There appears to be some movement on the Israeli-Palestinian issue due to the efforts of Secretary of State John Kerry late this week. The New York Times is reporting that face-to-face negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians may resume soon pending the release of several Palestinian prisoners by Israel’s government—a deal Kerry apparently reached with […]

A recent Stanford report on charter schools is a good read for those following the education reform debate. The report is a follow-up to a notable 2009 study that found charter schools to be lagging behind traditional public schools in both reading and math—a set of findings that were quickly latched on to by various […]

Detroit’s bankruptcy has just teed up one of the most consequential court cases in recent memory. As part of the plan to help the city exit bankruptcy, the government will likely cut pensions promised to city workers, a move allowed under federal law. But there’s a catch: the state constitution of Michigan forbids it. Citing this fact, […]

Recent college grads or rising seniors worried about the tough post-college job market should take a look at Venture for America, a nonprofit organization aimed at entrepreneurs. As its name would suggest, Venture for America aims to do for entrepreneurship what Teach for America did for teaching: namely, take high-quality college graduates and pair them […]

We may have finally found a cure for dementia: more work. French researchers have released the results of the largest study to date on retirement and mental health. They found that older participants who delayed their retirement were less likely to get dementia than those who retired earlier. The AP has more: “For each additional […]

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawklings-Blake introduced new legislation this week that would transition Baltimore from a defined benefit pension system to a 401k style retirement plan. This is part of the city’s effort to address a system which hasn’t been fully funded since 2003. If the plan works as promised, it could save the city $8 million […]

The UK’s government has just promised to make Britain the country with the world’s “most generous tax regime” for shale gas. The FT reports that the government plans to reduce the tax of shale production to 30 percent—most of the rest of the energy industry pays 62 percent—while requiring shale companies to provide £100,000 in “community […]

From July 22–29 Catholic youth will gather in Rio de Janeiro for World Youth Day, a celebration initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985. Every three years (two in this case) a different city hosts WYD, a week of prayer and talks that culminates in a Mass celebrated by the Pope. Attendance at WYD […]

Germany is relying more and more on the US as a principal export market, reports the WSJ: Exports to the U.S.—Germany’s second-largest overseas market after France—grew 3.5% in the first four months of 2013 compared with the same period last year, according to UniCredit. They fell 1.2% to France and 2% to China, Germany’s fifth-biggest […]

Secretary of State John Kerry was at a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan yesterday, tasked with the thankless job of being berated for his boss’s decision-making. The Secretary discovered that average Syrians pretty much agree with what WRM wrote in the WSJ last week: that this administration has a habit of substituting rhetoric for action. […]