. Only one.... More

Warnings on football helmets combat injury and liability. Even by the alarmist standards of many product warnings, the labels on the backs of the football helmets are bracingly blunt: “No helmet system can protect you from serious brain and/or neck injuries including paralysis or death. To avoid.... More

'Buy local' gets creative PITTSBURGH — For years, Barbara Johnstone, a professor of linguistics at Carnegie Mellon University here, bought shares in a C.S.A. — a community-supported agriculture program — and picked up her occasional bags of tubers or tomatoes or.... More

Health care law raises pressure on public unions. Cities and towns across the country are pushing municipal unions to accept cheaper health benefits in anticipation of a component of the Affordable Care Act that will tax expensive plans starting in 2018. More

More students taking both ACT and SAT. As if applying to college isn’t taxing enough, the process seems to have been ratcheted up another notch. Ambitious high school students are no longer content with just one college admissions test. More

Hip and knee replacements command inflated prices in U.S. WARSAW, Ind. — Michael Shopenn’s artificial hip was made by a company based in this remote town, a global center of joint manufacturing. But he had to fly to Europe to have it installed. Mr. Shopenn, 67, an architectural photographer and.... More

Economy still years away from full recovery. WASHINGTON – The number of federal workers forced to work shorter hours soared this summer — to 199,000 in July, from 55,000 a year earlier — in a sign of the problems that federal budget policy is causing for the economy. More

A star philosopher falls, and a debate over sexism is set off. Ever since Socrates’ wife was painted as a jealous shrew by one of his pupils, women have had it tough in philosophy. Thinkers from Aristotle to Kant questioned whether women were fully capable of reason. More

Missouri citizens face obstacles to coverage. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Looking for the new health insurance marketplace, set to open in this state in two months, is like searching for a unicorn. The marketplace, or exchange, being established by the federal government under President.... More

Colorado presses for uninsured to enroll. Television commercials have already run suggesting that buying health coverage through the state’s new insurance market, Connect for Health Colorado, will feel like winning the World Series. More

The airlines' endless quest for better boarding. DALLAS (AP) — Getting people on and off an airplane quickly is so complicated that even an astrophysicist couldn't figure it out. Jason Steffen, a research fellow atNorthwestern University, normally contemplates things such as axion-like.... More

Detroit slashes pay for some police, firefighter unions. About 1,200 Detroit police lieutenants and sergeants and about 400 Detroit firefighters will see a 10 percent pay cut in their paychecks on September 16, a spokesman for Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr said on Thursday. More

Solid job gains in July could set stage for stronger economic growth in.... WASHINGTON — Robust hiring in July would mark a fourth straight month of solid gains, an encouraging sign for a U.S. economy that is still struggling with high unemployment. Economists predict that employers added 183,000 jobs — a figure.... More

Republicans refuel effort to cripple health care law. WASHINGTON — With the House poised to vote Friday on yet another bill to cripple President Obama’s health care law, the question arises: Why do Republicans persist in their so-far futile efforts? Democrats have many theories. Republicans.... More

Theory on pain is driving rules for abortions. It challenges four decades of constitutional doctrine and is based on disputed scientific theories. Yet a push to ban abortion at 20 weeks after conception, on the theory that the fetus can feel pain at that point, has emerged as a potent new.... More

Gay couples face new legal considerations. Of Minnesota’s 10,207 same-sex couples, about half will marry in the first three years, according to the Williams Institute, a think tank at UCLA’s law school focused on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. Some 3,165 of those.... More

Minnesota weddings start a new day for gay marriage. The streets outside Minneapolis City Hall were filled with newly-wedded gay and lesbian couples reveling in their new marital status Thursday morning while inside dozens more waited their turn in lines that lasted until dawn. More

U.S. jobless claims drop to 5-1/2 year low. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell unexpectedly last week, touching a 5-1/2 year low, suggesting a steadily improving labor market. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 19,000 to a.... More

In Missouri, race complicates a transfer to better schools. When the Missouri Supreme Court upheld a law in June allowing students from failing school districts to transfer to good ones, Harriett Gladney saw a path to a better education for her 9-year-old daughter. But then she watched television news.... More

An unusual feat in Congress: student loan bill breezes on. Something pretty rare happened in Congress on Wednesday: it approved and sent to President Obama a major piece of public policy by an overwhelming bipartisan margin. The feat was even more notable because the legislation, which created a new.... More

Senate confirms Obama's choices for National Labor Relations Board. WASHINGTON — The National Labor Relations Board had five confirmed members for the first time in more than a decade Tuesday after the Senate took a series of votes approving a full slate of nominees. More

U.S. economy expands at surprising rate. WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy grew from April through June at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.7 percent, as businesses spent more and the federal government cut less. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that growth improved from a.... More

Warrantless cell phone tracking is upheld. In a significant victory for law enforcement, a federal appeals court on Tuesday said that government authorities could extract historical location data directly from telecommunications carriers without a search warrant. More

Efforts to recruit poor students lag at some elite colleges. With affirmative action under attack and economic mobility feared to be stagnating, top colleges profess a growing commitment to recruiting poor students. But a comparison of low-income enrollment shows wide disparities among the most.... More

Over a million are denied bank accounts for past errors. Mistakes like a bounced check or a small overdraft have effectively blacklisted more than a million low-income Americans from the mainstream financial system for as long as seven years as a result of little-known private databases that are used.... More

Say on executive pay: thumbs up or thumb in the eye. The chance to say “yea” or “nay” to executive pay may not be driving down CEO compensation, but it’s forcing corporate board members to pay much closer attention to their shareholders. More

Apps that know what you want before you do. SAN FRANCISCO — In Hollywood, there are umbrella holders. Outside corner offices, there are people who know exactly how much cream to pour in the boss’s coffee. In British castles, royals have their valets. More

A city invokes seizure laws to save homes. The power of eminent domain has traditionally worked against homeowners, who can be forced to sell their property to make way for a new highway or shopping mall. But now the working-class city of Richmond, Calif., hopes to use the same legal.... More

Concerns about dementia screening. Marie Theriault started having trouble with her hands more than three years ago. She was the director of a day care center, but suddenly she couldn’t change diapers or tie shoelaces. She started dropping things. More

Program compelling outpatient treatment for mental illness is working,.... For some people with severe mental illness, life is a cycle of hospitalization, skipped medication, decline and then rehospitalization. They may deny they have psychiatric disorders, refuse treatment and cascade into out-of-control behavior.... More

Reinvented in his 60s after 26 jobless months. When I last wrote about Michael Blattman, it was August 2009, he was 58 years old, and had been unemployed for 18 months. Like a lot of baby boomers during the Great Recession, he had worked his whole adult life and could not believe this was.... More

Working class whites gloomy about the future amid rising income gaps,.... Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream. Survey data exclusive to The Associated Press.... More

Firms need IT workers but stumble in hiring. Companies in Minnesota and across the country are struggling to hire technology workers, and it’s partly their own fault. All sorts of industries are shifting in ways that suddenly require tech expertise. Businesses have found themselves.... More

Understanding eczema to treat it. Summer is both a blessing and curse for millions of people afflicted with a common chronic skin condition called eczema. The dry, red and usually intolerably itchy patches often recede when the air is warm and damp and skin is exposed more.... More

Detroit looks to health care law to help reduce costs. As Detroit enters the federal bankruptcy process, the city is proposing a controversial plan for paring some of the $5.7 billion it owes in retiree health costs: pushing many of those too young to qualify for Medicare out of city-run coverage.... More

Unemployed and older, and facing a jobless future. I WAS recently talking to a friend at a party whose husband — in his 60s — has been unemployed for more than two years. While there are many challenges, she said, one of the hardest things is trying to balance hope with reality. More

A state-by-state guide to evading the sales tax. It’s tax-free holiday time again—those special few days each year when what you see on the price tag is what you actually pay at the register. So if you’re planning on doing any back-to-school shopping, you may want to sit tight until.... More

FDA says importers must audit food safety. WASHINGTON — More than two years after Congress passed a landmark law meant to prevent the importation of contaminated food that sickens Americans, the Food and Drug Administration proposed rules on Friday that for the first time put the main.... More

Why smokers still smoke. GIVEN how hazardous it is to their health, why do smokers continue to smoke? It’s not that they are all hopeless addicts. Many smokers are capable of quitting. It’s not that they are ignorant. Studies show that smokers are at least as.... More

A start-up aims to bring financial planning to the masses. It’s an unfortunate fact: the people who are most in need of honest financial advice often cannot afford it, or they don’t realize that their so-called adviser isn't an adviser at all, but a salesman. If Alexa von Tobel has her way,.... More

High schools with late start times help teens, but schedules can conflict. NEW YORK — Quinn Cooney of Mill Creek, Wash., is excited about starting high school in September, but she's not looking forward to waking up at 5:30 a.m. to arrive on time. Classes for ninth-graders start at 7:30 a.m., 45 minutes earlier than.... More

E-mail 'phishing' attacks by hackers grow in number, intensity. At least 2 million people received the email May 16 notifying them that an order they had just made on "Wallmart's" website was being processed, though none of them had done any such thing. Still, thousands of people clicked on the link in the.... More

HPV vaccine not reaching enough girls, CDC says. The very low vaccination rate for teenage girls against the human papillomavirus — the most common sexually transmitted infection and a principal cause of cervical cancer — did not improve at all from 2011 to 2012, and health officials on.... More

College enrollment declines as economy recovers. The long enrollment boom that swelled American colleges — and helped drive up their prices — is over, with grim implications for many schools. College enrollment fell 2 percent in 2012-13, the first significant decline since the 1990s,.... More

Arriving with anxiety, finding a sanctuary. HUNTINGDON, Tenn. — Hannah heard her mother’s muffled cries for help. They came from the bedroom, a sort of guesthouse that sat behind her grandparents’ home off a narrow winding road in the hills of West Tennessee. More

Study links heavy cellphone use with poor fitness. People who constantly exercise their thumbs by using their smartphones could ultimately be harming their physical health. A new study by researchers at Kent State University found a link between heavy cellphone use and reduced fitness levels.... More

Americans grow increasingly intolerant of extramarital affairs. Hester Prynne, data suggests, wouldn’t get much of a break today. More Americans tolerate things we formerly considered taboo, such as premarital sex, divorce and gay relationships. But there’s one glaring exception: We condemn adultery.... More

Death toll rises to 78 in Spain train disaster. SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain — A Spanish train that hurtled off the rails and smashed into a security wall as it rounded a bend was going so fast that carriages tumbled off the tracks like dominos, according to eyewitness accounts and video.... More

Ask Well: Leg cramp relief. Nighttime leg cramps are a common problem: As many as 6 in 10 adults report experiencing them at some time. But researchers are not sure what causes them. Sometimes they can be a sign of an underlying medical problem, like liver disease,.... More

Obama focuses on economy, vowing to help middle class. WARRENSBURG, Mo. — President Obama tried to move past months of debate over guns, surveillance and scandal on Wednesday and reorient his administration behind a program to lift a middling economy and help middle-class Americans who are stuck.... More

Same-sex marriage could be a boon for Minnesota's wedding industry. So, who’s the bride?” That’s the question Greg Leatherman has been asked while planning his wedding. But there is no bride. Leatherman is marrying his longtime partner, Brent Malley, in a few weeks, then having a celebration next summer. More

Police arrest principal of school in India where 23 children died. PATNA, India — The principal of a primary school in eastern India where 23 children died last week after eating lunch prepared with contaminated oil was arrested Wednesday, nine days after she went into hiding, police said. Meena Kumari fled.... More

Legacy on line in fierce drive on health law. Few things are more important to the White House this year than a successful health care rollout on Oct. 1, when millions of uninsured Americans will be required to obtain private health coverage in government-run marketplaces. Getting it right.... More

Students recall schools run like jails. After Alexander Chomakhidze and his family moved to the United States from Greece a few years ago, he became so despondent he started skipping school and even tried to kill himself. Worried, his parents sent him to Horizon Academy, a Utah.... More

Can you get too much exercise? Researchers from Uppsala University and other institutions examined the health records of almost 53,000 race participants and found that the more races someone had completed between 1989 and 1999 or the faster they had finished, the more likely.... More

Federal judge blocks new North Dakota abortion law. A federal judge in North Dakota on Monday temporarily blocked the state’s law banning abortions as early as six weeks after fertilization, calling the legislation “clearly unconstitutional.” The preliminary injunction from U.S. District.... More

Princeton researchers find evidence of age bias It turns out that a young Max and a middle-aged Max can get away with saying things that an old Max cannot. At least that is the conclusion of a new study by Princeton researchers aimed at measuring age discrimination, one of the toughest.... More

Federal report says heat was cause of train derailment. A federal report has pinpointed heat as the likely cause of last summer's fatal train derailment on a north suburban bridge after a stretch of track shifted out of alignment in triple-digit temperatures. Video showed a "track alignment anomaly" More

New data shows Google bigger than Facebook, Netflix and Twitter - combined. Google is now bigger than Facebook, Netflix and Twitter — combined. That’s according to new data from DeepField, an Internet analytics outfit, which based its research on anonymized “backbone traffic” — the stuff moving through the.... More

First day of parenting faces William and Kate after birth sparks global.... It's Day One of parenting for Prince William and Kate. After the excitement and fatigue and joy of childbirth — emotions shared with a nation — the young couple is expected to bring the prince home Tuesday. More

Young immigrants stage a risky border protest. NOGALES, Ariz. — Lizbeth Mateo paid her tuition Sunday for Santa Clara Law School, where classes begin next month. On Monday, she paused to send the school an email. "I'm letting them know I may not make it in time," she said. The reason for.... More

Poll: Immigration is a quandary for Republicans. Majorities of Americans support the two main pillars of immigration reform — increasing border security and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. But partisan, racial and ethnic divisions dampen overall public support for a.... More

Poll: Parents don't support many education policy changes. Most parents with children in public schools do not support recent changes in education policy, from closing low-performing schools to shifting public dollars to charter schools to private school vouchers, according to a new poll to be released.... More

After car plunged 40 feet from bridge, woman 'went from panic to calm.' The car went off the side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and into the water. It began to fill up, and the 22-year-old driver believed she was drowning. But Morgan Lake of Calvert County said she made the decision not to die in the water and told.... More

After a sprain, don't just walk it off. Whenever I see a woman walking (or trying to) in stilettos — skinny heels over 3 inches high — my first thought is, “There’s a sprained ankle waiting to happen.” An estimated 28,000 ankle injuries occur daily in the United States,.... More

Cries of betrayal as Detroit plans to cut pensions. Gloria Killebrew, 73, worked for the City of Detroit for 22 years and now spends her days caring for her husband, J. D., who has had three heart attacks and multiple kidney operations, the last of which left him needing dialysis three times a.... More

Location plays major role in climbing income ladder. Stacey Calvin spends almost as much time commuting to her job — on a bus, two trains and another bus — as she does working part-time at a day care center. She knows exactly where to board the train and which stairwells to use at the.... More

Amid Detroit bankruptcy, residents grapple with poverty and unemployment. DETROIT — Daniel Rice comes to the Michigan Works! job placement office almost every day for four or five hours, searching for a job he has had no luck finding in a city that has seemed in perpetual decline. On Friday, he found one listing,.... More

Police in India find toxic levels of pesticide in kids' lunch. PATNA, India — Police say samples of cooking oil and leftover food taken from an Indian school where 23 children died after eating lunch this past week were contaminated with "very toxic" levels of an agricultural pesticide. More

Frayed prospects, despite a degree. At a time when many job seekers complain that their résumés vanish into a black hole, Charles Wells managed to get a high-level recruiter at Ernst & Young to meet with him in person, twice. But the end result was disheartening: Mr. Wells.... More

President offers a personal take on Trayvon Martin case. After days of angry protests and mounting public pressure, President Obama summoned five of his closest advisers to the Oval Office on Thursday evening. It was time, he told them, for him to speak to the nation about the Trayvon Martin verdict,.... More

Law on racial diversity stirs Greenwich schools. GREENWICH, Conn. — Just a few minutes’ drive from the polo fields, the fieldstone walls guarding 10-acre estates and theGreenwich Country Day School, from which the elder George Bush graduated in 1937, is far denser terrain, where the homes.... More

Education proposal in House could replace 'no child left behind.' WASHINGTON — For the first time since No Child Left Behind, President George W. Bush’s signature education law, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support a dozen years ago, a bill seeking to rewrite the law came to the floor of the House.... More

Social media can be a great resource in the workplace. Using social networking such as Facebook and Twitter to stay in touch with people is faster and easier than the traditional face-to-face meeting, which boosted your career more than you might have imagined because 90% of communication comes.... More

