Of the Big Five questions facing America today, the most pressing and urgent is the question of jobs. This is more than the problem of recovering from the last economic slump; it is more than the impact of globalization and automation on manufacturing jobs. The American economy is shedding jobs, especially long-term, well-paying jobs with […]

The Department of the Interior will be announcing a new set of fracking regulations in the coming weeks. Details are scarce at present, but that hasn’t stopped greens and browns from staking out their battle lines. The FT reports: The interior department’s bureau of land management is due to release new rules on the use of hydraulic […]

Water disputes between China and its neighbors are not confined only to the sea. Disagreements over fair use of rivers can be just as problematic.Take the Nu River. Barely a trickle at its origin in the glaciers of the high Himalayas, the Nu becomes a torrential river as it flows through China to Burma and […]

It’s been a good week for Tesla, the electric car company. Yesterday it reported its first quarterly profit in its ten-year history. Today, Consumer Reports announced that the Tesla Model S was the highest-scoring car… ever. Business Insider reports on Tesla’s recent success: Tesla reaching profitability so quickly provides proof that if you build vehicles that […]

The head of a British health care regulatory body is sounding warning bells about the drastic overuse of the country’s emergency rooms. The Daily Telegraph reports: Too many patients — especially the elderly — are arriving in hospital as an emergency, when they should have received help much earlier, said David Prior, head of the Care […]

The still-young but fast-growing US energy boom is closing in on a big milestone. Thanks to shale, domestic oil production is about to overtake oil imports. CNBC reports: Andrew Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates expects the government data to show that U.S. production actually surpassed imports in March, when it releases its final March data […]

Florida Polytechnic University will be the state’s first public university to operate without a unionized faculty. EAGnews reports that FPU is ditching the tenure system altogether in favor of fixed-term contracts that will be renewed based on performance: Ghazi Darkazalli, the school’s vice president of academic affairs, said the goal is to focus faculty on […]

The last couple of days have seen the torrid pace of Middle East related news kick up to warp speed. The Benghazi hearings (unfortunately being seen more as the kickoff to a GOP Stop Hillary in 2016 campaign than anything else) dominated cable TV. The news that the US and Russia will convene Syria talks […]

Unknown gunmen kidnapped the son of former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani at a political rally today. Ali Haider Gilani’s secretary and guard were killed in the attack.The Pakistani Taliban and other radical groups have waged a deadly campaign during election season; 110 people have been killed in April alone. The attacks have disproportionally targeted […]

A new study has found the better adoption of just one technology could drastically increase the efficiency of US health care professionals—and it’s not some fancy new imaging technology or robotic surgery. It’s texting. USA Today: The study, sponsored by tech security firm Imprivata, shows that clinicians waste an average of 46 minutes per day waiting for patient […]