State officials balk at defending laws they deem unconstitutional. Once state legislation is passed, it’s usually up to the governor and attorney general to see that the law is implemented. But in a number of high-profile cases around the country, top state officials are balking at defending laws on gay.... More

Detroit goes bankrupt; largest municipal filing in U.S. history. Detroit filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in the nation’s history Thursday, marking a new low in a long decline that has left the U.S. automaking capital bleeding residents and revenue while rendering city services a mess. The city,.... More

Heroin overdoses soar in New England. PORTLAND, Me. — Heroin has been making an alarming comeback in the smaller cities and towns of New England. From quaint fishing villages on the Maine coast to the interior of the Great North Woods extending across Maine, New Hampshire and.... More

'Fruitvale Station' offers light instead of heat after Trayvon Martin case. Can a movie heal a nation? That’s the question raised by “Fruitvale Station,” a modest but astonishingly accomplished urban drama that arrives in Washington area theaters Friday as an eerie example of art not just imitating life, but.... More

At least 27 death penalty convictions may be faulty, says review. An unprecedented federal review of old criminal cases has uncovered as many as 27 death penalty convictions in which FBI forensic experts may have mistakenly linked defendants to crimes with exaggerated scientific testimony, U.S. officials said.... More

Dementia's signs may come early. The man complained of memory problems but seemed perfectly normal. No specialist he visited detected any decline. “He insisted that things were changing, but he aced all of our tests,” said Rebecca Amariglio, a neuropsychologist at Brigham.... More

Florida case spurs painful talks between black parents and their children. Tracey Wolff never had a problem with her 19-year-old son’s individualism: his “crazy” hair and unshaven face. But this week, his look suddenly seemed more worrying. When she thinks of Trayvon Martin and his cropped hair and smooth face,.... More

Racial disparities in life spans narrow, but persist. The gap in life expectancy between black and white Americans is at its narrowest since the federal government started systematically tracking it in the 1930s, but a difference of nearly four years remains, and federal researchers have detailed.... More

Under exchanges, New Yorkers will see health plan cost fall 50%. Individuals buying health insurance on their own will see their premiums tumble next year in New York State as changes under the federal health care law take effect, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Wednesday. More

Dementia rate is found to drop sharply with better health and education. A new study has found that dementia rates among people 65 and older in England and Wales have plummeted by 25 percent over the past two decades, to 6.2 percent from 8.3 percent, a trend that researchers say is probably occurring across.... More

29 schoolchildren die after eating free lunch in India. At least 20 children have died and more are sick after eating free meals at a primary school in eastern India, an official said Wednesday. Bihar state official Abhijit Sinha said another 27 children and the school cook have been hospitalized in Patna, the state capital. Ten of them are in serious.... More

With Zimmerman verdict, Obama faces challenge as first black president. President Obama’s history with the politics of race — his own, and the way it is lived in this country — has been both beneficial and vexing over the course of his public life. Racial identity was at the heart of his best-selling memoir,.... More

Fed chief calls Congress biggest obstacle to growth. WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve’s chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, said Wednesday that Congress is the largest obstacle to faster economic growth, and he warned that upcoming decisions about fiscal policy could once again undermine the.... More

Universities face a rising barrage of cyber attacks. America’s research universities, among the most open and robust centers of information exchange in the world, are increasingly coming under cyberattack, most of it thought to be from China, with millions of hacking attempts weekly. Campuses.... More

The federal office space of the future? GSA's new floor plan eschews.... The agency that manages 375 million square feet of federal office space is moving back to its newly renovated headquarters in downtown Washington, where its employees are finding that their personal real estate footprint has been radically.... More

Civil rights charges against Zimmerman would be difficult, Justice.... Current and former Justice Department officials said Monday that bringing civil rights charges against George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old in Florida, would be extremely difficult and may not.... More

Free ride to the U.S., with costly risk. At a makeshift church shelter beyond the industrial parks north of Mexico City, the train riders wait under a canvas tent, listening for a locomotive horn. They keep their shoes on and their backpacks zipped. The tracks outside run through.... More

2 new plans to upgrade Smartphones after a year. For devotees of new technology, the people who help set trends and chase the latest gadgets, the joy of buying a new smartphone has been met with an equally strong annoyance: long-term commitment. Now they are getting some overtures to avoid.... More

Last car plant brings Detroit hope and cash. There is a section of Detroit’s east side that sums up the city’s decline, a grim landscape of boarded-up stores, abandoned homes and empty lots that stretch all the way to the river. And in the middle of it stands one of the most modern.... More

Contracts, court rulings hamstring workers. When Jose Tadeo Gamez Flores realized that his employer had failed to pay him for all the hours he was working as a janitor, he did what many other employees might do in the same situation: He tried to sue to recover the lost wages. But Flores, 34, ran into an obstacle when he tried to file a.... More

Zimmerman verdict unlikely to be the end of the Trayvon Martin saga. It’s over. But it’s not really done.  The not-guilty verdict that sounded so final, so utterly unequivocal, in Courtroom 5D of the Seminole County courthouse Saturday night has quickly given way to a kaleidoscope of demonstrations.... More

Homeownership, the key to happiness? If trying to buy an apartment in New York City has been making you miserable, consider this: actually getting that home may not make you happy. A growing body of research suggests that spending money on real estate doesn’t necessarily mean.... More

Sex on campus: she can play that game too. At 11 on a weeknight earlier this year, her work finished, a slim, pretty junior at the University of Pennsylvania did what she often does when she has a little free time. She texted her regular hookup — the guy she is sleeping with but not.... More

Chicago's intern boot camp is rehearsal for life and death issues. On the first day of “boot camp,” Dr. Diane B. Wayne asked the Northwestern Memorial Hospital class of new interns for a show of hands if any were nervous. Some sat still, wearing poker faces. “Those of you who did not raise your hand,”.... More

Sequester causes pain on the reservation. PINE RIDGE, S.D. — The Red Cloud-Bissonette family needs a new trailer. Frank, who is disabled, and Norma, his wife, members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, live on the sprawling grasslands of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Despite their.... More

Texas Senate passes bill restricting abortion. The Texas Senate gave final passage on Friday to one of the strictest anti-abortion measures in the country, legislation championed by Gov. Rick Perry, who rallied the Republican-controlled Legislature late last month after a Democratic.... More

San Francisco plane crash: little talk of speed among pilots. The Asiana Airlines jetliner that crashed atSan Francisco International Airport was only nine seconds from impact when one of the pilots first mentioned that it was flying too slowly, prompting a last-ditch attempt to abort the landing, a.... More

George Zimmerman's defense attorneys begin closing arguments. SANFORD, Fla. — George Zimmerman's defense attorney began his final arguments Friday, trying to convince six jurors that the neighborhood watch volunteer acted in self-defense when he fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. More

House GOP bill would shut down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. House Republicans on Thursday released the details of legislation that would shutter mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and nearly eliminate the government’s role in backing the nation’s mortgage market. More

Cost estimate puts student loan deal in doubt. WASHINGTON — A tentative agreement to overhaul the federal student loan program was close to collapsing on Thursday night after the Congressional Budget Office said the proposal would cost the Treasury $22 billion over 10 years, according to.... More

House Republicans push through farm bill, without food stamps. Republicans muscled a pared-back agriculture bill through the House on Thursday, stripping out the food stamp program to satisfy recalcitrant conservatives but losing what little Democratic support the bill had when it failed last month. It was.... More

Study shows mammals can pick sex of offspring. Mammals appear to have the ability to select the gender of their offspring for the benefit of their species, according to a new study that followed three generations of more than 2,300 animals from the San Diego Zoo. It is not a conscious.... More

High-tech eyeglasses, not made by Google. If someone mentions the phrase “high-tech glasses,” you probably assume that person is talking about Google Glass, the smartphone-on-a-headband that Google hopes to offer for sale next year. The truth is, though, that 2013 has been the.... More

E-book ruling gives Amazon an advantage. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, loves disrupting markets. In that regard, he must be having a delightful summer. The book business, once so mired in the past it seemed part of the antiques trade, is up for grabs. A federal judge ruled on.... More

Republicans in House resist overhaul for immigration. WASHINGTON — Meeting for the first time as a group to hash out their approach to immigration, House Republicans on Wednesday came down overwhelmingly against a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws, putting in jeopardy.... More

Maryland's path to an accord in abortion fight. BALTIMORE — The 18-year-old woman arrived at Johns Hopkins Hospital by medevac helicopter in critical condition. Her uterus and bowel had been pierced during a late-term abortion that had started in New Jersey and ended at an unmarked,.... More

U.S. vows to rein in questionable debt collection practices. Federal regulators are cracking down on questionable debt collection practices by some of the nation’s biggest lenders. The push comes after revelations that some of the same practices that have haunted the foreclosures of homes — like.... More

Rare mutation ignites race for cholesterol drug. She was a 32-year-old aerobics instructor from a Dallas suburb — healthy, college educated, with two young children. Nothing out of the ordinary, except one thing. Her cholesterol was astoundingly low. Her low-density lipoprotein, or LDL,.... More

At restaurant, delay in health law brings relief. ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — Eric King has worked diligently to keep his family’s 35-year-old seafood restaurant here viable, most recently by expanding the menu beyond its well-loved crab cakes and other traditional dishes to draw a younger,.... More

Too much noise from hospital alarms poses risks for patients. Walk into a hospital intensive-care unit and hear the din: A ventilator honks loudly. An infusion pump emits a high-pitched beep-beep every six seconds. A blood pressure monitor pushes out one long tone after another. The racket comes from.... More

Both parties unite to give ex-felons a second chance. A national movement to rethink crime and punishment is gaining a foothold in Minnesota, pushing the state toward policies that help ex-offenders rebuild their lives in an age of instant background checks and eternal Internet mug shots.  The.... More

Insurance Exchange presents technical challenges on tight deadline. The no-frills space where high-tech wizards are building Minnesota’s health insurance exchange looks like a war room for a political campaign. IT consultants work elbow to elbow around computers in a center island. Along one wall, stripes of.... More

New tool aims to help Facebook users dig deep. Facebook is an excellent tool for certain kinds of social interaction. With a couple of clicks, you can share a cute photo of your newborn baby. You can pop over to the page of a college buddy and find out where he lives now and whether he is a.... More

Covering not a corner office, but time at home. FALL RIVER, Wis. — Sara Uttech has not spent much of her career so far worrying about “leaning in.” Instead, she has mostly been hanging on, trying to find ways to get her career to accommodate her family life, rather than the other way.... More

Lines thinning out, but marriage equality still sweet. Clutching matching bouquets and wearing brightly colored wedding gowns, Anna and Melody Hennigh kissed at the top of the grand staircase in the City Hall rotunda. Moments later, they were married, and they hugged their parents. There wasn’t a.... More

Mayo Clinic researchers study how body can repair itself. At Mayo Clinic’s Center for Regenerative Medicine, physicians and researchers have a dazzling array of tools at their fingertips: transplants, genomics, computerized data analysis and biomedical engineering. But the core idea is simple:.... More

Homes keep rising in the West despite wildfire threat. The death of 19 firefighters in Arizona this week highlights what has become a fact of life in the West: Every summer, smoke fills the big skies yet people continue to build in the places that burn most. More people live in these areas, and.... More

Paid sick leave laws generate concern, but not much pain. Back in 2007, as a new paid sick leave law — the first in the nation — was about to take effect in San Francisco, Bill Stone was worried. Mr. Stone owns the Atlas Cafe in the city’s Mission District, and the new law directed him to provide his 21 employees with one hour of paid time off for.... More

A trip to camp to break a tech addiction. There was a phantom buzzing in my shorts. I had carried my iPhone in my left front pocket for so many years that my jeans have permanent rectangular fade marks over my thigh. By now the phone is almost an extension of my nervous system; even.... More

Nebraska's new brain research center will study concussions. LINCOLN, Neb. — If all goes according to Dennis Molfese's plan, the day is coming when a football player who takes a hit to the head will come to the sideline, take off his helmet and slip on an electrode-covered mesh cap. The team's medical.... More

States struggle to launch Obamacare on time. HARTFORD, Conn. — Facing tight deadlines and daunting workloads, states across the country are scaling back ambitions for implementing the Affordable Care Act. At a monthly board meeting of Connecticut’s health insurance exchange, members.... More

U.S. adds 195,000 jobs; unemployment remains at 7.6%. The economy added 195,000 jobs in June, the Labor Department reported Friday morning, slightly more than analysts had been expecting and suggesting steady growth. Wall Street has been feverishly awaiting the June employment report. Not only.... More

Three short workouts or one long one? According to the latest science, not only do multiple short sessions of exercise generally provide the same health and fitness benefits as a comparable amount of exercise completed in one uninterrupted workout, but by some measures, the briefer.... More

Disease without a cure spreads quietly in the West. BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — In 36 years with the Los Angeles police, Sgt. Irwin Klorman faced many dangerous situations, including one routine call that ended with Uzi fire and a bullet-riddled body sprawled on the living room floor. But his most.... More

Oregon tries new way to pay for college. Going to college can seem like a choice between impossibly high payments while in school or a crushing debt load for years afterward, but one state is experimenting with a third way. This week, the Oregon Legislature approved a plan that could.... More

Chrysler recalls 840,000 vehicles, mostly in U.S. DETROIT (Reuters) - Chrysler Group LLC said on Wednesday it will recall 840,000 vehicles in the United States and other countries, mostly for active-restraint head rests that are possibly flawed. More

Postal Service snoops for federal government. WASHINGTON – Leslie James Pickering noticed something odd in his mail last September: a handwritten card, apparently delivered by mistake, with instructions for postal workers to pay special attention to the letters and packages sent to his.... More

Ohio sinkhole swallows car, driver escapes. A northwest Ohio sinkhole has swallowed a car traveling down a street and briefly trapped the driver, who climbed out after authorities gave her a ladder. Toledo police Sgt. Joe Heffernan says a water main break beneath the road may have caused the sinkhole Wednesday. The hole is estimated to be at.... More

Keeping cancer a secret. My patient came to see me every six months or so with his wife of 40 years, making the five-hour drive from West Virginia, where he managed a few businesses. He had myelodysplastic syndrome, a type of bone marrow cancer that in his case was.... More

Postponing health rules emboldens Republicans. The Obama administration’s decision to delay enforcing a pillar of the health care law, the mandate that larger employers provide insurance benefits, raised new questions on Wednesday about the government’s preparedness to carry out the.... More

Scientists fabricate rudimentary human livers. Researchers in Japan have used human stem cells to create tiny human livers like those that arise early in fetal life. When the scientists transplanted the rudimentary livers into mice, the little organs grew, made human liver proteins, and.... More

Army ousts Egypt's president. Egypt’s military on Wednesday deposed Mohamed Morsi, the nation’s first freely elected president, suspending the constitution, installing an interim government and insisting it was responding to the millions of Egyptians who had opposed Mr..... More

Factory orders rise; hint at stability in manufacturing. New orders for factory goods rose for a second straight month in May, adding to tentative signs of stabilization in manufacturing after a recent slowdown. More

GOP groups offering cover for lawmakers on immigration. Fox News viewers in Florida will see a new commercial in the coming weeks urging them to call Senator Marco Rubio. “Thank him for keeping his promise, and fighting to secure the border,” a narrator says in the ad, which is paid for by the.... More

19 firefighters killed battling Arizona blaze. YARNELL, Ariz. — Gusty, hot winds blew an Arizona blaze out of control Sunday in a forest northwest of Phoenix, overtaking and killing 19 members of an elite fire crew in the deadliest wildfire involving firefighters in the U.S. for at least.... More

Getting your feet wet at water parks. The first moments inside a water park complex almost always jar your senses. A rush of moist, chlorine-scented air fills your nose. Bright, cartoon colors, not to mention characters, surround you. And then there is the continuous loop of pop.... More

First gay man is approved for green card. An American man in Florida and his husband, who is from Bulgaria, have become the first same-sex married couple to be approved for a permanent resident visa, an immigration milestone that comes after the Supreme Court struck down a federal.... More

At retooled summer schools, creativity, not just catch-up. Just a few years ago, school districts around the country were slashing summer classes as the economic downturn eviscerated their budgets. Now, despite continuing budgetary challenges, districts are re-envisioning summer school as something.... More

American way of birth, costliest in the world. Seven months pregnant, at a time when most expectant couples are stockpiling diapers and choosing car seats, Renée Martin was struggling with bigger purchases. At a prenatal class she was told about epidural anesthesia and was given the.... More

Treat people with H.I.V. early to stop spread. LONDON — Young children and certain other people with the AIDS virus should be started on medicines as soon as they are diagnosed, the World Health Organization says in new guidelines that also recommend earlier treatment for adults. More

For gay marriage, the real battle begins. Hours after the Supreme Court struck down a key section of the Defense of Marriage Act, Udi Ofer of the American Civil Liberties Union spent his evening in a Unitarian church in Summit, N.J., training nearly 40 members how to convince three.... More

Golden parachutes are still very much in style. MOST employees who leave a company are typically offered modest severance — in some cases a corporate pension, and perhaps a retirement party hosted by co-workers. For many chief executives of corporations, the rewards are far, far richer. More

Have a great vacation (if it's approved). JUST about every time I plan a vacation, I worry that I won’t be able to go. You can’t leave, my boss might say, because we’re just too busy to spare you. (In that case, I think indignantly, they’d better reimburse me for the plane.... More

An unstoppable climb in CEO pay. WHEN we made our annual foray into the executive pay gold mine in April, chief executives’ earnings for 2012 showed what appeared to be muted growth on the year. The $14 million in median overall compensation received by the top 100 C.E.O.... More

Administration says it will press to provide marriage benefits in all.... President Obama signaled Thursday that his administration would extend federal benefits to gay couples living in states that don’t recognize their marriages, a relief for advocates left with a thicket of uncertainty a day after their.... More

Student loan rate likely to double on Monday, but lawmakers hope to.... Lawmakers acknowledge that the rate on a low-interest federal loan for millions of college students in financial need is likely to double on Monday because of a congressional stalemate over how to stop that from happening. But Democratic.... More

U.S. standards for school snacks move beyond cafeteria to fight obesity. The Agriculture Department on Thursday effectively banned the sale of snack foods like candy, cookies and sugary drinks, including sports drinks, in schools, making it harder for students to avoid the now-healthier school meals by eating snacks.... More

Charitable giving, from head or heart. Our dog Lucy died this week, and it got me thinking about the role she played in making my wife and me more charitable. Lucy was a retired guide dog who, during her working life, gave birth to 32 puppies, many of whom also became guide dogs..... More

A bill allowing more foreign workers stirs a tech debate. SAN FRANCISCO — As the Senate voted on a landmark immigration bill that would let Silicon Valley companies import more foreign engineers, some Americans remain locked in a deeply emotional argument over whether outsiders are taking jobs.... More

Mandatory federal cuts hurt private sector too. Congress’s $85 billion, across-the-board budget cuts may not have brought the economy to a halt, as many once feared. But they are having a negative effect on jobs in the private sector, according to an analysis of the industries whose head.... More

Bipartisan plan emerges in Senate to prevent doubling of student interest.... A bipartisan group of senators has announced a proposal to prevent a doubling of the interest rate on certain federal student loans, an increase that would affect 7 million college students in the coming school year. On Monday, the rate on.... More

Immigration bill provision could affect all new hires. The sweeping immigration measure advancing rapidly in the Senate goes far beyond much-debated border security measures and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants with a crucial requirement that could affect every American who takes a.... More

Wearable devices nudge you to health. You’ve heard of the Quantified Self movement? It’s the rise of watches, clips and bracelets that monitor your physical activity, sleep and other biological functions. The idea is that continual numerical awareness of your lifestyle works to.... More

Both sides on same-sex marriage focus on next battlegrounds. With the expected addition of California’s citizens after Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling, some 30 percent of Americans will live in states offering same-sex marriage. Now the two sides of the marriage wars are gearing up to resume the.... More

Most Americans are "mindless zombies" at work, says poll. Seventy percent of full-time Americans working stiffs have either mentally “checked out” at work or purposefully sabotage the company’s productivity. The latest count in an ongoing Gallup Poll classifies the 100 million people working.... More

At 80, Diane Feinstein is blazing a new trail in Congress. She stands before television cameras just hours after the news breaks that the U.S. government has been conducting a massive surveillance program, compiling a database of Americans’ phone records and monitoring foreign terrorism suspects’.... More

Obama takes on power plants as part of new climate plan. President Barack Obama tried to revive his stalled climate change agenda on Tuesday, promising new rules to cut carbon emissions from U.S. power plants and other domestic actions including support for renewable energy. More

Texas vote passing abortion bill is rendered moot. AUSTIN, Tex. — Hours after claiming that they successfully passed some of the toughest abortion restrictions in the country, Republican lawmakers in Texas reversed course on Wednesday and said a disputed late-night vote on the bill did not.... More

Court strikes down Defense of Marriage Act. The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a 1996 law denying federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples is unconstitutional, in a sign of how rapidly the national debate over gay rights has shifted. The decision was 5 to 4, with Justice.... More

Supreme Court raises bar to prove job discrimination. In two decisions issued on Monday, the Supreme Court effectively made it harder for workers to prove that they had suffered employment discrimination. One ruling narrows the definition of what constitutes a supervisor in racial and sexual.... More

University of Minnesota study: weighty words affect overweight kids. Whether children try extreme diets or binge eating might hinge on how their parents talk to them about their weight. University of Minnesota researchers reported Monday that adolescents were less likely to try extreme weight-loss techniques if.... More

Getting men to want to use condoms. It takes just a peek at the online store Condomania to appreciate the variety of condoms out there. Flavors like island punch, banana split and bubble gum. Vibrating condom rings with batteries that last up to 20 minutes. Glow-in-the-dark.... More

Lacking definitive ruling on affirmative action, both sides claim victory. The Supreme Court’s decision to send a thorny affirmative action case back to the lower courts for additional review left both sides claiming victory on Monday. Civil rights groups that favor race-conscious admissions cheered the ruling,.... More

Home prices see biggest annual gain in seven years. U.S. single-family home prices jumped in April, racking up their biggest annual gain in seven years in a sign of the growing momentum in the housing recovery, a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday. More

Supreme Court to hear abortion buffer zone appeal. The Supreme Court will reconsider the constitutionality of a 2007 Massachusetts law that bars protests in 35-foot “buffer zones” around abortion clinic entrances, exits and driveways. The justices on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from.... More

Employers test plans that cap health costs. Hoping to cut medical costs, employers are experimenting with a new way to pay for health care, telling workers that their company health plan will pay only a fixed amount for a given test or procedure, like a CT scan or knee replacement..... More

NY State rewards home care providers it once rebuked. Hunting for ways that the incoming governor could close a $2 billion budget deficit late in 2010, New York State officials scrutinized Medicaid spending on home health care, and made some startling discoveries. More

This time, greater will to revamp immigration. WASHINGTON — Six years ago this month, re-election campaign looming, Senator Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana joined 15 other Democrats to shoot down an overhaul of the immigration system, which she said encouraged “illegal behavior” with.... More

Supreme Court orders lower court to reconsider affirmative action case The Supreme Court ruled Monday that lower courts did not apply a sufficiently tough level of scrutiny to the University of Texas’ use of race in admissions decisions, sending the case back to one of those lower courts to be reconsidered. More

3D map of human brain gives unprecedented detail. Researchers in Germany and Canada have produced a new map of the human brain — not the sort that shows every brain cell and its every connection or the kind that shows broad patterns of activity in brain regions, but a work of classic anatomy.... More

Facebook says technical flaw exposed 6 million users. Facebook has inadvertently exposed six million users’ phone numbers and e-mail addresses to unauthorized viewers over the last year, the company said late Friday, blaming the data leaks, which began in 2012, on a technical flaw More

California pushes for immigrant health care. LOS ANGELES — When Congress passed President Obama’s health care overhaul, a critical compromise provision was that immigrants living in the United States illegally would not be allowed access to publicly subsidized health insurance. More

Marijuana crops in California threaten forests and wildlife. ARCATA, Calif. — It took the death of a small, rare member of the weasel family to focus the attention of Northern California’s marijuana growers on the impact that their huge and expanding activities were having on the environment. More

F.A.A. to consider relaxing rules for devices on planes. A working group assigned by the Federal Aviation Administration to research the use of electronics on airplanes is expected to recommend relaxing the ban on portable devices during takeoff and landing. But the group has postponed its final.... More

20,000 foster kids adopted so far through website. WASHINGTON — Federal officials say 20,000 foster children have been adopted after being listed on a national website that links adoptive families with kids. The number is especially significant because the majority of those adopted were not.... More

Study links teen bullying to suicide factors in both bullies and victims. Bullies and their victims are both more likely to think about or attempt suicide, but whether they hurt themselves can depend on the support they think they have. The discovery comes from a new analysis by researchers at the University of.... More

HPV vaccine is credited in fall of teenagers' infection rate. The prevalence of dangerous strains of the human papillomavirus — the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States and a principal cause of cervical cancer — has dropped by half among teenage girls in recent years, a.... More

A homely rodent may hold cancer-fighting clues. The laboratory of Vera Gorbunova and Andrei Seluanov, a husband-and-wife team of biologists at the University of Rochester, has the feel of a petting zoo. They maintain colonies of several species of rodents — some familiar, like mice and.... More

Critical step for suit seeking payment for college athletes. In 2008, as big money poured into the coffers of college athletics, theN.C.A.A. faced a growing chorus of criticism that student-athletes were being exploited. But N.C.A.A. executives, in private communications, opposed any notion that.... More

Strategist out of the closet and into the fray, this time for gay marriage. As the Supreme Court considers overturning California’s ban on same-sex marriage, the case has already transformed one gay man: Ken Mehlman, the once-closeted Republican operative who orchestrated President George W. Bush’s 2004.... More

GOP-led house passes sweeping abortion restrictions. Republicans in the U.S. House passed sweeping new restrictions on late-term abortions Tuesday, a mostly symbolic initiative that served to re-ignite social and cultural tensions that divided the nation in the last presidential election. More

Board to vote on condoms in Boston schools. The Boston School Committee is set to vote Wednesday night on a new health policy that would make condoms available in the district’s high schools, bringing this city in line with New York and Los Angeles. More

AMA recognizes obesity as a disease. The American Medical Association has officially recognized obesity as a disease, a move that could induce physicians to pay more attention to the condition and spur more insurers to pay for treatments. In making the decision, delegates at.... More

Immigration law changes seen cutting billions from deficit. Congressional budget analysts, providing a positive economic assessment of proposed immigration law changes, said Tuesday that legislation to overhaul the nation’s immigration system would cut close to $1 trillion from the federal deficit.... More

Humanities committee sounds an alarm. A new national corps of “master teachers” trained in the humanities and social sciences and increased support for research in “endangered” liberal arts subjects are among the recommendations of a major report to be delivered on.... More

Boom of white collar prosecutions spilling from federal to district courts.... White-collar crimes are appearing more regularly in district courts, straining a court system historically unfamiliar with cases that have typically landed in federal court. More

GOP pushes new abortion limits to appease vocal base. After Republicans lost the presidential election and seats in both the House and the Senate last year, many in the party offered a stern admonishment: If we want to broaden our appeal, steer clear of divisive social and cultural issues. More

New York University gives its stars loans for summer homes. Follow one of Fire Island’s quaint footpaths away from the ferry dock, past modest cottages and better-appointed vacation homes, to an elegant modern beach house that extends across three lots. A composition in bold, unadorned planes, it has.... More

In embattled Detroit, no talk of shared pain. When New York City threatened to declare bankruptcy in 1975, the idea so terrified everyone that it forced the city, its workers and its recalcitrant bankers to sit down and find ways to share the pain. Now another large city, Detroit, appears.... More

Colleges from low-performing schools face tough college road. Johnathon Carrington grew up on the sixth floor of a low-income D.C. apartment complex, a building most recently in the news for a drive-by shooting that injured 13. His parents told him early on that education could be his escape, and.... More

Caffeine withdrawal is now a mental health disorder. Coffee is probably the most socially accepted drug in the Western world. Yes, it does intoxicate. The bitter brew that kick-starts so many early mornings and fuels so many drawn-out workdays causes withdrawal and cravings. More

Cheating ourselves of sleep. Think you do just fine on five or six hours of shut-eye? Chances are, you are among the many millions who unwittingly shortchange themselves on sleep. Research shows that most people require seven or eight hours of sleep to function optimally. More

Study finds supportive tilt to gay marriage coverage. News organizations are far more likely to present a supportive view of same-sex marriage than an antagonistic view, according to a content study by the Pew Research Center to be released on Monday. More

Choice of health plans to vary sharply from state to state. When a typical 40-year-old uninsured woman in Maine goes to the new state exchange to buy health insurance this fall, she may have just two companies to choose from: the one that already sells most individual policies in the state, and a.... More

Hockey star's death shows how easily patients can get pain pills. Three years before he died of a drug overdose, Derek Boogaard was punched in the mouth during a fight at a Wild game. And broke a tooth. Within days, Boogaard, the Wild’s 6-foot-7 enforcer, was bouncing from one team ­doctor to another.... More

Hockey star's death shows how easily patients can get pain pills. Three years before he died of a drug overdose, Derek Boogaard was punched in the mouth during a fight at a Wild game. And broke a tooth. Within days, Boogaard, the Wild’s 6-foot-7 enforcer, was bouncing from one team ­doctor to another seeking a steady stream of powerful painkillers. More

Radical fix for mortgage crisis. Community organizer Melvin Willis stood in front of 100 Richmond residents on Saturday and said: “Raise your hand if you’re underwater.” Almost every single person held their arm in the air. Richmond remains among the Bay Area cities most.... More

A different kind of fatherhood. I came out long before gay men yearned for weddings, much less baby showers. In 1979, when I was 22, New York offered young men like me many freedoms, including the freedom to not have to propagate. Like many other gay men — and like many.... More

Even pessimists feel optimistic about American economy. For more than a decade, the economy has failed to grow the way it once did. Unemployment has not stayed this high, this long, since the 1930s. But could the New Normal, as this long economic slog has been called, be growing old? More

Google to use balloons to provide free Internet access to remote or poor.... Google has a truly sky-high idea for connecting billions of people to the Internet — 12 miles in the air to be exact — through giant helium balloons circling the globe that are equipped to beam WiFi signals below. Google will announce.... More

Man finds father on Facebook. Celebrating Father's Day is still relatively new for Chris Truesdale and his son, Terrell Starr. Starr always knew that his father was out there somewhere, but Truesdale had no idea he had a son until he received a Facebook message back in.... More

Seeking exposé, students end up in handcuffs. When two student journalists fromPaw Prints, the newspaper of West Islip High School, set out to investigate school security, they thought they might do some good, maybe win the award for story of the year in the Long Island Press high school.... More

The unspoken stigma of workplace flexibility. Assume for a moment that your employer let you decide when and where you worked — you might arrive early so you could leave in time to care for a child, or work part of the week from home. Or perhaps you want to reduce your hours for a while.... More

To lure students, off-campus housing perks grow. COLUMBIA, Mo. — Brenden Heiland had breathed the vanilla lavender-scented clubhouse air. He had seen the beach volleyball court, toured the game room equipped with billiards, Ping-Pong and air hockey tables, and learned with delight of the.... More

Food, gasoline push up producer prices. Producer prices rose more than expected in May as gasoline and food prices rebounded, but underlying inflation pressures remained muted, which could argue against an early scaling back of monetary stimulus by the Federal Reserve. More

Many women in CIA still hit the glass ceiling. The announcement this week that a White House lawyer will become the first female deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency may seem to signal that women have finally arrived at the spy agency known since its inception in the 1940s for.... More

Smartphone makers pressed to address growing theft problem. Seeking to curb a nationwide increase in smartphone thefts, New York’s attorney general and San Francisco’s district attorney on Thursday announced an initiative to push the industry to develop technologies that will discourage theft and.... More

Obama's pen may shape scope of marriage ruling. A Supreme Court ruling this month that could overturn the ban on federal benefits for same-sex couples is presenting the Obama administration with a series of complicated and politically sensitive decisions: how aggressively to overhaul.... More

Private preschools to see more public funds. CHICAGO — The preschoolers who arrived at school early for free breakfast on a recent morning quietly ate granola bars and yogurt as middle school students recited part of the rosary over the public address system. More

Mother says Pennsylvania girl's lung transplant a success. A 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl with cystic fibrosis who only became eligible for an adult organ transplant because of a federal judge's order is out of surgery after a double-lung transplant on Wednesday and doing well, her mother said. More

Want more time off? Some employers let you buy it. Want more time off work to hang out at the beach? Need a little cash and have vacation days to spare? Some companies allow their workers to buy and sell vacation time, a perk that gives workers more flexibility in managing their time off. More

Family ties put media in a bind. It’s all but a journalistic commandment: Thou shalt not have a vested interest in the story you’re covering. Otherwise, a personal entanglement could color a reporter’s neutrality or cloud public perceptions of fairness. An obvious area.... More

More deaths than births for white Americans. Deaths exceeded births among non-Hispanic white Americans for the first time in at least a century, according to new census data, a benchmark that heralds profound demographic change. More

Data reveal a rise in college degrees among Americans. The number of Americans graduating from college has surged in recent years, sending the share with a college degree to a new high, federal data shows. More

EEOC accuses two companies of discrimination in hiring. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Tuesday accused two major companies of indirectly discriminating against African Americans by using criminal background checks to screen out workers. More

Poll: 3 out of 4 Americans oppose race-based college admissions. Americans overwhelmingly oppose race-based college admissions and support extending federal benefits to same-sex couples, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll that finds broad public agreement on issues awaiting Supreme Court.... More

How accurate are fitness monitors? Nate Meckes recognized that he needed to study the accuracy of activity monitors after wearing one. More

Voice-activated technology is called safety-risk for drivers. As concerns have intensified about driver distraction from electronic gadgets, automakers have increasingly introduced voice-activated systems that allow drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. But a new study says that.... More

What happens to women who are denied abortions? S. arrived alone at a Planned Parenthood in Richmond, Calif., four days before Christmas. As she filled out her paperwork, she looked at the women around her. Nearly all had someone with them; S. wondered if they also felt terrible about.... More

Going to college is worth it, even if you drop out. The economic case for college is simple: college graduates make more money. In fact, they make over $500,000 more over the course of their lifetimes, on average. That works out, as we’ve noted before, to among the best returns-on-investment.... More

Juice cleansing is a hit, but is it truly healthy? The thought of consuming nothing but the juice of green leafy vegetables for five days terrified Jamie Hickok, but she couldn’t ignore the promise of more energy, weight loss and a glowing complexion. More

Cancer patients abandoning their beds and hitting the gym. A growing body of evidence supports the idea that sweating is better than resting after cancer. The workouts both restore energy drained from cancer treatments and, in some cases, help prevent the disease’s return. More

The sippy cup 1% Much of the baby market is devoted to figuring out which preferences people will pay more for. And it seems as if the market now offers endless choices. At my last count, Amazon alone sold 2,417 different pacifiers, more than 1,000 car seats.... More

U.S. drops bid to limit sales of morning-after pill. The Obama administration has decided to stop trying to block over-the-counter availability of the best-known morning-after contraceptive pill for all women and girls, a move fraught with political repercussions for President Obama. More

Music service, mobile software, expected from Apple. Apple is expected to reveal a digital radio service and changes to the software behind iPhones and iPads on Monday as the company opens its annual conference for software developers. More

Mayo Clinic puts stem cells to the test on infant heart defect. ROCHESTER – Every year, about 1,000 babies are born in the United States with half a heart — a rare defect that requires a series of risky surgeries and, even then, leaves the infants with a strong likelihood that their hearts will wear.... More

Carbon dioxide emissions put planet on course for "disaster for all.... Global emissions of carbon dioxide from energy use rose 1.4 percent to 31.6 gigatons in 2012, setting a record and putting the planet on course for temperature increases well above international climate goals, the International Energy Agency.... More

Senate digs in for long battle on immigrants. After seven months of steadily building momentum, the push for a comprehensive overhaul of the immigration system enters its most crucial phase this week in the Senate, where Republicans remain divided over how much to cooperate.... More

Grouping students by ability regains favor in schools. It was once common for elementary-school teachers to arrange their classrooms by ability, placing the highest-achieving students in one cluster, the lowest in another. But ability grouping fell out of favor in the late 1980s and the 1990s. More

Google has more goodwill than Facebook or Apple, poll finds. Google beats out rivals Apple and Facebook when it comes to the all-important game of reputation, continuing its place on top of a Washington Post-ABC News poll measuring how respondents feel about some of the country’s top tech firms. More

Accidental landlords boost demand for property managers. Chris Wilcoxon and his wife weren’t in a good position to sell their house near Iowa City, Iowa, when they moved to Woodbury in 2011. Like many Americans whose home values have languished, they would have had to come up with thousands of.... More

Minnesota begins all-year efforts to fight flu. Twin Cities area hospitals and state health officials are responding to the deadliest flu outbreak in years by adopting new strategies to combat the virus and better protect the public. For the first time, some hospitals have started to monitor patients year-round for potential flu symptoms, rather.... More

Remember all those passwords? No need. “If you want to avoid having your identity stolen, use long passwords that contain digits, punctuation and no recognizable words. Make up a different password for every Web site. And change all of your passwords every 30 days.” More

Cleaning more than cobwebs. It turns out that Bhakti Sondra Shaye does windows. She also scours microwaves, refrigerators, dishwashers and closets. Ms. Shaye, 49, who has an M.F.A. in creative writing and practiced for years as a corporate lawyer, is no mere clutter.... More

Weight-loss surgery aids diabetics, U of MN study shows. Weight-loss surgery can dramatically improve the ability to control diabetes in mildly to moderately obese patients, according to a major study by University of Minnesota researchers. But the study also served as a reminder that the surgery.... More

How new 'phased retirement' for federal employees will work. With their pay frozen and reduced by furloughs and their credibility at times questioned, you’d think federal employees would dash for the door as soon as they were eligible to retire. Instead, many have pushed for a way to hang around the.... More

Sebelius asked companies to support health care law. Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, disclosed on Tuesday that she had made telephone calls to three companies regulated by her department and urged them to help a nonprofit group promote President Obama’s health.... More

Bill to alter Bush-era education law gives states more room. Renewing the effort to revise No Child Left Behind, the signature Bush-era federal education law, Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, introduced a new version on Tuesday that he said would “replace the failed tenets” of the law. More

Is barefoot style running best? New studies cast doubt. Barefoot-running enthusiasts long have believed that running without shoes or in minimalist footwear makes running easier, speedier and less injurious. But a surprisingly large number of new studies suggest that for many people, those.... More

Low-wage workers seek Obama's help. Federal contractors range from the wealthy to the barely paid. This week the Obama administration plans to ask Congress to amend the law so the government will not have to reimburse companies almost $1 million for the salaries of individual.... More

Baby boomers are killing themselves at an alarming rate, raising question:.... Last spring, Frank Turkaly tried to kill himself. A retiree in a Pittsburgh suburb living on disability checks, he was estranged from friends and family, mired in credit card debt and taking medication for depression, cholesterol, diabetes and.... More

Promising new cancer drugs empower the body's own defense system. CHICAGO — The early success of a new class of cancer drugs, revealed in test results released here over the last several days, has raised hope among the world’s top cancer specialists that they may be on the verge of an important.... More

Behind the rise in house prices, Wall Street buyers. The last time the housing market was this hot in Phoenix and Las Vegas, the buyers pushing up prices were mostly small time. Nowadays, they are big time — Wall Street big. Large investment firms have spent billions of dollars over the last.... More

Alternatives to scouts see rise in numbers. For more than a century, the Boy Scouts of America has had something of a monopoly on neckerchiefs, knot-tying, merit badges and all manner of backcountry skills for boys, treating snakebite and frostbite alike. More

Helping children play safely in sports. Millions of children participate in organized sports, activities that are important to their social and physical development. While sports also may place children at risk of injuries, most are preventable if participants, their parents and.... More

Simple vinegar test cuts cervical cancer rates in India. MUMBAI, INDIA – A simple vinegar test slashed cervical cancer death rates by one-third in a remarkable study of 150,000 women in the slums of India, where the disease is the top cancer killer of women. More

Chasing the storm, but hoping not to catch it. When Tim Samaras began chasing tornadoes more than two decades ago, he was one of a small, mostly anonymous group of scientists and thrill seekers armed with paper maps, weather radios and a sense of wonder. More

Women in the Senate confront the military on sex abuse. WASHINGTON — Senator Claire McCaskill wandered down the dais at the Senate Armed Services Committee’s first hearing of the year and noticed a startling tableau: women to the left, women to the right. More

Pressure grows to create drugs for 'superbugs.' Government officials, drug companies and medical experts, faced with outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs,” are pushing to speed up the approval of new antibiotics, a move that is raising safety concerns among some critics. More

Study: Majority of young women with breast cancer choose mastectomy. A majority of young women who have breast cancer opt to have a mastectomy rather than a more modest, but in many cases equally effective, procedure that spares much of the breast, according to new research to be presented Monday. More

Obama urges passing of new student loans bill. President Obama urged Congress on Friday to pass a new student-loan bill within the next month to prevent what he said would be a doubling of rates on government-subsidized loans for the nation’s college students. More

Report shows better outlook for Medicare. The financial outlook for Medicare has improved because of a stronger economy and slower growth in health spending, and the financial condition of Social Security has not worsened but is still unsustainable, the Obama administration said Friday. More

Naval Academy is shaken by student's report of rape by athletes. ANNAPOLIS, Md. — As midshipmen were graduating from the Naval Academy here last week, Navy investigators were conducting an investigation into reports that several football players had serially raped a female midshipman at an off-campus party.... More

Fired for being gay? Protections are piecemeal. Jake, a 43-year-old worker at an auto parts warehouse in Ohio, often spends his lunch break in his car. By eating alone, he doesn’t have to talk with co-workers about his weekend plans or worry about using the wrong pronoun that could reveal.... More

Consumer spending falls, inflation subdued. Consumer spending fell in April for the first time in almost a year and inflation pressures were subdued, pointing to a slowdown in economic activity, which should allow the Federal Reserve to maintain its monetary stimulus for a while. More

Largest Minnesota counties to make same-sex marriage license applications.... Next Thursday, same-sex couples in Minnesota can take the first legal step toward stomping the glass, jumping the broom and kissing the bride/groom. Marriage license applications for same-sex couples will be available for the first time when.... More

A lone voice raises alarms on lucrative diabetes drugs. LOS ANGELES — Dr. Peter C. Butler initially declined a request by the drug maker Merck to test whether its new diabetes drug, Januvia, could help stave off the disease in rats. “I said, I’m not interested in your money, go away,” Dr..... More

Self-driving cars for testing are supported by U.S. Companies from Silicon Valley to Detroit to Germany are developing cars that park, steer and even drive themselves. Now the federal agency for traffic safety has said it wants to come along for the ride. More

Universities show uneven efforts in enrolling poor. Opponents of race-based affirmative action in college admissions urge that colleges use a different tool to encourage diversity: giving a leg up to poor students. But many educators see real limits to how eager colleges are to enroll more poor.... More

The dramatically changing politics of marijuana. Over less than a decade, public opinion has shifted dramatically toward support for the legalization of marijuana. Sentiment in favor of legalization has increased by 20 points in just over a decade. More

Neuroscience pushes meditation into the mainstream. With doctors prescribing it and scientists swearing by it, you clearly don’t need to be a monk to meditate. Enthusiasts have even given it a new name. Goodbye, meditation – hello, “mindfulness.” More

Universities team with Coursera, online course provider. Coursera, the California company that offers free college classes online, is forming partnerships with 10 large public university systems and public flagship universities to create courses that students can take for credit, either fully online.... More

Joblessness, smoking shortens lifespan of least-educated white women,.... Researchers have known for some time that life expectancy is declining for the country’s least educated white women, but they have not been able to explain why. A new study has found that the two factors most strongly associated with higher.... More

For students, reading comprehension is a stumbling block. David Javsicas, a popular seventh-grade reading teacher known for urging students to act out dialogue in the books they read in class, sometimes feels wistful for the days when he taught math. A quiz, he recalls, could quickly determine which.... More

Defense workers begin getting furlough notices. The Department of Defense has begun delivering furlough notices to civilian employees, setting in motion a chain of actions that will result in hundreds of thousands of Defense workers losing time on their jobs. More

To help decrease dropout rate, 24 Virginia schools want to drop 3rd grade.... Two dozen Virginia elementary schools, including one in Alexandria, have applied for waivers from the state Board of Education to free schools from mandatory state testing requirements in science and social studies for third-graders so they.... More

Will the IRS be in charge of your health care? “Congressman Barrow’s Plan: Put the IRS in Charge of Your Healthcare. Fed Up?” — banner on “mobile billboards” launched this week by the National Republican Congressional Committee. More

Mothers now top earners in 4 of 10 U.S. homes. America's working mothers are now the primary breadwinners in a record 40 percent of households with children — a milestone in the changing face of modern families, up from just 11 percent in 1960. More

With money at risk, hospitals push staff to wash hands. At North Shore University Hospital on Long Island, motion sensors, like those used for burglar alarms, go off every time someone enters an intensive care room. The sensor triggers a video camera, which transmits its images halfway around the.... More

At school papers, the ink is drying up. The Clinton News, like newspapers everywhere, has struggled to adapt as print costs soared, and Facebook and Twitter became the media of choice among younger generations. The difference is that this is a high school newspaper, once the source.... More

New tools to hunt new viruses. A new flu, H7N9, has killed 36 people since it was first found in China two months ago. A new virus from the SARS family has killed 22 people since it was found on the Arabian Peninsula last summer. In past years, this might have been.... More

"Fat talk" compels, but carries a cost. Psychological researchers call it "fat talk,” the body-denigrating conversation between girls and women. It’s a bonding ritual they describe as “contagious,” aggravating poor body image and even setting the stage for eating disorders. More

Immigrant measure still backed by gays. WASHINGTON — Lawmakers supporting a bipartisan bill in the Senate to overhaul the immigration system faced a surge of outrage last week from gay rights advocates after a provision those groups supported was left off the legislation in.... More

Texas firm highlights struggle for black professionals, as racial.... As a partner and chief diversity officer at Thompson & Knight, Pauline Higgins was not afraid to press the issue of hiring minorities at the 126-year-old Texas law firm. But when she left in 2008, she was replaced by an associate with less.... More

Hobby Lobby Stores appeal tests limits of federal birth control coverage.... DENVER - In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. asked a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes.... More

Institute of Medicine: Kids need daily hour of physical activity, PE.... WASHINGTON - Reading, writing, arithmetic — and PE? The prestigious Institute of Medicine is recommending that schools provide opportunities for at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day for students and that PE become a core subject. More

California puts tentative price on health policies under new law. California, widely seen as a model for how individuals will buy health insurance under the new health care law, announced Thursday that 13 insurers had been chosen to sell policies through the insurance marketplace — or exchange — being.... More

Disability and discrimination at the doctor's office. In his 60s, overweight and in a wheelchair, the patient had been seeing doctors and nurses regularly for his diabetes. Only recently had they discovered a pressure sore after someone had finally, as he put it, “wanted to examine at my.... More

Boy Scouts end longtime ban on openly gay youths. GRAPEVINE, Tex. — The Boy Scouts of America on Thursday ended its longstanding policy of forbidding openly gay youths to participate in its activities, a step its chief executive called “compassionate, caring and kind.” More

Devout business owners resist providing employees with contraceptive.... CHICAGO — Religiously devout business owners are waging a broad rebellion against providing their employees with contraceptive coverage, bringing dozens of lawsuits that seem certain to land the issue before the Supreme Court. More

Poll: most back 'path to citizenship,' setting up tough choice for GOP.... Comprehensive immigration reform moves to the Senate floor next week with solid overall support from the public. But a bare majority of Republican voters oppose a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants. More

Older adults may have flu protection. Age has its privileges, and a new study suggests that one of them may be immunity to some flu pandemics. In ordinary seasonal flu, people over 65 are generally at higher risk for death. But in each of the 20th-century flu pandemics — the.... More

On eve of vote, boy scouts divided over accepting gay youths. GRAPEVINE, Tex. — Boy Scout leaders from around the country, engulfed in a culture war over homosexuality, gathered for a vote here Thursday on a landmark proposal that would permit openly gay youths — but not openly gay adult leaders —.... More

Though enrolling more poor students, two-year colleges get less of federal.... Community colleges have received a declining share of government spending on higher education over the last decade even as their student bodies have become poorer and more heavily African-American and Latino, according to a report to be.... More

Microsoft storms the living room with Xbox One. Microsoft is hitting the reset button on the Xbox, unveiling a new version of the console Tuesday that the company is aiming at rivals both old and new. Microsoft portrayed the third-generation Xbox as a device that could take a central.... More

Can inexpensive supplements delay dementia? A regimen of Vitamin B may be key to delaying Alzheimer's disease, researchers have shown in an encouraging new study. The study, published yesterday, argues that a healthy diet, regular exercise and consuming vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid.... More

Immigration overhaul wins panel's backing in the Senate. WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday approved a broad overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws on a bipartisan vote, sending the most significant immigration policy changes in decades to the full Senate, where the debate.... More

Can statins cut the benefit of exercise? An important new study suggests that statins, the cholesterol-lowering medications that are the most prescribed drugs in the world, may block some of the fitness benefits of exercise, one of the surest ways to improve health. More

When tornado comes, why no safe room to run to? The Web site for the City of Moore, Okla., recommends “that every residence have a storm safe room or an underground cellar.” It says below-ground shelters are the best protection against tornadoes. But no local ordinance or building code.... More

Regeneron, Sanofi asthma drug, seen as potential game changer. A new type of asthma drug meant to attack the underlying causes of the respiratory disease slashed episodes by 87 percent in a mid-stage trial, making it a potential game changer for patients with moderate to severe disease, researchers said on.... More

Medical mysteries: a clue to a girl's painful ailment goes overlooked. ‘Oh my God,” Leigh Partridge remembers thinking, her mind reeling as she tried to contemplate the unimaginable. “This cannot be happening again.” Doctors in the emergency room of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) had just.... More

No easy choices on breast reconstruction. By almost any measure, Roseann Valletti’s reconstructive breast surgery was a success. Although it was a protracted process, involving some pain and a nightmarish nipple replacement, she is pleased with how she looks. But she is uncomfortable.... More

A flashy bet for Yahoo on a shift in social media. Yahoo’s $1.1 billion proposed acquisition of Tumblr is a huge coup for the young founder of the even younger start-up and a splashy move by Marissa Mayer to shake up her company. More

Oklahoma tornado kills 91, including 20 children. MOORE, Okla. — Emergency crews and volunteers continued to work through the early morning hours Tuesday in a frantic search for survivors of a huge tornado that ripped through parts of Oklahoma City and its suburbs, killing at least 91 people.... More

Google's wearable glass gadget: cool or creepy? Google staged four discussions expounding on the finer points of its "Glass" wearable computer during this week's developer conference. Missing from the agenda, however, was a session on etiquette when using the recording-capable gadget, which.... More

CDC says 20% of U.S. children have mental health disorders. Up to one in five American youngsters — about 7 million to 12 million, by one estimate — experience a mental health disorder each year, according to a new report billed as the first comprehensive look at the mental health status of.... More

Behind the mortgage settlements from the housing crisis. Banks have paid less than half the $5.7 billion in cash owed to troubled homeowners under nearly 30 settlements brokered by the government since 2008, delaying help to the millions of victims of discrimination and shoddy lending that.... More

Public outrage over factory conditions spurs labor deal. STOCKHOLM — For a global retailer, it was the worst kind of publicity. Two weeks after the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh collapsed in one of the worst industrial disasters in history, a brash human-rights ad went viral. I More

Tech industry pushes to amend immigration bill The technology industry got much of what it wanted in a bill that overhauls federal immigration law. But in the give-and-take of political bargaining, the legislation emerged with some provisions the industry considers unappealing. Now its.... More

Public outrage over factory conditions spurs labor deal. STOCKHOLM — For a global retailer, it was the worst kind of publicity. Two weeks after the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh collapsed in one of the worst industrial disasters in history, a brash human-rights ad went viral. More

Shareholders press companies to disclose more about political spending. As regulators wrestle with whether to force companies to disclose more about their political spending, an increasing number of shareholders are taking matters into their own hands, thrusting the issue before boards of directors at companies.... More

Hospitals fight delirium with volunteer help. Paula Duncan saw how quickly it could happen with her father-in-law. When he was hospitalized with pneumonia at age 80, his personality changed. Almost overnight, he became aggressive and combative. As a hospital nurse, Duncan knew that older.... More

Abortion law in Arkansas is blocked by U.S. judge. A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked enforcement of one of the country’s most stringent abortion laws, an Arkansas ban on the procedure at the 12th week of pregnancy, saying the law was likely to be declared unconstitutional. More

Immigrant workers give new direction to Los Angeles unions. LOS ANGELES — As the head of the hotel workers’ union here in the 1990s, Maria Elena Durazo negotiated a contract with provisions rarely seen by labor unions: The jobs of workers who were deported or lost authorization to work in the United.... More

Gay marriage signed into law in France. PARIS — French President Francois Hollande has signed into law a bill allowing same-sex marriage, making France the 14th country to legalize gay weddings. France's official journal announced on Saturday the bill had become law after the.... More

Feds call for better childcare safety rules. WASHINGTON – Federal health officials issued broad new standards Thursday to improve safety in the nation’s child-care facilities, triggered in part by news accounts of day-care deaths in Minnesota, Missouri and other states. More

Camp means community service for many young people. NEW YORK — At 14, Tyler Cohen had never been out of the country or traveled without his Long Island family when he found himself in Costa Rica on a monthlong service trip for teens. There, he worked on a coffee plantation, made signs for a.... More

May consumer sentiment rises to highest in nearly six years. Consumer sentiment rebounded in early May to the highest level in nearly six years as Americans felt better about their financial and economic prospects, particularly among upper-income households, a survey released on Friday showed. More

Steve Job's widow debuts on philanthropic stage. Marlene Castro knew the tall blonde woman only as Laurene, her mentor. They met every few weeks in a rough Silicon Valley neighborhood the year that Ms. Castro was applying to college, and they e-mailed often, bonding over conversations about.... More

New Jersey hospital is nation's costliest. BAYONNE, N.J. — The most expensive hospital in America is not set amid the swaying palm trees of Beverly Hills or the luxury townhouses of New York’s Upper East Side. It is in a faded blue-collar town 11 miles from Midtown Manhattan. More

Cloning is used to create embryonic stem cells. Scientists have finally succeeded in using cloning to create human embryonic stem cells, a step toward developing replacement tissue to treat diseases but one that might also hasten the day when it will be possible to create cloned babies. More

Flu in pregnancy is linked to bipolar disorder. Flu infection during pregnancy may increase the risk for bipolar disorder in the child, according to a new report. Previous studies have found an association between flu infection and schizophrenia, but this one, published online in JAMA.... More

A team approach to college readiness. When Parker Sheffy, a first-year teacher in the Bronx Leadership Academy II, a high school in the South Bronx, talks shop with friends who are also new teachers, he often hears about the problems they are facing: students not showing up to.... More

Seeking calm on the cancer ward. When people choose to have their leukemia treated aggressively, it’s a big commitment, more so than for almost any other cancer. With this therapy we offer them the chance to be cured of a disease moving like wildfire with a stiff breeze.... More

Baffling rise in suicides plagues the U.S. military. After Specialist Freddy Hook, a medic with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, killed himself in 2010, the trail of possible causes seemed long. He had used illegal drugs: Was it the demons of addiction? His rocky relationship with his.... More

Chicago group protests childcare cuts. At a demonstration against child care cuts in Pilsen (a Chicago suburb) Tuesday, there were more kids than adults. The kids yelled “we need childcare” and tried to stay still while adults representing Chicago community groups spoke out in.... More

Doodling helps people concentrate when learning. The doodle. We’ve all done it, whether during a classroom lecture or a meeting at work. At first glance, it’s a trivial waste of time. But upon closer examination, those squiggles, drawings of animals or tiny sketches of the boss in a.... More

In Minnesota Senate, record 17-hour debate yields victory for care workers.... An all-night, 17-hour debate prompted by furious GOP opposition ended with a victory for unions seeking to organize care-workers on Wednesday. The Senate, which began debating the unionization bill at 3 p.m. Tuesday, approved the bill on a.... More

Google's Larry Page enlists Harvard to fight his vocal cord issues. Google CEO Larry Page has long suffered from weakened vocal cords, due to problems with the nerves that control them. Doctors still have not found a cause — a common occurrence with such a condition — for either of his two weakened vocal.... More

Carbon dioxide levels hit record high. Carbon dioxide, the gas inmplicated in the rise in global temperatures, has reached a milestone. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surpassed 400 parts per.... More

Minnesota becomes 12th state to legalize gay marriage. Amid roaring chants from supporters and tears from opponents, the state Senate took a historic, final step Monday to legalize same-sex marriage in Minnesota. The 37-30 vote came after a failed, last-ditch attempt by opponents to scuttle the.... More

To help solve challenging cardiac problems, doctors at Children's press.... It may sound like something out of science fiction, but doctors at Children’s National Medical Center are making hearts. Not actual hearts, but three- dimensional synthetic models churned out by what looks like an ordinary printer. More

Angelina Jolie and breast cancer MY MOTHER fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving.... More

Young Americans lead trend to less driving. CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Dan Mauney keeps misplacing his car. Mr. Mauney, 42, lives in an apartment tower in this city’s Uptown neighborhood, a pedestrian-friendly quarter with new office buildings, sparkling museums and ambitious restaurants. He.... More

Green card lottery, a ticket to hope for many, could be eliminated. In the contentious debate over immigration policy, three groups have dominated public and political attention: the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants seeking to become legal, the skilled foreign workers bound for high-tech jobs and.... More

The new retirement gap is blue- and white-collar. Ken Bueckers loved being a pipe fitter. It took him to the tops of tall buildings and to furnaces below. He yanked valves open and wrestled pipe into crawl spaces. In a perfect world he would still be doing that. He’s 69, but he has a clear.... More

As U.S. workers change, buildings must adapt. Americans seem to work more than ever these days, but they’re not necessarily tethered to the office. Which begs the question: What will future office buildings look like? And how will they address the changing demographics of the workplace.... More

Economix: the care and feeding of small business. As a growing number of small business organizations pursue a policy agenda distinct from that of corporate America, they may be able to nudge state and local government toward new economic development strategies. More

Seeking clues to heart disease in the DNA of an unlucky family. Early heart disease ran in Rick Del Sontro’s family, and every time he went for a run, he was scared his heart would betray him. So he did all he could to improve his odds. He kept himself lean, stayed away from red meat, spurned cigarettes.... More

Hidden threats to young athletes. In February, hundreds of youth sports safety advocates convened at a Washington hotel. They were determined to talk about something other than concussions, a counterintuitive ambition considering the rampant worry about the effects of head.... More

On a college wait list? Sending cookies won't help. When Amanda Wolfbauer, a high school senior, received the admissions verdict from Hamilton College, in Clinton, N.Y., she posted on Twitter, “What does one do once they’re on a college waitlist? #frustrated #worsethanrejection.” More

The long shadow of bad credit in a job search. THE first couple of times Alfred J. Carpenter was turned down for a job, he didn’t know what to think. He been laid off early in the recession and then had the bad fortune of tearing tendons in his knee just when he didn’t have health.... More

Obama calls on Congress to help more homeowners. President Barack Obama says Congress must give more homeowners the chance to refinance their mortgages to save money. Obama says more than 2 million people are saving about $3,000 a year after restructuring their loans under his administration.... More

Union notice rule loses in appeals court. In another blow to the nation’s dwindling labor unions, an appeals court this week struck down a federal rule that would have required millions of businesses to put up posters informing workers of their right to form a union. More

Boston survivors begin next phase of their recovery. Paul Norden needs a break. He is winded, sweating heavily after a stint on a stationary bicycle and the slow walk to a padded treatment table. It is hard work for Norden, who lost his right leg that Monday afternoon in April. “I used to say,.... More

Budget denied, Sebelius turns to health execs to finance Obamacare. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has gone, hat in hand, to health industry officials, asking them to make large financial donations to help with the effort to implement President Obama’s landmark health-care law, two.... More

Why federal efforts to ensure clean tap water fail to reach faucets.... Laura Garcia was halfway through the breakfast dishes when the spigot went dry. Still, as annoying as that was, it was an improvement over the days before Ms. Garcia got her water filter, when she had to do her dishes using water from.... More

In historic vote, Minnesota House approves gay marriage bill. With cheers and protests thundering through the Capitol, the Minnesota House on Thursday took a historic step toward legalizing same-sex marriage. The bill passed 75-59 with resounding DFL support and the votes of four Republicans. The measure.... More

Fast-food workers in Detroit join a growing wave of walkouts over wages. Hundreds of fast-food workers in Detroit are poised to walk off their jobs on Friday, joining a growing wave of protest against the wages paid in one of the most rapidly growing segment of the nation’s labor market. More

As Latinos make gains in education, gaps remain. After lagging behind other Americans in education for generations, Latinos have significantly narrowed the gap, and last year they passed a milestone, with new Hispanic high school graduates more likely than their white counterparts to go.... More

Bills would prevent rise in student loan rates. Congress now has an array of legislative options to prevent the interest rate on student loans from doubling to 6.8 percent on July 1, as scheduled. With student loans topping $1.1 trillion — and held by one in five American households —.... More

Owning a dog is linked to reduced heart risk. The nation’s largest cardiovascular health organization has a new message for Americans: Owning a dog may protect you from heart disease. The unusual message was published on Thursday by the American Heart Association, which convened a panel.... More

Three kidnapped Ohio women endured decade of isolation, rape, beatings. An ex-school bus driver accused in the abduction ordeal of three young Ohio women was due in court on Thursday to face charges he kidnapped and raped the victims, who authorities said were held captive in the dungeon-like confines of his house.... More

Jobless claims fall to lowest level in almost five-and-a-half years. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to its lowest level in nearly 5-1/2 years last week, signaling labor market resilience in the face of fiscal austerity. More

Economists see deficit emphasis as impeding recovery. The nation’s unemployment rate would probably be nearly a point lower, roughly 6.5 percent, and economic growth almost two points higher this year if Washington had not cut spending and raised taxes as it has since 2011, according to.... More

More errors in checks meant to aid homeowners. Three weeks after checks sent to homeowners as compensation for foreclosure abuses were rejected for insufficient funds, the consulting firm at the center of the mishap erred again: a fresh round of checks was written for the wrong amounts. More

It's lunchtime; let's dance. When lunchtime comes around, Laurie Batista often grabs a salad near the Flatiron ad agency where she works as an executive assistant and eats it at her desk. But shortly after noon on a sunny, 65-degree Friday in April, Ms. Batista, 31,.... More

Setting work boundaries can increase happiness. Creating good work boundaries helps protect you and increases your happiness at work. However, most employees have difficulty defining what a boundary is and how to set one. A boundary can be a physical or emotional parameter that you set.... More

Many part-timers to lose pay amid health act's new math. Many part-timers are facing a double whammy from President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The law requires large employers offering health insurance to include part-time employees working 30 hours a week or more. But rather than provide health.... More

No easy path to slimness, patients say of weight-loss procedure. The standard knock on weight-loss surgery is that it amounts to taking the easy way out. But people interviewed on Tuesday who have had the same type of surgery as Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey say it is not so. More

In California, push for college diversity starts earlier. As the Supreme Court weighs a case that could decide the future of affirmative action in college admissions, California offers one glimpse of a future without it. California was one of the first states to abolish affirmative action, after.... More

Hospital billing varies wildly, government data shows. A hospital in Livingston, N.J., charged $70,712 on average to implant a pacemaker, while a hospital in nearby Rahway, N.J., charged $101,945. In Saint Augustine, Fla., one hospital typically billed nearly $40,000 to remove a gallbladder using.... More

Teacher pay hurt by recession, report says. During the recession and its aftermath, public schools took a hit as both state coffers and local property taxes shriveled. That showed up in shrinking employment, but also in teacher salaries. More

Obstacles for pregnant women seeking dental care. In pain because of infected teeth, Luatany Caseres, 34, then a factory worker in Durham, N.C., was desperate to see a dentist. At an emergency dental clinic that treats the uninsured, a receptionist told Ms. Caseres that the schedule was full..... More

Changing sex, and changing teams. LOS ANGELES — Not so long ago, Toni Bias dreamed of playing in the W.N.B.A. But after starring on the girls’ junior varsity basketball team as a high school freshman, Toni came out as transgender last summer, began going by the name Tony.... More

A whistle, a punch and a soccer referee is dead. A little more than a week after a 17-year-old soccer player punched a recreation-league referee in the head in suburban Salt Lake City, the referee is dead, the player faces charges, and youth sports are left with questions about the seeming.... More

Workers claim race bias as farms rely on immigrants. VIDALIA, Ga. — For years, labor unions and immigrant rights activists have accused large-scale farmers, like those harvesting sweet Vidalia onions here this month, of exploiting Mexican guest workers. Working for hours on end under a.... More

Motor vehicle crashes: a little-known risk to returning combat veterans. For men and women who have fought in the country’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, death behind the wheel is becoming another lethal aftereffect of combat. After they leave military service, veterans of the two wars have a 75 percent higher.... More

Sucking your child's pacifier clean may have benefits. For years, health officials have told parents not to share utensils with their babies or clean their pacifiers by putting them in their mouths, arguing that the practice spreads harmful germs between parent and child. But new research may turn.... More

A new way to care for young brains. The drumbeat of alarming stories linking concussions among football players and other athletes to brain disease has led to a new and mushrooming American phenomenon: the specialized youth sports concussion clinic, which one day may be as common.... More

Stories of struggle and creativity, as sequestration cuts hit home. Facing the task of cutting 142 children from the Head Start program in Colorado Springs this fall, the teachers and administrators came up with a creative response: Have the children decorate empty chairs, then sell them for $500 apiece to.... More

A musical message for children on healthy eating. For all her talent and determination to help children eat better, Michelle Obama could still pick up a few pointers from Helen Butleroff-Leahy, a 66-year-old former Rockette turned registered dietitian.  Ms. Butleroff-Leahy devotes her time.... More

Report: Graduates of for-profits have more debt. Students who graduate from Minnesota for-profit colleges are saddled with more debt than those who attended public or nonprofit schools. Nine of 10 students who earned a four-year degree in 2010 from a for-profit school left with student loan.... More

Most women back over-the-counter birth control. Close to two-thirds of women favor making contraceptive pills available over the counter, according to a new nationally-representative survey. In addition, about 30 percent of women using either no birth control or a less effective method -.... More

Unemployment report shows rates looking up for veterans. The report on the nation's unemployment rate contained some good news for veterans. For all veterans, the jobless rate in April was 6.2 percent, significantly lower than the general population’s and less than the 7.1 percent of veterans who.... More

Cyberparenting and the risk of T.M.I. It may be a timeless curse of parenthood to know simultaneously too much about one’s teenager and yet never access the information one actually wants. But the unruly morass of today’s social media and cellphone-infested landscape seems to.... More

College graduates fare well in jobs market, even through recession. Is college worth it? Given the growing price tag and the frequent anecdotes about jobless graduates stuck in their parents’ basements, many have started to question the value of a college degree. But the evidence suggests college graduates.... More

Mayo Clinic study explains post-menopausal belly fat. Weight was never a concern for Stephanie Brondani, 52, of Minnetonka. Until last year, when she hit menopause. Suddenly, she noticed her midsection thickening. “I think everybody feels [like], ‘I’m eating the same way I always have been.... More

Rhode Island now 10th state to allow gay marriage as hundreds cheer. Rhode Island has become the nation's 10th state to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed, after a 16-year effort to extend marriage rights in this heavily Roman Catholic state. Gays, lesbians, their friends and families erupted into cheers.... More

12 countries where the government regulates what you can name your child. New Zealand released an updated list of its legally forbidden baby names this week, sparking some controversy among people who apparently think “4real” and “Lucifer” should not be banned, or maybe just that the state shouldn’t be in.... More

Suicide rates rise sharply in U.S. Suicide rates among middle-aged Americans have risen sharply in the past decade, prompting concern that a generation of baby boomers who have faced years of economic worry and easy access to prescription painkillers may be particularly.... More

U.S. added 165,000 jobs in April. The United States economy created 165,000 jobs in April, slightly more than forecasters had estimated, pushing the unemployment rate down modestly to 7.5 percent, the government reported Friday. More

Food and skin allergies increase in children, survey shows; health.... Parents are reporting more skin and food allergies in their children, a big government survey found. Experts aren’t sure what’s behind the increase. Could it be that children are growing up in households so clean that it leaves them more.... More

Warren Buffett calls for men to boost women in business. The key to America's future success lies in helping women achieve as much as their male counterparts, billionaire investor Warren Buffett said in an essay published on Thursday that echoes a recent debate about gender roles in Corporate.... More

Jobless claims fall sharply to five-year low. The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell sharply last week to its lowest level since the early days of the 2007-09 recession, suggesting the job market is still healing despite weakness in the broader economy. More

Cancers share gene patterns, studies affirm. Scientists have discovered that the most dangerous cancer of the uterine lining closely resembles the worst ovarian and breast cancers, providing the most telling evidence yet that cancer will increasingly be seen as a disease defined.... More

Cellphone thefts grow, but the industry looks the other way. When a teenage boy snatched the iPhone out of Rose Cha’s hand at a bus stop in the Bronx in March, she reported the theft to her carrier and to the police — just as she had done two other times when she was the victim of cellphone theft..... More

U.S. to defend age limits on morning-after pills. The Obama administration moved Wednesday to keep girls under 15 from having over-the-counter access to morning-after pills, as the Justice Department filed a notice to appeal a judge’s order that would make the drug available without a.... More

Drug agency lowers age for next-day birth control. The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it would make the most widely known morning-after pill available without a prescription to girls and women ages 15 and older, and also make the pill available on drugstore shelves, instead of.... More

The problem of breast pain in women who exercise. In the days before the London Marathon last year, scientists from the Research Group in Breast Health at the University of Portsmouth in England approached female racers at the event’s registration center and asked them to complete an.... More

Craving wi-fi, preferably free and really fast. TRAVELERS hitting the road with their mobile electronic devices have three questions about staying connected away from home: will there be Wi-Fi, how much will it cost and how well will it work? More

Push to include gay couples in immigration bill. This has been a good year for gay rights advocates — with public opinion shifting in their favor and same-sex marriage advancing in the states — but not when it comes to immigration. More

Colleges tackle illicit use of attention-deficit drugs. FRESNO, Calif. — Lisa Beach endured two months of testing and paperwork before the student health office at her college approved a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Then, to get a prescription for Vyvanse, a standard.... More

Study: no shortage of STEM graduates after all. If there’s one thing that everyone can agree on in Washington, it’s that the country has a woeful shortage of workers trained in science, technology, engineering and math — what’s referred to as STEM. But a new study finds that the.... More

Next big challenge for health law: carrying it out. WASHINGTON — This month, a political organization aligned with House Republicans sent an e-mail to reporters attacking President Obama’s health care law. “Young adults on parents’ plan pay more,” said the organization, the YG.... More

European unemployment sets another record PARIS — The euro zone jobless rate rose to a record 12.1 percent in March, a sharp reminder that unemployment remains among the region’s biggest problems. More

Groundbreaking surgery gives girl a windpipe. PEORIA, Ill. — Using plastic fibers and human cells, doctors have built and implanted a windpipe in a 2 ½-year-old girl — the youngest person ever to receive a bioengineered organ. More

Colleges adapt online courses to ease students' burden. SAN JOSE, Calif. — Dazzled by the potential of free online college classes, educators are now turning to the gritty task of harnessing online materials to meet the toughest challenges in American higher education: giving more students access.... More

Disabled students face dangerous discipline in Minnesota. A 10-year-old autistic boy was pinned to the floor and held facedown for 57 minutes by three staff members at his school after he threw a tantrum while working on a puzzle in his special education classroom. Another boy with autism who caused.... More

White apathy, energized black voters, doomed Romney in 2012. America's blacks voted at a higher rate than other minority groups in 2012 and by most measures surpassed the white turnout for the first time, reflecting a deeply polarized presidential election in which blacks strongly supported Barack Obama.... More

The navigator: Finding the best possible flight experience. If you fly, chances are you have a story to tell about an uncomfortable airline seat. Vicki Morwitz does. Hers involves a long-haul plane trip, a minuscule economy-class enclosure and a circuitous routing that deposited her at her destination.... More

Austerity is hurting our health, say researchers. Austerity is having a devastating effect on health in Europe and North America, driving suicide, depression and infectious diseases and reducing access to medicines and care, researchers said on Monday. More

Consumer spending up, inflation pressures muted. Consumer spending unexpectedly rose in March as benign inflation supported household's spending power, a hopeful sign for an economy that lost significant momentum towards the end of the first quarter. More

D.C. cycling boom prompts a wave of non-pedaling adults to sign up for.... When they were kids, they could only watch as their friends pedaled off. In college, they saw other students go ten-speeding around campus. As grown-up Washingtonians, increasingly surrounded by bike lanes, bike commuters and bike-share.... More

GOP moves away from entitlements and toward tax reform in budget deal. With another fight over the national debt brewing this summer, congressional Republicans are de-emphasizing their demand for politically painful cuts to retirement programs and focusing on a more popular prize: a thorough rewrite of the U.S..... More

Retirees feel squeeze from pension loans To retirees, the offers can sound like the answer to every money worry: convert tomorrow’s pension checks into today’s hard cash. But these offers, known as pension advances, are having devastating financial consequences for a growing.... More

Immigrants pay lower fees to send money home, helping to ease poverty. The first time Carmen Gonzalez sent money back to her family inMexico, in 1991, Western Union charged her a $12 fee to wire $100. She earned that $12 working for six hours in a clothing factory in midtown Manhattan, which paid her $2 an hour. More

In the season of marriage, a question: why bother? IT’S surprising how many people still marry. As everyone knows, it’s a risky proposition; the divorce rate, though down from its peak of one in two marriages in the early 1980s, remains substantial. Besides, you can have a perfectly.... More

For 'professional princesses,' birthday-party gigs are big business. On a sunny Sunday afternoon, Cinderella was on the phone with her next client. “Are you ready? Everybody there? Okay, here I come.” The princess put away her cellphone, gave her crown a final tweak and climbed out of her Kia, ready to rock.... More

Internet sales tax coming too late for some stores. Anita Demetropoulos, a Maine shopkeeper, figured she would never see the day when her most relentless competitor, Amazon, would be forced to collect sales tax. Now that Congress seems ready to do that, she is no longer sure it matters. More

Pushing the G.O.P. to support gay rights. When the Rhode Island State Senate tallied up the votes against a same-sex marriage bill passed there on Wednesday, something was missing: Republicans. All five of the chamber’s Republican lawmakers had voted for the bill, stunning.... More

Bound for U.S., migrants flow into Mexico. CIUDAD HIDALGO, Mexico — With her leg snapped and folded excruciatingly over her shoulder, Elvira López Hernández lay flat on a railroad bed as the freight train hurtled above her, clinging tightly to two things: the railroad ties beneath.... More

A racial divide closes as students step up. ABBEVILLE, Ga. — Mareshia Rucker watched in frustration last weekend as several dozen classmates in tuxedos and gowns walked into an Art Deco theater for her high school’s “white prom.” Like all black students at Wilcox County High.... More

U.S. tourists swim for nearly 14 hours after boat sinks near St. Lucia. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The fishing trip off the rugged north coast of St. Lucia was supposed to last all day, but about four hours into the journey, the boat's electric system crackled and popped.  Dan Suski, a 30-year-old business owner and.... More

Flooding shows safe deposit boxes not entirely safe. After flooding filled the basement vault of a Northfield bank, William Hielscher arrived to inventory the contents of his mother's safe-deposit box — one of a few hundred that had been exposed to floodwaters several days earlier. More

Senate passes bill to end air traffic control furloughs. The Senate moved quickly late on Thursday to end air traffic controller furloughs that were causing widespread airline flight delays related to last month's automatic federal spending cuts. More

Obesity tied to prostate cancer risk. A new study adds to evidence that obese men may have an increased risk for future prostate cancer. Researchers studied biopsies of 6,692 cancer-free men, 11 percent of whom had precancerous lesions. More

U.S. economy speeds up, but less than forecast. The American economy sped up in the first quarter of this year, with output expanding at an annual pace of 2.5 percent, according to a Commerce Department report released Friday. The number was lower than the 3 percent forecasters had been.... More

Senators quietly seeking new path on gun control. Talks to revive gun control legislation are quietly under way on Capitol Hill as a bipartisan group of senators seeks a way to bridge the differences that led to last week’s collapse of the most serious effort to overhaul the country’s gun.... More

Pressured by Senate Democrats, White House says it's open to fix on FAA.... Under growing pressure, the Obama administration signaled Wednesday it might accept legislation eliminating Federal Aviation Administration furloughs blamed for lengthy delays affecting airline passengers, while leaving the rest of $85 billion.... More

Study: there may not be a shortage of science and tech workers after all. If there’s one thing that everyone can agree on in Washington, it’s that the country has a woeful shortage of workers trained in science, technology, engineering and math — what’s referred to as STEM. More

Eggs, too, may provoke bacteria to raise heart risk. For the second time in a matter of weeks, a group of researchers reported a link between the food people eat and bacteria in the intestines that can increase the risk of heart attacks. Two weeks ago, the investigators reported that carnitine,.... More

Study ties autism risk to creases in placenta. After most pregnancies, the placenta is thrown out, having done its job of nourishing and supporting the developing baby. But a new study raises the possibility that analyzing the placenta after birth may provide clues to a child’s risk for.... More

Our feel-good war on breast cancer. I used to believe that a mammogram saved my life. I even wrote that in the pages of this magazine. It was 1996, and I had just turned 35 when my doctor sent me for an initial screening — a relatively common practice at the time — that would.... More

Durable goods orders fall broadly as factories cool. Orders for long-lasting manufactured goods recorded their biggest drop in seven months in March and a gauge of planned business spending rose modestly, adding to signs of a slowdown in factory activity. More

College ends free tuition - and an era. The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, which is one of the last tuition-free colleges in the country but has been under severe financial strain, announced on Tuesday that for the first time in more than a century it will.... More

Do we have to cool down after exercise? Do you often, if guiltily, skip cooling down after exercise? A small but soothing body of new research suggests that you aren’t missing out on much. More

Gay marriage measure advances in Rhode Island. Rhode Island took a step on Tuesday toward becoming the 10th state to approve same-sex marriage when a major legislative committee forwarded a marriage bill to the State Senate. By a vote of 7 to 4, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a.... More

A health provider finds success in keeping hospital beds empty. CHICAGO — On a stormy evening this spring, nurses at Dr. Gary Stuck’s family practice were on the phone with patients with heart ailments, asking them not to shovel snow. The idea was to keep them out of the hospital, and that effort —.... More

Furloughs affect air travel; flights fall behind again. Early-morning flights were falling behind schedule for the second straight day Tuesday at two of New York’s three big airports, signaling that the nation’s aviation system is likely to remain snarled as the furlough of air-traffic.... More

Analysis of Obama budget shows most Americans would pay more taxes. President Obama’s budget would raise taxes mainly on people earning more than $200,000 a year, although earners at nearly every income level would face a somewhat higher tax burden, according to a new nonpartisan analysis. More

How therapy can help in the golden years. Marvin Tolkin was 83 when he decided that the unexamined life wasn’t worth living. Until then, it had never occurred to him that there might be emotional “issues” he wanted to explore with a counselor. More

Protests grow in France over same-sex marriage bill. PARIS — On Tuesday afternoon, France is expected to become the 14th country to legalize marriage for all couples, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. The final vote in the legislature is expected to be quick. More

In New York, adult daycare centers lure fit elders and bill Medicare. Scores of elderly Russian immigrants played bingo under the chandeliers of a former funeral parlor in Brooklyn on a recent Monday, with a free dinner and door-to-door transportation from anywhere in the city. More

Ahead of reform, medical care slowdown hits companies. As the clock ticks down to the start of a U.S. healthcare overhaul, companies from device makers to hospital chains have been surprised to see Americans make even fewer trips to the doctor's office. More

Wall Street betting billions on single-family homes in distressed areas. MIAMI — Big investors are pouring unprecedented amounts of money into real estate hard hit by the housing crash, bringing those moribund markets back to life but raising the prospect of another Wall Street-fueled bubble that won’t be.... More

Cancer centers are racing to map their patients' genes. Electric fans growl like airplanes taking off and banks of green lights wink in a basement at Mount Sinai’s medical school, where a new $3 million supercomputer makes quick work of huge amounts of genetic and other biological information. More

Restyled as real estate trusts, varied businesses avoid taxes. A small but growing number of American corporations, operating in businesses as diverse as private prisons, billboards and casinos, are making an aggressive move to reduce — or even eliminate — their federal tax bills. More

Beleaguered caregivers getting help from apps. As her mother and father edged toward dementia, Nancy D'Auria kept a piece of paper in her wallet listing their medications. It had the dosages, the time of day each should be taken and a check mark when her folks, who live 10 miles away,.... More

Advocates defend tax initiatives for retirement savings. As federal policymakers search for ways to trim the nation’s long-term deficit, they are increasingly eyeing a piece of the estimated $136 billion in tax incentives for retirement savings. The vast majority of this sum goes toward.... More

Immigration reform promising for farm workers. California farm worker Antonia Espinoza would likely be throwing in the towel and heading back to her native Mexico to see her children, if not for the work of eight U.S. senators in Washington. More

Companies substitute tangibles, like cheese, for investments. As companies struggle to close the gaps between what they owe to their pension funds and what they think they can pay, they are in some cases turning to unusual assets that they hope will make up part of the difference. More

Measuring college prestige vs. cost of enrollment. Having a choice is generally a good thing, and being able to choose among several college acceptances should be a wonderful thing indeed. But let’s face it: the cost of a college education these days ranges from expensive to obscenely.... More

Part-time work becomes full-time wait for better job. The American economy has generated 30 straight months of job growth. But for millions of people looking for more work and greater income, that improvement provides little solace. In March, 7.6 million Americans who want more hours were stuck.... More

How the ban on earmarks killed the gun control bill. Washington used to be a place where lawmakers openly traded votes for both concrete and symbolic concessions from the executive branch, whether it was a project in a member’s district or simply the president’s presence at a specific event..... More

Activists cheer as Montana formally decriminalizes gay sex. Montana's governor on Thursday signed into law a bill that formally decriminalizes homosexual sex, a move gay rights activists in the state called a watershed moment in their battle for equality. More

Despite friction, University chancellor sees his plan succeeding. Looking to lift the University of Texas System out of a roiling debate over higher education reform in 2011, its chancellor, Francisco G. Cigarroa, sat down with a small group of advisers for nearly two days to shape a plan to move the system.... More

Two more colleges accused of mishandling sexual assaults. Swarthmore and Occidental Colleges on Thursday joined the list of elite institutions accused of mistreating victims of sexual assault and harassment, and activists say they are preparing similar accusations against other well-known colleges. More

Non-invasive cancer test is effective, study finds. A new noninvasive screening test can detect most cases of colorectal cancer and also many precancerous polyps, potentially helping to sharply reduce the death toll from the disease, according to results of a study released on Thursday. More

High Court limits warrantless blood tests for drunken driving suspects. Police officers generally must try to get a warrant before forcing uncooperative drunken-driving suspects to submit to a blood test, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. More

Teen 'sexting' case goes to trial in Fairfax County. Three Fairfax County high school students made cellphone videos of drunken sex acts with fellow teens and shared them among themselves, authorities said. When they go on trial Thursday, they face a charge usually reserved for adult predators:.... More

More college applicants aren't welcome till winter. Elizabeth Bricker of Rumson, N.J., was still half-asleep when her mother came into her room two weeks ago carrying an envelope from the University of Southern California. Even through the haze of spring break, she could see that the envelope.... More

Videos said to show clear images of two bombing suspects. As Boston prepared to mourn the victims of the marathon bombings at an interfaith service with President Obama on Thursday morning, investigators had found clear video images of two separate suspects carrying black bags at the site of each.... More

Gun control effort had no real chance, despite pleas. President Obama, his face set with rage, stood in the Rose Garden surrounded by the families of Newtown and former Representative Gabrielle Giffords and asked how a measure to expand background checks for gun buyers — one supported by an.... More

Why we're motivated to exercise. Or not. If you give a rat a running wheel and it decides not to use it, are genes to blame? And if so, what does that tell us about why many people skip exercise? More

Surgeons saved lives, if not legs, after blasts. So many patients arrived at once, with variations of the same gruesome leg injuries. Shattered bones, shredded tissue, nails burrowed deep beneath the flesh. The decision had to be made, over and over, with little time to deliberate. Should.... More

Senate sets crucial votes on gun measures, some expanding rights. The Senate will vote Wednesday afternoon on a series of gun measures that may determine the shape of legislation inspired by the shootings in Newtown, Conn. A measure to expand background checks for gun buyers, seemed all but doomed. More

Rising work-life balance concerns tied to turnover around the globe, says.... More than one in four employees (27 percent) at organizations that are not perceived to support work-life balance plan to leave their companies within the next two years, according to new research from Hay Group, the global management.... More

Workers share their salary secrets. At Brian Bader's orientation for a tech-support job with Apple Inc. three years ago, he says, human-resources managers ran down the list of guidelines workers were expected to follow. Don't use explicit language on calls with customers..... More

Climate scientists struggle to explain global warming slowdown. Scientists are struggling to explain a slowdown in climate change that has exposed gaps in their understanding and defies a rise in global greenhouse gas emissions. More

Boston hospitals scramble to care for wounded after blasts. At Boston Children's Hospital, the list of the wounded included a 2-year-old boy with a head injury, a 9-year-old girl with leg trauma and six other children under the age of 15. More

A battle plan to lose weight. Laura Ward, 41, had always attributed her excess pounds to the drugs she takes for major depression. So Ms. Ward, who is 5-foot-6 and once weighed 220 pounds, didn’t try to slim down or avoid dietary pitfalls like fried chicken. More

Gasoline, food prices subdue consumer inflation Consumer prices fell in March for the first time in four months as the cost of gasoline tumbled, providing scope for the Federal Reserve to maintain its monetary stimulus to speed up economic growth. More

Immigration overhaul proposal is likely to ignite fierce debate. The introduction of sweeping immigrationlegislation on Tuesday is likely to ignite a months-long battle between those who want citizenship for the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants and opponents who view such an approach as amnesty. More

Abnormal is the new normal. Although fewer than 6 percent of American adults will have a severe mental illness in a given year, according to a 2005 study, many more—more than a quarter each year—will have some diagnosable mental disorder. That’s a lot of people. More

Focus on standardized testing leads to 'opt-out' parents' movement. A decade into the school accountability movement, pockets of resistance to standardized testing are sprouting up around the country, with parents and students opting out of the high-stakes tests used to evaluate schools and teachers. More

Students face tougher tests that outpace lesson plans. At Public School 10 on the edge of Park Slope, Brooklyn, parents begged the principal to postpone the lower school science fair, insisting it was going to add too much pressure while they were preparing their children for the coming state.... More

A Missouri school trains its teachers to carry guns, and most parents.... WEST PLAINS, Mo. — At 8:30 on a cloudy, frigid morning late last month in this folksy Ozark town, the superintendent of an area school strolled through the glass doors of the local newspaper office to deliver a news release. More

Rifts in both parties complicate odds for gun measure. WASHINGTON — Deep divisions within both parties over a bipartisan measure to extend background checks for gun buyers are threatening its chances as the Senate this week begins debating the first broad gun control legislation in nearly 20.... More

For women, mentors are good, sponsors are better. AS Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook tells it, what accounts for her spectacular leap to leadership is her unfettered embrace of career opportunity. By “leaning in,” she maintains in her new book, she has been able to join the male-dominated.... More

For Evangelicals, a shift in views on immigration. ORLANDO, Fla. — In the pews of the First Baptist Church of Orlando, where thousands of evangelical Christians gather on Sundays to worship and sing, a change of heart is happening on the once toxic issue of immigration. More

Obama's budget revives benefits as divisive issue. WASHINGTON — Whether or not Republicans ever agree to a budget deal with President Obama, one thing seems certain: now that he has officially put Social Security and Medicare benefits on the negotiating table, opponents on his party’s.... More

French Senate approves same-sex marriage. PARIS — The French Senate on Friday approved a bill to allow same-sex couples to wed and adopt children, leaving France poised to join the small group of nations that have fully legalized gay marriage, despite an unexpectedly vocal campaign.... More

J.C. Penney wins ruling in dispute with Macy's. With Ron Johnson out, Martha Stewart is in at J. C. Penney, at least for the moment. In a contract dispute brought byMacy’s against Penney’s and Ms. Stewart’s company, a judge ruled on Friday that Penney’s could temporarily sell.... More

Signs of easier money for mortgages. What was so unusual about Phillip Ratliff’s experience in getting approval for his first mortgage was that it wasn’t difficult at all — even though he could afford a down payment of only 5 percent. More

Experiment in Oregon gives Medicaid very local roots. SALEM, Ore. — Some say America has been homogenized, a chain-store nation bereft of regional distinction in dialect or dinner. But now this state, at the pioneer’s end of the road, is testing the idea that local community difference is.... More

In gun debate, agreement on better care for mentally ill. While the Senate has been consumed with a divisive debate over expanded background checks for gun buyers, lawmakers have been quietly working across party lines on legislation that advocates say could help prevent killers like Adam Lanza, the.... More

School vote stirs debate on girls as leaders. ANDOVER, Mass. — When the elite Phillips Academy here went coed in 1973, some worried that women would quickly take over this venerable institution, the alma mater of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Samuel Morse and Humphrey Bogart, not to mention.... More

Major sports leagues prepare for the 'I'm gay' disclosure. With growing expectations in recent weeks that a gay male athlete in one of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States will soon come out publicly for the first time, the leagues have begun exploring ways to accommodate and respond to such a landmark announcement. More

Universities add courses in hot new field: data science. HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW calls data science “the sexiest job in the 21st century,” and by most accounts this hot new field promises to revolutionize industries from business to government, health care to academia. More

FDA finds new safety problems at 30 specialized pharmacies. Federal inspectors have found dozens of potentially dangerous safety problems at 30 specialized pharmacies, months after tainted steroid shots made by a Massachusetts pharmacy triggered the worst drug disaster in decades. More

Retail sales unexpectedly fall in March. Retail sales contracted in March for the second time in three months, a sign the American economy may have stumbled at the end of the first quarter. Retail sales fell 0.4 percent during the month, the Commerce Department said on Friday. More

Tech firms push to hire more workers from abroad. SAN FRANCISCO — Vishal Sankhla, an Indian engineer, is among those at the center of a storm over how to fix the nation’s immigration system. Mr. Sankhla got a master’s degree in electrical engineering nine years ago from the University.... More

With police in schools, more children in court system. HOUSTON — As school districts across the country consider placing more police officers in schools, youth advocates and judges are raising alarm about what they have seen in the schools where officers are already stationed: a surge in criminal.... More

Big brain projects highlight drug research gaps. Governments on both sides of the Atlantic are placing big new bets on the future of brain science, just as much of the pharmaceutical industry retreats from the field. Brain disorders ranging from depression to Alzheimer's are extracting an.... More

Japan carmakers recall 3.4 million vehicles for Takata airbag flaw. Four Japanese automakers including Toyota Motor Corp, and Nissan Motor Co are recalling 3.4 million vehicles sold around the world because airbags supplied by Takata Corp are at risk of catching fire or injuring passengers. More

Senate to start votes on gun control measure. Two senators who brokered a breakthrough deal to expand background checks on gun buyers said they expected to defeat efforts to block the bill as the Senate takes up its first vote on gun-control legislation on Thursday. More

Jobless claims data calms labor market jitters. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, which eased fears of a marked deterioration in labor market conditions after a surprise stumble in job growth in March. More

Senate immigration plan creates complex road to citizenship. An immigration bill being written in the Senate aims to wipe out nearly all illegal crossings along the southwestern border with Mexico while maintaining a 13-year timetable for existing illegal residents to win citizenship, sources said on.... More

Obama budget targets millionaires, replaces sequester cuts. The White House on Wednesday proposed a budget that would sharply trim the U.S. deficit over three years by forcing millionaires to pay more in taxes and enacting spending cuts that replace the "sequester" reductions that went into place last.... More

'Obama phones' subsidy program draws new scrutiny on the Hill. When someone in the Washington area begins to type the president’s last name into the search box of Google’s home page, the top three terms it suggests as the most popular selections are Obama, Obamacare and .?.?. Obama phone. More

Senate aides: bipartisan deal reached on gun background checks. A bipartisan group of senators has struck a deal to expand gun background checks to all commercial sales — whether at gun shows, via the Internet or in any circumstance involving paid advertising, according to Senate aides familiar with the.... More

Facebook grabs for your phone. What gives? Facebook, man. Unbelievable. Second-most-visited Web site in the world. Frequented monthly by one-sixth of the earth’s population. Primary source of news for half of America’s young people. More

Getting a brain boost through exercise. Two new experiments, one involving people and the other animals, suggest that regular exercise can substantially improve memory, although different types of exercise seem to affect the brain quite differently. More

Help Georgia students end segregated proms. If you're one of the millions of Americans who have too much on their plate, I'm going to do the writing equivalent of serving dessert first. There are some high school students who need our help. They're throwing the first integrated prom in.... More

Web start-up threatens to alter TV landscape. For consumers who want to cut their cable cord and get all of their television from the Internet, there’s been a major obstacle: It’s hard to get live sports and local news. Now a Web start-up, called Aereo, is offering to remove that last.... More

As workload overwhelms, cars are set to intervene. Heading south on Route 34 toward Jersey Shore beaches on a summer weekend, drivers confront a daunting array of highway quirks, not limited to jughandle intersections and baffling exit signs. More

No lawyer for miles, so one rural state offers pay. MARTIN, S.D. — Rural Americans are increasingly without lawyers even as law school graduates are increasingly without jobs. Just 2 percent of small law practices are in rural areas, where nearly a fifth of the country lives, recent data show. More

Teacher knows if you've done the e-reading. SAN ANTONIO — Several Texas A&M professors know something that generations of teachers could only hope to guess: whether students are reading their textbooks. More

Mayo Clinic: for kids, avoiding risks can be risky. It was always the introduction for Georgiann Steely — the ringing of the doorbell, the approach to the man at the cash register — that made her palms sweat and knees knock. As a grade-schooler, she avoided these moments More

Airline passenger complaints surged in 2012 Airline passengers are getting grumpier, and it's little wonder. Airlines keep shrinking the size of seats to stuff more people onto planes, those empty middle seats that once provided a little more room are now occupied and more people with.... More

With fresh Republican support, gun legislation prospects improve. Prospects for a bipartisan deal to expand federal background checks for gun purchases are improving with the emergence of fresh Republican support, according to top Senate aides. The possibility that after weeks of stalled negotiations.... More

Yes, healthful fast food is possible. But is it edible? When my daughter was a teenager, about a dozen years ago, she went through a vegetarian phase. Back then, the payoff for orthodontist visits was a trip to Taco Bell, where the only thing we could eat were bean burritos and tacos. More

Culprit in heart disease goes beyond meat's fat. It was breakfast time and the people participating in a study of red meat and its consequences had hot, sizzling sirloin steaks plopped down in front of them. The researcher himself bought a George Foreman grill for the occasion, and the nurse.... More

Testosterone doesn't boost functioning in older men. Older men who use testosterone gel may see small improvements in their muscle-to-fat ratio but are unlikely to glean any benefits in flexibility, endurance and general ability to get around, new research suggests. More

Worker turnover is poised to pick up, adding urgency to employers' focus.... The expected uptick in voluntary turnover, which some employers are seeing already and which experts predict will accelerate in 2013, adds increased urgency to a problem that many employers had already identified as critical: They are.... More

Discouraged Americans leave the labor force. After a full year of fruitless job hunting, Natasha Baebler just gave up. She'd already abandoned hope of getting work in her field, counseling the disabled. But she couldn't land anything else, either — not even a job interview at a.... More

For car renters, signing may mean trouble. Sandra McKinnon knew the drill after three trips from Oakland, Calif., to Tulsa, Okla., to visit her elderly father. When she went to pick up a rental car, she would have to decide whether to buy the insurance. More

In Connecticut, new firearms limits faced uphill fight. Almost from the moment that Adam Lanza ended his siege, it seemed that Connecticut, dominated by Democrats and already with some of the nation’s toughest gun laws, would quickly pass sweeping new restrictions on firearms. More

Small business groups shrug off delays to Obamacare's health care.... The Obama administration has delayed part of the health care law designed to give small business owners and employees more flexibility when purchasing insurance, which could temporarily undermine lawmakers’ intent to drive down the cost of.... More

Hiring slowed to 88K in March; unemployment drops to 7.6 percent. Businesses sharply reduced their pace of hiring in March, according to government data released Friday morning, deflating hopes that the nation’s economy is ready for takeoff. The Labor Department reported that 88,000 jobs were added last.... More

When injured athlete leaves campus, college's responsibility ends. The broken leg felt round the country — during college basketball’s showcase event — left teammates and coaches in tears and television networks turning away from video of the gruesome injury. It also inflamed the debate about the.... More

Social programs facing cutback in Obama budget. President Obama next week will take the political risk of formally proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare in his annual budget in an effort to demonstrate his willingness to compromise with Republicans and revive prospects for a.... More

Judge orders morning-after pill for all ages. A federal judge has ruled that the United States government must make the most common morning-after pill available over the counter for all ages, instead of requiring a prescription for girls 16 and under. More

As childcare costs rise, families seek alternatives. Child care costs have nearly doubled since the mid-1980s, but the portion of families paying for care has dropped, according to a newCensus Bureau report. More

Maryland House passes strict gun-control measure. The Maryland House of Delegates passed what would be among the nation’s most restrictive gun-control measures Wednesday, voting to ratchet up the state’s already tough rules by requiring fingerprinting of gun buyers, new limits on firearm.... More

Cancer clinics turning away thousands of Medicare patients. Cancer clinics across the country have begun turning away thousands of Medicare patients, blaming the sequester budget cuts. Oncologists say the reduced funding, which took effect for Medicare on April 1, makes it impossible to administer.... More

In state that knows the gun debate, the President urges both sides to.... DENVER — As his gun control legislation struggled back in Washington, President Obama pleaded on Wednesday for understanding from the opposing forces of a debate that has grown polarized since the December massacre of 20 young children in.... More

Claims for U.S. jobless benefits rise. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose to its highest level in four months last week, suggesting the labor market recovery lost some steam in March. More

Dimentia care costs predicted to double by 2040. The most rigorous study to date of how much it costs to care for Americans with dementia found that the financial burden is at least as high as that of heart disease or cancer, and is probably higher. And both the costs and the number of.... More

Wall Street's women are not so timid any more. Wall Street’s women are more aware of their rights and are not so timid anymore, says Linda D. Friedman, a partner at Stowell & Friedman. Still, she says her firm does a lot of work these days behind the scenes, assisting women who face.... More

Why so few women reach the executive rank. Here is a puzzle. If the bulk of studies show that women are a net plus to corporate America, why are they still a small minority on Wall Street and in the executive suite? More

Women lead the way in white-collar law. It’s still a man’s world in many sectors of the legal profession, as it is in much of corporate America. It’s true for prosecutors, for white-collar defense partners at major firms and in executive suites. But when it comes to researching.... More

A suite of their own; women in a man's world. Women make up more than half of the work force on Wall Street. But breaking into the highest ranks is still largely a man’s sport. Women account for just 3 percent of the chief executives in finance, according to the consulting firm.... More

Tennessee takes on failing schools in a crucible of change. In Memphis, a Mississippi River town marked by pockets of entrenched poverty, some of the worst schools in the state are in the midst of a radical experiment in reinventing public education. More

Incentives for men, to help women work. As I wrote in an article appearing this week in The New York Times Magazine, if you want women to be bigger participants in the labor force, some expansion of work-life accommodations (parental leave, flex work, telecommuting, etc.) is.... More

The G.O.P.'s gay marriage catch-22 Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said he thinks it’s “inevitable” that a GOP presidential candidate will someday support gay marriage. And Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus advised the GOP against acting like “Old.... More

Small firms' offer plan choices under health law delayed. Unable to meet tight deadlines in the new health care law, the Obama administration is delaying parts of a program intended to provide affordable health insurance to small businesses and their employees — a major selling point for the.... More

Lean in, Dad: how shared diaper duty could stimulate the economy. I happen to be an educated young woman who loves her job, sometimes gushingly, occasionally annoyingly. And yet, even in this enlightened age, I’ve had two relationships end — at least in large part — thanks to that clammy-palmed.... More

Legislators in Connecticut agree on farthest-reaching gun laws. HARTFORD — More than three months after the massacre of 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., state legislative leaders announced on Monday that they had agreed on what they called the most far-reaching gun-legislation.... More

Unemployment in Euro zone reaches record high of 12%. PARIS — Unemployment in the euro zone rose to yet another record high in the first two months of the year, official data showed Tuesday, providing confirmation that the economy remains in a deep freeze. More

A D.C. doctor blogs about his decline as Alzheimer's claims his mind. In a rented car on a rural road, David Hilfiker glanced at the Google map he printed before leaving his District apartment and turned where it said to turn. The retired doctor drove this way for three and a half hours, eyes darting between.... More

More colleges break the news to would-be students online. Jenna Kress sat down at her computer one recent evening to check the status of her application to the University of Georgia. The 17-year-old senior at Walt Whitman High School in Montgomery County let out a scream when video fireworks lighted.... More

India rejects Novartis drug patent. NEW DELHI — India’s Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Swiss pharmaceutical company’s effort to patent an updated version of its cancer drug, a decision aimed at boosting a domestic generic drug manufacturing industry that supplies cheap.... More

New attitude on immigration skips an old coal town. HAZLETON, Pa. — Before Arizona’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, before “self-deportation” became the Republican presidential platform in 2012, there was Hazleton, a town that made life so difficult for illegal immigrants that they.... More

Nearly one in five boys diagnosed with A.D.H.D., says new data. Nearly one in five high school age boys in the United States and 11 percent of school-age children over all have received a medical diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to new data from the federal Centers for.... More

Deal paves way for immigration bill. Big Business and Big Labor cleared a big hurdle Thursday, as the Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO agreed in principle on a plan to allow “lesser skilled” immigrants to work in the U.S. legally, a key sticking point for a final deal on.... More

Changing shopping habits challenge traditional grocers. Like increasing numbers of grocery shoppers, Ty Rushmeyer doesn’t have a regular store. The 28-year-old and his wife go to Rainbow once a week, but they also stock up their pantry at Target. Then there are “fun runs” for unique products.... More

How immigration reform is scrambling American politics. The overriding fact driving almost everything that happens in American politics right now is that both elections and governance are zero-sum games between the two parties: For one side to win, the other side has to lose. The sole major.... More

We're one big team, so run those stairs. AT 12:30 p.m. on a Tuesday, the chief executive of Datalogix was spider-crawling across a conference room floor. All around him, account managers and data analysts were thrusting 20-pound medicine balls overhead, while their Spandex-clad.... More

Letting down our guard with Web privacy. SAY you’ve come across a discount online retailer promising a steal on hand-stitched espadrilles for spring. You start setting up an account by offering your e-mail address — but before you can finish, there’s a ping on your phone. A text.... More

Curious grade for teachers: nearly all pass. Across the country, education reformers and their allies in both parties have revamped the way teachers are graded, abandoning methods under which nearly everyone was deemed satisfactory, even when students were falling behind. More

Grand Jury indicts about 3 dozen Atlanta educators in cheating scandal. ATLANTA - Juwanna Guffie was sitting in her fifth-grade classroom taking a standardized test when, authorities say, the teacher came around offering information and asking the students to rewrite their answers. Juwanna rejected the help. More

HIV case in Minnesota draws national interest. Medical experts and civil liberties advocates nationwide are weighing in on the Minnesota Supreme Court case of an HIV-positive Twin Cities man convicted and later cleared of a felony for having unprotected sex, arguing that the 17-year-old.... More

Technology can affect how we dream. The dreams of Mary Shelley, author of “Frankenstein,” involved a pale student kneeling beside a corpse that was jerking back to life. Paul McCartney’s contained the melody of “Yesterday,” while director James Cameron’s inspired the.... More

Guest workers are at crux of group's deal on immigration. Washington - The nation’s top business and labor groups were near agreement Friday on a guest worker program for low-skilled immigrants, closing in on a deal that would eliminate one of the last significant obstacles to a new proposal for a.... More

Hospitals question Medicare rules on readmissions. It is no longer enough for hospitals to make patients healthy enough to leave. Now, as part of the Obama administration’s health care overhaul, they are spending millions of dollars to keep those patients from coming back, often acting like.... More

Health care law uncertainty grips businesses. Jody Manor has run a small cafe and catering company for nearly three decades in Old Town Alexandria, only a few blocks from where he was born. Six years ago he purchased an adjoining building, and more recently he started searching for a.... More

For federal workers, the furlough terrain is uneven. Every U.S. Park Police officer will be off the job for 14 days — but the national parks they patrol will be staffed. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will shut down for seven days starting in May, after concluding that.... More

Talk of Medicare changes could open way to budget pact. As they explore possible fiscal deals, President Obama and Congressional Republicans have quietly raised the idea of broad systemic changes to Medicare that could produce significant savings and end the polarizing debate over Republican.... More

Why is olive oil so good for us? It could be its scent. Why is olive oil, the crown jewel of theMediterranean diet, so good for your health Nutritionists point to its abundance of antioxidants and oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat that protects the heart. But new research suggests that some of the.... More

For Obama, DOMA presents tricky balancing act. When President Obama decided that his administration would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court, he was presented with an obvious question with a less obvious answer: Would he keep enforcing a law he now deemed.... More

Nearly three dozen homes evacuated in Washington landslide. SEATTLE - Geologists and engineers are assessing the stability of a scenic Puget Sound area after a large landslide thundered down a hillside, knocking one house off its foundation and threatening others. More

Housing program seeks to cut monthly payments. Federal housing regulators took a significant step on Wednesday toward helping borrowers who are falling behind on their mortgage payments — a move that will help more people but also introduce new risks that some homeowners could.... More

Living with cancer: the scar project. In the documentary “Baring it All,” a young woman declares, “The scar represents everything I’ve been through. I’m proud of what I’ve been through.” The film focuses on the fashion photographer David Jay, who created a pictorial.... More

With vouchers, states shift aid for schools to families. PHOENIX — A growing number of lawmakers across the country are taking steps to redefine public education, shifting the debate from the classroom to the pocketbook. More

Success on political front can be setback for gay rights. As the justices of the Supreme Court struggled with the question of same-sex marriage this week, politicians in Congress kept handing down their own verdict. One after another, a series of lawmakers in recent days endorsed allowing gay men.... More

This gadget makes our health-care projections obsolete. Scientists at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have developed a minuscule implant that measures various blood chemicals and sends the results, via Bluetooth, to your smart phone. The upside? Your smartphone.... More

Eating made her sick, but it took doctors years to figure out why. A year after her daughter’s stomach problems began, Margaret Kaplow began having pains of her own. When she sat down to dinner with her family, Kaplow’s gut would clench involuntarily as she waited to see if this was one of the nights.... More

New prostate cancer tests could reduce false alarms. Sophisticated new prostate cancer tests are coming to market that might supplement the unreliable P.S.A. test, potentially saving tens of thousands of men each year from unnecessary biopsies, operations and radiation treatments. More

A look at the issues in the Defense of Marriage Act case. Here is a look at the background of the case, United States v. Windsor, No. 12-307; the issues it raises; the lawyers who will argue it; and the possible outcomes. More

Court to hear arguments on Defense of Marriage Act. The Supreme Court returns to the subject of same-sex marriage for a second day on Wednesday, when the justices hear arguments about the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act of 1996. More

As sequester furloughs loom, federal workers turn to local union leaders. John Hiller knows chemistry, not counseling. Until recently, he was a Customs and Border Protection scientist checking imported goods for drugs and toxins. But a few weeks after being elected president of his union local at CBP’s Washington.... More

Harvard asks graduates to donate time to free online humanities class. Alumni of elite colleges are accustomed to getting requests for money from their alma mater, but the appeal that Harvard sent to thousands of graduates on Monday was something new: a plea to donate their time and intellects to the rapidly.... More

He has millions, and a new job at Yahoo. Soon he'll be 18. One of Yahoo’s newest employees is a 17-year-old high school student in Britain. As of Monday, he is one of its richest, too. That student, Nick D’Aloisio, a programming whiz who wasn’t even born when Yahoo was founded in 1994, sold his.... More

Rome court overturns acquittal of Amanda Knox. Italy’s highest court on Tuesday overturned a previous acquittal and ordered a new trial in the sensational case of Amanda Knox, an American exchange student accused of murdering her 21 — year-old roommate, Meredith Kercher of Britain, in.... More

Justices to hear California case on same-sex marriage ban today. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Tuesday morning on the meaning of marriage. Two California couples challenging Proposition 8, the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, say it excludes gay and lesbian couples from an institution with a.... More

Infants are fed solid foods too soon, C.D.C. reports. Despite growing warnings from pediatricians about feeding newborns anything other than breast milk or formula, many mothers appear to be introducing solid food well before their babies’ bodies can handle it, says a study published Monday in.... More

Nurses press for doctors' authority. For years, nurses have been subordinate to doctors — both in the exam room and the political arena. But aided by new allies ranging from AARP to social workers to health-policy experts, nursing groups are pressing ahead in a controversial bid.... More

In gay marriage cases, Supreme Court may choose caution over boldness. With an overwhelming majority of state laws pointing one way and public opinion trending rapidly in the other, the Supreme Court may enter this week’s historic arguments over same-sex marriage with a preference for caution over boldness. More

Tennessee race for Medicaid: dial fast and try, try again. Two nights a year, Tennessee holds a health care lottery of sorts, giving the medically desperate a chance to get help. State residents who have high medical bills but would not normally qualify for Medicaid, the government health care.... More

Luring young Web warriors is a U.S. priority. It's also a game. WASHINGTON — In the eighth grade, Arlan Jaska figured out how to write a simple script that could switch his keyboard’s Caps Lock key on and off 6,000 times a minute. When friends weren’t looking, he slipped his program onto their.... More

What causes hearing loss? Noise, not age is the leading cause of hearing loss. Unless you take steps now to protect your ears, sooner or later many of you — and your children — will have difficulty understanding even ordinary speech. More

Rahm Emanuel on Chicago school closures: "Investing in quality education." Speaking publicly for the first time since Chicago Public Schools announced that more than 50 schools are to close, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the motive behind the plan is to ensure that all children in Chicago receive a quality education. More

NYC mayor announces $12m gun control buy targeting senators before.... NEW YORK - A new $12 million television ad campaign from Mayors Against Illegal Guns will push senators in key states to back gun control efforts, including comprehensive background checks. More

Shadow of Roe v. Wade looms over ruling on gay marriage. When the Supreme Court hears a pair of cases on same-sex marriage on Tuesday and Wednesday, the justices will be working in the shadow of a 40-year-old decision on another subject entirely: Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that established a.... More

Immigrants held in solitary cells, often for weeks. On any given day, about 300 immigrants are held in solitary confinement at the 50 largest detention facilities that make up the sprawling patchwork of holding centers nationwide overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials,.... More

Spring clean your professional life. In spring, we’re supposed to clean the house, organize the closets, even tackle the garage. But when’s the last time you did a spring cleaning of your professional life? More

New Jersey wins fight against a tiny invader. LINDEN, N.J. — The enemy forces were numerous, numbering in the thousands. They were particularly adept at hidden warfare. The fight, which endured for more than a decade, was complicated by the difficulty of detection, with the invader.... More

Schools urge children to bring their own electronic devices. Educators and policy makers continue to debate whether computers are a good teaching tool. But a growing number of schools are adopting a new, even more controversial approach: asking students to bring their own smartphones, tablets, laptops.... More

However justices rule on gay marriage, issues remain. A victory for gay rights in either of the two monumental cases being presented to Supreme Court Justices next week will not necessarily resolve all the complicated financial and legal issues that now confront same-sex couples. More

Young immigrants, seeking deferred action help, find unexpected path. When Angy Rivera, an illegal immigrant, was a young girl in New York City, she was sexually abused by her mother’s boyfriend. He was eventually convicted and imprisoned, but only recently did Ms. Rivera find out that her cooperation with.... More

Resolution passes to keep government open. Congress approved a short-term funding bill Thursday that ends the possibility of a federal government shutdown next week. But a broader budget battle about taxes and spending for the year is just beginning. More

Big Bang's afterglow reveals older universe. Cosmologists have released the most detailed “baby picture” yet of the early universe, a portrait that helps answer some of the deepest questions of science while providing enough surprises to keep scientists busy for years. More

In Montana, an Indian reservation's children feel the impact of.... In Poplar, Mont. — The public schools on the isolated, windswept Fort Peck Indian reservation here are at the frontier of the federal sequester, among the first to struggle with budget cuts sweeping west from Washington. More

Special education programs steel themselves as cuts loom. Aurora Ford, a fifth-grader with Down syndrome, needs regular speech classes and occupational therapy, services that are guaranteed under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. But looming federal financing cuts could affect Aurora.... More

Once few, women gain power in Senate,. WASHINGTON — An hour before her colleagues gathered for their first vote of a new Congress, Senator Kelly Ayotte slipped into an empty Senate chamber to savor the grandeur of her legislative home. More

More young adults eschew credit cards. Samantha Henderson has heard the horror stories of young people buried by too much debt. That's why the Edgewater student doesn't have a Visa or MasterCard, limiting herself to a debit card that she uses to withdraw cash for purchases. More

The cost of being single adds up for women. Over a lifetime, unmarried women can pay as much as a million dollars more than their married counterparts for health care, taxes, and more, thanks to more than 1,000 laws that provide legal/financial benefits to married couples. Here are a few.... More

Visas for high skilled workers could double under bipartisan Senate plan. A Senate immigration plan would dramatically increase the number of high-skilled foreign workers allowed into the country and give permanent legal status to an unlimited number of students who earn graduate degrees from U.S. universities in.... More

Pediatrics group backs gay marriage, saying it helps children. The American Academy of Pediatrics declared its support for same-sex marriage for the first time on Thursday, saying that allowing gay and lesbian parents to marry if they so choose is in the best interests of their children. More

The face of future health care. OAKLAND, Calif. — When people talk about the future of health care, Kaiser Permanente is often the model they have in mind. The organization, which combines a nonprofit insurance plan with its own hospitals and clinics, is the kind of.... More

After decade of war, troops still struggling to find work. n TULSA — This is what the end of a decade of war looked like in Oklahoma a few weeks ago: ex-soldiers in cheap new business suits; human resources managers with salesman smiles and stacks of glossy fliers; a former Marine speaking to a.... More

Melanoma drug succeeds in late-stage trial. A cancer drug based on a tumor-killing virus has for the first time succeeded in a late-stage clinical trial, giving a lift to a technology that has long tantalized doctors and researchers. More

College groups connect to fight sexual assault. Frustrated and angry over the handling of sexual assault cases at Occidental College in Los Angeles, a group of students and faculty members recently decided to take the matter to the federal government as a civil rights case. More

GOP opposition to immigration law is fading away. Republican opposition to legalizing the status of millions of illegal immigrants is crumbling in the nation’s capital as leading lawmakers in the party scramble to halt eroding support among Hispanic voters — a shift that is providing.... More